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December 2004
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December 1st 2004
From Consciousness -- The True Renunciate
Anyone can renounce things, people, places, or lifestyles.
But only a true renunciate renounces interest in his own mind -- renounces his ideas, his beliefs, his hopes, his conditioning, his wounds, his defeats, his victories, his past, and his future.
Many clothe themselves in the robes of false renunciation, but true renunciates are very rare, and very free.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 2nd 2004
From Consciousness -- Ego is Just Ego
Ego is neither positive nor negative. Those are simply concepts that create more boundaries.
Ego is just ego, and the disaster of it all is that you, as a spiritual seeker, have been conditioned to think of the ego as bad, as an enemy, as something to be destroyed.
This simply strengthens the ego. In fact, such conclusions arise from the ego itself.
Pay no attention to them. Don't go to war with yourself; simply inquire into who you are.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
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December 3rd 2004
From Consciousness -- You Don't Need Techniques
I don't think in terms of having or using techniques. Any technique that is used mechanically tends to condition the mind further. Our natural condition is one of peace and stillness.
Who is interested in techniques? Only the mind. All techniques are for the mind, but you are not the mind.
Direct insight and experience reveal your Self to be Freedom. You don't need techniques to be as you truly are. Simply be still. But don't try to be still. Make no effort, and stillness comes to you.
Let go of all concepts, ideas, beliefs, identities, hopes, pasts, and futures. You've been told that this is difficult and that you need techniques, but this is only a thought -- the blind leading the blind. Throw this thought away and see what you find.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
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December 4th 2004
From Consciousness -- What Doesn't Come and Go?
Emptiness feels free and liberating and serene, and the concept of "I" feels like a tight fist. The oscillating from I am free to I am bound is a beautiful opportunity to look afresh at your experience and inquire anew: What doesn't come and go?
This leads to a deeper awakening, a deeper experience of what doesn't come and go. All experience comes and goes, no matter how sublime, but the source of these experiences, the Awareness, doesn't come and go.
By going nowhere, continue to experience having arrived. By not taking one step in any direction, you arrive instantly.
You arrive by not going anywhere. Just stay there. Just see that you are always That, even if the mind creates a story line telling you that you are other than That.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
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December 5th 2004
From Consciousness -- What Always Is?
Most people fret about losing this state or that state. They get caught up in what's not present anymore. That which comes and goes is not real; quit chasing it. It doesn't matter.
What haven't you lost? That is what's important. What always is? What is there in bliss and in misery? Who you are is always present and is always the same.
That which doesn't come and go is real. That is where Freedom is found -- nowhere else.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
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December 6th 2004
From Consciousness -- That Which Contains All
It doesn't matter how profound a vision is or how wonderful the kriyas, or the kundalini, or the bliss. No matter how beautiful the spiritual experience is, it is only an experience, and experiences come and go.
Freedom is found only in that which does not come and go. If it doesn't come and go, that means that it's present now.
When you have a beautiful spiritual experience and then seem to lose it, ask yourself: What was present then that is still present now? Then, you know where to put all of your attention, all of your dedication, and all of your heart. Don't put it anywhere else.
You are that permanence which contains all becoming and all be-going.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 7th 2004
From Consciousness -- You Are That.
Be an open space for whatever arises. Notice that you are the space in which everything arises. When everything is allowed to arise, you have the opportunity to perceive That which does not arise or subside. You Are That.
Positive affirmations are for the mind only. Leave the mind to the mind. You are not this mind. Stop trying to rearrange your mind and discover what lies before it.
You are the consciousness that contains the mind. Ask yourself this question, before the mind, body and emotions: Who am I? Meditate on that. Seek the Seeker.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
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December 8th 2004
From Consciousness -- Accumulating the Past
Are you stressed? Are you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of getting there? Stress is caused by being "here" but wanting to be "there," or being in the present but wanting to be in the future. It's a split that tears you apart inside.
Does the past take up a great deal of your attention? Do you frequently talk and think about it, either positively or negatively? The great things that you have achieved, your adventures or experiences, or your victim story and the dreadful things that were done to you, or maybe what you did to someone else?
Are your thought processes creating guilt, pride, resentment, anger, regret, or self-pity? Then you are not only reinforcing a false sense of self but also helping to accelerate your body's aging process by creating an accumulation of past in your psyche.
