The School of Awakening presents: A Pure Awareness Meditation & Conversation with Eckhart

welcome friends welcome to our special school of awakening webinar with eckhart tolle my name is tammy simon i'm the founder of sounds true and it is absolute joy to be your host for this session we're going to begin our live session with eckhart guiding us through a meditation on pure awareness this is a meditation that he originally introduced at our very first school of awakening that took place two years ago and i'm so glad that this larger public audience will have the chance to experience the meditation as part of this webinar for those of you who are just learning about the school of awakening for the very first time let me tell you just a little bit more about this program the eckhart tolle school of awakening is the most advanced and in-depth learning program that eckhart tolle and kim eng teach it's a five-month immersion program that this year includes two virtual retreats along with monthly teachings and meditations with eckard and kim all in the context of a vibrant online learning community the goal of the school of awakening is to intensify presence and align with the awakening process that many people are already undergoing if you want to learn more about the school of awakening you can just click the button on this page also please note that we're in the final enrollment period for the school of awakening and that's because the program starts at the end of this month the first day of school is soon it starts on march 27th again we'll be starting our webinar with a guided pure awareness practice and then following that i'll ask eckhart some questions that we've received from the eckhart tolle community about the awakening process and now uh as i said a great joy to welcome eckhart tolle eckart hi tommy hi everybody nice to see you well i don't see everybody but you see me uh so apparently uh we are starting with a pure awareness meditation if we want to call it that pure awareness it's an interesting idea well it's not an idea it only becomes an idea when we talk about it pure awareness is beyond any idea or concept it's the essence of who you are and most people go through life without ever encountering [Music] that dimension [Music] of their being and that's a great pity i often use the term form identity and essence identity your form identity is whatever you add after you say i am [Music] whatever you add to that statement i am is part of your form identity usually people would start with an identity is very important for everybody everybody's looking for a stronger sense of identity it starts within childhood already so it's after meeting the the basic needs of food and shelter one could almost say the next thing that arises is not a physical need but a deep-seated psychological need and that is the need for an identity so everybody is searching it starts in early childhood already is searching for a more stable more secure more expanded sense of who they are sense of identity of sense of self so that everybody is searching so wherever you go or lots of the things you see on the internet it's a search for an identity so let's just explore what you would add to if you said i am the normal things that you would probably add is perhaps your gender the very popular subject these days used to be a very simple subject now it's much more complex but for our purposes here it's not complex whatever it is that you want to add as your gender is fine i am and then other things come of course perhaps racial things are also very much in the forefront these days so perhaps that would come to you also next wide like whatever the shade of color doesn't matter you add that because it has become part of your sense of self your sense of identity and then of course there's your there's the body whether it's old or young your age and i am that such an age i have an old satin such an old uh an old white black man woman whatever and so on and then it goes on after that to do with your your station in life perhaps work perfect profession or your relationship to other human beings mother father daughter and so on anything else that you have incorporated into your sense of self and manufacture to send yourself out of that possessions perhaps you are a big person who has lots of possessions i am a the owner of a company i and the owner of a private jet that would be a big sense identity or perhaps you have the opposite you have might have to develop a sense of identity of somebody who has less than others and been disadvantaged all their lives and then you have an equally big sense of identity i'm somebody who's been treated unfairly by life it's a terrible another big also part of your identity negative or positive doesn't matter you add more things accumulate in your inner space and you hold them together with your name that's your my name is such and such the name becomes the receptacle for all the other things that you put in there that you derive your sense of self from and then you say oh well that's me and it's never quite very satisfying for long and it's very rarely enough that's a strange thing about that sense of self and this is what i call the form identity and it's fine everybody has one nothing wrong with that so you acknowledge your form identity you don't need to say i don't want to have a form identity you have a form identity as long as you are here as this particular form you have a form identity whatever it may be and that's fine the problem is that uh there's always a sense of there's still something missing of this things that i have in here that i put into this receptacle this is my name and i put in all those things that i'm i identify with as me and then the things not quite right i need something else that most needs to be put in so there's always a sense of dissatisfaction that arises very quickly i'm not enough ultimately there's something missing in life in my life i don't know what and you've come up with all kinds of things and the the awakening spiritual awakening begins with the realization that there is more to you than that and this more to you is your essence identity and you find your essence identity if as an