soul series our weekly half-hour to be able to delve into you know all things
really spiritual to challenge the status quo that's what the show is all about to
connect to higher ground and thereby elevate the value of our experience here
and now the here and now you know that's an expression that's achieved in almost
you know cult-like status in our lexicon but as in any case when phrases are used
and over used in a culture sometimes they tend to lose their influence and
their impact and people just sort of toss about here in the now as a
reference in time without actually considering I think the the magnitude of
what those words really represent today right now I want to share with you
somebody who has helped me along with millions of other people to really
understand just why that phrase the here and particularly the now is not only
vital but is really all that there is my guests today should be call I guess the
father of the now because Eckhart Tolle is widely recognized as one of the most
original and inspiring spiritual teachers of our time I personally think
that you are a prophet mr. Tolin and I. Was first introduced to your teachings
back in to in the year 2000 when actress Meg Ryan was on my show and she told me
about this book if we were in a commercial break I don't even know how
the subject came up but she mentioned the power of now and how it was really
having a big impact on her life and so I. Went right out and I got the book right
away and I put it in my magazine as one of on the old list and I I think I even
listed is a favorite thing for Christmas for all of our viewers the power of now
a guide to spiritual in light mint would have to be one of the
most transformative books in in my life it's always by my bedside no matter
where I am I carry it with me I was just saying before I was introducing you at
heart that I wished I had my original original original copy because I bought
so many copies since the first copy but my original original copy I had so many
yellow markings in it for highlighting every sentence I just thought well why
don't I just finished reading the book instead of highlighting everything
welcome to to our sole series thank you so much for joining us thank you well
there's so much I want to talk to you about I know we're not gonna get to all
of it so I just wanted to tell all of our listeners now those of you who are
big supporters seekers and and fans of his book the power of now that this
conversation will be continued next week so today's discussion is really I'm
going to try to focus it on the now and the book the power of now I was so moved
in the book when you said you very in the very beginning of the book you said
29 years old having pondered suicide you were thinking this quote I cannot live
with myself any longer this was the thought that kept repeating itself in my
mind and then suddenly I became aware of what a peculiar thought that was am I
one or two if I cannot live with myself there must be two of me the eye and the
self that I cannot live with maybe I.
Thought only one of them is real I love
this because it's really one of the first times I thought yeah that's right
when you say I'm gonna tell myself something who is the eye and who is the
self that's the fundamental question is it not yes let's write the most people
are not aware that they have a little man or woman in their head that keeps
talking and talking so there's a voice in the Hat that's the internal dialogue
that most people are completely identified with
and in my case and in many people's case the voice in the head is predominantly
unhappy one so there's an enormous amount of unhappiness that is
continuously generated by this unconscious internal dialogue and in
that moment that night a separation occurred inside me between the voice
which is the incessant stream of thinking and the sense of self that had
become identified with that voice in the head and a deeper sense of self that I
later recognized as essentially consciousness itself rather than
something that consciousness had become through thinking so that night the
separation occurred and when I woke up the next morning I was completely at
peace for the first time since my childhood without understanding why the
understanding a much later so the important point here is that it's
essential for people to become aware that their thought processes and the
sense of self that is derived from their thinking which includes of course all
one's memories all one's conditioning one sense of self is a conceptual one
that is derived from the past so all the stream of thinking really is a current
form of conditioning of the past so it's essential for people to recognize that
this voice is going on inside them incessantly and it's always a
breakthrough when people for the first time realize he is my thinking here are
all the all habitual thoughts that I've been heading repetitive thoughts very
often recurring negative thoughts and they suddenly realize and Here I am
knowing that these thoughts are going through my head so the identification is
suddenly broken and that is for many people the first real spiritual
breakthrough spiritual as I see it is not believing in this on that but it's
stepping out of identification with a stream of thinking so you've suddenly
there's another dimension deeper than thinking inside you some just call that
stillness it's an aware presence just that it's
nothing to do with past or future and that we could call also it's it's like
waking up that's why it's traditionally in many spiritual traditions they use
the term the wakening so many people will tell you well what what do you mean
awakening I'm awake already but what is meant by awakening is that you wake up
out of the stream of thinking and when you wake up you become present a
completely different dimension of consciousness is suddenly there well I
