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# 2019-12-08 - The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle | |
My spiritual teacher recommended this book to me. Personally i found | |
this book helpful, and ironically, i found it thought provoking. It | |
helped clarify a few mystifying statements written to me by another | |
friend. Reading this book was a mind expanding experience on the | |
whole. | |
# Preface | |
Most of the thousands of letters and emails that have been sent to me | |
from all over the world are from ordinary men and women... There is | |
frequent mention of the amazing and beneficial effects of inner body | |
awareness, the sense of freedom that comes from letting go of | |
self-identification with one's personal history and life-situation, | |
and a newfound inner peace that arises as one learns to relinquish | |
mental/emotional resistance to the "suchness" of the present moment. | |
The more the dysfunction of the human mind plays itself out on the | |
world stage... the greater the number of people who realize the | |
urgent need for a radical change in human consciousness if humanity | |
is not to destroy both itself and the planet. This need, as well as | |
readiness in millions of people for the arising of a new | |
consciousness, is the context within which the "success" of The Power | |
of Now must be seen and understood. | |
"Mumbo jumbo" was all that Time Magazine could see in [the book]... | |
any teaching that puts the spotlight of attention on the workings of | |
the ego will necessarily provoke egoic reaction, resistance, and | |
attack. | |
# Introduction | |
"I cannot live with myself any longer." This was the thought that | |
kept repeating itself in my mind. Then suddenly i became aware of | |
what a peculiar thought it was. "Am i one or two? If i cannot live | |
with myself, then there must be two of me, the 'i' and the 'self' | |
that 'i' cannot live with." "Maybe," i thought, "only one of them is | |
real." | |
I was so stunned by this strange realization that my mind stopped. I | |
was fully conscious, but there were no more thoughts. | |
Without any thought, i felt, i knew, that there is infinitely more to | |
light than we realize. That soft luminosity filtering through the | |
curtains was love itself. Tears came into my eyes. I got up and | |
walked around the room. I recognized the room, and yet i knew that i | |
had never truly seen it before. Everything was fresh and pristine, | |
as if it had just came into existence. I picked up things, a pencil, | |
an empty bottle, marveling at the beauty and aliveness of it all. | |
That day i walked around the city in utter amazement at the miracle | |
of life on earth, as if i had just been born into this world. | |
For the next five months, i lived in a state of uninterrupted deep | |
peace and bliss. ... I could still function in the world, although i | |
realized that nothing i ever did could possibly add anything to what | |
i already had. | |
I knew, of course, that something profoundly significant had happened | |
to me, but i didn't understand it at all. ... A time came when, for a | |
while, i was left with nothing on the physical plane. I had no | |
relationships, no job, no home, no socially defined identity. I | |
spent almost two years sitting on park benches in a state of the most | |
intense joy. | |
Before i knew it, i had an external identity again. I had become a | |
spiritual teacher. | |
This book represents the essence of my work, so far as it can be | |
conveyed in words... The book in its present form originated, often | |
spontaneously, in response to questions asked by individuals... | |
On one level, i draw your attention to what is false in you. ... Such | |
knowledge is vital, for unless you learn to recognize the false as | |
false, there can be no lasting transformation... | |
On another level, i speak of a profound transformation of human | |
consciousness available now, no matter who or where you are. | |
On this level of the book, words are not always concerned with | |
information, but often designed to draw you into this new | |
consciousness as you read. ... Until you are able to experience what | |
i speak of, you may find those passages somewhat repetitive. As soon | |
as you do, however, i believe you will realize that they contain a | |
great deal of spiritual power... I often address myself to the | |
knower in you who dwells behind the thinker, the deeper self that | |
immediately recognizes spiritual truth, resonates with it, and gains | |
strength from it. | |
# Chapter 1, You are not your mind | |
The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years | |
of misuse. The word God has become a closed concept. The instant | |
the word is uttered, a mental image is created, a mental | |
representation of someone or something outside you... Neither God | |
nor any other word can define or explain the ineffable reality behind | |
the word... Does [the word God] point beyond itself to that | |
transcendental reality, or does it lend itself too easily to becoming | |
no more than an idea in your head that you believe in, a mental idol? | |
Identification with your mind causes thought to become compulsive. | |
Not being able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we | |
don't realize this because almost everyone is suffering from it, so | |
it is considered normal. Identification with your mind creates an | |
opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and | |
definitions that blocks all true relationship. It comes between you | |
and yourself, between you and your fellow man and woman, between you | |
and nature, between you and God. | |
Let me ask you this: can you be free of your mind whenever you want | |
to? Have you found the "off" button? No? Then the mind is using | |
you. You are unconsciously identified with it, so you don't even | |
know that you are its slave. It's almost as if you were possessed | |
without knowing it, and so you take the possessing entity to be | |
yourself. ... The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher | |
level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize | |
that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that | |
thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize | |
that all the things that truly matter--beauty, love, creativity, joy, | |
inner peace--arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken. | |
The good news is that you can free yourself from your mind. You can | |
take the first step right now. Start listening to the voice in your | |
head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive | |
thought patterns, those old gramophone records that have been playing | |
in your head for perhaps many years. This is what i mean be | |
"watching the thinker," which is another way of saying: listen to the | |
voice in your head, be there as the witnessing presence. | |
When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. Do not | |
judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same | |
voice has come in again through the back door. You'll soon realize: | |
there is the voice, and here i am listening to it, watching it. This | |
I AM realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. | |
It arises from beyond the mind. | |
Instead of "watching the thinker," you can also create a gap in the | |
mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the | |
Now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is | |
a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way, you draw consciousness | |
away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are | |
highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of | |
meditation. | |
In your everyday life, you can practice this by taking any routine | |
activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your | |
fullest attention, so that it becomes an end in itself. Pay close | |
attention to every movement, even your breathing. Pay attention to | |
the sense perceptions associated with the activity, the sound, the | |
feel, the scent, etc. | |
Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind, the light of your | |
consciousness grows stronger. | |
One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head, as | |
you would smile at the antics of a child. This means that you no | |
longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your | |
sense of self does not depend on it. | |
The majority of most peoples' thinking is repetitive, useless, and | |
even harmful. It causes a serious leakage of vital energy. | |
Compulsive thinking is actually an addiction: you no longer feel that | |
you have the choice to stop. It seems stronger than you. | |
Because you are identified with [thinking], [it] means that you | |
derive your sense of self from the content and activity of your mind. | |
As you grow up, you form a mental image of who you are, based on | |
your personal and cultural conditioning. We may call this phantom | |
self the ego. It consists of mind activity and can only be kept | |
going through constant thinking. | |
To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only the past and | |
future [story-telling and planning, which is also story-telling] are | |
considered important. It says: "One day, when this, that, or the | |
other happens, i am going to be okay, happy, and at peace." | |
The present moment holds the key to liberation. But you cannot find | |
the present moment as long as you ARE your mind. | |
The mind is essentially a survival machine. It is not at all | |
creative. All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from | |
a place of no-mind, from inner stillness. The mind then gives form | |
to the creative impulse or insight. The surprising result of a | |
nationwide inquiry among America's most eminent mathematicians to | |
find out their working methods, was that thinking "plays only a | |
subordinate part in the brief, decisive phase of the creative act | |
itself." | |
The more we learn about the workings of the body, the more we realize | |
just how vast is the intelligence at work within it and how little we | |
know. When the mind reconnects with that, it becomes a most | |
