Selma Chrifi Alaoui - Communication and Development

In Chapter 9, Tolle evokes the subject of happiness. It is similar to the ideas of “The Happiness Advantage” that we have previously read, but with the difference of Tolle going beyond the concept of happiness into the idea of “inner peace”. For Tolle, no one can really qualify what is positive and what is negative, and most things are neither because they exist outside of those concepts. Tolle argues that a lot of things that we consider as negative, such as loss, pain, illness, and other things have actually “benefited” the people that experienced them, and made them become a better person. I cannot really agree with things such as loss being in any way positive, to be completely honest, and I do not personally feel that the loss I have experienced in my life has somehow made me better. Tolle does say that happiness in these cases is impossible, and that we can be in state of inner peace instead. What blocks this mindset is what Tolle calls, “resistance patterns”, and forgivenes

In Chapter 8, Tolle evokes the topic of enlightened relationships. He talks of the popular perception of romantic love between two people as what makes life “complete”, and that it is essential for reaching enlightenment. For the author, this is just another case of not living in the “Now” and always waiting for something that will make us happy. Often, we think that having a relationship is the ultimate goal that will rid us of insecurity, of loneliness and of pain, but a lot of the times relationships do not help, or even end up increasing the already-present emotions. Tolle reiterates that finding inner peace needs to come from within. He also talks of the dynamics of romantic relationships, and how these relationships essentially thrive on emotions and conflict. He refers to them as Love/Hate relationships, because they enjoy high levels of pleasure as much as high levels of pain. Feeling such as lust or affection can easily turn into anger and resentment.   That is because thes

In Chapter 4, Tolle argues that there are different levels of unconsciousness. More specifically, people go back and forth between two levels of consciousness: ordinary unconsciousness and deep unconsciousness. Ordinary unconsciousness is the normal state that people usually are in, and that Tolle says does not involve a high level of pain or unhappiness, but rather a constant feeling of something not right, an unease that always stays with us in the background.   It is something that most people do not even realize is there until it stops, and relief is felt. Tolle compares this to the sound of an air conditioner that we do not realize is there until it stops. Deep unconsciousness is a state of deep pain that comes from the “worsening” of conditions felt in ordinary unconsciousness. Tolle calls it an “intensified” ordinary unconsciousness, as it is not different in symptoms but in the degree of which the symptoms are felt. This comes when the “ego” feels threatened by a major lif