I started reading the “Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle today and the opening passage of the book really moved me. I put the book down and just thought about what I had read for around 30 minutes. Before I get into my take on the passage, please take 2 minutes out to read it.

A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. “I have nothing to give you”, said the stranger. Then he asked, “What’s that you are sitting on?” “Nothing”, replied the beggar. “Just an old box. I have been sitting on it as long as I could remember”. “Ever looked inside?” asked the stranger. “No” said the beggar. “What’s the point there’s nothing in there”. “Have a look inside”, insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw the box was filled with gold. – Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

When I read the passage for the first time I went back and re-read it several times. The author has written a simple story with an incredibly strong message. My initial thoughts when I read the passage was that we truly never really get to know ourselves. The world works in such a way these days that we have automatic responses to most things and do them almost in a robot fashion. It is as if we are on cruise control, not knowing that we can put this function off and take control of the vehicle. Paths are laid out for us, deviations are looked down upon or they scare us so much that we do not even attempt to deviate from them. Everything in life is so well planned out when we follow the known path, we go to school, get into university, work hard to get a good job, get married, have kids and hope to live happily ever after whilst preparing our kids for the same path. This is not to say I believe there is anything wrong with this path. It does however have fewer bumps along the way, options are limited, and most of the time we never really have the time to look into ourselves to find out what we really want.

Then there are those of us who want to know more. You could draw parallels to this post and the story behind the Matrix. We begin to question norms and the reasons we believe in certain things almost blindly. We begin to ask ourselves what we really want in life. More often than not this happens when someone points these things out or we go through such emotional periods that the noises in our heads are silenced, and for the first time we get in touch with our inner-self. We have become so accustomed to our set ways that it takes a lot to shake us up and have our eyes opened. We really need to take time out and look into ourselves. What are your strengths? How can you best use them? Are you currently using them to the best of your abilities? What steps can you take to make changes in your life? It all begins with looking within ourselves because that is where all the answers are.

What are your views on the story? What were your thoughts when you first read it? Look forward to hearing your views and opinions.