wonderful tool. It then serves something greater than itself. | |
Emotion arises at the place where the mind and body meet. It is the | |
body's reaction to your mind--or you might say, a reflection of your | |
mind in the body. Of course, you are not usually conscious of all | |
your thought patterns, and it is often only through watching your | |
emotions that you can bring them into awareness. | |
If you cannot feel your emotions, if you are cut off from them, you | |
will eventually experience them on a purely physical level, as a | |
physical problem or symptom. | |
If you really want to know your mind, the body will always give you a | |
truthful reflection, so look at the emotion, or rather feel it in | |
your body. If there is an apparent conflict between them, the | |
thought will be the lie, the emotion will be the truth. Not the | |
ultimate truth of who you are, but the relative truth of your state | |
of mind at that time. | |
Basically, all emotions are modifications of one primordial, | |
undifferentiated emotion that has its origin in the loss of awareness | |
of who you are beyond name and form. It includes a continuous sense | |
of threat, a deep sense of abandonment and incompleteness. It may be | |
best to simply call it pain. The mind is an intrinsic part of the | |
"problem." | |
Love and joy lie beyond emotions, on a much deeper level. So you | |
need to become fully conscious of your emotions and be able to feel | |
them before you can feel that which lies beyond them. Emotion | |
literally means "disturbance." The word comes from the Latin | |
emovere, meaning "to disturb." | |
Love, joy, and peace are three aspects of the state of inner | |
connectedness with Being. As such, they have no opposite. This is | |
because they arise from beyond the mind. Emotions, on the other | |
hand, being part of the dualistic mind, are subject to the law of | |
opposites. This simply means that you cannot have good without bad. | |
So in the unenlightened, mind-identified condition, what is sometimes | |
wrongly called joy is the usually short-lived pleasure side of the | |
continuously alternating pain/pleasure cycle. Pleasure is always | |
derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within. | |
Real love doesn't make you suffer. Even within a "normal" addictive | |
relationship, there can be moments when the presence of something | |
more genuine, something incorruptible, can be felt. But they will | |
only be glimpses, soon to be covered up again through mind | |
interference. It wasn't an illusion, and you cannot lose it. It is | |
part of your natural state, which can be obscured but can never be | |
destroyed by the mind. | |
# Chapter 2, Consciousness: the way out of pain | |
The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as | |
long as the unobserved mind runs your life. | |
The pain that you create is always some form of nonacceptance, some | |
form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, | |
the resistance is some form of judgment. On the emotional level, it | |
is some form of negativity. | |
Yes, we need the mind as well as time to function in this world, but | |
there comes a point where they take over our lives, and this is where | |
dysfunction, pain, and sorrow set in. | |
If you no longer want to create pain for yourself and others, if you | |
no longer want to add to the residue of past pain that still lives on | |
in you, then don't create any more time, or at least no more than is | |
necessary to deal with the practical aspects of your life. How to | |
stop creating time? Realize deeply that the present moment is all | |
you ever have. Make Now the primary focus of your life. What could | |
be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to | |
something that already is? Say "yes" to life--and see how life | |
suddenly starts working FOR you rather than against you. | |
Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen | |
it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and | |
ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole | |
life. | |
As long as you are unable to access the power of the Now, every | |
emotional pain that you experience leaves behind a residue of pain | |
that lives on in you. It merges with the pain from the past, which | |
was already there, and becomes lodged in your mind and body. This, | |
of course, includes the pain you suffered as a child, caused by the | |
unconsciousness of the world into which you were born. [It begins | |
prior to birth when you share your mother's stress response and your | |
unborn body learns to contract.] | |
If you look at [this accumulated pain] as an invisible entity in its | |
own right, you are getting quite close to the truth. It's the | |
emotional pain-body. It has two modes of being: dormant and active. | |
... it's more important to observe it in yourself than in someone | |
else. Watch out for any sign of unhappiness in yourself, in whatever | |
form... Catch it the moment it awakens from its dormant state. | |
The pain-body wants to survive, just like every other entity in | |
existence, and it can only survive if it gets you to unconsciously | |
identify with it. It can then rise up, take you over, "become you," | |
and live through you. It needs to get its "food" through you. It | |
will feed on any experience that resonates with its own kind of | |
energy, anything that creates further pain... Pain can only feed on | |
pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible. | |
Once the pain-body has taken over you, you want more pain. You | |
become a victim or a perpetrator. You are not conscious of this... | |
but look closely and you will find that your thinking and behavior | |
are designed to keep the pain going, for yourself and others. | |
The pain-body, which is the dark shadow cast by the ego, is actually | |
afraid of the light of your consciousness. It is afraid of being | |
found out. The moment you observe [the pain body], feel its energy | |
field within you, and take your attention into it, the identification | |
is broken. A higher dimension of consciousness has come in. I call | |
it presence. You are now the witness or the watcher of the | |
pain-body. This means that it cannot use you anymore by pretending | |
to be you, and it can no longer replenish itself. | |
Just as you cannot fight the darkness, you cannot fight the | |
pain-body. Trying to do so would create inner conflict and thus | |
further pain. Watching it is enough. Watching it implies accepting | |
it as part of what IS at that moment. | |
When you start to disidentify and become the watcher, the pain-body | |
will continue to operate for a while and will try to trick you into | |
identifying with it again. Although you are no longer energizing it | |
through your identification, it has a certain momentum. At this | |
stage, it may also create physical aches and pains in different parts | |
of the body, but they won't last. Stay present, stay conscious. Be | |
the ever-alert guardian of your inner space. You need to be present | |
enough to be able to watch the pain-body directly and feel its | |
energy. It then cannot control your thinking. | |
Sustained conscious attention severs the link between the pain-body | |
and your thought processes and brings about the process of | |
transmutation. It is as if the pain becomes fuel for the flame of | |
your consciousness, which burns more brightly as a result. | |
Only you can do this. Nobody can do it for you. But if you are | |
fortunate enough to find someone who is intensely conscious, if you | |
can be with them and join them in the state of presence, that can be | |
helpful and will accelerate things. In this way, your own light will | |
quickly grow stronger. | |
The instinctive shrinking back from danger is not the same thing as | |
the psychological condition of fear. The psychological condition of | |
fear is divorced from any concrete and true immediate danger. This | |
kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, | |
not of something that is happening now. YOU are in the here and now, | |
while your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap. You | |
can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with | |
something that is only a mind-projection--you cannot cope with the | |
future. | |
Once you have disidentified from your mind, whether you are right or | |
wrong makes no difference to your sense of self at all, so the | |
forcefully compulsive and deeply unconscious need to be right, which | |
is a form of violence, will no longer be there. You can state | |
clearly and firmly how you feel or what you think, but there will be | |
no aggressiveness or defensiveness about it. Your sense of self is | |
then derived from a deeper and truer place within yourself, not from | |
the mind. | |
Another aspect of the emotional pain that is an intrinsic part of the | |
egoic mind is a deep-seated sense of lack or incompleteness, of not | |
being whole. In some people, this is conscious, in others | |
unconscious. If it is conscious, it manifests as the unsettling and | |
constant feeling of not being worthy or good enough. If it is | |
unconscious, it will only be felt indirectly as an intense craving, | |
wanting and needing. In either case, people will often enter into a | |
compulsive pursuit of ego-gratification and things to identify with | |
in order to fill this hole they feel within. | |
As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be | |
at ease; you cannot be at peace or fulfilled except for brief | |
intervals when you obtained what you wanted, when a craving has just | |
been fulfilled. | |
Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life | |
is to "die before you die"--and find that there is no death. | |
# Chapter 3, Moving deeply into the now | |
The problems of the mind cannot be solved on the level of the mind. | |
The study of madness isn't enough to create sanity. | |
For so many people, a large part of their sense of self is intimately | |
connected with their problems. Once this has happened, the last | |
thing they want is to become free of them; that would mean loss of | |
self. There can be a great deal of unconscious ego investment in | |
pain and suffering. [Suffering was not our purpose in coming to this | |