recall I in in stillness speaks you talk about the awareness stillness speaks the
book stillness speak is all about that awareness and I love the line where you
say once you recognize I'm paraphrasing of course that that voice and that you
are the observer of that voice that that very awareness is you that's right and
and not not the voice so you recognize as essentially there's something inside
you that has its place it's the stream of thinking right it's connected with
the past it contains all your memories it contains all reactive patterns it
contains old emotions and so on the old part of that but essentially it is not
essentially who you are and that's an amazing realization now the mind of
course may then asked well then tell me who I am that's the big question I'm
talking to Eckhart Tolle author of power of now so what is the answer to that
question well the answer to that question is who you are cannot be
defined through thinking or through mental labels or mental definitions
because it is beyond that it is the very sense of beingness or presence that is
there when you become conscious of the present moment it's intrinsically
with what we call the present moment you sometimes say something you might find
this a little strange but in essence you and what we call the present moment at
the most at the deepest level are one because you are the consciousness out of
which everything comes every thought comes out of that consciousness that you
are every thought disappears back into that space of consciousness that you are
so essentially you are a conscious aware space and all your sense perceptions all
your thinking all your emotions happen they come and go in that aware space yes
well did it feel like a card when this happened to you that moment of
realization where you realize the voice was separate from the awareness that
moment that you speak about in the beginning of the book did it literally
blow your mind yes you did but I didn't understand it
I just realized suddenly the next day I. Was at peace and I remained at peace
there was a deep sense of inner peace although externally nothing had changed
so I knew something very drastic had happened but it took me some years to
actually understand what had happened I. Some years afterwards three years after
this transformation I was talking to a Zen monk and he was telling she said
well Zen basically is very simple it's you don't rely on thinking anymore it
means to go beyond thinking and I. Suddenly realized oh this is what just
happened to me they'd state that I felt was a state of
inner peace was also a state of far less thinking than I had been doing before
all that unhappy thinking all that repetitive thinking wasn't happening to
me anymore and so you have often said in all your
books you characterized thinking as a terrible affliction even a disease and
that it's the greatest barrier to the power of now but isn't to think to be
human I thought that's how we are different from other animals that's
right thinking can also be of powerful and wonderful tool it only becomes an
affliction if we are totally identified with thinking and we derive our sense of
who we are from the stream of thinking in that case you're telling yourself
continuously what I call sometimes the story of me that in many people's case
it's an unhappy story so they they are continuously dwelling on the past and
there's nothing wrong with the past but if there's complete self identification
with memory in all your sense of who you are your sense of identity is then
derived from the stream of thinking and that's a dysfunctional and unhappy State
so when you step out of identification with that and you realize for the first
time I'm actually the presence behind thinking then you are able to use
thinking when it's helpful and needed and it can be a wonderful thing but
you're no longer I'll put it in extreme terms but it's true you are no longer
then possessed by the thinking mind the thinking mind is then the servant or a
helpful tool which you can use it's useful for many situations in this world
but you can't find yourself in there and also it is if you can never be on to
thinking mind it interferes with relationships it can it creates
continuous conflict in relationships if there is no sense of space in the
relationship say that again if there's no sense of space no sense of space that
spacious aware presence that you can bring to the relationship for example
when you listen to someone you listen to your partner or you listen to a friend
or just an acquaintance can you be there as the aware space that is listening or
are you by the other person is speaking continuously thinking preparing the next
thing you're going to say are you judging and evaluating what you're
hearing are you just interested in your own
pap aims and purposes or can you be there as the space for the other person
and I would say that's the greatest gift you can give a person it is specially
important the parents and children but also very important in intimate
relationships can you be there as the space the aware conscious space for the
other person for example while you listen to the
other person can you listen in that simple state of alertness in which
you're not judging what you're listening to you are then there as a presence
rather than as a person right so there's the the deeper level of awareness is
there that's what I call the space I was gonna say you offer them that space in
which you allow yourself to be connected to whatever it is they are offering
that's right there's no judgement in that space that's right you are not
defining the other person and that's an enormous gift that you can give to
another person you're not imposing mental labels judgments definitions on
the other person I think as you know so many people love their pets and there's
an end for many millions of people many people I would be one of those people