Verify this for yourself by observing those around you who have a strong tendency to hold on to the past.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 9th 2004
From Consciousness -- Feel the Power
Die to the past every moment. You don't need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present. Feel the power of this moment and the fullness of Being. Feel your presence.
Are you worried? Do you have many "what if" thoughts? You are identified with your mind, which is projecting itself into an imaginary future situation and creating fear.
There is no way that you can cope with such a situation, because it doesn't exist. It's a mental phantom.
You can stop this health- and life-corroding insanity simply by acknowledging the present moment.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 10th 2004
From Consciousness -- You Can Always Cope with the Now
Become aware of your breathing. Feel the air flowing in and out of your body. Feel your inner energy field.
All that you ever have to deal with, cope with, in real life -- as opposed to imaginary mind projections -- is this moment.
Ask yourself what "problem" you have right now, not next year, tomorrow, or five minutes from now. What is wrong with this moment?
You can always cope with the Now, but you can never cope with the future -- nor do you have to. The answer, the strength, the right action, or the resource will be there when you need it, not before, not after.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 11th 2004
From Consciousness -- Waiting Around
Are you a habitual "waiter"? How much of your life do you spend waiting?
What I call "small-scale waiting" is waiting in line at the post office, in a traffic jam, at the airport, or waiting for someone to arrive, to finish work, and so on.
"Large-scale waiting" is waiting for the next vacation, for a better job, for the children to grow up, for a truly meaningful relationship, for success, to make money, to be important, to become enlightened.
It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 12th 2004
From Consciousness -- True Prosperity.
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.
With every kind of waiting, you unconsciously create inner conflict between your here and now, where you don't want to be, and the projected future, where you want to be. This greatly reduces the quality of your life by making you lose the present.
For example, many people are waiting for prosperity. It cannot come in the future. When you honor, acknowledge, and fully accept your present reality -- where you are, who you are, what you are doing right now -- when you fully accept what you have got, you are grateful for what you have got, grateful for what is, grateful for Being.
Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is true prosperity. It cannot come in the future. Then, in time, that prosperity manifests for you in various ways.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 13th 2004
From Consciousness -- Even If You Do Make Millions
If you are dissatisfied with what you have got, or even frustrated or angry about your present lack, that may motivate you to become rich, but even if you do make millions, you will continue to experience the inner condition of lack, and deep down you will continue to feel unfulfilled.
You may have many exciting experiences that money can buy, but they will come and go and always leave you with an empty feeling and the need for further physical or psychological gratification.
You won't abide in Being and so feel the fullness of life now that alone is true prosperity.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 14th 2004
From Consciousness -- Monitor Your Inner Mental-Emotional State
Give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting, snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be, and enjoy being. If you are present, there is never any need for you to wait for anything.
So next time somebody says, "Sorry to have kept you waiting," you can. reply, "That's all right, I wasn't waiting. I was just standing here enjoying myself in joy in my self."
These are just a few of the habitual mind strategies for denying the present moment that are part of ordinary unconsciousness. They are easy to overlook because they are so much a part of normal living: the background static of perpetual discontent.
But the more you practice monitoring your inner mental-emotional state, the easier it will be to know when you have been trapped in past or future, which is to say unconscious, and to awaken out of the dream of time into the present.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 15th 2004
From Consciousness -- Be More Interested in the Unknown
The aim of spiritual practice is to discover in your own present experience That which the movement of thought never touches.
This does not mean to suppress the thinking mind, nor does I mean to attempt to understand by using thought.
What I am pointing toward is the Unknown: the already, ever-present, silent, still source that not only proceeds thought but surrounds it.
You must become more interested in the Unknown than in that which is known. Otherwise, you will remain enslaved by the very narrow and distorted perspective of conceptual thinking.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 16th 2004
From Consciousness -- Go Deeply into the Unknown
You must go so deeply into the Unknown that you are no longer referencing thought to tell you who and what you are. Only then will thought be capable of reflecting that which is true, rather than falsely masquerading as truth.
What I am talking about is a condition where the mind never fixates, where it never closes, where it has no compulsive need to understand in terms of ideas, concepts, and beliefs. A condition where you are no longer referencing the mind, feeling, or emotions for security in any way.