planet.] | |
To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the | |
compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and | |
anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and | |
future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present | |
moment and allow it to be. | |
The more you are focused on time--past and future--the more you miss | |
the Now, the most precious thing there is. | |
It is the most precious thing because it is the only thing. It's all | |
there is. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor | |
will there ever be. The now is the only point that can take you | |
beyond the limited confines of the mind. It is your only point of | |
access into the timeless and formless realm of Being. | |
In life-threatening emergency situations, the shift in consciousness | |
from time to presence sometimes happens naturally. The personality | |
that has a past and a future momentarily recedes and is replaced by | |
an intense conscious presence, very still but very alert at the same | |
time. Whatever response is needed then arises out of that state of | |
consciousness. | |
The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities, | |
such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on, although they may | |
not be aware of it, is that it forces them into the Now--that | |
intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of | |
thinking, free of the burden of personality. Slipping away from the | |
present moment even for a second may mean death. You can enter that | |
state now, without depending on a particular activity. | |
If you go to a church, you may hear readings from the Gospels such as | |
"Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought | |
for the things of itself," or "Nobody who puts his hands to the plow | |
and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God." Or you might hear the | |
passage about the beautiful flowers that are not anxious about | |
tomorrow but live with ease in the timeless Now and are provided for | |
abundantly by God. The depth and radical nature of these teachings | |
are not recognized. No one seems to realize that they are meant to | |
be lived and so bring about a profound inner transformation. | |
The mind cannot know the tree. It can only know facts or information | |
about the tree. My mind cannot know you, only labels, judgments, | |
facts, and opinions about you. Only "Being" knows directly. | |
There is a place for mind and mind knowledge. It is in the practical | |
realm of day-to-day living. However, when it takes over all aspects | |
of your life, including your relationships with other human beings | |
and with nature, it becomes a monstrous parasite that, unchecked, may | |
end up killing all life on the planet and finally itself by killing | |
its host. | |
Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or | |
person that [you are reacting to.] Don't make a personal problem out | |
of them. [Just observe.] | |
Intense presence is needed when certain situations trigger a reaction | |
with a strong emotional charge... In those instances, the tendency | |
is for you to become "unconscious." You act out, except it isn't | |
you, it's the reactive pattern, the mind in its habitual survival | |
mode. | |
Observation of the mind withdraws energy from it and opens up the | |
dimension of timelessness. The energy that is withdrawn from the | |
mind turns into a presence. Once you can feel what it means to be | |
present, it becomes much easier to simply choose to step out of the | |
time dimension whenever time is not needed for practical purposes and | |
move more deeply into the Now. This does not impair your ability to | |
use time--past or future--when you need to refer to it for practical | |
matters. Nor does it impair your ability to use your mind. In fact, | |
it enhances it. When you do use your mind, it will be sharper, more | |
focused. | |
Be alert so that you do not unwittingly transform clock time into | |
psychological time. For example, if you make a mistake in the past | |
and learn from it now, you are using clock time. On the other hand, | |
if you dwell on it mentally, and self-criticism, remorse, or guilt | |
come up, then you are making the mistake into "me" and "mine": You | |
make it part of your sense of self, and it has become psychological | |
time, which is always linked to a false sense of identity. | |
Nonforgiveness necessarily implies a heavy burden of psychological | |
time. | |
In the normal, mind-identified or unenlightened state of | |
consciousness, the power and infinite creative potential that lie | |
concealed in the Now are completely obscured by psychological time. | |
Your life then loses its vibrancy, its freshness, its sense of | |
wonder. The old patterns of thought, emotion, behavior, reaction, | |
and desire are acted out in endless repeat performances, a script in | |
your mind that gives you an identity of sorts but distorts or covers | |
up the reality of the Now. | |
[You can never reach freedom because you are already free now.] There | |
is no salvation in time. You cannot be free in the future. Presence | |
is the key to freedom, so you can only be free now. | |
Your life situation exists in time. Your life is now. Your life | |
situation is mind-stuff. Your life is real. | |
When you are full of problems, there is no room for anything new to | |
enter, no room for a solution. So whenever you can, make some room, | |
create some space, so that you find the life underneath your life | |
situation. | |
Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look, | |
don't interpret. See the light, shapes, colors, textures. Be aware | |
of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that | |
allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don't judge them. | |
Listen to the silence underneath the sounds. Touch | |
something--anything--and feel and acknowledge its Being. Observe the | |
rhythm of your breathing; feel the air flowing in and out, feel the | |
life energy inside your body. Allow everything to be, within and | |
without. Allow the "isness" of all things. Move deeply into the Now. | |
You are leaving behind the deadening world of mental abstraction, of | |
time. You are getting out of the insane mind that is draining you of | |
life energy, just as it is slowly poisoning and destroying the Earth. | |
You are awakening out of the dream of time into the present. | |
If you have ever been in a life-or-death emergency situation, you | |
will know that it wasn't a problem. The mind didn't have time to | |
fool around and make it into a problem. In a true emergency, the | |
mind stops; you become totally present in the Now, and something | |
infinitely more powerful takes over. | |
The time-bound mode of consciousness is deeply embedded in the human | |
psyche. But what we are doing here is part of a profound | |
transformation that is taking place in the collective consciousness | |
of the planet and beyond: the awakening of consciousness from the | |
dream of matter, form, and separation. The ending of time. We are | |
breaking mind patterns that have dominated human life for eons. Mind | |
patterns that have created unimaginable suffering on a vast scale. | |
To alert you that you have allowed yourself to be taken over by | |
psychological time, you can use a simple criterion. Ask yourself: Is | |
there joy, ease, and lightness in what i am doing? If there isn't, | |
then time is covering up the present moment, and life is perceived as | |
a burden or a struggle. | |
If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does | |
not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It | |
may be sufficient to change the how. "How" is always more important | |
than "what." | |
# Chapter 4, Mind strategies for avoiding the now | |
To know that you are not present is a great success. That knowing is | |
presence--even if initially it only lasts for a couple of seconds of | |
clock time before it is lost again. | |
Most humans alternate not between consciousness and unconsciousness | |
but only between different levels of unconsciousness. | |
Ordinary unconsciousness means being identified with your thought | |
processes and emotions, your reactions, desires, and aversions. It | |
is most people's normal state. | |
Deep unconsciousness often means that the pain-body has been | |
triggered and that you have become identified with it. Physical | |
violence would be impossible without deep unconsciousness. | |
The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal | |
with life's challenges when they come. Through those challenges, an | |
already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious, | |
and a conscious person more intensely conscious. | |
If you cannot be present even in normal circumstances, such as when | |
you are sitting alone in a room, walking in the woods, or listening | |
to someone, then you certainly won't be able to stay conscious when | |
something "goes wrong" or you are faced with difficult people or | |
situations, with loss or the threat of loss. You will be taken over | |
by a reaction, which is always some form of fear, and pulled into | |
deep unconsciousness. Those challenges are your tests. Only the way | |
in which you deal with them will show you and others where you are at | |
as far as your state of consciousness is concerned... | |
So it is essential to bring more consciousness into your life in | |
ordinary situations when everything is going relatively smoothly. | |
[Sounds like first-world privilege to me.] In this way, you grow in | |
presence power. | |
Why are you always anxious? Jesus asked his disciples. "Can anxious | |
thought add a single day to your life?" And the Buddha taught that | |
the root of suffering is to be found in our constant wanting and | |
craving. | |
To be free of this affliction, make it conscious. Observe the many | |
ways in which unease, discontentment, and tension arise within you... | |
Anything unconscious dissolves when you shine the light of | |
consciousness on it. | |
"Am i at ease in this moment?" is a good question to ask yourself | |
frequently. Or you can ask: "What's going on inside me at this | |
