February 2006
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February 1st 2006
From Consciousness -- The One Meeting Itself
Awakening reveals that there is no personal self, and that everything is myself. It appears to be a paradox. We find we are nothing and absolutely everything simultaneously.
When we see this, we realize there is nothing more happening other than love meeting itself -- or we could say you are meeting yourself, or the Truth is meeting itself, or God is meeting itself.
Love meets itself each moment, even if it's a rotten moment. This will never happen through the egoic state of consciousness, filtered through the mind. But from the innocence, love is simply meeting itself.
If you love me, it meets that. If you hate me, fine, it meets that, too. And it loves meeting that. I am talking about the One meeting itself, realizing itself, experiencing itself.
Adyashanti -- Emptiness Dancing
From Consciousness -- Openness to Whatever is Happening
There is a love that includes the good feelings that we associate with love, and also far transcends good feelings. It is a love that's much deeper than an experience.
Have you noticed, with whatever quality of love you have experienced, that when true love arises, it opens up both your mind and emotions? It's an .openness to whatever is happening.
The egoic state of consciousness is always closing the doors. Emotionally and intellectually, it's always slamming things shut as soon as the moment isn't the "right" kind of moment, which is about ninety-nine percent of the time.
But the innocence and the love do not slam the door shut, even in the face of something that is very unpleasant.
Adyashanti -- Emptiness Dancing
From Consciousness -- Love Sticks Its Head Out
Notice that the more you see past your sense of personal self, the more innocence creeps in. And the more innocence is known, the more love sticks its head out and starts to experience life, live this life, and move within this life.
The wisdom becomes available now because one is open. So the wisdom deepens, and the innocence deepens. And the innocence allows for more love, and the more love there is, the more room there is for wisdom, and so it goes.
These qualities of love and innocence are what make liberating wisdom possible.
They are not only outcomes of the blooming of your true nature, they are also what make awakening and the embodiment of it, possible.
Adyashanti -- Emptiness Dancing
From Consciousness -- Harmonization
In Zen, one of the definitions of enlightenment is the harmonization of body and mind. This also means the harmonization of spirit and matter.
When spirit and matter are in harmony, it's as if a third entity is born -- that's really the Buddhist "Middle Way."
The Middle Way has nothing to do with the notion of being halfway between two opposites. The Middle Way is when spirit and matter are in harmony -- when the inherent oneness is realized.
Spirit and matter are not two different things, they are two aspects of the One. This is the realization of our true nature.
Adyashanti -- Emptiness Dancing
From Consciousness -- There is No Matter
As humans we become identified with matter. Matter includes every subtle and gross manifestation. Matter is anything that can be touched, seen, felt, perceived, or thought. A feeling is matter and emotion is matter, as is a body, a car, or a floor.
The essence of matter is spirit. Matter is animated by spirit, by the life force, and they cannot be separated. Although we can speak about them as if they are two things, if we take away the life force, there is no matter. It's not as if there is dead matter. There is no matter.
Part of realization is moving from identification with matter (which manifests as personality or "me") to identification with spirit.
True enlightenment is when matter and spirit are in harmony. We could call this harmony nondifferentiation or oneness.
Adyashanti -- Emptiness Dancing
From Consciousness -- A Spiritual Sun Tan
When we realize that we are spirit, there may be a much deeper harmony than there was before that realization, but there can still be some disharmony. So it is helpful to understand the value of exposing ourselves to the teaching, which is the same as exposing ourselves to what is, each and every moment.
We need to expose ourselves as we would to the sun if we want to get a tan. Instead of putting on clothes, we take them off. If we want to be free, then we don't clothe ourselves with our concepts, ideas, and opinions; we take them off.
Then something happens quite by itself. In order to deepen this harmony, we cannot hold on to concepts just like we cannot stay partially dressed and get a full tan. We will not get transformed.
But once we are really naked and completely exposed, we can become transformed or awakened in a very natural way.
Adyashanti -- Emptiness Dancing
From Consciousness -- The Fire of Suffering
Most of the people who are in positions of power in this world, such as politicians, TV personalities, business as well as religious leaders, are completely identified with their role, with a few notable exceptions.
They may be considered VIPs, but they are no more than unconscious players in the egoic game, a game that looks so important yet is ultimately devoid of true purpose. It is, in the words of Shakespeare, "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'' Amazingly, Shakespeare arrived at this conclusion without having the benefit of television.
If the egoic earth drama has any purpose at all, it is an indirect one: It creates more and more suffering on the planet, and suffering, although largely ego-created, is in the end also ego-destructive.
