[Making use of Eckhart Tolle’s bestselling THE POWER OF NOW, Waterman explores a “simple” question: WHAT IS TRUTH?]

I reviewed this book because it was persistently mentioned to me over the past year or so (It has achieved a near-cult status.). I am one who always encourages everyone to pursue “higher” goals, and if this seems too vague I encourage them to choose from the “short” list of Peace, Love, and Truth. With forthcoming text much more will be said in the coming years. There are times, however, when we are faced with difficult explanations. And this book brings some of them up. Yes, Eckhart had a real mystical experience giving a legitimate foundation to his explanations and teachings.

“So what he has to say is correct? And legitimate?”

Well yes, but…

“But what? The truth is always the truth is it not?”

Logically stated. And true. Truth is truth. Truth is always truth. But wait a moment. Why do the Buddhists speak of the “two truths”? Why is mystical experience brought back as apparent paradox? Why oh why does the truth of the right brain not always agree with the truth of the left brain? Hmmm. Perhaps there is something here to investigate?

Let me give some practical examples. Krishnamurti was fond of saying (in that oh-so-unique voice of his) “There is nothing you need to do!” Okay. That sounds good to me. We will just sit back on the sofa and eat toast. Errrrr, well it seems that most spiritual aspirants made intense long-term effort. How do we reconcile that? The explanation is simple, actually. Once one has jettisoned the house of personality, the identification with an accepted set of limitations, then “nothing needs to be done!” So Krishnamurti speaks the truth, BUT it is a truth that is only useful to buddhas, bodhisattvas, and others that have already arrived at a level of understanding, practice, and realization for which this “truth” has no practical value. As for the rest of humanity, mired in duality and limitations, this truth has little value, and, in fact can be used in a misleading way. Oh, honest Iago, where are you taking me? Well that is not exactly fair, in that Iago was deliberately using the truth to his own ends. But this, as well as the following, example(s) explain my personal frustration with those that speak the “truth” with great black-and-white finality.

The second type of common misuse of the truth is a staple of advertising. Tell the truth, but not the WHOLE truth. This is done, quite unintentionally, by many a spiritual teacher. This person understands something, and then rushes out to profess their understanding to the whole world. I (the Dennis) call this the Messianic Impulse. You understand something, you grasp it fully, it impacts your life, you wish to share it with others, and you rush into the street and proclaim it far and wide as the latest greatest truth. This is very understandable, and undesirable. Very undesirable. It leads to problems that are very small in the beginning but that widen generationally. Why? Because the teacher is in a process, a process that requires decades of integration, a process that is incomplete. In some Asian traditions one is not allowed to be an assistant teacher until one has been a student for twenty years, and not allowed to be a teacher until one has been a student for forty years. Yes, I said forty years. Forty years seems like a very long time to the typical impatient student in today’s world. But there are obvious and excellent reasons to give this as a guideline. It avoids many problems that arise when one who understands something rushes to share it with the world. Two years on the park bench are not enough. Even if you have the good fortune to receive training in a tradition two years are not enough, and twenty years is unlikely to be enough. Many who extol such pages, such explanations (I refer here not only to readers, but more especially those who are willing to say shallow and wrong-headed things in print on the cover and in reviews written for fleeting publications.) are incapable of distinguishing good products from other products. Would you go to the supermarket and buy a loaf of bread that is nicely toasted on the outside, but undercooked in the middle?

Back to the Now. It is correct in so far as it goes. The practical question is: exactly what techniques and practices does Eckart recommend? There are three ways to activate change and simple awareness is the quickest, but not the end-all that philosophy and intellectual observation might wish you to believe. In other words, “the mind is a wonderful servant, and a miserable master.” This nugget has long been with us and is completely true. It is fine to write an entire book about this, or even to become a teacher who teaches only this, but PLEASE, please, oh please do NOT think that this is the whole song, the purpose of life, the essence of being. This one insight, this incredible revelation, does not make one the next Buddha. It does make one a “special” student, possibly even an assistant teacher.

So read! Read and enjoy! Just do not expect that this is the new personal bible that will guide you past all other restrictions and pitfalls. This is a fine book for the right person, for the intermediate aspirant who is too identified with thoughts.