Sitting Together in Presence A Meditation with Eckhart Tolle

[Music] welcome to our live meditation I'm in Denmark today [Music] [Music] we're only interested in one thing here for our live meditation and that is to sit together not physically together but nevertheless together in presence thinking is not important here [Music] as much as possible let go of thinking without any effort and realize that you are more fully yourself when you're not thinking and when you're not thinking you can realize what being is what it means to be [Music] and you can sense the being that you are which can be expressed as the first person singular of the verb to be I am so your sense or you are the presence prior to thinking the clear space of presence that's why we're here to be that to realize that we are that I don't think as I sit here the wires just come out of the stillness there's no thinking prior to the words and as soon as a word has been uttered this just presence or stillness so you can join me in that as I don't need to think you don't need to think right now but just be present [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the great teacher Ramana Maharshi who taught during the first half of the 20th century in India was once asked by a visitor to his ashram this question how do I know whether I'm making progress on the spiritual path and he said the degree of absence of thought is the only true Chi Tyrion for your progress on the spiritual path [Music] the extent in other words to which you are free of thought in daily life [Music] still able to use thought whenever it's needed perfectly more efficiently than before more creatively because you have access to the unconditioned intelligence itself which is presence [Music] how long you can sit in meditation formal meditation is not a good criterion for progress on the spiritual path but to what extent presence comes into your daily life which initially made us mean little moments of presence in between all the doings of your life little moments of being awareness alertness a large stillness conscious consciously looking at something consciously listening consciously walking across the room consciously washing your hands [Music] which does not mean when you walk across the room you're thinking I am now crossing the room when you look at something I'm now looking at that tree that you're not present yet it can be an intermediate step but the actual presence is when there's no background commentary and when there's virtually no background commentary throughout your life that miss the awakened state they'd still be fragments of thoughts saying this or that but basically are fundamentally free of the involuntary compulsive background commentary in your daily life that's an enormous evolutionary leap to live like that but you don't need to have that as some aim I want to be totally free just be free of background commentary now it's easier than just a throughout my life I want to be free of that well just do it now renounce unnecessary thinking very present instead then the ego diminishes and eventually cannot survive in you when you are present [Music] people have practiced traditionally all kinds of renunciations in spiritual life in Christianity and Buddhism and Hinduism and so on and they are still being practiced in many cultures to some extent renunciation of possessions renunciation of your name let go of your old name adopt a new spiritual name pronunciation of physical comforts exposing the body to discomfort all these can be helpful but if the most basic renunciation is not known then the most basic attachment will still be there [Music] and that's attachment to your thoughts you haven't renounced unnecessary thinking setting aside a period for being present is traditionally called meditation so you could say that that's what we are doing here although we are not really doing anything or we are doing which is not a doing is realizing our presence realizing presence right now in different parts of the planet little points of consciousness waking up where before there was only a person there's no conscious presence arising different parts of the planet at the same time and this of course has no form [Music] and there's no time fast entry which shall become irrelevant in presence now that's an amazing realization that who you essentially are in a feeling of identity of essential identity does not need the future to complete itself it is already complete it does not need the past so you don't need past to know who you are that's a delusion it's a story you don't need future to finally arrive at some more complete version of yourself because presence is already complete you already complete in presence one could say presence is the cream and whatever happens in time and whatever happens in future to you is the skimmed milk and once you know the cream and have the cream and skim milk is not that important anymore so a small presence arises you lose the fear of death which of course arises because you unconsciously think you need more time to be fully yourself of course the truth is you need to get out of time to be fully yourself [Music] so we are here relaxed and alert at the same time alertness does not require tension and to be free of tension does not mean that you're going towards sleep and at this moment who are you with no reference to your story the space of presence multi-person you still look like a person from the outside [Music] so with this shift the person recedes and presents arises [Music] you don't lose anything real in this and what about my personal identity I don't want to lose that if you look more deeply at the bottom of what you feel is your personal identity there's the fact that right now you are conscious that's the foundation of what you sense and call your personal identity it's its consciousness is your past and identity it gives light to the story of who you are which consists of thoughts in the past past is thoughts the consciousness is the light behind your story without it there would be nothing [Music] let's close our eyes for a moment and just continue to be present without any visual perception if thoughts interfere take your attention into the inner body feel the aliveness inside the body be present with every cell of the body presents of course transcends the body but it shines through the form [Music] open your eyes look around the room wherever you are and stay present be the awareness behind the perceptions innocent fresh perception alert perception and back at the screen as we finished our meditation you may want to sit a little longer in the stillness and when you then start moving again start doing things carry that presence as much as possible with you as I don't have my Bell with me I will now simulate the Bell as best I can and once is enough thank you you [Music]

Channel: Eckhart Tolle

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Keywords: meditation with eckhart tolle, eckhart tolle guided meditation, presence meditation, meditation, how to be present, Ramana Maharshi, spiritual path, the meaning of meditation, eckhart tolle, guided meditation, eckhart tolle youtube, presence, mindfulness, eckhart tolle presence, consciousness, awakening, eckhart tolle 2020, eckhart tolle meditation

Id: hyvZ0XRAEcA

Length: 31min 59sec (1919 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 14 2020