experiment now let's say we have a board a blackboard or a whiteboard and on this board we have written i am and then imagine whatever you would have added to that the list of things that you you feel is you gender age profession et cetera you add that i am let's say you add it vertically to me and not for our meditation or it's not really a meditation it's a little experiment you take a whatever it is you do you used to erase whatever is written on the board uh they used to have chalk into sponge you would erase that was written with chalk on the blackboard so you get that and you start just for the best what what is left of me if i temporarily to rush for this moment i erase what i have added to i am so just whatever it is mother father professions and race etc age [Music] opinions about yourself whatever great i'm the best that's ever been or the worst is ever lived that too is a concept that you have identified with there are concepts that you have accumulate there and you erase just temporarily so you don't give it any more attention it's gone and then even the last thing the receptacle itself the name you can temporarily erase that i don't remember my name i don't remember my email address i don't remember my gender my so what's what in order that you have to let go of all the accumulated concepts because they are ultimately all mental concepts that gave you your sense of self you let go of the mental concepts what is left of me if there's no more anger no mental concept left of who i am that's only i am is the essence of me gone or is the essence of who i am still there if i don't even remember my past or anything any conceptual thing about me i'm so present at this moment that all i know and i'm talking for you i'm so present at this moment that all i know is that i am now [Music] if you can just add a glimpse of that what is left what is that i am and there's no concept there anymore but what what is that feeling is it a feeling that sense of being that sense of i am being and i am is the same thing to be is infinitive and i am is the first person singular they just sound very different really you should be saying ib but english language is developed in a different way i am it comes from being all you are left with is a sense of beingness or presence and then you ask yourself is anything vital anything of absolute value lost now am i essentially still still here without referring to any concepts about myself or any thoughts and you'll become aware at this moment that you are aware because that awareness is what's left when you take everything away that beingness that sense of presence of beingness that you cannot define is what's left we can use certain words to talk about it or to point to it yes but in itself it is beyond words beyond concepts beyond thoughts so there is a space in you that is beyond words concepts and thoughts that is beyond thinking but you're not asleep there is that space in you that is always there underneath the fluctuation of words concepts and thoughts the old thoughts ultimately thoughts are inner words underneath this fluctuation of concept in words there is a sense of presence or beingness of i am and this sense of this is pure awareness or consciousness that gets uh absorbed by thoughts it flows into the sense of i flows into the it animates the concepts in the mind and then you derive your sense of self from the concepts without realizing that that which animates the concepts is the awareness the pure awareness and so it's not realizing the essence of your being and moving only on the surface of life the surface of the ocean of being that's your form identity is what happens on the surface of the ocean of being waves and ripples and waves clashing and all kinds of things and every every wave things it's in me i am the wave it doesn't realize it's similar it's the ocean [Music] so what animates what gives life to all the things that you identify with which are ultimately concepts because you don't identify with objects you seem to let's say you have possessions you identify with the possessions but you're experiencing possessions how do you experience them you experience in this mental concept my house my car my private jet you experience enemies concepts in your heart and you attach the my to it the sense of you associate a thing with the center cells but the thing is experienced as a concept maybe there is no car maybe the whole thing is maybe all things um you live in that matrix and everything is made up you know nobody knows whether the actual the external world is actually there or is being created that's a dream of consciousness but all you know is you can't know whether the the the what is it uh the aston martin or the uh ferrari that you derive some of your sense of identity from is actually there or you have made it up in your mind but all you know is that you have this thing in your mind and that's your car so you have form identity nothing wrong with that you need to operate be able to operate on this level of form yes use your mind but see the essence identity is there that is underneath all that and if you don't find that that i call it the deep eye sometimes as opposed to the surface i so the surface eyes whatever you add to i am the deep eye is the realization of beingness of i am and the two can live together they are compatible it doesn't mean you can have either one or the other you can have one leg so to speak a metaphorical leg you can have one leg in the being and one leg in the form identity the deep eye and the surface i and that is the purpose as i see it of human life is to be able to live in that way where you have you are rooted in the i am and you're able to deal with the things of this world and continue to have a form identity but do you no longer exclusively derive your sense of self from that it's a relatively superficial sense of self for a little while but your deep sense of being comes from another place and that is a place really that is at that level you are one with every other human being and under any every other being the level of oneness on the level of form identity you need the other because without the other you cannot define yourself you always