moment?" Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as | |
what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will | |
fall into place. [Wash the inside of the pot before washing the | |
outside.] | |
Do you realize that the energy you thus emanate [from resentment] is | |
so harmful in its effects that you are in fact contaminating yourself | |
as well as those around you? Have a good look inside. Is there even | |
the slightest trace of resentment, unwillingness? If there is, | |
observe it... What thoughts is your mind creating around this | |
situation? Do your emotions feel pleasant or unpleasant? Is this an | |
energy that you would actually choose to have inside you? Do you | |
have a choice? | |
The pollution of the planet is only an outward reflection of an inner | |
psychic pollution: millions of unconscious individuals not taking | |
responsibility for their inner space. | |
Either stop what you are doing, speak to the person concerned and | |
express fully what you feel, or drop the negativity that your mind | |
has created around the situation and that serves no purpose | |
whatsoever except to strengthen a false sense of self. Negativity is | |
never the optimum way of dealing with any situation. In most cases | |
it keeps you stuck in it, blocking real change. [Focus is on the | |
problem, not on arriving at a solution.] | |
Deep pain usually needs to be transmuted through acceptance combined | |
with the light of your presence--your sustained attention. Many | |
patterns in ordinary unconsciousness, on the other hand, can simply | |
be dropped once you know that you don't want them and don't need them | |
anymore, once you realize that you have a choice and that you are not | |
just a bundle of conditioned reflexes. Without the power of Now, you | |
have no choice. | |
[I am just a bundle of conditioned reflexes, and i only have the | |
sensation of choice. I am happier off with this illusion because it | |
allows me to feel empowered by assuming responsibility for my | |
choices. But the truth is that my decision is a rationalization, a | |
story invented long after an unconscious departure toward a behavior. | |
This rationalization is insubstantial and easily falsified. The | |
bulk of life happens in the unconscious, and its working is quite | |
mechanical. If one could parse out this conditioning, there would be | |
scarcely anything left. "I" am the shapes imagined in clouds and | |
coincidental patterns spotted within a house of cards.] | |
When you have been practicing acceptance for a while, there comes a | |
point when you need to go on to the next stage, where the negative | |
emotions are not created any more. If you don't, your "acceptance" | |
just becomes a mental label that allows your ego to continue to | |
indulge in unhappiness and so strengthen its sense of separation from | |
other people, your surroundings, your here and now. True acceptance | |
would transmute those feelings at once. | |
[But how can there be a next stage if time doesn't exist?] | |
To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably | |
carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make | |
yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in power. So | |
change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary | |
or possible; leave the situation or accept it. | |
Any action is often better than no action... If it is a mistake, at | |
least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. | |
If you remain stuck, you learn nothing. | |
Or you can drop the whole thing and sit on a park bench. But when | |
you do, watch your mind. It may say: "You should be working. You | |
are wasting time." Observe the mind. Smile at it. | |
Waiting is a state of mind. Basically, it means that you want the | |
future; you don't want the present. You don't want what you've got, | |
and you want what you haven't got. This greatly reduces the quality | |
of your life by making you lose the present. | |
You can try to improve your life situation, but you cannot improve | |
your life. Life is primary. | |
If you delve into the past, it will become a bottomless pit: There is | |
always more. | |
As you become more conscious of your present reality, you may | |
suddenly get certain insights as to why your conditioning functions | |
in those particular ways--for example, why your relationships follow | |
certain patterns--and you may remember things that happened in the | |
past or see them more clearly. That is fine and can be helpful, but | |
it is not essential. What is essential is your conscious presence. | |
THAT dissolves the past. That is the transformative agent. So don't | |
seem to understand the past, but be as present as you can. The past | |
cannot survive in your presence. It can only survive in your absence. | |
# Chapter 5, The state of presence | |
Try a little experiment. Close your eyes and say to yourself: "I | |
wonder what my next thought is going to be." Then become very alert | |
and wait for the next thought. Be like a cat watching a mouse hole. | |
What thought is going to come out of the mouse hole? Try it now. | |
As long as you are in a state of intense presence, you are free of | |
thought. [So you may have to wait for quite a long time before a | |
thought comes in.] You are still, yet highly alert. The instant | |
your conscious attention sinks below a certain level, thought rushes | |
in. The mental noise returns; the stillness is lost. You are back | |
in time. | |
To test their degree of presence, some Zen masters have been known to | |
creep up on their students from behind and suddenly hit them with a | |
stick. Quite a shock! If the student had been fully present and in | |
a state of alertness, he would have noticed the master coming up from | |
behind and stopped him or stepped aside. But if he were hit, that | |
would mean he was immersed in thought, which is to say absent, | |
unconscious. One of the analogies Jesus used for presence is keeping | |
one's loin girded and lamp burning. | |
Body awareness keeps you present. | |
In a sense, the state of presence could be compared to waiting. | |
Jesus used the analogy of waiting in some of his parables. This is | |
not the usual bored or restless kind of waiting that is a denial of | |
the present and that I spoke about already. It is not a waiting in | |
which your attention is focused on some point in the future and the | |
present is perceived as an undesirable obstacle that prevents you | |
from having what you want. There is a qualitatively different kind | |
of waiting, one that requires your total alertness. Something could | |
happen any moment, and if you are not absolutely awake, absolutely | |
still, you will miss it. This is the kind of waiting Jesus talks | |
about. | |
[Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in | |
awhile, you could miss it. --Ferris Bueler's Day Off] | |
"Be like a servant waiting for the return of the master," says Jesus. | |
The servant does not know at what hour the master is going to come. | |
So he stays awake, alert, poised, still, let he miss the master's | |
arrival. These are parables not about the end of the world but about | |
the end of psychological time. | |
Mind can neither recognize nor create beauty. Only for a few | |
seconds, while you were completely present, was that beauty or | |
sacredness there. Because of the narrowness of that gap and a lack | |
of vigilance and alertness on your part, you were probably unable to | |
see the fundamental difference between the perception, the | |
thoughtless awareness of beauty, and the naming and interpreting of | |
it as thought: The time gap was so small that it seemed to be a | |
single process. The truth is, however, that the moment thought came | |
in, all you had was a memory of it. | |
The wider the time gap between perception and thought, the more depth | |
there is to you as a human being, which is to say the more conscious | |
you are. | |
Many people are so imprisoned in their minds that the beauty of | |
nature does not really exist for them. They might say, "What a | |
pretty flower," but that's just a mechanical labeling. Because they | |
are not still, not present, they don't truly see the flower, don't | |
feel its presence, its holiness--just as they don't know themselves, | |
don't feel their own essence, their own holiness. | |
Because we live in such a mind-dominated culture, most modern art, | |
architecture, music, and literature are devoid of beauty, of inner | |
essence, with very few exceptions. The reason is that the people who | |
create those things cannot--even for a moment--free themselves from | |
their mind. So they are never in touch with that place within where | |
true creativity and beauty arise. The mind left to itself creates | |
monstrosities, and not only in art galleries. Look at our urban | |
landscapes and industrial wastelands. No civilization has ever | |
produced so much ugliness. | |
Falling back to a level of consciousness below mind, which is the | |
pre-thinking level of our distant ancestors and of [other] animals | |
and plants, is not an option for us. There is no way back. If the | |
human race is to survive, it will have to go on to the next stage. | |
Silence is an even more potent carrier of presence [than words of | |
mystical power], so... be aware of the silence between and underneath | |
the words. Be aware of the gaps. To listen to the silence, wherever | |
you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even if | |
there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in | |
between the sounds. Listening to the silence immediately creates | |
stillness inside you. Only the stillness in you can perceive the | |
silence outside. And what is stillness other than presence, | |
consciousness freed from thought forms? | |
Many misunderstandings and false beliefs about Christ will clear if | |
you realize that there is no past or future in Christ. To say that | |
Christ WAS or WILL BE is a contradiction in terms. Jesus said | |
"Before Abraham was, I am." He did not say: "I already existed | |
before Abraham was born." That would have meant that he was still | |
within the dimension of time and form identity. The words I AM used | |
