To my shame, I haven't read Mr Tolle's book yet. I keep stumbling across references to it time and again and it's high on my list but...yes, I know, I have no excuse for not reading it yet :)

Based upon your description of the idea within the book of living in the now, I see no contradiction between that and manifesting what you want, which appears to be what you are concerned about.

I presume Mr Tolle means Be Happy In The Now when he refers to living in the present, otherwise the idea wouldn't make much sense.

So, if that's the case, then he seems to be touching on the purest form of manifesting, which is...

Be happy (in the now) and you'll get everything you want

Yes, you don't even need to consciously think about what you want :)

See this answer for more insights about this idea: Why do we choose to use manifestation techniques as opposed to getting in the vortex?

The reason that Be Happy (in the Now) works as the "ultimate" manifesting method is because your desire is created in the moment that you want it.

As far as the Universe is concerned, your desire already exists once you've made the decision to want it. There's nothing else for it to do.

So it's really all about you gaining vibrational access to that already-existing desire.

And the only essential requirement to physically manifest it is actually to Be Happy Now because that good feeling in the present moment indicates alignment with your Inner Being / Higher Self which, if you've read the previous link, you'll realize is where your desire is waiting for you, vibrationally speaking.

Indeed, if you strip down all effective manifesting methods to their bare bones, aren't they all ultimately trying to get you to be happy in the Now?

And Now is all we have anyway, so actually there really isn't anywhere else to live but in the present. :)

• Step 1 can come from ego ...yes

• Step 2 universe immediately responds... Can't be more in the now than that!

• step 3 our higher self ;it is the part of you that is not or has no ego.

peace

The steps to deliberate creation (in Abraham-Hicks terms) are

• Step 1: The question is asked (or desire is launched)
  • Step 2: The universe immediately responds with the creation of the vibrational potential that matches the desire or question
  • Step 3: In aligning our dominant focus regarding that topic with that of the vibrational potential that now exists as a result of the question being asked, we allow the answer to enter and manifest within our reality (i.e. we get our desire)

Step 1 occurs when we think about what we want, or notice the difference between what we have and what we want.

Step 2 occurs when we release the thought, and allow the universe to manifest it in the non-physical.

Step 3 occurs when we bring ourselves into alignment with our higher self, where the manifestation has already occurred in the non-physical.

There are many questions and answers on this site that discuss different aspects of this process. Those questions and answers can be found here: http://www.inwardquest.com/questions/tagged/reality-creation link|flag edited Jan 14 at 16:57

answered Jan 14 at 16:51 Vesuvius

Ps. I didn't know how to link this answer from the question

Eckhard Tolle teachings are meant to facilitate theosis (self-realization also known as enlightement). Enlightement is moving beyond form and material plane because no true joy or fulfillment are to be found here . Any wishes and desires bind us to this world. Everything that you wish for will be given to you. If not in this lifetime, then in the next. Do you really want to come back here- in the world of wails and gnashing teeth ? Be careful what you wish for because it will come true :). I just wish to unite with Absolute Beingness and Abraham's teaching is helping my wish become reality.

Love to all.

The answer to this question is

No.

Eckhart Tolle (The Power Of Now) and the Law Of Attraction are NOT compatible.

There are two movements in the universe. One is the outgoing movement away from source (like the big bang expansion), this is the movement of creating, becoming, manifestation, experiencing, desiring, building, more and more. Aligning yourself with this outgoing movement you will use the Law of Attraction. The other is the return movement back to source, this is the movement of dissolution of ego, letting go, surrendering, releasing all desires, allowing what is to be as it is, perfection in present, end of separation, less and less. Aligning yourself with this return movement you will use Mr Tolle's Teachings.

If you have unfulfilled desires, then LOA will appeal to you. If you have experienced enough, laughed enough, cried enough, suffered enough, and have began to see that all desires and manifestation will ultimately lead to suffering, only then you will resonate deeply with the teachings of Mr Tolle.

Becoming conscious of Presence, being fully present in the Now stills the mind. Of course, thought is needed in a practical sense but it is not meant to tell us "who" we really are in Essence. So using thought in a positive and creative way is a good practical tool to create and manifest in the world of form. But we will never "think" our way to direct realization of Presence, Here and Now. In a practical sense, when we are entrapped in negative thoughts and feelings, learning how to pivot and consciously choose a better feeling thought is one of the tools that we we are given in the Law of Attraction teachings. My husband and I are deeply grateful for the tools like pivoting, segment intending etc. which have really made our outer experience one of our choosing rather than stumbling around in negativity and getting stuck there. Being conscious of Presence in this moment, right Now, several times throughout the day brings an awareness in the background even while we are dealing on a practical level. So we can use thought to play and create while being deeply Conscious of Presence - before, behind, and beyond any thought form that arises in the mind.

Everything is Nothing appearing as something... Being Conscious of Stillness, there is no identification with form, rather there is a deepening of Presence and the Conscious Awareness that is the Essence of every form.

What Eckhart is trying to say is "Contentment + Godliness = Great Gain". Contentment means being at peace with what is. Godliness is keeping our creative (: imaginative :) focus on our end result. Also, he's about one-ness i.e. we forget the illusion of separation and cease judging and realize that all is a reflection of what is inside us. Eckhart would call this "watching the movie about ourselves" and when we pay attention to now we know what we are because that is what we see reflected back to us and then we do have the option (: Eckhart does acknowledge co-creation :) to alter the inner state to see the automatic change in the outer. You may also opt for the end result of leading a purely detached life akin to a monk and that's fine too. There are many approaches but in the end: as you imagine within, so you experience without.

