Sloww Sunday 047: Power of Now, Spiritual Intelligence, Wisdom + Compassion

Sloww Sunday Newsletter 047 (Jan 31, 2021) — The Power of Now, Spiritual Intelligence, Wisdom + Compassion, & More

Hi friends,

Sloww Sunday is a free newsletter delivering the latest from Sloww along with the most interesting things I came across last week.

New News

🛒 This week I’m hoping to wrap up work on the “Wisdom Shop.” It will be a one-stop-shop for you to easily browse and individually purchase the Ikigai eBook, premium membership, some select synthesis posts (outside of the membership), and the life purpose course (coming this year). My goal with the Wisdom Shop is to offer a wide range of price points so anyone and everyone can invest in themselves.

🔒 After revisiting some existing public posts, I decided to convert a couple to Premium due to the level of synthesis:

Sloww Stuff

🆕 A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment: “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle (Book Summary)

After reading A New Earth in late 2018, I finally read The Power of Now (and loved it). If you’re thinking about reading these books in full, I recommend reading them in that order because A New Earth seems to be more accessible for those just beginning their spiritual journey.

🔒 Eckhart Tolle Synthesis: How to Live a Life of Presence & Purpose with “The Power of Now” + “A New Earth”

This Eckhart Tolle synthesis may be the most time, energy, and attention I’ve invested into a synthesis to date—not just because of the amount of content, but because of the depth.

The two books together total about 600 pages (150,000 words). It would take around 10 hours to read them both at an average reading speed (without taking/organizing notes, contemplating the content, trying some of the practices, etc.). This synthesis is around 13,000 words and can be read in under an hour at the same average reading speed. So, you spend less time reading and more time practicing and mastering the content. Enjoy!

Modern Knowledge

☸️ An Introduction to Spiritual Intelligence
(13 mins | YouTube)

You’ve heard of IQ and are likely aware of EQ (emotional intelligence), but what about SQ (spiritual intelligence)? In this TEDx Talk, Cindy introduces the concept and outlines the 21 skills of spiritual intelligence.

“Spiritual intelligence is the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion while maintaining inner and outer peace regardless of the situation.” — Cindy Wigglesworth

Timeless Wisdom

🧘 Eckhart Tolle Interview from 1998
(27 mins | YouTube)

This interview was conducted right around the time The Power of Now was first published. It’s hard to believe that Tolle was around 50 years old at the time.

In this interview, he covers: his personal transformation story, separation from mental/emotional states, what he means by enlightenment, observing your mind, creating gaps in the stream of mind, bringing your attention to the inner body, taking one conscious breath, and more.

“If you make friends with the present moment, and always say ‘yes’ to whatever is, life becomes friendly towards you. Life always shows you the face that you show it. It’s always a mirror.” — Eckhart Tolle

💭 Deep Quote

“It is said that just as a bird needs two wings, we need both wisdom and compassion. The inner wing of our practice is wisdom, and the outer wing is compassion. That’s the action wing, the political wing, the social-work wing. When you work on your own mind, you are developing the meditative wing, wisdom. The more you do so, the more you will decrease your delusions, increase your positive qualities, and increase your own sense of happiness. Therefore, you will increase your sense of connectedness, and inevitably, you’ve got no choice but to put yourself out there to benefit others.

A bird needs two wings. It’s not enough just for us to have internal practice. It’s got to be externalized. It’s an inevitable product of our practice if we’re doing the job properly.”

— Robina Courtin (Tibetan Buddhist nun)

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Have an enlightening week!

Kyle Kowalski
Founder, Sloww