Book - The Power of Now

[Korpo]

I actually have a bad feeling about the book. This guy gives me the creeps, actually. Like when he said in the intro that he spent two years dropping out, sitting on a park bench mostly, doing nothing but staring into the landscape, seems more like escapism than doing anything to evolve himself in any way with the gift he was given.

I don't like the style of the book either - it's like shouting "Me, me, me!"... Bit counter the stated purpose.

I had an extremely good feeling about "Quiet Your Mind" by John Selby and still have. It is a book along similar lines, but it seems to me to be much better a book, and I got now guided towards it for the second time. Perhaps it has to do a lot with your preferences in an author, but the "Power of Now" guy seems to be constantly appraising himself and his methods like being perfect, sounds like marketing and self-appraisal to me. *shrugs*

Oliver

[Flash_hound]

Exactly what I think Korpo!

Also John Selby has EXPERIENCE he teaches people how to do those things and I just get a generally warm, almost motherly feeling from him (I thought he was a women when I first read his stuff.) He is also a lot less self appraising and you get the feeling he actually wants to HELP the reader. He says almost the exact same thing, just in a much less self appraising way...

[Korpo]

Flash_hound,

I agree. Of course everyone has different preferences, but I feel very at home with Selby. I also think his other books sound very interesting - the guy seems to have good priorities.

It's not that "The Power of Now" is a book people should avoid, but I get a strange gut feeling about it all the time and about the author, too. Since everybody must find the messages for her- or himself in a way that suits your personality, I'm sure other people have other points of view on him and the book.

It's not like I'm not gonna read it to finish, I just changed priorities after getting both.

Oliver

[alwayson4]

I have another author for you.


http://www.amazon.com/DIRECT-RAPID-MEAN ... 931&sr=8-1


I have this book, and it points very much to the truth.

[Korpo]

Reading "The Power of Now" from a perspective that has changed over time, I think it does contain the right clues, but in a way not everyone might find helpful. On the other hand, what book does?

The problem most people seem to have is finding the entry point to the experience of presence, emptiness and stillness, and I think it is a bit different for everyone, the way there that is, hence the multitude of techniques, of schools. But beyond a certain point, the technique doesn't really matter anymore, and the message of "The Power Of Now" is a very good and valid one. It is helpful for improving different approaches of mindfulness meditation and training, another way to drive the point home. It also has some good hints for how to get there.

There are rather painstakingly accurate, almost mechanical ways to go there. That make it inevitable to not get lost, but take longer. Some people need this, at least to free enough capacity to actually watch and listen. Others are more direct. All have merit, and I guess everyone finds their match.

Oliver