Great question - I went though a very similar phase of not knowing which felt right for me and even got into a discussion about it on IQ. The conclusion I've come to is that it depends on what you are intending to create. No one else can say what you are intending to create. In a way then I agree with Desireless Abundance - one is about creating, manifesting, thinking positively (even if all you want to manifest is happiness) and the other is about receptivity, letting go of desires, not thinking. Personally I find much wisdom in Eckhart Tolle's teachings (particularly being in the now moment) but I don't quite feel ready to really follow it wholeheartedly. Abraham's teachings have given me many great techniques for manifesting not just physical things but happiness, joy etc and I feel more empowered as a result but sometimes I find it lacks something that I can't articulate.

I know this is a vague answer but unless you are sure within yourself (when you wrote this answer you certainly weren't) I don't think there is a "right" answer for you. If others are sure, then it is because they have found their right way. Find your own right way and dip into many teachings for the time being. This may lead to confusion in the short term but once you've bombarded yourself with many different opinions you reach a point where you know that you can only trust your own inner guidance to tell you what is right for you at this moment.

Eckhart Tolle has addressed these very questions, it's just not the main focus of his teaching.

According to Mr. Tolle, the "secret of the Universe" is "to no longer resist what is" and to find "an inner alignment with the form that this moment takes." "Miraculous things can happen...but they don't happen when you are out of alignment with what is; they only happen when you live in alignment with what is."

His complete answer is available in this very worthwhile, twelve-minute online video:

http://www.lawofattractiontv.net/eckhart-tolle-the-secret-of-the-universe/

Sound familiar? :)

He also directly addressed the question of the Law of Attraction in a print interview, excerpted here:

Q: What is the fundamental difference between your teaching of presence and the current popular teaching called The Law of Attraction?

A: ...There are two means by which manifestation comes about. One is the ego's neediness to manifest, and another is out of the fullness of Presence, you can manifest. Even coming from the fullness of Presence, Presence can use also the human mind. Presence can flow through the mind and can energize your thoughts, and they are no longer dysfunctional. Whatever Presence wants to manifest through you, it can use the power of thought to manifest. It will come from a giving, there is a desire to give, not to get. Thought can be used and can be used more powerfully when the ego is no longer interfering.

When the human becomes co-creator with God, then Presence can flow into the human mind and use also human thought and create original things, and that's a beautiful thing. From Presence you do not create because you want whatever you create to satisfy you - because you are creating out of the satisfaction, out of Presence. The reason for creating then, is the joy of the act of creation. In the ego you do not have that, it's not the joy of the creation, it's the stress of the creation. You may get moments of joy, when momentarily the ego subsides, but then it comes back in again...

There are two movements in the Universe, it wants to create but it also wants to know itself. God, let's use the word... God obviously delights in creation. Look out into the Universe, at the infinite abundance of suns and galaxies and so on, billions and billions, the infinite abundance of creation on this planet, the complexity of life forms. Obviously God delights in the act of creation, and the dance of form. As we are here, we are part of that, we are form also. We can also delight in the world of form, either by creating new forms, or if we are frequency-holders or contemplatives, we can delight in the world of form by witnessing all the beauty that is already here around us, and bringing this light of consciousness into the world of forms that are already here. There are two ways you can delight in the world of form, as a co-creator and give birth to new forms, whatever it may be. You can also, even at the same time, be the witness of the incredible multiplicity of life forms that are continuously around you, and look in amazement at the miracle that surrounds you no matter where you are.

The whole of the above discussion can be read on Mr. Tolle's website:

http://communicate.eckharttolle.com/news/2012/01/24/eckhart-on-presence-the-law-of-attraction/

I won't give my opinion. Here is Abraham Hick's own words talking about "The Now" and how it is important, just as Eckhart Tolle does:

"Tomorrow never comes. Have you noticed? 'cause when it gets here it's today! All of your power is NOW" 2:56 - 3:05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAoLDrERfko

A resounding YES!

If one understands the message of Abraham Hicks, one understands that being in alignment is 'really' being in the now. And what does 'being in the now' actually mean, according to Eckhart? It means that the mind is neither dwelling in the past nor in the future. Therefore there are no emotions connected with a past memory or a future worry. In fact, when one is in the now, there is no 'negative' emotion but simply an inner sense of joy (not 'happiness' which is a 'high' version of joy and which inevitably has to go 'down').

When Abraham Hicks refers to being happy or ecstatic, he/she/they mean to be in the joy of living, in the joy of the flow and in the joy of acceptance. That is when there is no resistance. The same goes for being in the now. Eckhart himself says that when you are in the now, things around you, the environment and the circumstances change, and usually to the better.

Please reaslise (although it's not easy to do so) that everything is connected. What you perceive, interpret, what you are, is being reflected in your daily life. It cannot be otherwise.

Being in the now is the same as being in alignment with source. Before Abraham used to emphasise visualisation etc. Now he/she/they emphasise 'meditation' and not allowing outside circumstances to affect our state of being because our state of being is 'joy for existing'.

Elan (on youtube channel 'Impersonal Life' explains this well and combines these two philosophies showing that they are actually one and the same.

LOA and Eckhart Tolle (or any other non-dualist guru) are absolutely incompatible.

All spiritual teachers, ET included, maintain that desire comes from the ego, and desire and ego should be banished.

LOA is alll about fulfilment of desire.

You can draw your own conclusion from this.

As far as I am concerned, I am very happy being an egoic person full of desires, and I have no interest whatsoever in what spiritual teachers like ET have to say.

Eckhart Tolle's teaching in particular is so full of holes that the less talked about it the better.