Stillness Speaks

By: Eckhart Tolle

Narrated by: Eckhart Tolle

Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

This long-awaited second book by renowned spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle goes deeper into the teachings so eloquently and clearly expressed in his first book, The Power of Now.

These short, clear entries are organized into ten topic clusters ranging from "Stillness and Silence" and "Beyond the Thinking Mind" to "Relationships" and "Suffering and the End of Suffering." Whether listened to individually or in topic clusters, these entries take on a rare transformative power.

While its message is broad and profound, Stillness Speaks is also highly practical. Eckhart Tolle shows us how to be with another in a relationship that can contain and weather all things, how to sit with a dying person, where to find wisdom, how to free ourselves of guilt, and how to control our constant stream of thoughts. Underneath the words, and in the spaces between them, we find the power of stillness, a vibrantly alive state existing only in the present moment. Stillness Speaks draws upon the essence of all spiritual traditions, offering a message that is both ancient and contemporary, filled with timely and powerful wisdom.

©2003 Eckhart Tolle (P)2003 New World Library

Critic reviews

"Enticing spiritual insights that expound on inner stillness" (Amazon.com)

Brilliant

Echart Tolle came into my life purely by accident when I ordered a Netflix Video series called Flowering of the Human Conscience by Eckhart Tolle whom I had never heard of. I was expecting something very different. I am beginning to wonder if there was some other force working to help put me on the right track, because I would not have had any reason to rent this DVD disc series. I had only been renting workout videos for the past several weeks. When I stuck it in the DVD player, I saw a simple looking man stepped onto the stage and started talking. My first thought was, oh lord, what the heck did I get myself into here, but after 5 minutes I was captivated, and was blown away by the simple yet powerful message. I was not looking for spiritual direction, but got it non-the-less and in a very enlightening way. I have to date purchased 4 of his audio books, and my life has been changed forever in a gloriously calming way. I am eternally grateful for this chance meeting with Mr. Tolle,and his life-changing message about the meaning of life.

Number TWO...

Read "The Power of Now" first and this book second. If you liked TPN you will love this. It is full of great meditative insites that will help you have inner peace and enjoy the path to enlitenment. Good to pause after the verses in order to fully take in the teachings.

Stillness Speaks

Eric's voice and use of silence is piercing in truth, and awaken parts of me that have been waiting to be spoken to. I reconized my true identity as Soul, eternal. I could not help but feel good, for he showed me how to have compassion for myself, allowing my natural spiritual state to come to be, free!

From one Soul To Another

Absolutely breathtaking if you are ready for it. Thank you Eckhart.

In a certain sense, this is the BEST book Eckhart

This is a very special book that might best apply to those who are already fairly familiar with Eckhart's teachings. But in that sense, it is something QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT from the Power of Now or the New Earth. Stillness Speaks is more akin to the Tao Te Ching. Let me elaborate.

I've read the Power of Now, the New Earth and watched several videos of Eckhart's talks. Although they convey the same message, they do it very differently, so it can well be that, depending on where you are at in your life, you cannot yet comprehend Eckhart's talks and other books, because they appear "mumbo-jumbo" to you. :)

If you are still at the very beginning of the awakening process, I think The Power of Now and/or the New Earth are the books where you should begin. However, if you are already fairly awakened (that is to say, you don't need any more lenghty, conceptual explanations on the workings of the ego, pain-body, awareness, etc.) you might find that these two books are quite a bit "too elaborative." And that's perfectly fine, because most people encounter Eckhart's teachings in a stage in that they are still identified with their mind, so these books first and foremost speak to your mind.

But in an already awakaned state, when reading these books, say, for the third or fourth time, you might cath yourself thinking: "OK, I already know and understand all these things on the conceptual level. Could you now please say more with less words?”
And that is exactly what Stillness Speaks does. It is a wonderful collection of wisdom-nuggets that are sometimes only a few sentences long but, because of that, extremely powerful. And even more: this is a book that the audiobook (Audible) format suits BEST! I also listened to The Power of Now and the New Earth audiobook, but in Stillness Speaks Eckhart talks much more slowly and operates with longer SILENCES between sentences.

When I first „listened” to this gap after a sentence, suddenly I felt something incomprehensible. The words affected my state of consciousness much more with these breaks than they could have if they followed each other in an uninterrupted way. I often even paused the listening voluntarily and just sat / walked in silence for minutes before I continued with the next sentence.

I have the feeling that The Power of Now and the New Earth are good informative books on spirituality but after having read them several times, one can "get" nothing more out of them. Stilness Speaks, on the other hand, is more like the Tao Te Ching. You can open it ANYWHERE, read / listen to it for even just a few minutes, then carry on with your life with heightened awareness. Almost like a meditation. Wonderful. And in THIS particular sense I can truly say that it is Eckhart's best book.