need some something that's not you imagine imagine let's say your your racial identity is strong you you feel that very very important part of who you are is your race and that's it's fine you can honor that as a little thought experiment from science fiction let's say you suddenly wanted one suddenly the et's come and they transport you to another planet where everybody is exactly the same race in exactly the same skin color as you [Music] there's no other anymore and at that moment your entire sense of who you are as this race would collapse because without the other that race doesn't even exist they wouldn't have a name for it if you went to a planet where everything is green every object and everything is green they would not have a word for green obviously you need the other so you're for your form identity you always need the other and the ego very strongly emphasizes the other it needs the other to be as other as possible so that i can sense this my sense of self ultimately if it's only a format and it is fictitious you can sense myself it seems more strongly i need to have the other more other the [Music] and this we can see it everywhere in this world you need to emphasize the otherness of others it's an egoic need to to strengthen your identity it's it's an illusion and it leads to a lot of turmoil and suffering and chaos but it's the ego at work you have to recognize that and go to that deeper place where there is no other and that is the awareness and then you can be a do some good than this in this world you can bring about a different world because you're no longer trapped in the world of of needing to to make the others other as other as possible it's an egoic delusion terrible terrible so here we have the deep eye for here for our purpose is just experiencing the deep eye even if it's just a glimpse letting go of concepts what remains when you wipe clean the what you've written on the board after the i am [Music] and all that's left is i am pregnant's presence and then as as you become familiar with that place so to speak it it deepens and you can sense the power that resides in you which is the power of consciousness itself which is the essence of everything you can sense that power but it's not power over others because in that power there is no other you have power without having power over others it's the inherent power of the universe and you can see you can sense it now perhaps only has a glimpse right now as i stop speaking for five seconds you can sense it now as a glimpse and that's a good start oh and you don't know much about in on that level what can you say about it not much that's fine and then you you become more it then you sends it more strongly and then it begins to even change the way in which you operate on your form identity it actually it makes a difference to that also pure awareness is simply then being aware right now being aware that you are aware sounds strange being aware that you are conscious being aware that you are consciousness better way of putting it so that's the essence of all spiritual practice just does that it's not complicated so we're taking us 25 minutes to explain the essence of all spiritual practice no don't need to read all the books anymore just practice wonderful thank you eckhart as i mentioned at the beginning we've received questions from the eckhart tolle community and have chosen a few to ask you here and here's the first one this person wrote in you're offering a new school of awakening but can spiritual awakening actually be taught like other subjects that are taught your own awakening was spontaneous if spiritual awakening can be taught tell me more about that and why do you feel now is the time for us to come together and explore these deeper teachings oh right but would everybody be benef would everybody benefit from spiritual teaching no not everybody would benefit from spiritual teaching [Music] there needs to be a readiness in you which is very hard to define what that is there needs to be a readiness for you to receive the teaching [Music] so that it can [Music] accelerate your [Music] awakening now when i say accelerate your awakening that implies that something has already started something has already opened up in you and there's still many humans who not only would they not be interested in hearing any spiritual teaching many would even feel hostile towards it if they had to listen to it they feel they'd feel as almost as a personal attack there are many humans who are still extremely self-possessed which means possessed by the egoic sense of self and there's no opening for anything else they still believe that they can make it they are basically in total control of their lives and they're going to make it or whatever the ideas is that they have in their minds and the even such the suggestion that there is a power that is beyond who they are as a person even to hear that suggestion would be a personal regarded as a personal insult so not everybody can be reached not everybody is ready many young people are still not although there are no many are ready but as if you're very young you still the ego is still forming and you think you are you're not open yet to receiving what the spiritual teaching has to offer and often i've met many many accounts of people who have come to me and said somebody gave me your book 15 years ago and i opened it and i thought it was just complete mumbo jumbo complete mumbo dumbo there was even a reviewer quite a few years ago in time magazine who actually wrote that he or she i can't remember wrote a review of the power of now and described it as mumbo jumbo and of course from the reviewer's point of state of consciousness it was an absolutely correct statement because that is how they perceived it and so people have come to me and said somebody gave me that book and i opened it was just what is this i read a page they said and i didn't understand the word what what's he talking about they put it on a shelf five six years later they picked it up and opened it many people have told me similar accounts they owned it oh wow suddenly it all it all made sense in what does it mean they recognize the truth in it but what happened