yes me too okay now for many people that's the only area where they realize
they can communicate and relate another being and that being is not judging them
because the dog accepts you unconditionally as you are I don't know
if you've heard the saying please God make me into the person my dog thinks I
am so the people feel that sense of freedom when they relate to their pets
because they are not being judged now the the animal of course is at a state
prior to thinking so that's why the animal can be there as the simple
natural presence but when a human being is there the human being has moved
beyond thinking and that's the state of awareness well but both these states are
free of definitions and judgments of course also talked a lot about the
importance of not judging another person well you know because since the power of
now so many people have been introduced to this very idea that you presented to
us and in in this book and you know are stimulated by the idea and and even I
have had glimpses of that space oh I'm sure you have yeah glimpses of that
space but how can you live in that space you seem to live in that space
yes well first of all it's important to acknowledge and to be grateful for the
glimpses of it yes when they happen and then you can actually not just wait for
the space to happen almost as a kind of grace that comes into your life right
sometimes does happen right but you can also invite that space simply by
bringing more presence into your life which means more present moment
awareness for example I recommend that people use little everyday activities
that they do everyday unconsciously and bring a conscious presence when you wash
your hands when you make a cup of coffee when you walk across the room down the
stairs you're in the elevator waiting for the elevator these are all
opportunities for instead of indulging in thinking being there and it's still a
lot presence yes like a lot of people you know take showers in the morning
they're taking a shower but they might as well already be in the office because
they're thinking about you know getting in their car and what am I gonna do
today it's wrong but you know what is my to-do list instead of being present in
the shower feeling the water the essence of the water at the moment whatever
that's right so it's bringing little spaces into your everyday life as many
spaces as possible I say for example you get into your car shut the door and be
there for just half a minute finger breathing perhaps feel the energy inside
your body look around sky the trees it all it takes is half a minute and the
mind might tell you I don't have time yeah that's the mind talking to
you but I would suggest that even the busiest person has time for 30 seconds
of space in when they sit in their car for example or many other occasions well
yeah I will have to tell you that I.
Think it yes if it was the year 2000 I
first read this book and many many many times this book has saved me I mean the
theories in the power of now have saved me and today as a matter of fact I had
you know one of the most hectic days but I remember waking up this morning
thinking oh my god I'm gonna be so stressed and when he was he's so so
stressed I let that go I let those thoughts go and just thought I will just
for every moment of the day be present now yes that's a continuous refocusing
on really what really matters what matters most in anybody's life which is
always now the present moment people don't realize it that that's really
that's all there ever is there is no past or future except as memory or
anticipation in your mind but that's what throws me though in the book when
you say there's no past of course there has to be a pass because there are all
of our memories or all these ways we defined ourselves that's that's our past
yes on one level you could say nobody can argue with the fact that there is
such a thing as time there is such a thing as future of course we use time to
meet here we agreed on this particular time you say we are going to meet on
this day at that time otherwise it would have been difficult we might never have
met and you are hard to find in all the different countries I'm talking to
Eckhart Tolle author of power of now but we agreed on this time and we are here
because this is now that's right so time then is something that we cannot do
without it we could even say time is what dominates the entire this entire
life that we experience here because illusionary claim that were that's right
right this I call it the surface level of reality completely dominated by time
which is the past and future in the continuous stream and people look to
time very often for expecting that we'll eventually fulfill them time will
eventually give them what they need time will eventually give them happiness and
sometimes of course it does for a while but essentially the true happiness you
cannot find by looking to into the future because it is intrinsically one
with living deeply in the present moment so it has been said that two ways of
being unhappy one is not getting what you want and the other is getting what
you want because if you think this that or the other is going to make me happy
even when you get it and you haven't realized that the present moment is all
you ever have you will again be focusing on the next moment and always expecting
it because it's a mental pattern that has is very deep-seated always focusing
and always expecting something in the next normal never of being fully in this
moment well another thing that changed me when I read the power of now over
seven years ago was your comments about the fact that all of our stresses every
stress that you have is based upon for the most part thinking about what
happened in the past or what should be happening in the future
that if you're able to take a deep breath no matter what crisis is going on
in your life and look at what is happening now in this moment right now
