To many people, the purpose of life is very clear. It has been laid out clearly either by their parents, teachers or religious leaders. For others, it is much harder to work out. In fact, many philosophers have argued for centuries about what the true purpose of life is. There is a distinction between what the purpose of any life is and what it means to an individual, of course. Some people believe they have found a purpose in their life if, for example, they do a job that they find fulfilling. To others, the purpose of all human life is to work towards a higher purpose that is bigger than any individual. Broadly speaking, the latter is a spiritual interpretation of a life's purpose.
Born in 1948, Eckhart Tolle lived in Germany, Spain and England before settling as a Canadian resident. He says that his early life alienated him and he was generally unhappy growing up in the war-ravaged town of Lünen, near Dortmund. In his teens and young adulthood, he suffered from bouts of depression. However, also at this time, Tolle moved to Spain and began to read works by the German mystical teacher, Bo Yin Ra, otherwise known as Joseph Schneiderfranken. His words had a profound and long-lasting impact on him. Later still, while working in the UK, Tolle started to study spirituality and philosophy more deeply, enrolling - but not completing - a postgraduate course on it at the University of Cambridge. In 1977, Tolle would experience something of an epiphany, or realisation, that helped him to overcome his negative thoughts. He has since devoted much of his life to explaining this 'inner transformation' to others in the form of books, DVDs and lectures.
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