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June 2004
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June 1st 2004
From Consciousness -- Knowing What You Are
When you rest deeply in the Unknown without trying to escape, your experience becomes very vast.
As the experience of the Unknown deepens, your boundaries begin to dissolve. You realize, not just intellectually but on a deep level, that you have no idea who or what you are.
A few minutes ago, you knew who you were — you had a history and a personality — but from this place of not knowing, you question all of that.
Liberated people live in the Unknown and understand that the only reason they know what they are is because they rest in the Unknown moment by moment without defining who they are with the mind.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 2nd 2004
From Consciousness -- Experiencing the Unknown
You can imagine how easy it is to get caught in the concept of the Unknown and seek that instead of the Truth.
If you seek the concept you’ll never be Free, but if you stop looking to myths and concepts and become more interested in the Unknown than in what you know, the door will be flung open.
Until then, it will remain closed. I’ve seen people who have never meditated come to satsang and have a deep experience of the Unknown, and I’ve known many who remain in the trance because they stay with the mind’s techniques and strategies.
There is no prerequisite for experiencing the Unknown. Everyone has equal access to it.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 3rd 2004
From Consciousness -- Stop the World!
Life moves, undulates, breathes in and out, contracting and expanding. This is its nature, the nature of what is. Whatever is, is on the move. Nothing remains the same for very long.
The mind wants everything to stop so that it can get its foothold, find its position, so it can figure out how to control life. Through the pursuit of material things, knowledge, ideas, beliefs, opinions, emotional states, spiritual states, and relationships, the mind seeks to find a secure position from which to operate.
The mind seeks to nail life down and get it to stop moving and changing. When this doesn't work, the mind begins to seek the changeless, the eternal, something that doesn't move.
But the mind of thought is itself an expression of life's movement and so must always be in movement itself. When there is thought, that thought is always moving and changing.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 4th 2004
From Consciousness -- Awareness Remains Alone
There is really no such thing as thought. There is only thinking, so thought which is always moving (as thinking) cannot apprehend the changeless.
When thought enters into the changeless it goes silent. When thought goes silent, the thinker, the psychological "me," the image-produced self, disappears.
Suddenly it is gone. You, as an idea, are gone. Awareness remains alone.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 5th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Form is Formless
There is no one who is aware. Awareness itself is itself. You are now no longer the thought, nor the thinker, nor someone who is aware. Only awareness remains, as itself.
Then, within awareness, thought moves. Within the changeless, change happens. Now awareness expresses itself.
Awareness is always expressing itself: as life, as change, as thought, feelings, bodies, humans, plants, trees, cars, etc.
Awareness yields to itself, to its inherent creativity, to its expression in form, to experience itself. The changeless is changing. The eternal is living and dying. The formless is form. The form is formless. This is nothing the mind could have ever imagined.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 6th 2004
From Consciousness -- Let Everything End
There is a great momentum of suffering and confusion that every spiritual seeker encounters. It is the momentum of ignorance which manifests as the experience of conflict and confusion and which causes suffering.
In order to discover the perspective of Liberation, which alone transcends this entire movement of ignorance and suffering, one needs to let everything end.
"Letting everything end" means to stand in the moment completely naked of attachment to any and all ideas, concepts, hopes, preferences, and experiences. Simply put, it means to stop strategizing, controlling, manipulating, and running away from yourself -- and to simply be.
Finally you must let everything end and be still. In letting everything end, all seeking and striving stops. All effort to be someone or to find some extraordinary state of being ceases. This ceasing is essential. It is true spiritual maturity.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 7th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Eternal Self
By ceasing to follow the mind's tendency to always want 'more', 'different', or 'better', one encounters the opportunity to be still.
In being still, a perspective is revealed which is free from all ignorance and bondage to suffering.
From that perspective, eternal Self is realized. The eternal Self, the Seer, is recognized to be one's true nature, one's very own Self.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 8th 2004
From Consciousness -- Let Seeking End
This is an invitation to let all seeking end, all striving end, all efforting end, all past identity end, all hopes end, and to discover 'That' which has no beginning or end.