that I'm okay that's right another way of putting it would be to say when many
people identify them they're whole the whole sense of self with problems
problems they're continuously involved in problems and so for many people their
whole sense of identities intimately bound up with the problems they have or
think they have and often just as a reality test I tell people just a moment
as I say just like what problem do you actually have at this moment just focus
see what the problem you have at this not not in an hour's time or tomorrow
morning but what problem do you have now and sometimes people will suddenly wake
up when they hear that because they have to rely at this moment
I don't actually have a problem what you might have is a challenge if something
danger arises a wild Amanat animal jumps into this room that's a challenge and
then of course it's not a problem because there's no time to make it into
a problem so for a problem to exist you need time and you need mind activity
repetitive mind activity in the present moment
there may be a challenge that is true there may even be pain
there may be an emotion but not what we call problem so when people think how do
I get out of my problems I suggest go into the present moment and
see what is the problem now and then you will always have to admit well right now
I don't actually have the problem and people got that even people in prison
I've had letters from people in prison some are in for life and they've written
to me and said I understood your message and I have become free and they meant
free inside Wow free of problem making yes yes similar
to Viktor Frankl and his and man's search for meaning yes yes yes
free of problem making I want to ask you you know as I completed the book and
have read and reread it many times over the years portions of it all of it
listened to the tapes I often wonder do you live like this all the time are you
always in the now yes I'm basically in the now surrendered to
what happens occasionally if I see for example some somebody inflicting pain on
somebody else or something an emotion may come anger may arise very briefly
and then pass through it doesn't link into the brain and it creates an
enormous amount of useless thinking so emotions can come and go but I'm
basically in that state of surrender to what is
what is is always already the case so you can't really argue internally with
what is because if you do you suffer well what about having a does it leave
you passionless for life though because whatever is it's just gonna be no no in
fact you're more passionately alive when you are internally aligned with the
present moment which means you let go of this inner resistance which on a mental
level is judgement and complaining and on an emotional level is some kind of
negativity so these two go together many people have an enormous amount of
complaining going on continuously in their mind some people do it out loud
all the time and usually the complaining is about what was yeah what they wish
was or what should be but isn't happening and this shouldn't be
happening and you shouldn't do this and I would don't want to be here and so
they always find something to complain about
and so they these are ways of denying the present moment and that's a very
dysfunctional state because you're basically denying life itself because
outside of now there is no life alright then how do we plan for the future we're
all told that we should plan for the future we shouldn't just be passive
about the future no you should plan for the future and you don't need to lose
yourself in the future if you plan for the future you can actually enjoy saying
okay I let's say I'm planning a trip or I'm planning a course of study and you
write down what you have to do various steps and you enjoy that the question is
are you losing yourself in the future or are you simply using time and future on
a practical level where it's fine it has its place on the practical level but if
you think it's some point that I'm going to reach in the future now it might be
the next vacation or it might be when I. Find the ideal partner or it might be
when I. Get a better job or better place to live
or live in a more pleasant city or whatever it is then I will finally be
happy and so yes a continuous project mentally away from the now that's where
you lose yourself in the future and that's the dysfunction using planning is
actually fine there's nothing dysfunctional about that so that's the
difference you can say between as I call it clock time which has its place in
this world right and psychological time which is the obsession continuous
obsession with past and future well you say have its place in this world do you
feel that you know even now in the human body which is often for a lot of people
the pain body that you call it do you feel that you're you're straddling both
worlds yes you could say that there's a it needs to be a balance between dealing
with things in this world which involves time and thinking but not being totally
trapped on this level of time and thinking not being totally trapped in
time and totally strapped in the stream of thinking so that there is a deeper
dimension inside you that is actually the outside of that stream of time and
thinking and that's the inner stillness that's the inner peace and that is a
deep vibrant sense of aliveness so you're actually very passionate about
life in that state Wow that's what we're looking for here I
just love talking to you one of my favorite books all time in the world the
power of now at car toll they think thank you so much for joining us this
week and we'll talk next week about one of my favorite things to discuss the ego
which you speak so profoundly about in in your book a new earth awakening to
your life's purpose we'll join you again next week
thank you so much everybody for listening thank you
