Found this in the latest copy of Utne…
At 29, Eckhart Tolle was a research scholar and doctoral candidate at Cambridge University in England. He was also deeply miserable. As he lay in bed one night, gripped by an intense dread and loathing of his existence, he experienced a profound spiritual transformation. His first sight upon waking was the light of dawn through the curtains. “Without any thought, I felt, I knew, that there is infinitely more to light than we realize,” he later wrote. “That soft luminosity filtering through the curtains was love itself.” Though the room was familiar, he realized he had never really seen it before. “I picked up things, a pencil, an empty bottle, marveling at the beauty and aliveness of it all.” …Giving up his doctoral pursuits, Tolle psent almost two years with “no job, no home, no socially defined identity,” sitting on park benches in a state of intense joy. In time, people began to approach him with questions about the power of his presence. Their dialogues became the inspiration for his books…
Heading off to Toronto for a few days of now. If I find a bookstore to get lost in, Tolle’s books will be high on the list of diversions.