This is an invitation to discover eternal, unborn, undying Truth of Being. The Truth of your Being, your own Self.
Let the entire movement of becoming end, and discover That which has always been present at the core of your Being.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 9th 2004
From Consciousness -- Beyond the Appearance of Death
When you walk through a forest that has not been tamed and interfered with by man, you will see not only abundant life all around you, but you will also encounter fallen trees and decaying trunks, rotting leaves and decomposing matter at every step.
Wherever you look, you will find death as well as life.
Upon closer scrutiny, however, you will discover that the decomposing tree trunk and rotting leaves not only give birth to new life, but are full of life themselves. Microorganisms are at work. Molecules are rearranging themselves.
So death isn't to be found anywhere. There is only the metamorphosis of life forms. What can you learn from this?
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 10th 2004
From Consciousness -- Is Life a Dream?
Sages and poets throughout the ages have recognized the dreamlike quality of human existence -- seemingly so solid and real and yet so fleeting that it could dissolve at any moment.
At the hour of your death, the story of your life may, indeed, appear to you like a dream that is coming to an end. Yet even in a dream there must be an essence that is real.
There must be a consciousness in which the dream happens; otherwise, it would not be.
That consciousness -- does the body create it or does consciousness create the dream of body, the dream of somebody?
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 11th 2004
From Consciousness -- Life Has No Opposite
Why have most of those who went through a near-death experience lost their fear of death? Reflect upon this.
Of course you know you are going to die, but that remains a mere mental concept until you meet death "in person" for the first time:
This can happen through a serious illness or an accident that happens to you or someone dose to you, or through the passing away of a loved one, death enters your life as the awareness of your own mortality.
Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. Life is eternal.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 12th 2004
From Consciousness -- Only Our Form Can Die
Most people turn away from it in fear, but if you do not flinch and face the fact that your body is fleeting and could dissolve at any moment, there is some degree of disidentification, however slight, from your own physical and psychological form, the "me."
When you see and accept the impermanent nature of all life forms, a strange sense of peace comes upon you.
Through facing death, your consciousness is freed to some extent from identification with form.
This is why in some Buddhist traditions, the monks regularly visit the morgue to sit and meditate among the dead bodies.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 13th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Denial of Death
There is still a widespread denial of death in Western cultures. Even old people try not to speak or think about it, and dead bodies are hidden away.
A culture that denies death inevitably becomes shallow and superficial, concerned only with the external form of things.
When death is denied, life loses its depth. The possibility of knowing who we are beyond name and form, the dimension of the transcendent, disappears from our lives because death is the opening into that dimension.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 14th 2004
From Consciousness -- Welcome the Endings
People tend to be uncomfortable with endings, because every ending is a little death. That's why in many languages, the word for "good-bye" means "see you again."
Whenever an experience comes to an end -- a gathering of friends, a vacation, your children leaving home -- you die a little death. A "form" that appeared in your consciousness as that experience dissolves. Often this leaves behind a feeling of emptiness that most people try hard not to feel, not to face.
If you can learn to accept and even welcome the endings in your life, you may find that the feeling of emptiness that initially felt uncomfortable turns into a sense of inner spaciousness that is deeply peaceful.
By learning to die daily in this way, you open yourself to Life.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 15th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Sense of I Am
Most people feel that their identity, their sense of self, is something incredibly precious that they don't want to lose. That is why they have such fear of death.
It seems unimaginable and frightening that 'I' could cease to exist. But you confuse that precious 'I' with your name and form and a story associated with it. That 'I' is no more than a temporary formation in the field of consciousness.
As long as that form identity is all you know, you are not aware that this preciousness is your own essence, your innermost sense of I Am, which is consciousness itself. It is the eternal in you -- and that's the only thing you cannot lose.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 16th 2004
From Consciousness -- There Is Only You
If you are a true seeker of liberation you've got to be willing to stand alone. At the moment of Liberation everything falls away ... everything. Suddenly the ground beneath your feet is gone, and you are alone.