in a sentence that starts in the past tense indicate a radical shift, | |
a discontinuity in the temporal dimension. It is a Zen-like | |
statement of great profundity. Jesus attempted to convey directly, | |
not through discursive thought, the meaning of presence... | |
And what is God's self-definition in the Bible? God said: "I AM THAT | |
I AM." No time here, just presence. | |
Without a false self to uphold, defend, and feed, [enlightened | |
masters] are more simple, more ordinary than the ordinary man or | |
woman. Anyone with a strong ego would regard them as insignificant, | |
or more likely, not see them at all. | |
If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is | |
already enough presence in you to recognize presence in another. | |
Only light can recognize the light. | |
# Chapter 6, The inner body | |
Over the centuries, many erroneous views and interpretations have | |
accumulated around words such as SIN, due to ignorance, | |
misunderstanding, or a desire to control [others], but they contain | |
an essential core of truth. If you are unable to look beyond such | |
interpretations and so cannot recognize the reality to which the word | |
points, then don't use it. Don't get stuck on the level of words. A | |
word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not | |
unlike a sign, it points beyond itself. | |
The word HONEY isn't honey. You can study and talk about honey for | |
as long as you like, but you won't really know it until you taste it. | |
After you have tasted it, the word becomes less important to you. | |
You won't be attached to it anymore. Similarly, you can talk or | |
think about God continuously for the rest of your life, but does that | |
mean you know or have even glimpsed the reality to which the word | |
points? It really is no more than an obsessive attachment to a | |
signpost, a mental idol. | |
So, if a word doesn't work for you anymore, then drop it and replace | |
it with one that does work. If you don't like the word sin, then | |
call it unconsciousness or insanity. That may get you closer to the | |
truth, the reality behind the word... and leaves little room for | |
guilt. | |
Perhaps you haven't looked very deeply into the human condition in | |
its state of dominance by the egoic mind. Open your eyes and see the | |
fear, the despair, the greed, and the violence that are | |
all-pervasive. See the heinous cruelty and suffering on an | |
unimaginable scale that the humans have inflicted and continue to | |
inflict on each other as well as on other life forms on the planet. | |
You don't need to condemn. Just observe. That is [what] sin [is]. | |
That is [what] insanity [is]. ... Above all, don't forget to observe | |
your own mind. Seek out the root of the insanity there. | |
The body that you can see and touch cannot take you into into Being. | |
But that visible and tangible body is only an outer shell, or rather | |
a limited and distorted perception of a deeper reality. In your | |
natural state of connectedness with Being, this deeper reality can be | |
felt every moment as the invisible inner body, the animating presence | |
within you. So to "inhabit the body" is to feel the body from | |
within, to feel the life inside the body and thereby come to know | |
that you are beyond the outer form. | |
But that is only the beginning of an inward journey that will take | |
you ever more deeply into a realm of great stillness and peace, yet | |
also of great power and vibrant life. | |
To become conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from | |
the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual | |
journey. It will free vast amounts of consciousness that previously | |
had been trapped in useless and compulsive thinking. | |
If you cannot feel very much at this stage, pay attention to whatever | |
you CAN feel. Just focus on the feeling. Your body is coming alive. | |
Later, you will practice some more. | |
The inner body lies at the threshold between your form identity and | |
your essence identity, your true nature. | |
Adam and Eve saw that they were naked, and they became afraid. | |
Unconscious denial of their animal nature set in very quickly. The | |
threat that they might be taken over by powerful instinctual drives | |
and revert back to complete unconsciousness was indeed a very real | |
one. Shame and taboos appeared around certain parts of the body and | |
bodily functions, especially sexuality. The light of their | |
consciousness was not yet strong enough to make friends with their | |
animal nature, to allow it to be and even enjoy that aspect of | |
themselves--let alone go to deeply into it to find the divine hidden | |
within it, the reality within the illusion. So they did what they | |
had to do. They began to disassociate from their body... | |
When religions arose, this disassociation became even more | |
pronounced... | |
The fact is that no one has ever become enlightened through denying | |
or fighting the body... Transformation is THROUGH the body, not away | |
from it. | |
You ARE your body. The body that you can see and touch is only a | |
thin illusory veil. Underneath it lies the invisible inner body, the | |
doorway into Being, into Life Unmanifested. Through the inner body, | |
you are inseparably connected to this unmanifested One | |
Life--birthless, deathless, eternally present. Through the inner | |
body, you are forever one with God. | |
Whenever you are waiting, wherever it may be, use that time to feel | |
the inner body. In this way, traffic jams and lines become very | |
enjoyable. Instead of mentally projecting yourself away from the | |
Now, go more deeply into the Now by going more deeply into the body. | |
The word Unmanifested attempts, by way of negation, to express That | |
which cannot be spoken, thought, or imagined. It points to what IS | |
by saying what it is NOT. Being, on the other hand, is a positive | |
term. These words are no more than signposts. | |
Feeling will get you closer to the truth of who you are than thinking | |
[will]. | |
When you become identified more with the timeless inner body than | |
with the outer body, when presence becomes your normal mode of | |
consciousness and past and future no longer dominate your attention, | |
you do not accumulate time anymore in your psyche and in the cells of | |
the body. The accumulation of time as the psychological burden of | |
past and future greatly impairs the cells' capacity for self-renewal. | |
So if you inhabit the inner body, the outer body will grow old at a | |
much slower rate, and even when it does, your timeless essence will | |
shine through the outer form, and you will not give the appearance of | |
an old person. | |
Try it out and you will BE the evidence. | |
If at any time you are finding it hard to get in touch with the inner | |
body, it is usually easier to focus on your breathing first. | |
Conscious breathing, which is a powerful meditation in its own right, | |
will gradually put you in touch with the body. | |
Whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop | |
thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your inner energy | |
field. Become aware of the stillness. When you resume thinking, it | |
will be fresh and creative. Don't just think with your head, think | |
with your whole body. | |
When listening to another person, don't just listen with your mind, | |
listen with your whole body. Feel the energy field of your inner | |
body as you listen. That takes attention away from thinking and | |
creates a still space that enables you to truly listen without the | |
mind interfering. You are giving the other person space to be. It | |
is the most precious gift you can give. | |
Most people don't know how to listen because the major part of their | |
attention is taken up by thinking. They pay more attention to that | |
than to what the other person is saying, and none at all to what | |
really matters: the Being of the other person underneath the words | |
and mind. Of course, you cannot feel someone else's Being except | |
through your own. This is the beginning of the realization of | |
oneness, which is love. | |
# Chapter 7, Portals into the unmanifested | |
[To deepen bodily awareness] make it into a meditation. Ten to | |
fifteen minutes of clock time should be sufficient. First make sure | |
that there are no external distractions such as telephones or people | |
who are likely to interrupt you. If possible, keep the spine erect. | |
If you sit in a chair, don't lean back. This will help you to stay | |
alert. | |
Make sure the body is relaxed. Close your eyes. Take a few deep | |
breaths. Feel yourself breathing into the lower abdomen, as it were. | |
Observe how it expands and contacts slightly with each in and out | |
breath. Then become aware of the entire inner energy field of the | |
body. Don't think about it--FEEL it. Then take your attention even | |
more deeply into that feeling. Become one with it. Merge with the | |
energy field, so that there is no longer a perceived duality of the | |
observer and the observed, of you and your body. The distinction | |
between inner and outer also dissolves now, so there is no inner body | |
anymore. By going deeply into the body, you have transcended the | |
body. | |
Stay in this realm of pure Being for as long as feels comfortable; | |
then become aware again of the physical body, your breathing and | |
physical senses, and open your eyes. Look at your surroundings for a | |
few minutes in a meditative way--that is, without labeling them | |
mentally--and continue to feel the inner body as you do so. | |
The Unmanifested is the source of chi. Chi is the inner energy field | |
of your body. It is the bridge between the outer you and the Source. | |
It lies halfway between the manifested, the world of form, and the | |
Unmanifested. Chi can be likened to a river or an energy stream. If | |
you take the focus of your consciousness deeply into the inner body, | |
you are tracing the course of this river back to its Source. Chi is | |
movement; the Unmanifested is stillness. When you reach a point of | |
absolute stillness, which is nevertheless vibrant with life, you have | |
gone beyond the inner body and beyond chi to the Source itself: the | |