in the meantime from the time when they were given the book it was meaningless to when they opened it up again they suffered they suffered something happened they lost something vital they experienced some kind of uh [Music] perhaps a serious illness or had an accident or somebody close to them died or they their business collapsed they became ill whatever something happened and created suffering and the suffering created a crack in the egoic dense egoic cell and then there was an opening suddenly and then there was a recognition the spiritual spiritual teaching a school of spirituality of awakening [Music] is it doesn't really teach you anything new it's always perceived as a recognition it's a recognition ah and there's an immediate realization oh yes i knew that i could not have said it but i recognize the truth of that so it addresses the deeper level of who you are so in other words it requires a minimum degree of awareness for for for there to be a receptivity to spiritual teaching so that spiritual teaching can be helpful without that it's not helpful at all so and this minimum degree of awareness is yes it's awareness or presence which is the same thing away the same no thing awareness or presence is the dimension of consciousness that is beyond thinking and that is realized the moment you stop thinking without falling asleep for example now and you realize you are still very much there when you're not thinking but some a deeper dimension of you is there when you're not thinking and of course that is in a spiritual school or rule of awakening that deeper dimension is pulled out of you more that is helpful it would come anyway life ultimately is the greatest spiritual teacher so but a spiritual teaching can accelerate it what otherwise would take much more longer time that realization so it can be taught what can be taught is partly let's see what one could divide it it could say there's three parts to it which can be taught one is um what can be taught is making people aware of what it is in them there that what are the greatest obstacles or hindrances to the full unfolding of their consciousness what are the hindrances in you what are the obstacles in you if your spiritual teaching can help you you can point out what the obstacles are that they're all part of the ego the obstacles are like reactivity becoming aware of the various ways in which you react to things becoming aware of identification with your thoughts when anxiety wary arise becoming aware that you are not your thoughts explaining how the pain body works so how it can take you over how it can pain but it can use your mind [Music] all kinds of things can be pointed out that otherwise you may overlook and they may obscure again the arising awareness so spiritual teaching can help you to point out what the obstacles are because once you recognize the inner obstacles to awakening which are the ego that you can transcend them more easily if you do not recognize the obstacles then you are in they have you in their grip and they can easily obscure the arising awareness and the another way in which very teaching can be helpful it uses pointers concepts words but they point to something when i say the deep eye that's a pointer the deep eye is still a concept but it points you beyond concepts when i say can you sense the deep eye in you you can't think about that and you think about it you can't so you have to stop thinking so the concept points beyond itself that's how spirited teaching can work it can use helpful concepts but point beyond the concepts and another way in which it can work is as a direct transmission of presence when words arise out of presence they they have this they come out of this energy field of presence and that can awaken the presence in you but only if there's already some presence there a minimum of presence needs already deeds to be there and how do i know how do you know whether it's there it's very simple if these words that i'm saying now make sense to you and say yeah i can sense i can sense the truth of it then you have that minimum or you may have more than a minimum you have that awareness if what i'm saying to you now makes absolutely no sense to you i suggest that you wait a little 3 5 10 15 20 years and life will give you more suffering it's inevitable and at some point the suffering may have cracked the egoic cell sufficiently for the light of awareness to shine through to the that receives the teaching and that can then grow so there needs to be something in you that's able to receive the teaching which is not ultimately it's not the teaching it's the it's the the consciousness of the so-called teacher there's no teacher there's only consciousness but consciousness uses different channels and jesus said you made a very um nowadays you would be a deeply offensive statement but he lived in a different time and you could still you could say offense deeply offensive things he said do not cast pearls before swine all that it means is that they are not ready for the teaching they are interested in eating drinking and fornicating and so to speak let's be blunt there's still many humans whose main interest is different it's not they don't they're not it's any spiritual awakening so jesus used that expression but i would not use that because they are not swine they are just humans waiting to be awakened or to come to an awakening the essence of who they are is one with the essence of who you are so you are not superior to them in essence you're not superior to any human because every human is has come out of is an ex manifestation of them of the one consciousness so one more point yes to summarize the spiritual teaching with limitations i'd say it it can be taught if there's a readiness in the sense it's not adding information to your mind so much but as a an acceleration of what's happening in you already and a subsidiary question would be what about religion is is it being religious helpful for spiritual awakening oh if you're very very religious people are they closer to spiritual awakening are they more open to spiritual awakening and there's no some may be more open because their religion because every religion has a transcendent