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A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle provides a framework for making the world a better place to live for all of its inhabitants. It shows how people can let go of the ideas of ego and entitlement and move beyond themselves to live a happier and healthier life. This book has been nothing short of life transforming for me,and one of the main reason i created self help robot. In celebration of that i decided to create a  chapter by chapter summary of the book. Here you will find an overview of the first chapter of A New Earth which is titled the Flowering Of Human Consciousness.

Evocation

Eckhart start a “New Earth” by discussing the importance of flowers in the development of the human consciousness. As Eckhart points out, flowers were probably the first time that humans observed the benefit of something which didn’t have a utilitarian purpose. They were simply beautiful but were not essential for survival. Flowers have in turn become a symbol of the progress towards enlightenment. He points out that along with flowers, birds and crystals can also be a window into the realm of the spirit. It is these symbols which have laid the foundation for the birth of a new spiritual awakening which is taking place.

 The Purpose Of This Book

 A New Earth Book Summary
A New Earth Book Summary

Here Eckhart addresses what is the essential question of this book. Will human beings be able to a loosen themselves from their identification with materiality and their personal ego and experience a transformation of consciousness. As Eckhart points out this process has been at the foundation of all great spiritual teachings including Christianity and Buddhism. Eckhart suggests that the content of the book will either be transformative or it will be useless. It is up to the reader to decide which it will be.

 Our Inherited Dysfunction

Eckhart points out that all major religions have suggested that what we call “normal” state of mind has serious elements of dysfunction or even madness. While the human mind is highly intelligent this dysfunction has unleashed incredibly destruction on the world. An example of this can be seen in World War I when the rapid development of technology cause death and genocide on a scale never seen before. Fear, greed and the desire for power are the primary motivating factors behind the unparalleled destruction we have witnessed in the 20th century. But these factors are not the root cause of the problem. Rather they are a manifestation of the desire to strengthen ones own self image.

 The Arising New Consciousness

While all religions have identified this “fault” in human consciousness they also have another insight to offer. This is that there is the possibility of a radical transformation of human consciousness. In Christianity this is termed “salvation”, Hinduism “enlightenment” and in Buddhism “the end of suffering”. Eckhart believes that the greatest achievement of humanity is the recognition of its own dysfunction Eckhart states the basic beliefs of religion have become distorted so that they have become divisive rather than uniting.

 Spirituality And Religion

A Look at Religion
By: fady habib
A Look at Religion

Many religious leaders are still stuck at the level of conscious thought. Unless you believe with what the say is true, then you are wrong. In some cases this has even justified violence. But, more recently there has a been the emergence of spiritual movements outside the rigid structures of organized religion. This was never possible before because it had always been suppressed These new movements realized that how spiritual you were had nothing to do with what you believed but with your state of consciousness Eckhart believes that organized religions must either embrace this new spirituality or they will eventually disintegrate.

 The Urgency Of Transformation

Eckhart points out that it is when we are faced with a radical crisis that we are forced as a species to transform ourselves. To illustrate this idea he discusses how we evolved from sea creatures to living on the land. Moving from the comfortable sea environment to the land must have been very challenging. The only reason such as challenge would have been taken on was because the original environment was no longer inhabitable. Because of the dangers posed by technology, advanced weaponry, and environmental disaster humanity is again at a similar cross road. Either we will evolve or we will die.

Don’t forget to check the other chapters on this amazing book.

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 2: Ego The Current State of Humanity

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 3: The Core of Ego

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter  4: Role Playing – The Many Faces Of Ego 

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 5: The Pain-Body

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 6: Breaking Free 

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 7: Finding Who You Truly Are

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 8: The Discovery Of Inner Space

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 9: Your Inner Purpose

A New Earth By Eckhart Tolle Chapter by Chapter Summary Chapter 10: A New Earth

Let me know what you think about this book.

Self Help Robot