Unmanifested. Chi is the link between the Unmanifested and the | |
physical universe. | |
Now let your spiritual practice be this: As you go about your life, | |
don't give 100 percent of your attention to the external world and to | |
your mind. Keep some within. | |
The Now can be seen as the main portal. It is an essential aspect of | |
every other portal... | |
* Inner body: You cannot be in your body without being intensely | |
present in the Now. | |
* Meditation: Another portal into the Unmanifested is created through | |
the cessation of thinking. | |
* Surrender: The letting go of mental-emotional resistance to what | |
is--also becomes a portal into the unmanifested. In the state of | |
surrender, your form identity softens and becomes somewhat | |
"transparent," as it were, so the Unmanifested can shine through | |
you. | |
* Silence: Paying attention to outer silence creates inner silence: | |
the mind becomes still. A portal is opening up. Every sound is | |
born out of silence, dies back into silence, and during its life | |
span is surrounded by silence. Silence enables every sound to be. | |
It is an intrinsic but unmanifested part of every sound... The | |
Unmanifested is present in this world as silence. [the still, | |
small voice] | |
* Space: The Unmanifested also pervades the entire physical universe | |
as space--from within and without. "Nothing" can only become a | |
portal into the Unmanifested if you don't try to grasp or | |
understand it. Don't think about the space around you, feel it and | |
pay attention to it. | |
It's up to you to open a portal in your life that gives you conscious | |
access to the Unmanifested. | |
As soon as one of the portals is open, love is present in you as the | |
"feeling-realization" of oneness. Love isn't a portal; it's what | |
comes through the portal into this world. Your task is not to search | |
for love but to find a portal through which love can enter. [Seek | |
and you will find.] | |
If you remain in conscious connection with the Unmanifested, you | |
value, love, and deeply respect the manifested and every life form in | |
it as an expression of the One Life beyond form. You also know that | |
every form is destined to dissolve again and that ultimately nothing | |
out here matters all that much. You have "overcome the world," in | |
the words of Jesus, or, as the Buddha put it, you have "crossed over | |
to the other shore." | |
You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. | |
THAT IS HOW IMPORTANT YOU ARE! | |
Apart from dreamless sleep, there is one other involuntary portal. | |
It opens up briefly at the time of physical death. Even if you have | |
missed all the other opportunities for spiritual realization during | |
your lifetime, one last portal will open up for you immediately after | |
the body has died. | |
Every portal is a portal of death, the death of the false self. When | |
you go through it, you cease to derive your identity from your | |
psychological, mind-made form. Death is the end of illusion. It is | |
painful only as long as you cling to illusion. | |
# Chapter 8, Enlightened relationships | |
But there comes a point when your partner behaves in ways that fail | |
to meet your needs, or rather those of your ego. The feelings of | |
fear, pain, and lack that are an intrinsic part of egoic | |
consciousness but had been covered up by the "love relationship" now | |
resurface. Just as with every other addiction, you are on a high | |
when the drug is available, but invariably there comes a time when | |
the drug no longer works for you. When those painful feelings | |
reappear, you feel them even more strongly than before, and what is | |
more, you now perceive your partner as the CAUSE of those feelings. | |
Avoidance of relationships in an attempt to avoid pain is not the | |
answer either. The pain is there anyway. Three failed relationships | |
in as many years are more likely to force you into awakening than | |
three years on a desert island or shut away in your room. [Or on a | |
park bench.] | |
Love is not selective, just as the light of the sun is not selective. | |
It does not make one person special. It is not exclusive. | |
Exclusivity is not the love of God but the "love" of ego. | |
Even in an otherwise addictive relationship, there may be moments | |
when something more real shines through, something beyond your mutual | |
addictive needs. These are moments when both your mind and your | |
partner's mind briefly subside and the pain-body is temporarily in a | |
dormant state. | |
As the egoic mode of consciousness and all the social, political, and | |
economic structures that it created enter the final stage of | |
collapse, the relationships between men and women reflect the deep | |
state of crisis in which humanity now finds itself. However, every | |
crisis represents not only danger but also opportunity. If | |
relationships energize and magnify egoic mind patterns and activate | |
the pain-body, as they do at this time, why not accept this fact | |
rather than try to escape from it? So whenever your relationship is | |
not working, whenever it brings out the "madness" in you and in your | |
partner, be glad. What was unconscious is being brought up to the | |
light. | |
Humanity is under great pressure to evolve because it is our only | |
chance of survival as a race. This will affect every aspect of your | |
life and close relationships in particular. Never before have | |
relationships been as problematic and conflict ridden as they are | |
now. [At least not openly, in the light.] As you may have noticed, | |
they are not here to make you happy or fulfilled. ... But if you | |
accept that the relationship is here to make you CONSCIOUS instead of | |
happy, then the relationship WILL offer you salvation, and you will | |
be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness that wants to be | |
born into this world. | |
When your partner behaves unconsciously, relinquish all judgment. | |
Judgment is either to confuse someone's unconscious behavior with who | |
they are or to project your own unconsciousness onto another person | |
and mistake THAT for who they are. To relinquish judgment does not | |
mean that you do not recognize dysfunction and unconsciousness when | |
you see it. It means "being the knowing" rather than "being the | |
reaction" and the judge. You will then either be totally free of | |
reaction or you may react and still be the knowing, the space in | |
which the reaction is watched and allowed to be. Instead of fighting | |
the darkness, you bring in the light. Instead of reacting to | |
delusion, you see the delusion yet at the same time look through it. | |
Being the knowing creates a clear space of loving presence that | |
allows all things and all people to be as they are. No greater | |
catalyst for transformation exists. | |
If your partner is still identified with the mind and the pain-body | |
while you are already free, this will present a major challenge--not | |
to you but to your partner. It is not easy to live with an | |
enlightened person, or rather it is so easy that the ego finds it | |
extremely threatening. Remember that the ego needs problems, | |
conflicts, and "enemies" to strengthen the sense of separateness on | |
which its identity depends. The unenlightened person's mind will be | |
deeply frustrated because its fixed positions are not resisted, which | |
means they will become shaky and weak, and there is even the "danger" | |
that they may collapse altogether, resulting in loss of self. The | |
pain-body is demanding feedback and not getting it. The need for | |
argument, drama, and conflict is not being met. But beware: Some | |
people who are unresponsive, withdrawn, insensitive, or cut off from | |
their feelings may think and try to convince others that they are | |
enlightened, or at least that there is "nothing wrong" with them and | |
everything wrong with their partner. Men tend to do that more than | |
women. | |
If there isn't an emanation of love and joy, complete presence and | |
openness toward all beings, then it is not enlightenment. ... If your | |
"enlightenment" is egoic self-delusion, then life will soon give you | |
a challenge that will bring out your unconsciousness in whatever | |
form... If you are in a relationship, many of your challenges will | |
come through your partner. | |
If you are consistently or at least predominantly present in your | |
relationship, this will be the greatest challenge for your partner. | |
They will not be able to tolerate your presence for very long and | |
stay unconscious. If they are ready, they will walk through the door | |
that you opened for them and join you in that state. If they are | |
not, you will separate like oil and water. The light is too painful | |
for someone who wants to remain in the darkness. | |
Generally speaking, it is easier for a woman to feel and be in her | |
body, so she is naturally closer to Being and potentially closer to | |
enlightenment than a man. In the Tao Te Ching, the Tao, which could | |
be translated as Being, is described as "infinite, eternally present, | |
the mother of the universe." The Goddess or Divine Mother has two | |
aspects: She gives life, and she takes life. | |
When the mind took over and humans lost touch with the reality of | |
their divine essence, they started to think of God as a male figure. | |
As a general rule, the major obstacle for men tends to be the | |
thinking mind, and the major obstacle for women the pain-body, though | |
in certain individual cases the opposite may be true, and in others | |
the two factors may be equal. | |
The pain-body has a collective as well as a personal aspect. The | |
collective one is the pain accumulated in the collective human psyche | |
over thousands of years through disease, torture, war, murder, | |
cruelty, madness, and so on. Everyone's personal pain-body also | |
partakes in the collective pain-body. | |
Apart from her personal pain-body, every woman has her share in what | |
could be described as the collective female pain-body--unless she is | |
fully conscious. | |
The number of women who are now approaching the fully conscious state | |