It is the fire in which the ego burns itself up.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- The Bringers of New Consciousness
In a world of role-playing personalities, those few people who don't project a mind-made image -- and there are some even on TV, in the media, and the business world -- but function from the deeper core of their Being, those who do not attempt to appear more than they are but are simply themselves, stand out as remarkable and are the only ones who truly make a difference in this world.
They are the bringers of the new consciousness.
Whatever they do becomes empowered because it is in alignment with the purpose of the whole.
Their influence, however, goes far beyond what they do, far beyond their function. Their mere presence -- simple, natural, unassuming -- has a transformational effect on whoever they come into contact with.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- Completely Yourself
When you don't play roles, it means there is no self (ego) in what you do. There is no secondary agenda: protection or strengthening of your self.
As a result, your actions have far greater power. You are totally focused on the situation. You become one with it. You don't try to be anybody in particular.
You are most powerful, most effective, when you are completely yourself.
But don't 'try' to be yourself. That's another role. It's called "natural, spontaneous me." As soon as you are 'trying' to be this or that, you are playing a role.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- A Field of Pure Potentiality
"Just be yourself" is good advice, but it can also be misleading. The mind will come in and say, "Let's see. How can I be myself?" Then, the mind will develop some kind of strategy: "How to be myself." Another role.
"How can I be myself?" is, in fact, the wrong question. It implies you have to do something to be yourself. But 'how' doesn't apply here because you 'are' yourself already. Just stop adding unnecessary baggage to who you already are.
"But I don't know who I am. I don't know what it means to be myself."
If you can be absolutely comfortable with not knowing who you are, then what's left is who you are -- the Being behind the human, a field of pure potentiality rather than something that is already defined.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- Stop Defining Yourself
Give up defining yourself -- to yourself or to others.
You won't die. You will come to life.
And don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem.
Whenever you interact with people, don't be there primarily as a function or a role, but as a field of conscious Presence.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- Self-esteem and Humility
Why does the ego play roles? Because of one unexamined assumption, one fundamental error, one unconscious thought. That thought is: I am not enough.
Other unconscious thoughts follow: I need to play a role in order to get what I need to be fully myself, I need to get more so that I can be more. But you cannot be more than you are because underneath your physical and psychological form, you are one with Life itself, one with Being.
In form, you are and will always be inferior to some, superior to others. In essence, you are neither inferior nor superior to anyone.
True self-esteem and true humility arise out of that realization. In the eyes of the ego, self-esteem and humility are contradictory. In truth, they are one and the same.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- Perceiving and Apperceiving
Man's normal way of thinking and perceiving is far from being 'normal' in the sense that we have almost forgotten to see anything in the world directly. We are unable to see things in their 'suchness', 'as they are' -- the direct seeing of Zen -- because the habit of symbolic thinking has become so ingrained in us.
We forget that a symbol is a mere representation, and mistake it for reality. We see something, a rose, as a symbol, and forget to see a rose as an independent reality, in its virgin beauty.
Therefore, our knowledge, our perception has become utterly inferential or verbalized, dualistic. 'Direct' or 'non-dual' knowledge has become a forgotten thing. It so happens knowledge or perception of truth or reality is of this other nature -- what Eddington calls "an intimate knowledge of the reality behind the symbols of science".
This non-dual awareness is also known as 'apperception' -- a type of knowing wherein the knower, the known and the knowing are one inseparable process. In other words, the fundamental nature of all phenomena is the apperceiving of it.
Ramesh Balsekar -- Nuggets of Wisdom
From Consciousness -- Awakening is Nothing Special
In the words of Zen, awakening is wu-shih, nothing special. The liberated sage has to live his life as a separate entity more or less in the same circumstances as before, suffers the same pain in the moment, as does the ordinary person, and enjoys the same pleasures. Nothing special.
The only difference is that while he faces life, like anyone else, from moment to whatever the moment brings, he or she is always at peace with himself and in harmony with the 'other'.
This is because he or she has been able to accept totally that everything is a happening according the Cosmic Law, and not any deed done by any individual entity.
Thus whatever the happening, he or she does not blame anyone for it -- neither himself or herself nor the 'other'. Therefore, no guilt or shame no pride and arrogance about his or her own apparent actions; and no hatred or malice towards any 'other' for any of his or her actions.
Ramesh Balsekar -- Nuggets of Wisdom
From Consciousness -- What is Detachment?
A positive word like 'detachment' can cause considerable confusion. A sage has his family; his daily work to earn a living. A sage certainly enjoys his pleasure; in fact, he is called a Mahabhogi -- super-enjoyer. How can the word 'detached' be applied to a sage? In fact that is how a sage is always to be remembered: because of his detachment.