hi welcome back to my soul series so excited again because I get to talk to
Eckhart Tolle last week we spoke of the power of now he's a preeminent spiritual
leader I I think he's a prophet for our time for the 21st century who believes
that we are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold in us
that in the beginning of his book the power of now and he's the author of that
breakout bestseller if you don't have it it's one of the books that should be a
part of your you know personal library forever I can't even tell you how many
copies I've bought for everybody if you were to come to my house right now and
you were gonna spend the night and either bedroom at my house it doesn't
matter which bedroom you would go to you'd find a copy of the powernow
sometimes two or three because when people leave they like to take it with
them the power of now a guide to spiritual enlightenment and he's back to
discuss his latest release a new earth awakening your life's purpose the
inspiration for that title came from a Bible a prophecy in both the Old and New
Testament words it speaks of the collapse of the existing World Order and
the rising of a new heaven and a new earth for those of you who are Bible
readers well the power of now is one of the most comprehensive and enlightening
books as you heard me say Eckhart I've ever had the privilege to read why did
you feel the need to write a follow-up you you really didn't have to write
another word after after the power of now well let's draw the the teaching
evolved in the years after the power of now came out I would travel around the
world giving talks and what happened then is this some new approaches came
new perspectives on the same basic truths it's not different truths it's
focusing on the same basic truths but new perspectives towards it and also I
felt Li there was still something to be said about that which blocks the arising
new consciousness in most human beings so there's quite a bit in the in the
book and new earth about that in us which tends to block
the awakened consciousness the consciousness that wants to arise now
and one way of putting what that is is to describe it as I do in the book it's
the human ego I just this is my favorite thing to talk about the ego you say the
ego is destined to dissolve how so well first we need to see clearly what
the ego is because sometimes people use that word and they mean different things
being arrogant or that's right yes it goes it's it's a much wider thing it's
not just being selfish or being arrogant or thinking yourself superior that's a
small aspect of ego ego is basically a self identification with the stream of
thinking so that collectively I would say the beginning of ego is actually
described at the beginning of the old testament where there is the famous
story of the Apple which and everybody knows even non bible readers so it is
said there that they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge and good and
evil and that was when they lost that state that is externalized in the Bible
and called Paradise what does that mean to me that means it is the arising of
the ability to think and to differentiate between things this is
good this is bad to make statements like that to make judgments like that which
is to be able to tell coach is basically the ability to think which is a missile
so this is a mythological description of what happened to humanity and at first
the ability to think was not entirely bad they lost something they lost a
deeper state of connectedness but I. Don't think that deeper state of
connectedness with being was lost immediately as it's described in the
Bible I believe it took a long long time of increased thinking until people
reached a point where they derived the entire sense of who they are from the
stream of thinking so what that looks like in a person's life is there is a
there is a almost one could say a mind made entity which is made up entirely of
memories and past conditioning and mental concepts and this entity which
really is all made up of thinking people derive their sense of who they are from
this mind made entity so it's a it's a mind image of Who I am
people have split themselves into they think there's me and there's myself me
and my story the ego is the story of me that people identify with you say in the
in the new earth it's no ego is no more than this identification with form which
primarily means thought forms yes that's right that's what the ego is and you say
if evil has any reality and it has a relative not an absolute reality this is
also its definition of evil complete identification with form physical forms
thought forms emotional forms that's right and that this results in a total
unawareness of my connectedness with the whole my intrinsic oneness with every
other as well as with the source and this forgetfulness is original sin
suffering or delusion and that's you know when I heard that I thought yes
you're right for every evil act we've ever heard
described or when we think of people as you know doing sinful things it is
because of a complete and utter disconnection a lack of understanding
that I am that person that I am attempting to violate I I am that which
I am jealous of I am that yes yes it means you cannot sense the aliveness
anymore that is in the other person so you have desensitized yourself to the
aliveness now you can only do that if you've already done this to yourself
because by living through mental definitions of who you are you
desensitize yourself to the deeper aliveness of who you truly are beyond
thinking okay so you become you what arises then is a conceptual identity I'm
this that or the other and then once you are trapped in your own conceptual
identity which is based on thinking and image making by the mind right on your
past then you do the same to others you and this is the beginning of that is
always when you pronounce judgments on another person and then you believe that