You are alone because you have directly realized that there is no other, there is no separation. There is only you, only Self, only limitless emptiness, pure consciousness.
To the mind, the ego, this appears terrifying. When the mind looks at limitlessness and infinity, it projects meaninglessness and despair.
To the ego Absolute Freedom can look terrifying. But when the mind is let go of, the view changes from meaningless despair and fear to the unending joy and wonder of Liberation.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 17th 2004
From Consciousness -- Never, Never Lonely
In Liberation, you stand alone. You stand alone because you need no supports of any kind.
You need no supports because you have realized that the very notion of a separate you no longer exists; that there is nothing to support; that the whole ego experience was a flimsy illusion.
So you stand alone but never, never lonely because everywhere you look, all you see is That, and You are That.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 18th 2004
From Consciousness -- A Measure of Enlightenment
Spiritual people often want unconditional support and understanding from their friends, family, and mates, but all too often seem blind to their own short-comings when it comes to the amount of unconditional support and understanding that they give to others.
I have seen many spiritual people become obsessed with how unspiritual others are and assume an arrogant and superior attitude while completely missing the fact that they themselves are not nearly as spiritually enlightened as they would like to think that they are.
Enlightenment can be measured by how compassionately and wisely you interact with others; with all others, not just those who support you in the way that you want. How you interact with those who do not support you shows how enlightened you really are.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 19th 2004
From Consciousness -- Love and Wisdom Flow
As long as you perceive that anyone is holding you back you have not taken full responsibility for your own liberation.
Liberation means that you stand free of making demands on others and life to make you happy.
When you discover yourself to be nothing but Freedom, you stop setting up conditions and requirements that need to be satisfied in order for you to be happy.
It is in the absolute surrender of all conditions and requirements that Liberation is discovered to be who and what you Are. Then the love and wisdom that flows out of you has a liberating effect on others.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 20th 2004
From Consciousness -- Surrender Self Importance
The biggest challenge for most spiritual seekers is to surrender their self importance, and see the emptiness of their own personal story.
It is your personal story that you need to awaken from in order to be free.
To give up being either ignorant or enlightened is the mark of liberation and allows you to treat others as your Self.
What I am describing is the birth of true Love.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 21st 2004
From Consciousness -- Peace Through Loss
Whenever any kind of deep loss occurs in your life -- such as loss of possessions, your home, a close relationship; or loss of your reputation, job, or physical abilities -- something inside you dies. You feel diminished in your sense of who you are. There may also be a certain disorientation. "Without this.., who am I?"
When a form that you had unconsciously identified with as part of yourself leaves you or dissolves, that can be extremely painful. It leaves a hole, so to speak, in the fabric of your existence.
When this happens, don't deny or ignore the pain or the sadness that you feel. Accept that it is there. Beware of your mind's tendency to construct a story around that loss in which you are assigned the role of victim. Fear, anger, resentment, or self- pity are the emotions that go with that role.
Then become aware of what lies behind those emotions as well as behind the mind-made story: that hole, that empty space. Can you face and accept that strange sense of emptiness? If you do, you may find that it is no longer a fearful place. You may be surprised to find peace emanating from it.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 22nd 2004
From Consciousness -- The Most Sacred Thing in Life
Whenever death occurs, whenever a life form dissolves, God, the formless and unmanifested, shines through the opening left by the dissolving form.
That is why the most sacred thing in life is death. That is why the peace of God can come to you through the contemplation and acceptance of death.
How short-lived every human experience is, how fleeting our lives. Is there anything that is not subject to birth and death, anything that is eternal?
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 23rd 2004
From Consciousness -- How Would You Ever Know?
Consider this: if there were only one color, let us say blue, and the entire world and everything in it were blue, then there would be no blue.
There needs to be something that is not blue so that blue can be recognized; otherwise, it would not "stand out," would not exist.
In the same way, does it not require something that is not fleeting and impermanent for the fleetingness of all things to be recognized? In other words: if everything, including yourself, were impermanent, would you even know it?