dimension hidden somewhere even though it might be obscured by ideology and dogma and very often heavily obscured by ideology and dogma but every religion there is a transcendent dimension there in the background somewhere and some people may have access through their religion may have access to it and then they would be open to it i have had letters with communications from monks buddhist monks christian monks nuns in monasteries saying your book has deepened my my my my faith and wonderful however there are others for whom religion is an ideology it strengthens their egoic sense of self and they would be totally closed to any any spiritual teaching so there's no receptivity there so religion can mean yes it has given you access to the transcendent dimension or he had created closed access to transcendence dimension completely about perhaps if you suffer a bit more then it might still so suffering is so valuable so what would we do without suffering all right eckhart we have another question here for you this person wrote in i've heard that having a strong inner intention to awaken can be helpful when a person wants to accelerate spiritual awakening in their life do you think that is true and if so can you say more about this right do you have a strong inner intention i'm asking not tammy i'm asking everybody a a strong inner intention to awaken yes and no it intention usually implies you want to get somewhere if i have an intention to learn a new skill i project myself i want to get there intention implies i'm here but i want to get there i have an intention to achieve this to obtain that to build that to manifest that i this is my intention now you if you use the same for awakening spiritual awakening um it would not be helpful it would be a hindrance because the strong intention to become awakened would place the awakening in some future moment and you would create a conceptual sense of self that you the so-called awakened being want to achieve again in the future and therefore the strong intention to awaken in this case would be the greatest hindrance to awakening however if we instead of intention we could say motivation do we have a strong motivation to awaken or if we use the right intention in a different way instead of intention you directly towards the future is it possible to use the word intention directly own it into the present moment and then your intention is in this moment i intend to be awake so there's no time in this moment you are your intention is to be awake now so there's no there can't be any future your intention is to be present now and if that intention is very strong that's great then you're present now and to be present means to be no longer seduced by thought useless thinking especially and this is why i'm if i make quote famous spiritual wonderful spiritual teacher from india who passed away many years ago nisargadatta who said what when they asked him what is spiritual awakening he said he he he had very lo a lot of yang in him so whatever he said was very forcefully expressed [Music] he said what spiritual awakening it's a radical refusal to harbor thoughts that's how he spoke it's a radical refusal to harbor thoughts no that's a strong intention but it's not an intention for the future it's an intention that goes into the pres merges with the present moment because that that's where awakening awakening is inseparable from present moment awareness awakening is present moment awareness and you can only achieve so to speak you can't achieve it discover it perhaps you can only have it now so there's no future in in awakening that's a again we have some schools of sort of spirituality teach us claim that there's nothing you can do to spiritually awaken they say let go of all effort just do nothing then it will come just don't let go of all no effort every effort is a is a obstacle okay that's one extreme school okay then you go okay that's great i have nothing that's nothing to do okay and 10 years later you still find yourself sitting on your couch watching tv and drinking beer and waiting for your awakening who's not come yet but that's okay you told me to you had to come then you have another school that says the opposite that says if you do not want spiritual awakening as much as a drowning man wants air you're not going to get it no of course that would be a very strong desire to if you're drowning and you really want air so which one is right these the secret is you bring the two together not not not not have no intent to direct no intention directly towards the future but only present moments when there's an intensity suddenly in the present moment that intensities is presence and you no longer you no longer that intensity in that intensity of trains you no longer want anything because it's already there so you it's so easy to be awake in the present moment you can be awake in the present moment you might lose it the next moment we're not talking about the next moment but right now and that's the only thing you can do is be present now and let go of thinking unless it's helpful as much as possible the radical refusal to harbour thoughts and again that's only one approach it's the active approach you can also have the passive approach you're so surrendered to this present moment that very few thoughts if any arise because what is there to think about if this is this i completely accept this moment or as a a teacher an ancient teacher recommend it as a best spiritual practice to to say the mantra whenever any situation arose it was a little bit difficult or challenging use the following mantra he said thanks for everything i have no complaint whatsoever that's the mantra but you have to mean it if you just say it it doesn't work but if you mean it thanks for this i have no complaint whatsoever thank you for this i have no complaint whatsoever that's also that brings you to the same point as the radical refusal to harbor thoughts which is a yang approach thanks for everything i have no complaint whatsoever is a yin approach [Music] so i love that thanks for everything which every moment is good as it is even the seemingly bad ones especially the seemingly bad ones if somebody puts a great meal in front