already exceeds that of men and will be growing even faster in the | |
years to come. ... for some considerable time there will be a gap | |
between the consciousness of men and that of women. Women are | |
regaining the function that is their birthright and, therefore, comes | |
to them more naturally than it does to men: to be a bridge between | |
the manifested world and the Unmanifested, between physicality and | |
spirit. | |
Enlightened or not, you are either a man or a woman, so on the level | |
of your form identity you are not complete. You are one-half of the | |
whole. | |
[Regarding gay people:] | |
Being an outsider [in a minority group], someone who does not "fit | |
in" with others or is rejected by them, for whatever reason, makes | |
life difficult, but it also places you at an advantage as far as | |
enlightenment is concerned. It takes you out of unconsciousness | |
almost by force. | |
On the other hand, if you then develop a sense of identity based on | |
your gayness, you have escaped one trap only to fall into another. | |
You will play roles and games dictated by a mental image you have of | |
yourself as gay. | |
[Regarding self-love:] | |
If you cannot be at ease with yourself when you are alone, you will | |
seek a relationship to cover up your unease. You can be sure that | |
the unease will then reappear in some other form within the | |
relationship, and you will probably hold your partner responsible for | |
it. | |
But do you need to have a relationship with yourself at all? Why | |
can't you just BE yourself? When you have a relationship with | |
yourself, you have split yourself into two: "I" and "myself." That | |
mind-created duality is the root cause of all unnecessary complexity, | |
of all problems and conflict in your life. | |
# Chapter 9, Beyond happiness and unhappiness there is peace | |
Q: This sounds to me like denial and self-deception. When something | |
dreadful happens to me or someone close to me--accident, illness, | |
pain of some kind, or death--I can pretend that it isn't bad, but the | |
fact remains that it is bad, so why deny it? | |
A: You are not pretending anything. You are allowing it to be as it | |
is, that's all. This "allowing to be" takes you beyond the mind with | |
its resistance patterns that create the positive-negative polarities. | |
It is an essential aspect of forgiveness. Forgiveness of the | |
present is even more important that forgiveness of the past. If you | |
forgive every moment--allow it to be as it is--then there will be no | |
accumulation of resentment that needs to be forgiven at some later | |
time. | |
Remember that we are not talking about happiness here. For example, | |
when a loved one has just died, or when you feel your own death | |
approaching, you cannot be happy. It is impossible. But you CAN be | |
at peace. There may be sadness and tears, but provided that you have | |
relinquished resistance, underneath the sadness you will feel a deep | |
serenity, a stillness, a sacred presence. This is the emanation of | |
Being, this is inner peace, the good that has no opposite. | |
> Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your | |
> destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs? --Marcus | |
> Aurelius | |
It seems that most people need to experience a great deal of | |
suffering before they will relinquish resistance and accept--before | |
they will forgive. As soon as they do, one of the greatest miracles | |
happens: the awakening of Being-consciousness through what appears to | |
be evil, the transmutation of suffering into inner peace. | |
Most of the so-called bad things that happen in people's lives are | |
due to unconsciousness. They are self-created, or rather | |
ego-created. I sometimes refer to those things as "drama." When you | |
are fully conscious, drama does not come into your life anymore. | |
When you live in complete acceptance of what is, that is the end of | |
all drama in your life. Nobody can even have an argument with you, | |
no matter how hard he or she tries. You cannot have an argument with | |
a fully conscious person. An argument implies identification with | |
your mind and a mental position, as well as resistance and reaction | |
to the other person's position. The result is that the polar | |
opposites become mutually energized. These are the mechanics of | |
unconsciousness. | |
You can still make your point clearly and firmly, but there will be | |
no reactive force behind it, no defense or attack. So it won't turn | |
into drama. When you are fully conscious, you cease to be in | |
conflict. ... This refers not only to conflict with other people but | |
more fundamentally to conflict within you, which ceases when there is | |
no longer any clash between the demands and expectations of your mind | |
and what is. | |
As long as you are in this dimension, you are still subject to its | |
cyclical nature and to the law of impermanence of all things, but you | |
no longer perceive this as "bad"--it just is. | |
The down cycle is absolutely essential for spiritual realization. | |
You must have failed deeply on some level or experienced some deep | |
loss or pain to be drawn to the spiritual dimension. Or perhaps your | |
very success became empty and meaningless and so turned out to be | |
failure. Failure lies concealed in every success, and success in | |
every failure. In this world, everybody "fails" sooner or later, of | |
course, and every achievement eventually comes to naught. All forms | |
are impermanent. | |
You can still be active and enjoy manifesting and creating new forms | |
and circumstances, but you won't be identified with them. You do not | |
need them to give you a sense of self. They are not your life--only | |
your life situation. | |
Your physical energy is also subject to cycles. It cannot always be | |
at a peak. A cycle can last for anything from a few hours to a few | |
years. Many illnesses are created through fighting against cycles of | |
low energy, which are vital for regeneration. ... Thus, the | |
intelligence of the [physical] organism may take over as a | |
self-protective measure and create an illness in order to force you | |
to stop, so that the necessary regeneration can take place. | |
Impermanence is also central to Jesus's teaching: "Do not lay up for | |
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where | |
thieves break in and steal..." | |
Nothing can give you joy. Joy is uncaused and arises from within as | |
the joy of Being. It is an essential part of the inner state of | |
peace, the state that has been called the peace of God. It is your | |
natural state, not something that you need to work hard for or | |
struggle to attain. | |
To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, | |
and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things | |
being in a certain way, good or bad. | |
All inner resistance is experienced as negativity in one form or | |
another. All negativity IS resistance. In this context, the two | |
words are almost synonymous. Negativity ranges from irritation or | |
impatience to fierce anger, from a depressed mood or sullen | |
resentment to suicidal despair. Sometimes the resistence triggers | |
the emotional pain-body, in which case even a minor situation may | |
produce intense negativity, such as anger, depression, or deep grief. | |
The ego believes that through negativity it can manipulate reality | |
and get what it wants. The only "useful" function is that it | |
strengthens the ego, and that is why the ego loves it. | |
When you have reached a certain degree of presence, you don't need | |
negativity anymore to tell you what is needed in your life situation. | |
But as long as negativity IS there, use it. Use it as a kind of | |
signal that reminds you to be more present. | |
You stop negativity from arising by being fully present. But don't | |
become discouraged. There are as yet few people on the planet who | |
can sustain a state of continuous presence... | |
Whenever you notice that some form of negativity has arisen within | |
you, look on it not as a failure, but as a helpful signal that is | |
telling you: "Wake up. Get out of your mind. Be present." | |
As an alternative to dropping a negative reaction, you can make it | |
disappear by imagining yourself becoming transparent to the external | |
cause of the reaction. I recommend that you practice it with little, | |
even trivial, things first. Let's say that you are sitting quietly | |
at home. Suddenly, there is the penetrating sound of a car alarm | |
from across the street. Irritation arises. What is the purpose of | |
the irritation? None whatsoever. Why did you create it? You | |
didn't. The mind did. It was totally automatic, totally | |
unconscious. Why did the mind create it? Because it holds the | |
unconscious belief that its resistance, which you experience as | |
negativity or unhappiness in some form, will somehow dissolve the | |
undesirable condition. This, of course, is a delusion. The | |
resistance that it creates, the irritation or anger in this case, is | |
far more disturbing than the original cause that it is attempting to | |
dissolve. | |
[Much like people yelling at their dogs to stop barking. The yelling | |
is worse, and now i get to hear both barking AND yelling in the human | |
audible frequency range.] | |
All this can be transformed into spiritual practice. Feel yourself | |
becoming transparent, as it were, without the solidity of a material | |
body. Now allow the noise, or whatever causes a negative reaction, | |
to pass right through you. It is no longer hitting a solid "wall" | |
inside you. As I said, practice with little things first... | |
Somebody says something to you that is rude or designed to hurt. | |
Instead of going into unconscious reaction and negativity, such as | |
attack, defense, or withdrawal, you let it pass right through you. | |
Offer no resistance. It is as if there is nobody there to get hurt | |
anymore. THAT is forgiveness. In this way, you become invulnerable. | |
You can still tell that person that his or her behavior is | |
unacceptable, if that is what you choose to do. But that person no | |
longer has the power to control your inner state. You are then in | |
