Eckhart Tolle says that his book, The Power of Now, is “a restatement for our time of that one timeless spiritual teaching, the essence of all religions” and that religions “have become so overlaid with extraneous matter that their spiritual substance has become almost completely obscured”,[21] that they have become “to a large extent … divisive rather than unifying forces” and that they have become “themselves part of the insanity”.

Eckhart Tolle writes that “the most significant thing that can happen to a human being is the separation process of thinking and awareness” and that awareness is “the space in which thoughts exist”. Tolle says that “the primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it”.

According to Tolle’s official website, “at the core of Tolle’s teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet.”

In his book A New Earth, Tolle defines the term “ego” as an “illusory sense of self” based on one’s memories and thoughts. He also uses the term “pain-body”, which he defines in “A New Earth” as “an accumulation of old emotional pain”.

Tolle’s philosophy is that by removing oneself from thoughts and ego and by focusing on each present moment the individual will have greater appreciation of his/her life.[3] This philosophy encourages people to overcome the dominance of the mind and ego over the body, which Tolle calls the “pain body”.