of you it's great to say oh thanks for ever thank you thank you i have no complaint what's it's a great meal but then something else happens but you so something is given to you that you don't want of course you because it's the present moment you might as well be friendly with it because it's all there ever is you appreciate what is that's there you are that's the opening into the transcendent dimension we have one final question for you eckart there's two parts to this the person wrote in can you tell us more about what it feels like to be fully awakened and what are signs of awakening along the journey [Music] what it feels like well let's put that aside for a moment but the signs of awakening are perhaps more important for people because people ask well is it happening am i awakening or that oh oh question i forget when am i going to awaken it's the wrong question when am i going to awaken is the wrong question but a slightly better question would be how do i know if the awakening process is happening in me or to me how do i how how can i know that because for most people it is a gradual process of [Music] disidentification ultimately disidentification from thinking so that you realize that thinking and awareness are no longer completely intertwined if awareness or conscious pure consciousness pure awareness separates itself from thought and there you have and then thoughts very easily collapse because they're no longer feeding on awareness of consciousness so there's a separation of thinking and awareness that's the disidentification from thought and that is the process and that it has its ups and downs it uh so you but there are certain signs that you have um and one of the clearest signs is you live more in the present moment that's a very simple thing one of the clearer scientists you have the ability to live more aligned with the present moment in other words there is an appreciation of whatever it is around you at this moment there's an appreciation of the little things the little things because you're no longer waiting for the big thing because in the unenlightened egoi consciousness you're waiting for some big thing when you're going to start living however you interpret the big thing the big thing would be you meet your ideal the the ideal partner or you meet the big thing you finally make it in whatever you want to achieve or the big thing is the world finally recognizes you as as the one of the greatest whatever the big thing is [Music] and so you're no longer looking for that i mean some people look for the big thing they want to get married they want to have the wedding the wedding lasts one day and they spend several years thinking about it and then let's not talk about what happens after that so the little things all the appreciation that the gratitude is one word that you can use for present moment living because he appreciates the little things that including objects there's an appreciation of the i i haven't you can't see it i have a wooden desk here it is lovely i love touching the wood often uh looking at the sky many times during the day i look at the sky and it changes all the time and it's so wonderful the weather is for me a wonderful source of joy to because these are you're always surrounded by some kind of weather and i love weathers always be the changing weather rain clouds sky and i give it a tension it's a natural thing because it's part of being in the present moment so the the all the little things in the looking out of the window of giving it giving attention appreciation of what is even anything even man-made things so you live more like that life then big as you live more in the present moment you also notice that life becomes uh you experience fewer problems in your life because most problems are manufactured in your mind the unobserved mind and many humans inhabit a world of problems the entire identity is derived from their problems and it's all make believe in the mind what's the problem at this moment well nothing that's a miraculous question because at any given moment there is no problem even if you don't know what you're going to eat for dinner and you don't have no money left it's not a problem right now there was a time in my life when i was more or less at that stage and it was very interesting it was an important part of deepening the what had already happened to me not knowing what to deliver on the next moment but this and if you're present in the moment what you need does come to you it's it's almost miraculous so as as you live more in the present moment uh there's more inner peace and so you notice that less obsession with past less obsession with future more appreciation of this moment which means there's more inner peace that you feel so that is a clear sign as you are able to live more in the present is a clear sign that the awakening has happened and another good sign is you notice that you're not complaining the way you used to in your mind or out aloud because many people spend a lot of their time complaining mentally out loud and on social media and the internet the three they they've always tried something to complain about and that's part of the egoic sense of self the need to emphasize the otherness of others even to emphasize the otherness of situations i i i'm critical about this situation this shouldn't be hap this shouldn't be this shouldn't be happening and then you can be critical of others complaining about others what they did failed to do did wrong said great oh no of course now you have the ego has created the going mind has created social media it's a wonderful thing now for complaining you can spend your life on twitter and facebook complaining about others and millions of people are doing it so you find the end of complaining that's another sign that the awakening is is happening to you because you recognize it's not it's not only it's futile it's destructive it's unpleasant before you didn't know that because the ego can't tell the difference between pleasant and unpleasant the ego for the ego often what is unpleasant is regarded as pleasant and the other way around so no complaining anymore and that's also connected with being able to live in the