your power--not in someone else's, nor are you run by your mind. | |
Don't look for peace. Don't look for any other state than the one | |
you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and | |
unconscious resistance. Forgive yourself for not being at peace. | |
The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace | |
becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get | |
you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of | |
surrender. | |
You may have heard the phrase "turn the other cheek," ... He was | |
attempting to convey symbolically the secret of nonresistance and | |
nonreaction. In this statement, as in all his others, he was | |
concerned only with your inner reality, not with the outer conduct of | |
your life. | |
Nothing is what it seems to be. The world that you create and see | |
through the egoic mind may seem a very imperfect place, even a vale | |
of tears. But whatever you perceive is only a kind of symbol, like | |
an image in a dream. It is how your consciousness interprets and | |
interacts with the molecular energy dance of the universe. ... An | |
infinite number of completely different interpretations, completely | |
different worlds, is possible and, in fact, exists--all depending on | |
the perceiving consciousness. Every being is a focal point of | |
consciousness, and every such focal point creates its own world, | |
although all those worlds are interconnected. There is a human | |
world, an ant world, a dolphin world, and so on. There are countless | |
beings whose consciousness frequency is so different from yours that | |
you are probably unaware of their existence, as they are of yours. | |
Furthermore, to recognize the primacy of Being, and thus work on the | |
level of cause, does not exclude the possibility that your compassion | |
may simultaneously manifest on the level of doing and of effect by | |
alleviating suffering whenever you come across it. When a hungry | |
person asks you for bread and you have some, you will give it. But | |
as you give the bread, even though your interaction may only be very | |
brief, what really matters is this moment of shared Being, of which | |
the bread is only a symbol. A deep healing takes place within it. | |
In that moment, there is no giver, no receiver. | |
[I like this paragraph a lot. It acknowledges a deeper, more | |
powerful spiritual dimension where there is more than meets the eye.] | |
# Chapter 10, The meaning of surrender | |
To some people, surrender may have negative connotations, implying | |
defeat, giving up, failing to rise to the challenges of life, | |
becoming lethargic, and so on. True surrender, however, is something | |
entirely different. It does not mean to passively put up with | |
whatever situation you find yourself in and anything about it. Nor | |
does it mean to cease making plans or initiate positive action. | |
Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of YIELDING to rather | |
than OPPOSING the flow of life. The only place where you can | |
experience the flow of life is the now, so to surrender is to accept | |
the present moment unconditionally and without reservation. It is to | |
relinquish inner resistance to what IS. Inner resistance is to say | |
"no" to what IS, through mental judgment and emotional negativity. | |
It becomes particularly pronounced when things "go wrong," which | |
means that there is a gap between the demands or rigid expectations | |
of your mind and what IS. That is the pain gap. If you have lived | |
long enough, you will know that things "go wrong" quite often. It is | |
precisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced if you | |
want to eliminate pain and suffering from your life. Acceptance of | |
what IS immediately frees you from mind identification and thus | |
reconnects you with Being. Resistance IS the mind. | |
Surrender is a purely inner phenomenon. It does not mean that on the | |
outer level you cannot take action and change the situation. In | |
fact, it is not the overall situation that you need to accept when | |
you surrender, but just the tiny segment called the Now. | |
Non-surrender hardens your psychological form, the shell of the ego, | |
and so creates a strong sense of separateness. The world around you | |
and people in particular come to be perceived as threatening. The | |
unconscious compulsion to destroy others through judgment arises, as | |
does the need to compete and dominate. Even nature becomes your | |
enemy and your perceptions and interpretations are governed by fear. | |
[This trajectory leads to paranoia.] | |
If you find your life situation unsatisfactory or even intolerable, | |
it is only by surrendering first that you can break the unconscious | |
resistance pattern that perpetuates that situation. | |
Do not confuse surrender with an attitude of "I can't be bothered | |
anymore" or "I just don't care anymore." If you look at it closely, | |
you will find that such an attitude is tainted with negativity in the | |
form of hidden resentment and so is not surrender at all but masked | |
resistance. | |
Start by acknowledging that there IS resistance. BE there when it | |
happens, when the resistance arises. Observe how your mind creates | |
it, how it labels the situation, yourself, or others. Look at the | |
thought processes involved. Feel the energy of the emotion. By | |
witnessing the resistance, you will see that it serves no purpose. | |
By focusing all your attention on the Now, the unconscious resistance | |
is made conscious, and that is the end of it. | |
Would you choose unhappiness? If you did not choose it, how did it | |
arise? [The author is pointing out that it arose unconsciously.] | |
Until you practice surrender, the spiritual dimension is something | |
you read about, talk about, get excited about, write books about, | |
think about, believe in--or don't, as the case may be. It makes no | |
difference. Not until you surrender does it become a living reality | |
in your life. | |
It is true that only an unconscious person will try to use or | |
manipulate others, but it is equally true that only an unconscious | |
person can be used an manipulated. If you resist or fight | |
unconscious behavior in others, you become unconscious yourself. But | |
surrender doesn't mean that you allow yourself to be used by | |
unconscious people. Not at all. It is perfectly possible to say | |
"no" firmly and clearly to a person or to walk away from a situation | |
and be in a state of complete inner nonresistance at the same time. | |
When you say "no" to a person or a situation, let it come not from | |
reaction but from insight, from a clear realization of what is right | |
or not right for you at that moment. Let it be a nonreactive "no," a | |
high-quality "no," a "no" that is free of all negativity and so | |
creates no further suffering. | |
If you cannot surrender, take action immediately. Speak up or do | |
something to bring about a change in the situation--or remove | |
yourself from it. Take responsibility for your life. Do not pollute | |
your beautiful, radiant inner Being nor the Earth with negativity. | |
Do not give unhappiness in any form whatsoever a dwelling place | |
inside you. | |
If you cannot take action, for example if you are in prison, then you | |
have two choices left: resistance or surrender. | |
You always get a second chance at surrender. Your first chance is to | |
surrender each moment to the reality of that moment. Whenever you | |
are unable to do that, you are creating some form of pain. Now here | |
is your second chance at surrender. If you cannot accept what is | |
outside, then accept what is INSIDE. If you cannot accept the | |
external condition, accept the internal condition. This means: Do | |
not resist the pain. Allow it to be there. Surrender to the grief, | |
despair, fear, loneliness, or whatever form the suffering takes. | |
Witness it without labeling it mentally. | |
Q: I do not see how one can surrender to suffering. As you yourself | |
pointed out, suffering is non-surrender. How could you surrender to | |
non-surrender? | |
A: Forget about surrender for a moment. When your pain is deep, all | |
talk of surrender will probably seem futile and meaningless anyway. | |
When your pain is deep, you will likely have a strong urge to escape | |
from it rather than surrender to it. You don't want to feel what you | |
feel. What could be more normal? But there is no escape, no way | |
out. Suffering does not diminish in intensity when you make it | |
unconscious. | |
When there is no way out, there is still always a way through. So | |
don't turn away from the pain. Face it. Feel it fully. FEEL | |
it--don't think about it! Express it if necessary, but don't create | |
a script in your mind around it. | |
Would you rather die without pain, without agony? Then die to the | |
past every moment, and let the light of your presence shine away the | |
heavy, timebound self you thought of as "you." | |
The way of the cross that you mentioned is the old way to | |
enlightenment, and until recently it was the only way. But don't | |
dismiss it or underestimate its efficacy. It still works. | |
The way of the cross is a complete reversal. It means that the worst | |
thing in your life, your cross, turns into the best thing that ever | |
happened to you, by forcing you into surrender, into "death," forcing | |
you to become as nothing, to become as God--because God, too, is | |
no-thing. | |
However, there is a growing number of humans alive today whose | |
consciousness is sufficiently evolved not to need any more suffering | |
before the realization of enlightenment. You may be one of them. | |
Enlightenment through suffering--the way of the cross--means to be | |
forced into the kingdom of heaven kicking and screaming. You finally | |
surrender because you can't stand the pain anymore... | |
Q: How will i know when i have surrendered? | |
A: When you no longer need to ask the question. | |
author: Tolle, Eckhart, 1948- | |
LOC: BL624 .T64 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/The_Power_of_Now | |
tags: book,non-fiction,self-help,spirit | |
title: The Power of Now | |
# Tags | |
book | |
non-fiction | |
self-help | |
spirit |