Does the fact that you are aware of and can witness the short-lived nature of all forms, including your own, not mean that there is something in you that is not subject to decay?
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 24th 2004
From Consciousness -- You Are It
When you are twenty, you are aware of your body as strong and vigorous; sixty years later, you are aware of your body as weakened and old.
Your thinking too may have changed from when you were twenty, but the awareness that knows that your body is young or old or that your thinking has changed has undergone no change.
That awareness is the eternal in you -- consciousness itself. It is the formless One Life. Can you lose It? No, because you 'are' It.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 25th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Deathless Within
Some people become deeply peaceful and almost luminous just before they die, as if something is shining through the dissolving form.
Sometimes it happens that very ill or old people become almost transparent, so to speak, in the last few weeks, months, or even years of their lives.
As they look at you, you may see a light shining through their eyes. There is no psychological suffering left. They have surrendered and so the person, the mind-made egoic "me," has already dissolved.
They have "died before they died" and found the deep inner peace that is the realization of the deathless within themselves.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 26th 2004
From Consciousness -- Only a Form Dissolving
To every accident and disaster there is a potentially redemptive dimension that we are usually unaware of.
The tremendous shock of totally unexpected, imminent death can have the effect of forcing your consciousness completely out of identification with form.
In the last few moments before physical death, and as you die, you then experience yourself as consciousness free of form.
Suddenly, there is no more fear, just peace and a knowing that "all is well" and that death is only a form dissolving. Death is then recognized as ultimately illusory -- as illusory as the form you had identified with as yourself.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 27th 2004
From Consciousness -- Being With One Who Is Dying
When you sit with a dying person, do not deny any aspect of that experience. Do not deny what is happening and do not deny your feelings. The recognition that there is nothing you can do may make you feel helpless, sad, or angry. Accept what you feel.
Then go one step further: accept that there is nothing you can do, and accept it completely. You are not in control.
Deeply surrender to every aspect of that experience, your feelings as well as any pain or discomfort the dying person may be experiencing.
Your surrendered state of consciousness and the stillness that comes with it will greatly assist the dying person and ease their transition. If words are called for, they will come out of the stillness within you. But they will be secondary.
With the stillness comes the benediction: peace.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 28th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Web of Interconnectedness
The interconnectedness of all things -- Buddhists have always known it, and physicists now confirm it.
Nothing that happens is an isolated event; it only appears to be. The more we judge and label it, the more we isolate it.
The wholeness of life becomes fragmented through our thinking. Yet the totality of life has brought this event about. It is part of the web of interconnectedness that is the cosmos.
This means: whatever is could not be otherwise.
Eckhart Tolle -- Stillness Speaks
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June 29th 2004
From Consciousness -- There Is No Other.
Awakening to the truth of perfect Unity, means to awaken from the dream of a personal self and personal others to the realization that there is no other.
Many spiritual seekers have had glimpses of the absolute unity of all existence, but few are capable of or willing to live up to the many challenging implications inherent in that revelation.
The revelation of perfect unity, that there is no other, is a realization of the ultimate impersonality of all that seems to be so very personal.
Applying this realization to the arena of personal relationships is something that most seekers find extremely challenging, and is the number one reason why so many seekers never come completely to rest in the freedom of the Self Absolute.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
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June 30th 2004
From Consciousness -- No Personal Relationships
Inherent in the revelation of perfect unity is the realization that there is no personal me, no personal other, and therefore no personal relationships.
Coming to terms with the challenging implications of this stunning realization is something that few people are willing to do. Because realizing the true impersonality of all that seems so personal, challenges every aspect of the illusion of a separate, personal self.
It challenges the entire structure of personal relationships which are born of needs, wants, and expectations. It is in the arena of personal relationships that the illusion of a separate self clings most tenaciously and insidiously.
Indeed, there is nothing that derails more spiritual seekers than the grasping at and attaching to personal relationships.
Adyashanti (Steven Gray)
