I had read Eckhart Tolle's previous best-seller, "The Power of Now" and felt it was significant. So, I bought his new book and enjoyed it immensely. And then I caught one of the webcasts on a Monday night, 6-7:30 PM. Evidently more than 700,000 people were connected, around the world - this gave me an amazing feeling of inter-connectedness.

The book has 10 chapters; each week, people would read a chapter and discuss it together with Oprah and Eckhart Tolle, connected via Skype audio and video hookup from other places around the world. I was hooked.

Not aligned with any particular religion, Eckhart Tolle describes how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is the key to ending conflict and suffering. He shows how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence.

Hey, it's working for me - read the book yourself. There are only two more chapters (9 & 10) remaining for the live webcast - Monday April 28 and May 5, 2008. But, you can download past videos from Oprah's website.

Spiritual awakening is not an option anymore, but a necessity if humanity and our planet are to survive the madness, the collective egoic dysfunction. Read this book (and watch the webcasts) to understand and initiate the awakening of your own consciousness.

You know what? I made my own guru-debut. Watch my YouTube video, "Living in the Present Moment, Here and Now". This is a 10 minute meditation which you can do anytime to help you focus and refresh your mind. Please let me know what you think of it.

• Review & Buy on Amazon.com - Tolle's "A New Earth"
• Visit Oprah.com to join or download "New Earth" webcasts
• Jim Pinto Video - "Living in the Present Moment, Here & Now"