judgment to be the truth calling people attaching labels to people that's the
beginning of desensitizing yourself to who that human being truly is I'm having
a conversation here with Eckhart Tolle who is author of the power of now of
course and a new earth awakening to your life's purpose so if you are not your
story and most people I do believe think that they are we live in a world where
people believe I am my story I you know was born in this family and this is
where I was raised and these are the things that happened to me and this is
what I did if you are not your story then who are you that's a very good
question because you cannot deny of course that these things exist your
memories of the past things that you suffered perhaps even things suffering
that you might have inflicted on others and even not all suffering my family
connections the people I love yes you have a so-called past you have
relationships all that is fine it is not problematic unless you become totally
lost in that I mentioned alone so they said you if you have no access to a
deeper sense of aliveness or beingness beyond the stream of thinking because
really all that is based on memory all your past
what how do you experience your past you experience your past as memories and
what are memories memories are thoughts in your head and there's nothing wrong
with that but if you are totally identified with all these thoughts in
your head then you're you are completely trapped in your past history there's no
sense of anything beyond that in your life right so the important thing is is
am i more than my personal history well you speak in a new earth you speak about
how advertisers are counting on us to believe in the labels and that we
identify with particularly in our society exclusive labels and the more
exclusive the label the more we identify with it yes that's right because the ego
wants to be special one way or another every ego wants to be special and if the
ego cannot be special by being superior to others the ego would also be quite
happy with being specially miserable so you may have we may have seen business
people are saying Amberson says to the other I have a headache
the other person says you have a headache I've had a hang it for weeks so
people actually compete who is more miserable you or me it's another it's
just the ego that does that it's just as big as the ego that says I'm superior to
you because the ego always wants to be special so if you recognize in yourself
that unconscious need to be special then you already half free because when you
recognize the all the patterns of the ego and specialness is one pattern of
the ego another pattern of the ego it wants to be right all the time
another pattern of the ego is it actually needs it loves conflict with
others and that's an amazing thing of course it's unconscious
because the ego defines it defines itself through a boundary that it draws
me in this is me and that is the other and that's an important word because you
need the ego needs to program emphasize the other nurse of the other person and
that happens on a personal level when people are suspicious of other people's
motives and so on and there's the need for enemies which is deeply built into
the ego the ego needs enemies because it affine x' itself through emphasizing the
other nurse of others in nations too it religions to it the the believer if you
identify with one particular region and for many people religion is only a mind
structure not in its deepest sense but for many people a religion is an
ideology that they identify with and then they need the non-believer the
other because by having the other they feel their own sense of identity more
strongly right and they need the other in order to feel their own sense of
identity yes more strong yes indeed I.
Have you said did such a great great job
of explaining this because you say it first starts with a baby when the baby
first reaches for the toy and realizes and the toy is taken away or not given
to them and they say no that's mine that's right that is mine that's the
beginning of identification with things identification with things and that what
happens is is that we all just grow up and we just get bigger toys different
toys that's right yes so it's always ego is always identification with one form
or another which could be a physical form as a possession my house my car and
so on so when you when you identified your sense of who you are is in that
thing so and if that thing then is criticized for example by somebody else
you we can be will become extremely defensive or aggressive because you're
feeling your very sense of self is being threatened
and then there are other forms of identification for example my opinions
mind forms right we had a very strong identification with their mental
positions and I am right I am right and that implies of course that somebody
else has to be wrong right so that I can continue to be right but tell me this
then I'm thinking this that you know that as long as we are in this dense
human form perhaps we we must need the ego
otherwise why we we we we have it otherwise we would have evolved out of
it we are now evolving out of it the ego has been there for thousands of years
and as you say the fact that it was there for that has been there for
thousands of years means it has its place evolution of humanity so I'm not
saying it should never have happened the ego had its place it was the ability
to think develop more and more so that gradually we became so identified with
thinking that we lost a deeper connectedness with life which is
described as the paradise in the old in the beginning of the Old Testament that
deeper connectedness with life we are now I believe at an evolutionary
transition where many human beings far more human beings and ever before are
able to grow out of go beyond ego into a new state of consciousness yes you say