Very well done - Glad they had this in audio

I probably would not have had time to read this book but audio makes it so easy now to be exposed to different material. Very well done with great insight. Really had me thinking.

Be still and know that I am God

This book is filled with great wisdom about what occurs when we allow stillness to speak. I have not listened to the entire book because I have read practicing the now twice and bought both books at the same time, I am leaning more towards the practicing but only because it is helping me to rid myself of ego and pain body and living the power of now! My husband is particulary happy about this change!

My Favorite

"Not a book to be read from cover to cover, but to be pondered, and read again and again" Loosely a quote from the book and so true. I never tire of this book.

Godly

All the genius and wisdom of Tolle, in bite-size yet profound pieces.

A Little book on Stillness

This is my second Echart Tolle Book, and third listening to his unpretentious voice speaking out simple truths we know, but we used to forget...

"Stillness speaks" is indeed short, as compared to "The Power of Now". Yet it is good, concise summary of Tolle ideas. In some sense it is about one idea, that is elaborated deeply in both of his books. This simple idea can be expressed in saying: "We are not our minds". Tolle rediscovers truths known to almost all great meditative traditions of all religions, to tell, in simple words, that beyond and below our discursive and noisy stream of thought, there IS certain realm, that exists, but which existence is of different dimension than the existence of forms in this world.

Yet this simple idea is fruitful and deep. Tolle elaborates on it, and the consequence are far reaching, from appreciation of meditative practice, through betterment of our relations, to the overcoming of suffering and death.

As I stressed in my two previous reviews, the true value of Tolle is in his simple language, modest approach to difficult problems and intellectual honesty. So don't expect here cryptic expression of some mysterious truths. This book is about things of common life and common experience - that are, as it often happens, concealed by our talkative and blusterous culture.

As I said before, I do not quite agree with Tolle's approach to past: "Past and future are thought forms, mental abstractions. The past can only be remembered Now". While his view is reasonable, the negation of the existence of Past, the frozen world of our good and bad choices, is to me, unnecessary....

The stillness speaks... literally

This book - I now realise - is why I joined audible. The coming together of Tolle's perfectly clear wisdom (the power of NOW), the miracle of mp3 and the pause button on my iPod to create a life-changing experience that I take everywhere with me at the moment.

The pace Tolle reads is perfect, especially precious being the long contemplative pauses he uses to allow profound things to settle and the ripples to spread outwards. He invites us to stop 'reading' regularly and take more time away from the book than with it - a strange invitation that makes perfect sense the longer you live with this teaching.

And that's why I'm in awe of this technology; a little solid state thing hanging round my neck; no moving parts and weighing almost nothing. Consuming almost no power; able to stop and let the learning take hold and restart at any time later - when the time is right.

Worth every penny of my entire year's audible subscription.

Meditative & Powerful

Although much shorter and suffused with such lengths of silence that one wonders what exactly has been said, I found this to be more powerful than Eckhart Tolle's first book (which itself was brilliant). His original 'The Power of Now' was marred by the inclusion of an alluring but nonetheless unfalsifiable Eastern metaphysics. Tolle -almost- does what he says in the introduction: he presents a message that one already knows deep within oneself. I trust the listener will be discerning enough to recognize when Tolle unwittingly stops being a spiritual teacher and takes on the role of religious preacher. Thankfully, in this, his second book, he is less of the latter and more of the former.

Excellent

Eckhart talks in such a way that I have been able to realize and finally experience the feelings of awakening that I've wanted for so long. He has a way with words that is clear, understandable and works.

Outstanding

Transformative in his profound teachings - each 'thought' followed by a gap to give the listener the time to digest or pause the reading to contemplate. Though his advise is to stop the reading as often as possible so as to maintain the connection with the current moment, I enjoyed the content so much I listened to it several times non stop. I recommend wholeheartedly.

LOVED IT

One of the best books by Eckhart Tolle. Gets right to the point and in a lot of ways is better than the power of now. Please, buy this book, you won't regret it! This stuff should br taught in schools.

A special book that reminds you who you really are

Would you consider the audio edition of Stillness Speaks to be better than the print version?

Profound wisdom and insight in all his writing . Eckhart helps you find your way back home .Highly recommended .

Inspiring, beautiful, peaceful

I’ve listened to other audio books by Eckhart Tolle and appreciated them but this is absolutely beautiful and has shown me a new way of seeing life.

Peace, calm and clarity whenever you need it

A lovely creation by Tolle. Small snippets that cut through the day to day and bring you peace and clarity. This is an audiobook I listen to a little piece of every day.

One of my favourite books 📚

Eckhart's writing comes from heaven. It speaks to your Spirit so clearly. I listen to this book all the time, whenever I hear the words I feel so connected, so grounded. It is an excellent pointer to alignment with God. Read, be open, digest, you won't regret it...

wonderful eckhart

wonderful but if you have not read any eckhart before start with power of now and a new earth. the compilations of his retreats are amazing