present and so that's a huge burden that's lifted uh if you don't this obsessive complaining is is gone um you notice also you're less reactive in situations where before you used to be reactive you might notice it when you're driving you're not reactive to other drivers you don't you don't misinterpret other drivers whatever they do there's a personal insult to you so there's uh less reactivity in your people that you normally uh trigger you to use that word people who trigger negative reactions in you and then suddenly it doesn't happen anymore you're able to just accept them for who they are you can visit your parents without going for the same thing that goes through every time you get together with your parents they come they criticize you you are just not everybody but they criticize you you defend yourself and then you criticize them the same like old i used to say old records but records don't exist anymore so old you have to do different different metaphors and computer programs are still the same programs are running and so people have computed this same programs are running in their minds for years and years and years and they don't even know it because they're completely identified with it and when you as you begin to awaken you recognize the old programs and gradually you detach from the old programs in your mind it's another clear sign that you're awakening so there are many signs but they all means your life actually feels less heavy the burden of being the burden of yourself [Music] becomes less because men the people don't realize it but they carry a huge burden of of themselves with all their preoccupations and worries and reactions and there's an absence of the transcendent dimension complete the complete ignorance of the transcendent dimension which is the deep eye so all that is these are signs that the awakening is happening and another sign as i pointed out before is when you listen to a talk a spiritual talk or you read a book that was written from a spiritual state of consciousness there is immediately a recognition and you feel more enlivened in some way you feel uh you feel better you feel definitely it's an act of recognition oh yeah sure yes yes there's a there's always when you hear digital teaching it's not really ultimately anything new and you see oh yeah yes i knew that i couldn't have said it but i knew it i knew that but that knowing is not conceptual knowing it's non-conceptual knowing and that's something that our civilization doesn't know anything about schools cannot teach you that this apart from conceptual knowing there's a deeper sense of knowing that it's non-conceptual well we may be talking about that in the school of awakening but don't wait for it so i trust this will be helpful to those of you who were opened who are open to the message and if you're not open to the magic you've left us long ago anyway i assume under unless you're in the process of writing critical comments about it on facebook or twitter that's fine too so let's uh leave it at that for today i wish you well and let's spend just a moment in presence or becoming aware of to go back to the very beginning beginning where we started become aware of the deep eye erase all the other stuff that gave you your sense of self and realize the deeper sense of self that arises from the deep eye which is beingness of presence i am that i am i am thank you thank you thank you so very very much eckhart for this special school of awakening webinar thank you again i want to remind everyone who's joining us that you can find a button on this page that allows you to learn more about the eckhart tolle school of awakening registration is open through march 23rd and then the school of awakening begins on march 27th you can just click the button on this page to learn more i also want to share just a little bit that will give you a little bit more insight into the program the eckhart tolle school of awakening is a five-month immersion program that includes two virtual retreats you'll also receive monthly teachings from eckhart and kim practical exercises and meditations to help accelerate the awakening process and enable you to integrate presence into every aspect of your life additionally one of the most powerful parts of the program is the opportunity to join online with a vibrant community of like-minded people dedicated to intensifying presence in their life this is certainly the deepest and most advanced online program that eckard and kim teach some of the additional topics that eckart will cover include the specific obstacles to spiritual awakening how to work with feelings of disconnection irritation and difficult emotional states what it means to view suffering as a great teacher and how when viewed in this way suffering can quicken spiritual realization how to live from the deep eye as eckart mentioned instead of the surface eye and contribute to the collective evolution of our species when the joint when you join the program you'll have access to attend the two virtual retreats and then also these five months of live teachings with question and answer sessions and live group meditations again you can click the button on this page to learn more and whether you join us or not in the school of awakening i want to thank you so much for being with us here for this special webinar and for your own interest commitment resonance and motivation to intensify presence in your life thank you so so much and thank you eckhart for this special school of awakening webinar and everyone for being with us thank you

Channel: Eckhart Tolle

Views: 364,284

Rating: 4.8476291 out of 5

Keywords: Staying Conscious In The Face of Adversity, eckhart tolle youtube, eckhart tolle 2020, eckhart tolle presence, eckhart tolle awakening, spiritual awakening, the higher self, personal growth, spiritual growth, spirituality awakening, higher consciousness, being present, awakening, mindfulness, consciousness, eckhart tolle, eckhart tolle live stream, eckhart tolle live, eckhart tolle meditation, live meditation, eckhart tolle the power of now, eckhart tolle 2021

Id: u__iwciFoMA

Length: 67min 1sec (4021 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 11 2021