that we face a very stark and daunting choice and that is to either evolve or
die yes this is the point where the evolution of consciousness the awakening
of humanity is no longer a luxury because now we've reached a point if we
don't grow out of the dysfunction of the ego because the ego I speak is now being
amplified the effects of this dysfunction are being amplified by
technology right so with what we are doing to our structure to ourselves to
other our fellow human beings into the planet is becoming more and more
destructive and devastating yes I had a conversation actually with Elie Wiesel
you he was saying that this will this will
be known as the the sixth century sick century yes yes yes in our ability just
to do the most evil and sickest of things to another yes I mean look at the
20th century it was dreadful the worst ever in terms of human suffering
inflicted on humans on by humans on other humans yes but we were saying that
it doesn't seem that we learned we didn't learn we didn't learn it seems to
have gotten even worse and you were right because of technology because
there are even greater bombs guns that and and an ammunition that can kill from
further distances yes now the question is sometimes people ask me are things
actually getting better or worse and my answer is at the moment things are both
getting better and worse which means there are two streams in existence now
one is the old stream the old consciousness the unenlightened the
unawakened egoic consciousness which is actually still continuing you can see it
a lot of the time when you watch the news in the evening you see is that that
is the consciousness that's the old consciousness which is still just as mad
as before if not more mad well the fact that we just repeat all the bad things
that are happening in the world that's right that's one stream the other stream
is us sitting here now in talking because that represents we are part of
I'm not saying we are special but the fact that we are addressing this and the
fact that many many people are listening to this and it is meaningful to them
means that there is another stream here which is the stream of humanity
awakening and both are present at this time on the planet and as we choose to
evolve you and I sitting here and everyone else who's listening to us and
this conversation hits a nerve or has a moment and I call them aha moments or
they just find the conversation interesting and will cause them to look
at life differently did a as we do that are we actually creating
a new earth we are first of all what happens is a new state of consciousness
arises it's not so much that we now need to get busy and create a new earth
because that would be premature many times humans have tried to create a new
society or utopia and they all failed miserably so look at communism it was it
started with a good idea everybody is equal and see what it what it did create
millions of people were killed in the name of communism so first of all the
important thing is that we are open to the transformation of consciousness that
is happening now out of that transform consciousness which in essence simply
means we are no longer completely identified with thinking we realize that
inside ourselves there is a dimension in which I am conscious I am present I'm
awake I'm alert but I'm simply an aware space that's presence
I call it presence you can have other words right awareness unconditioned
consciousness stillness stillness that arises now in many human beings and so
as that arises and gradually replaces identification with thinking and
replaces relying on thinking exclusively to run your life there's actually in
that stillness in that awareness there is a higher far greater intelligence at
work I know you say I love how you say let us allow nature to teach us
stillness if you want to understand stillness you know stand beside a tree
or watch a tree yes that's a great help just watching a tree a plant and be
there just watch it be there as the as the aware presence that perceives the
flower the tree the plant the animal nature or is always very
helpful for people who want to connect with the stillness man-made things very
often generate more thinking because they are made through thinking so go to
nature and then eventually it's important of course that you're also
able to sustain the state of stillness even in the midst of a city I actually
enjoy I'm in New York at the moment I. Enjoy walking along the busy busy
streets with infernal noise and people rushing about and feeling actually in
the background a deep sense of stillness really and actually I can even enjoy all
that movement and it's wonderful to be able to be there as the stillness and
not completely get drawn to into some reaction it's like being in the world
but not of it that's exactly what it is being in the world but not up yes so
tell us how we can get to be more like you how can we not allow ourselves to be
dominated by the ego I know it's a it's a lifelong process but just for those
who are listening now who are going to read a new earth and read the power of
now and come away thinking okay I'm inspired by that stimulated by what can
I begin to do today to not to have my self dominated by my ego yes
no the ego cannot survive in the stillness that's very important to
realize so that means invite stillness into your life now that does not mean
that stillness is something that you need to get from the outside or somehow
create for yourself it's realizing that everybody underneath the stream of
thinking already has the stillness right so you don't have to go to Hawaii
instead on a mountaintop no and you don't have to do anything to create it
because essentially it's already there and if you look very deeply into
yourself and see where just my sense of eyeness when people say either have the
sense of I. Essentially my the deeper eye where does
