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Book and 2 DVD set
Review by Cate Montana

If ever there was an easy review, it's this one. Although I'm a shameless Eckhart Tolle fan, so far I've only read two of his books, The Power of Now [2] and A NEW EARTH: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose [3]. This is the first time I've seen Tolle on video, and the four hours spent watching this unassuming, almost gnome-like gentle man were a special treat - and a real shift in reality during the week's work-a-day grind.

The Bible describes love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, saying: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth...

If this is love, then Tolle is its personification. Sitting on stage, slightly hunched over, wearing a beige cardigan and plain slacks, Tolle quietly... hmmm... expounds is the wrong word because although what he says is incredibly profound it isn't delivered in a profound way. He just talks. Slowly. With a lot of stillness in between thoughts.

A delivery like this from anyone else might be boring, or perhaps induce toe-tapping impatience. With Tolle you just wait, quietly, with a lot of stillness in between thoughts, and hope you "get it" when he says things like: "When you are present in this moment, you break the continuity of your story of past and future. Then true intelligence arises, and also love. The only way love can come into your life is not through form, but through that inner spaciousness that is Presence. Love has no form."

Or: "You identify with the movement of thought. That is the essence of unconscious living. And that is why people continually live for the future-in their thoughts of the future, they are hoping to complete their insufficient sense of self. They are hoping to find the happy ending of their life story, a mental construct which they confuse with their identity.

Hence, the compulsive searching for more has become the dilemma of human existence."

These kind of inspiring excerpts have been pulled from the video to form a delightful little book of quotations from the retreat. Photographs that Tolle has taken in England, Oregon and British Columba illuminate every page, along with captions about them that Tolle has added. The two-DVD set comes packaged on the inside of the book's front and back covers.

A wonderful gift and most certainly an inspiring addition to anyone's library of transformational literature and videos, Eckhart Tolle's Findhorn Retreat: Stillness amidst the world [4] is a timeless treasure that no one should miss.