Some reviewers would have us believe that those who do not appreciate the book are somehow less than enlightened. Implying, of course, that these reviewers themselves ARE somehow enlightened, and therefore entitled to judge.

And these comments often come from the same people who will fulminate about "Don't trust your ego!!"

Well, my friends, your ego has slipped in through the back door and bitten you on the behind. You are guilty of the old fashioned sin of pride!

So, as always, the self-proclaimed "enlightened" ones have a lot more work to do. At least the people who dislike the book are honest about it.

This book is a waste of time and money. Buy "The Power of Now" instead. It is a far superior book, with much the same content.

The point is not to continuously buy books about these things. The point is to DO them!


The feel of an Upanishad   September 29, 2003
 30 out of 30 found this review helpful

Eckhart Tolle's second book has been awaited for a while by those who found the wisdom and grace of the first to be an extraordinary experience. This book is smaller on content and perhaps more complex in profundity. The Power of Now operated at all levels; it was one of those rare books which could actually get people to begin a spiritual practice with some seriousness, while those already in the swim found it to be a valuable guide. Stillness Speaks tilts a bit towards the already serious spiritual practitioner. Not that a beginner would not profit from it but my guess is that people who have done their processes and transformed themselves are likely to extract the most from this tight little spiritual classic.

Stillness Speaks has some of the feel of an Upanishad. A master discourses on important spiritual issues and you access the level you are capable of. When you come back to it, you find that the book has changed too, speaking to you at a depth you might not have suspected even existed - in you! Tolle is evolving towards an aphoristic style of communication; anything longer would tend to be false to the essence of being in the Now which is his difficult/simple message. It is a book that triggers rumination in you even more powerfully than The Power of Now. My personal favorite, something that set off a liberating snort of laughter, is the conclusion to Chapter Six -"Leave Life alone. Let it be."

I feel that not learning from this book would be a blunder.


Missing the point   September 21, 2003
 27 out of 27 found this review helpful

For all those that choose to criticise this book, they are clearly missing the point. First of all, the guy that read the entire book while standing in the bookstore cannot have possibly gotten the full impact of what Tolle is saying. Yes, you can wolf down a $100.00 meal and say there was nothing there, but that is more a reflection of you than the meal. Having authored 8 books, including a popular motivational one here on amazon.com, I can tell you that Tolle says more, using fewer words, than any other writer I know.

Indeed, even savoring one sentence can instantly change your state. Yes, the material is simliar to "The Power of Now," but that's like saying a gold ring is not good because it's made out of the same thing as a gold necklace. Hello! When you have the best there is, there is no need to improve on it. Everything Tolle puts out comes from that same golden place, and indeed, I found "Stillness Speakers" to have many even deeper and more refined ideas than the brilliant "The Power of Now." Or should I say, he finds new and creative ways to further drive home his life altering concepts. If you "get it," you will know what I mean, if not, than no amount of words will change your mind.


Helps quiet the mind   September 29, 2003
 26 out of 27 found this review helpful

Stillness Speaks is a quiet book. It's small, filled with empty spaces and words that are succinct and point in a certain direction -- towards stillness and silence.

Those who are looking for concepts and ideas to give them "MORE", or to fill up their minds, will not find it here.

Many reviewers on this site sound annoyed and feel they didn't get something worth their money - that they read it quickly and felt nothing afterwards.

If you're ready, this book will speak to you. When I first read "The Power of Now", my reaction was something like, "Yeah, yeah, we're supposed to be in the present moment. Now what?" I felt frustrated by the book. But when I read it several months later, it was a completely different experience.

Stillness Speaks takes you into an even quieter place, if you let it and if you are ready.


NOT A BOOK. AN AMAZING AND UNIQUE "THING"!!!!   March 23, 2005
 25 out of 26 found this review helpful

I'm a fan of Tolle - I consider his previous book a masterpiece. In my humble opinion, It's the best rendering of unitary/enlightened/samadhi consciousness humanity could ever hope for.

When I started reading this book I became irritated at first. Again with the repetitions? Wasn't the theory explained already? Until I let myself go and tried to accept what Tolle is trying to do.

THIS IS NOT A BOOK IN THE ORDINARY SENSE!!! Tolle is explicitly stating the reader should spend more time experiencing the content than reading (careful: thinking is not experiencing). I was wrong to dismiss this instruction and when I did figure it out I was BLOWN AWAY.

I can't believe Tolle has actually managed to top himself. While "The Power of Now" is where you should start, this book is a perfect follow-up. A profound METHOD (not really a BOOK in the classic sense) to stir the profound and by all accounts EXTREMELY COOL form of existence you could be having, hidden from you by experiencing existence as a continuous stream of thought and by the involuntary and habitual identification with that stream ("thought-identification"). Although difficult to do in everyday life, the basic truth in the thought dis-identification premise is easy to verify in meditation: even as a beginner, your thoughts go away for all of 2 seconds yet you are still you. So you are in fact THE AWARENESS THAT EXPERIENCES THOUGHT. Get it?

So this "book" goes over from theory and touches the actual practice. But meditation still seems to be the effective way for calming down, combined with the lifestyle additions that support it by reducing stress in our nervous system: trigger point therapy followed by a steady yoga practice (trigger points are best explained in "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" - you wouldn't believe the amount of pain in your body of which you are not aware! unlikely you are brave enough to work it out by yourself, so give the book to a massage therapist!), and a diet as free of stimulatnts as possible: nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, garlic, aerated drinks etc.

Although most yoga teachers are unaware of it, the deepest yogic meditative state of Samadhi meditation - letting go of thoughts WITHOUT concetrating on an object as in "ordinary" yogic meditation - can be learned directly, without 20+ years of yoga practice. It's easy to learn, but you need to practice for a few months for the full effect. Example: www.ssy.org (mostly India-based org, courses in English are conducted in Pune, near Bombay).

(note: Samadhi consciousness, or the consciousness component in enlightenment, is the result of the continuous practice of Samadhi meditation)