that sense of Ines come from and then if you look very closely you'll find it's
actually intrinsically bound up with this the dimension of stillness so
that's why I say in my book of stillness speaks you are never more essentially
yourself than when you are still so you invite stillness into your life you can
do it by taking a few conscious breaths so many times during the day just
observe your breath flowing in and out another way of bringing stillness or
finding the stillness that's already there is feeling the aliveness of your
body from within I call that the inner body and that immediately takes your
attention away from the stream of thinking a lot of which is repetitive
and useless and bring it into the body and feel is there life in my hands and
then you feel it oh yes very subtle but it's there is there life in my feet my
legs my arms and then you feel that your entire inner body is pervaded by a sense
of aliveness and then that can serve as an anchor for remaining present when
your attention as part of your attention remains in the inner body even at this
very moment four people are listening to us they can practice it and they can see
that even while they are conscious of the words that they hear they're
completely following what we are saying but it does not need to take up a
hundred percent of their attention they can have some of their attention even as
they sit there or stand there and listen in the inner energy field of the body
and feel there is an aliveness in every cell of the body and that's a wonderful
anchor for stillness and for presence it doesn't mean you can't you Tanya sternum
completely away from the external world it actually brings balance into your
life between being still and being still being able to deal with things out here
it's finding the space in between that's right it's finding the space it's like
when you're reading the book I remember reading the book power of now for the
first time and you were saying it is the space in between it's the awareness of
what's on the page and the space in between that awareness yes and you may
also find talking about the space in between them you may sometimes become
aware when a thought has come to an end in your head that between two thoughts
there is a a short silent space and when you acknowledge that in which means you
suddenly become conscious that for a moment there's no thinking then it
becomes a little longer it exceeds and so you have a longer gap of stillness
yeah and then but if you become aware for so long you start thinking about and
then you lose it then you lose it to the moment you say oh look I'm not thinking
and you're thinking again of course right right is there anyone on earth at
this time who you think is free of the domination of the ego first of all are
you free of the domination of the ego I'm not identified with my thinking
which means I'm free of domination of the ego and there are many many people
right now who are going through this process they may not yet be a hundred
percent free but they are going through the process in which they become
gradually this identified from the stream of compulsive thinking I'm
getting letters emails every day from all over the world of people who are
telling me how their lives have changed sometimes just by reading the book and
how they become free of identification with their mind they're not yet totally
free which means sometimes they fall back into ego sometimes they fall back
into obsessive thinking compulsive thinking addictive thinking because so
many people thinking is basically an addiction and then suddenly they wake up
again so it's a process that many many people are now undergoing I cannot tell
you exactly how many but my intuition is that in the Western world about 10
percent of the adult population and go at the beginning stages or a bit further
some further advance of this process well I loved also how you say in the
book we're talking about you know the whole tone of the book is
about awakening your life's purpose a new earth is awakening your life's
purpose and you say that there are a lot of people who realize that how spiritual
you are has nothing to do with what you believe but everything to do with your
state of consciousness yes and that's again it's the stillness
that's the spiritual dimension it's not any thought thought in itself is not
spiritual thought can be sometimes helpful because it can be a pointer for
example when we say they're not spiritual that's what I believe no
because these are thoughts no they some beliefs can be helpful but only as
pointers I mean even if we say find the stillness that's already inside you that
still a thought but the thought is pointing beyond itself well I love what
you say that at the end of the book that the foundation for a new earth is a new
heaven the awakened consciousness because what did Jesus tell his
disciples that heaven is right here in the midst of you yes that's a wonderful
thing jesus said heaven does not come with signs to be observed you can't say
ah there it is or look here it is because it is essentially already within
you in the midst of you the stillness the stillness all right you do can you
believe another we we're out of time again next those of you who've been so
intrigued so empowered by words that you've heard and read over the years and
not just from listening to us will have an opportunity to ask questions of
Eckhart Tolle here on our soul series thank you again our listeners get to
talk to you that's going to be great thank you thank you thank you for
watching this video my friends I hope you really enjoyed it make sure you
leave a comment below and please subscribe to this channel I want to give
you so much more thank you and I'll see you next time Oprah Winfrey Interviews "THE POWER OF NOW" & "A NEW EARTH" Author Eckhart Tolle (SuperSoul Series).
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