What is actually meant is that a sage is not attached to anything in life. He is not attached to his own life; he is ready to die at any moment. This means he is not attached to life and living. In this context the word 'detached' would indeed indicate that the sage lives like a zombie. This is certainly not the case.
The sage is certainly a Mahabhogi: He does not dilute his sense of enjoyment with a lot of unnecessary thinking about the enjoyment. But he is not attached to the pleasure: if the pleasure does not happen he does not pursue it.
'Detachment' is better described as not being 'attached'. Negation means freedom.
Ramesh Balsekar -- Nuggets of Wisdom
From Consciousness -- Seeking Perfection
The amount of time and effort the human being has spent on seeking a perfect society is horrendous. It can only lead to frustration.
We cannot forget that it is the mind that has projected the idea of a perfect state and tries to bring it about. So, when perfection, reform, is to be brought about, there is cruelty, liquidation, concentration camps, tyranny.
If I want to create a perfect state, then I not only compel myself to live according to a certain concept, I must also compel others to live according to that pattern. Seeking perfection is the most selfish, materialistic form of achievement.
The more realistic search would be to find what is real, what is true, what is God, what is the Source who has brought about the world we live in. And then, we can only leave the world in the care of the Source from which the world emanated. Nisargadatta Maharaj said: "A man who claims to know what is good for others, is dangerous"
Ramesh Balsekar -- Nuggets of Wisdom
From Consciousness -- What is Equanimity?
There is considerable confusion about the state of equanimity: Is it to be attained, or is it the result of total acceptance of a particular concept? In other words, is it a great virtue to be cultivated as a prerequisite to attaining the state of jivanmukta, a realized being? Or, is it the natural culmination of the total acceptance of the two basic concepts, both clearly enunciated by the Buddha?
The total acceptance of the concept of non-doership brings about the end of suffering. As the Buddha stated: "Events happen, deeds are done; but there is no individual doer of any deed." In other words, everything is a happening according to God's Will or Cosmic Law, and not anyone's individual action.
How each happening affects whom depends on the destiny of the individual who is affected by the happening. The total acceptance of non-doership means the end of the load of guilt and shame for one's own actions and the load of hatred and malice towards the other for his actions.
The removal of the load means the automatic presence of peace and harmony -- equanimity.
Ramesh Balsekar -- Nuggets of Wisdom
From Consciousness -- Life Happens
The Buddha also suggested: "Realize the utterly transitory nature of the universe and all causal phenomena.
Having realized that, one would he prepared to face change, however drastic. That would lead one away from fear, to a mindset that is without any waves of disturbance."
A correlated concept can be very helpful: to be able to accept that, while one can only do, in any given situation, whatever one thinks one should do, any expectation of the result could only lead to frustration.
The fact of the matter is that everything is pre-determined -- pleasure or pain, success or failure. One can only do what one thinks one should do. This also leads to equanimity.
Ramesh Balsekar -- Nuggets of Wisdom
From Consciousness -- The Clever Ego
Awareness opens up other vastly more intelligent ways of dealing with any situation. You will be free to let go of your unhappiness the moment you recognize it as unintelligent. Negativity is not intelligent. It is always of the ego.
The ego may be clever, but it is not intelligent. Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees the larger whole in which all things are connected.
Cleverness is motivated by self-interest, and it is extremely short-sighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few are intelligent.
Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self-defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence includes.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- Background Unhappiness
The ego creates separation, and separation creates suffering. The ego is therefore clearly pathological
Apart from the obvious ones such as anger, hatred, and so on, there are other more subtle forms of negativity that are so common they are usually not recognized as such, for example, impatience, irritation, nervousness, and being "fed up."
They constitute the background unhappiness that is many people's predominant inner state.
You need to be extremely alert and absolutely present to be able to detect them. Whenever you do, it is a moment of awakening, of disidentification from the mind.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- A Common Negative State
Here is one of the most common negative states that is easily overlooked, precisely because it is so common, so normal. You may be familiar with it.
Do you often experience a feeling of discontent that could best be described as a kind of background resentment? It may be either specific or nonspecific.
Many people spend a large part of their lives in that state. They are so identified with it that they cannot stand back and see it. Underlying that feeling are certain unconsciously held beliefs, that is to say, thoughts.
You think these thoughts in the same way that you dream your dreams when you are asleep. In other words, you don't know you are thinking .those thoughts, just as the dreamer doesn't know he is dreaming.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- Being At Peace
The ego creates stories to convince you that you cannot be at peace now or cannot be fully yourself now. Being at peace and being who you are, that is, being yourself, are one.
The ego says: Maybe at some point in the future, I can be at peace -- if this, that, or the other happens, or I obtain this or become that. Or it says: I can never be at peace because of something that happened in the past.
