Stillness Speaks by Ekhart Tolle
By Ben Miles
Eckhart Tolle first gained acclaim as bestselling author of The Power of Now, and his current notoriety remains widespread, thanks to Oprah Winfrey. Oprah’s imprimatur on Tolle’s 2005 A New Earth—his treatise regarding life purpose—has made this guru of the here-and-now the shaman of the moment. Winfrey selected that transformational tome as her book club assignment in January 2008, accompanying it with a no-expense 10-week online seminar co-facilitated by Tolle and the talk-show queen herself.
As the meaning of Tolle’s simple words and sentence structures unfold into archetypal philosophical notions, both The Power of Now and A New Earth provide peak reading experiences that are easily comprehended and profoundly affecting. However, Tolle’s most concise work, and arguably the one with the most impact, is the 2003 reader Stillness Speaks. Constructed in ten chapters, the 129-page hardcover booklet serves up enlightenment in small, easily digested grammatical dollops.
The chapters have incisive-sounding titles such as “Beyond the Thinking Mind,” “Who You Truly Are,” and “Suffering and the End of Suffering.” These divisional captions exemplify Tolle’s talent for framing words and provoking thought. Each of the well-ordered and mystically intriguing sectionals compose roughly one-tenth of the text. But Stillness is not only literature for the linear-minded among us. Think of it as an existential and spiritual buffet of language and insight, if you will. Dig in and indulge from any spot you please. For instance, while randomly leafing through the book’s pages, we happen upon this: “The mind is…looking not only for food for thought; it is looking for its identity. This is how the ego comes into existence.” Ohm on that for a moment or two. Or, how about this, from a thumb-thrown landing on page 107: “By learning to die daily you open yourself to life.” Who said irony is dead?
In the introduction to Stillness Speaks, its author admonishes, “This is not a book to be read from cover to cover.” Instead, he advises, “Live with it, pick it up…[and] put it down frequently.” As one who has made somewhat of a practice of these suggestions, this writer attests to the enduring truths made available through Tolle’s lucid wordings. Crafted in an exquisitely straightforward yet soulful manner, Stillness Speaks speaks in an accessible and resonant voice.
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