What I am talking about is the complete surrender of all separateness until liberation becomes a permanent condition, and you are forever lost in the freedom of the Absolute.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 17th 2004
From Consciousness -- Stop Struggling
The most challenging thing for the spiritual seeker to do is to stop struggling. The human condition is characterized by a constant state of struggle which manifests as conflict, fear, and confusion.
These various states of tension, caused by the compulsive and mechanical impulse to struggle, distort our ability to perceive what is true and liberating. What is truly interesting is that the human condition contains within it an unconscious need to struggle. Why?
Because by remaining in a state of constant struggle we maintain the boundaries that create the sense of a separate self, a self who unconsciously defines itself as "the one who struggles."
And even more shocking is the discovery that not only do we need to struggle in order to remain separate, but we want to remain separate -- even though it causes so much suffering, fear, and confusion. We want to remain separate because by remaining separate we maintain the sense of being someone different, special, and unique.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 18th 2004
From Consciousness -- Addicted to Being Separate
Many people are addicted to, and identified with, being the separate and unique victims of the tragic dramas of their lives. People so often form the deepest bonds with one another by sharing the painful and tragic episodes of their lives, as if those episodes define who they really are.
Many people really see themselves as "the one who has struggled," and "the one who is struggling now." Others struggle to hold onto a more positive, fixed identity as a good, successful, or spiritual person.
However, most people cling to both negative and positive self images, creating an endless struggle between contradictory identities that have no fundamental reality to begin with. Is it any wonder that so many spiritual seekers remain so confused?
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 19th 2004
From Consciousness -- Awaken from the Dream
The most insidious and unconscious way that spiritual seekers struggle is by struggling with practices and techniques that are supposed to help them stop struggling.
But who has the biggest investment in these practices? The sense of a separate self, or ego, does. Only the ego asks how to stop struggling because all how-to questions lead to further struggle.
This mechanism of maintaining struggle is how the ego maintains control. Struggling only ceases when you passionately inquire into who and what you truly are -- deeply enough to awaken from the dream of being a personal, separate self.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 20th 2004
From Consciousness -- A Freedom that is Absolute
The reason that you struggle is in order to maintain a sense of a separate self, a self which is ultimately nothing more than a defense mechanism against the revelation that no separate self actually exists.
As soon as you stop struggling, you lose the boundaries that give you the sense of a separate self. With nothing to oppose, the false sense of self evaporates into nothingness, into the Unknown, and you suddenly feel very lost with no familiar ground to stand on.
Your identity is cut loose from all that is familiar and known, and you find yourself floating in a vast expanse with nothing to grab hold of.
Faced with a freedom that is absolute, a freedom that leaves no room for separation from the whole, most people will compulsively contract back into a condition of struggle where they can maintain a familiar sense of self.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 21st 2004
From Consciousness -- Many Turn Back
When actually given the choice, most people will choose to struggle and remain separate, rather than to face the austerity of a freedom that shatters any sense of separateness. It is only when you desire to be free more than you desire the security of a familiar sense of self that you spontaneously move into a freedom that is final and beyond struggle.
Habitually conditioned to avoid fear and insecurity, most people compulsively cling to what is familiar, even if it is very painful and confusing. I have witnessed countless people turn away from the experience and revelation of freedom because in that freedom there is nowhere to hide and nothing to hold onto.
As they begin to awaken to a freedom that is profound, many turn back to a familiar condition of struggle and confusion in an unconscious effort to avoid stepping completely into the ungraspable and indefinable mystery of liberation. Why? Because in that mystery there is absolutely nothing for the personal ego to attain or define itself by.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
December 22nd 2004
From Consciousness --
Consciously or unconsciously most people envision a spiritual freedom that they can attain and possess. So many who glimpse the enlightened condition tell me that it is so much bigger than they ever could have imagined.
To realize that freedom is not something that you possess, but something that possesses you, is often experienced as shocking, frightening, and unbelievably liberating. It is a revelation that swallows up the dream of a separate you and reveals Self to be a limitless expanse.
What I am describing is the experience of Self void of any sense of selfhood, a timeless and uncaused condition which is constantly birthing manifest existence into form.
To have a glimpse of this profound freedom requires very little, but to live it requires the destruction of every concept of self you have ever held or will ever hold. This freedom is a flame that burns the need to struggle to ash and reveals one's Self to be all that is.