Listen to people's stories and they could all be entitled "Why I Cannot Be at Peace Now."
The ego doesn't know that your only opportunity for being at peace is now. Or maybe it does know, and it is afraid that you may find this out. Peace, after all, is the end of the ego.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- One With Life
How to be at peace now? By making peace with the present moment. The present moment is the field on which the game of life happens. It cannot happen anywhere else.
Once you have made peace with the present moment, see what happens, what you can do or choose to do, or rather what life does through you.
There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One With Life.
Being one with life is being one with Now. You then realize that you don't live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer, and you are the dance.
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- Ego's Blindness
The extent of the ego's inability to recognize itself and see what it is doing is staggering and unbelievable.
It will do exactly what it condemns others for and not see it. When it is pointed out, it will use angry denial, clever arguments, and self-justifications to distort the facts.
People do it, corporations do it, governments do it. When all else fails, the ego will resort to shouting or even to physical violence. Send in the marines.
We can now understand the deep wisdom in Jesus' words on the cross: "Forgive them for they know not what they do."
Eckhart Tolle -- A New Earth
From Consciousness -- The Amazing Irony
The truth is, you really are nothing, but this nothing is full, whole, infinite, in everything, everywhere. This nothing is consciousness itself. It is already whole, complete, and fulfilled. This is the amazing irony. What you are running from and what you are searching for are the same!
I know you must experience at least a hint or an echo of the boundless peace that is present. This is an echo of your true identity, which is always present.
However many strategies of the mind arise -- to do, to keep, to hide, to protect, or to defend -- this boundless peace is always present, and it is your true refuge. This is, in fact, your true face. You do not need years of spiritual practice to find your true face, because it is always present.
Nor do you need to be a better person to find your true face. Right now, exactly where you are, whoever you imagine yourself to be, your true face is shining. But it is actually no face at all, with no gender, no agenda. It is simply shining as it is, shining as shiningness.
Gangaji -- The Diamond In Your Pocket
From Consciousness -- Free To Simply Be
I am often asked why it is we misidentify and cover our true face in the first place. There are many spiritual and metaphysical theories as to why, but the one that makes the most sense to me is that the extraordinary delight of uncovering the true face is made possible only by the extraordinary suffering of covering the face.
Perhaps you can remember the thrill of playing "hide and seek" as a child. You can remember the thrill of hiding until after a while the thrill wears off, and then a desire arises for the thrill of being found.
In your life, if the desire to be found has arisen, then it is time to be found. It is time to stop hiding from the concept of nothingness and return to the truth of nothingness. It is time to rest in that.
Then you will see that the habits of misidentification, the strategies of control and hiding, the conditioned beliefs in the necessity to hide, will all be exposed, leaving you free to simply be.
Gangaji -- The Diamond In Your Pocket
From Consciousness -- A Bonfire That Lights Your Way
As an experience, the power of individuation is wondrous, and there is nothing wrong with it. But it is an experience of hiding. It is an experience of the whole disguising itself as the individual.
It is now possible for the whole to shine through the disguise of the individual. All that is required is your readiness, your willingness, your proclamation, "Yes, now I am ready, really ready, to be found."
Of course, since you have been hiding for millions of years in some version of this particular genetic form, there will be enormous forces that will come and say, "No, not yet, not quite, a little later. This is not a good time." But I say yes, now, even when all of these forces of the past are coming, this is the time to be found.
Then these forces of conditioning become the fuel for a huge bonfire that lights your way home. Invite all of your conditioning to be exposed in the light of this fire, to be exposed in the light of real self-inquiry.
Gangaji -- The Diamond In Your Pocket
From Consciousness -- The Search for Understanding
Amazingly, in some moment of grace, we know absolutely that we are one with the universe, that all is perfection. Whether it is a split second of simply looking into a baby's face or a longer period of abiding peace, we know it. And then, inevitably, other experiences arise of the horror or seeming meaninglessness of life. Again, we realize that we don't know anything, and the search for understanding continues.
I know this only, of course, because this was the story of my life until I met my teacher, who invited me to stop all searching. At that point I felt that the search for understanding was supreme. However, when I really let that word "stop" all the way into my consciousness, I recognized that surely there was one second in the many seconds of this lifetime when I could stop all searching.
That instant of stopping revealed the peace that is beyond understanding. In that peace, I discovered the inclusion of all horror and all beauty, all desperation and all relaxation.
But that revelation did not occur through understanding. While moments of profound understanding occur, a lasting understanding follows the direct experience of everlasting peace.
Gangaji -- The Diamond In Your Pocket
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