Adyashanti (Stephen Gray)
---
December 23rd 2004
From Consciousness -- The State of Presence
In a sense, the state of presence could be compared to waiting. It is a qualitatively different kind of waiting, one that requires your total alertness. Something could happen at any moment, and if you are not absolutely awake, absolutely still, you will miss it.
In that state, all your attention is in the Now. There is none left for daydreaming, thinking, remembering, anticipating. There is no tension in it, no fear, just alert presence. You are present with your whole Being, with every cell of your body.
In that state, the "you" that has a past and a future, the personality if you like, is hardly there anymore. And yet nothing of value is lost. You are still essentially yourself.
In fact, you are more fully yourself than you ever were before, or rather it is only now that you are truly yourself.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 24th 2004
From Consciousness -- Don't Delve into Your Past
Whatever you need to know about the unconscious past in you, the challenges of the present will bring it out. If you delve into the past, it will become a bottomless pit: There is always more.
You may think that you need more time to understand the past or become free of it, in other words, that the future will eventually free you of the past. This is a delusion. Only the present can free you of the past. More time cannot free you of time.
Access the power of Now. That is the key. The power of Now is none other than the power of your presence, your consciousness liberated from thought forms.
So deal with the past on the level of the present. The more attention you give to the past, the more you energize it, and the more likely you are to make a "self" out of it.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 25th 2004
From Consciousness -- Come into the Present.
Give attention to the present; give attention to your behavior, to your reactions, moods, thoughts, emotions, fears, and desires as they occur in the present. There's the past in you.
If you can be present enough to watch all these things, not critically or analytically but nonjudgmentally, then you are dealing with the past and dissolving it through the power of your presence.
You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You find yourself by coming into the present.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 26th 2004
From Consciousness -- Total Presence is Required.
Presence is needed to become aware of the beauty, the majesty, the sacredness of nature.
Have you ever gazed up into the infinity of space on a clear night, awestruck by the absolute stillness and inconceivable vastness of it?
Have you listened, truly listened, to the sound of a mountain stream in the forest? Or to the song of a blackbird at dusk on a quiet summer evening?
To become aware of such things, the mind needs to be still. You have to put down for a moment your personal baggage of problems, of last and future, as well as all your knowledge; otherwise, you will see but not see, hear but not hear. Your total presence is required.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 27th 2004
From Consciousness -- Something Ineffable
Beyond the beauty of the external forms, there is more here: something that cannot be named, something ineffable, some deep, inner, holy essence.
Whenever and wherever there is beauty; this inner essence shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are present.
Could it be that this nameless essence and your presence are one and the same?
Would it be there without your presence? Go deeply into it. Find out for yourself.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 28th 2004
From Consciousness -- It Isn't You
Intense presence is needed when certain situations trigger a reaction with a strong emotional charge, such as when your self-image is threatened, a challenge comes into your life that triggers fear, things "go wrong," or an emotional complex from the past is brought up.
In those instances, the tendency is for you to become "unconscious." The reaction or emotion takes you over -- you "become" it. You act it out. You justify, make wrong, attack, defend.., except that it isn't you, it's the reactive pattern, the mind in its habitual survival mode.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 29th 2004
From Consciousness -- Once You Feel It
Identification with the mind gives it more energy; observation of the mind withdraws energy from it.
Identification with the mind creates more time; observation of the mind opens up the dimension of the timeless.
The energy that is withdrawn from the mind turns into 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.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 30th 2004
From Consciousness -- Free of Psychological Time.
Moving more deeply into the Now.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.
The enlightened person's main focus of attention is always the Now, but they are still peripherally aware of time.
In other words, they continue to use clock time but are free of psychological time.
Eckhart Tolle -- Practicing the Power of Now
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December 31st 2004
From Consciousness -- Watching the Mind
Whenever you watch the mind, you withdraw consciousness from mind forms, which then becomes what we call the watcher or the witness.
Consequently, the watcher pure consciousness beyond form becomes stronger, and the mental formations become weaker.
When we talk about watching the mind, we are personalizing an event that is truly of cosmic significance: Through you, consciousness is awakening out of its dream of identification with form and withdrawing from form.
This foreshadows, but is already part of, an event that is probably still in the distant future as far as chronological time is concerned. The event is called -- the end of the world.
