Todays Wisdom from Eckhart Tolle

"Earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: The first flower ever to appear on the planet opens up to receive the rays of the sun. Prior to this momentous event that heralds an evolutionary transformation in the life of plants, the planet had already been covered in vegetation for millions of years. The first flower probably did not survive for long, and flowers must have remained rare and isolated phenomena, since conditions were most likely not yet favorable for a widespread flowering to occur. One day, however, a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have been an explosion of color and scent all over the planet--if a perceiving consciousness had been there to witness it.

Much later, those delicate and fragrant beings we call flowers would come to play an essential part in the evolution of consciousness of another species. Humans would increasingly be drawn to and fascinated by them. As the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were most likely the first thing they came to value that had no utilitarian purpose for them, that is to say, was not linked in some way to survival. They provided inspiration to countless artists, poets and mystics. Jesus tells us to contemplate the flowers and learn from them how to live. The Buddha is said to have given a "silent sermon" once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile. He is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon. According to legend, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later became the origin of Zen."

Excerpt from A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle Chapter 1, The Flowering of Human Consciousness.

Todays Wisdom from Eckhart Tolle

 "It is true that only an unconscious person will try to use or

manipulate others, but it is equally true that only an unconscious person can  be used and manipulated. If you resist or fight unconscious behavior in others, you become unconscious yourself. But surrender does not mean that you allow yourself to be used by unconscious people. Not at all. It is perfectly possible to say “no” firmly and clearly to a person or to walk away from a situation and be in a state of complete inner nonresistance at the same time. When you say no to a person or a situation let it come not from reaction but from insight, from a clear realization of what is right or not right for you at that moment. Let it be a nonreactive no, a high-quality no, a no that is free from negativity and so creates no further suffering."

Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now

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Re-post of some of my favorite blog posts from 2010. Eckhart Tolle on Choice. First posted on 1.14.2010

"Choice implies consciousness - a high degree of consciousness. Without it, I have no choice. Choice begins the moment I dis-identify from my mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment I become Self-present. Until I reach that point, I'm unconscious, spiritually speaking. This means that I'm compelled to think, feel, and act in certain ways according to the conditioning of my mind. Nobody consciously chooses dysfunction, conflict, and pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They happen because there isn't enough conscious Self-presence to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. I'm never fully here in the now because I'm either time binding with the past or the future. I have not quite woken up, meaning I'm not fully Self-conscious yet. In the meantime, my conditioned mind is running my life. As long as my mind (with its conditioned patterns) runs my life, what choice do I have? None. I'm not even there yet, and I won't be there until I become Self-conscious. The mind-identified state is severely dysfunctional. It is a form of socially acceptable insanity. Almost everyone is suffering from this illness in varying degrees. The moment I realize this, there can be no more resentment or guilt. How can I resent someone's illness or my own? If I'm primarily run by my mind, I will suffer the consequences of my mind identification, and I'll create further suffering for myself and my loved ones. I will bear the burden of fear, conflict, problems, and pain. The suffering that I'm creating is my mind's false attempt to make me feel safe by ignoring, denying, or repressing that which I'm experiencing."

~Eckhart Tolle "The Power Of Now"

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Today's Wisdom from Eckhart Tolle

"There are two ways to be unhappy; not getting what you want and getting what you want" -Eckhart Tolle

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Today's Wisdom from Eckhart Tolle

"Your sense of who you are determines what you perceive as your needs and what matters in your life---and whatever matters to you will have the power to upset and disturb you. You can use this as a criterion to find out how deeply you know yourself. What matters to you is not necessarily what you say of believe, but what your actions and reactions reveal as important and serious to you. So you may want to ask yourself the question: What are the things that upset and disturb me? If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small. That will be your unconscious belief. What are the small things? Ultimately all things are small things because all things are transient. You might say, "I know I am an immortal spirit" or "I am tired of this mad world, and peace is all I want" -- until the phone rings. Bad news: The stock market has collapsed; the deal may fall through; the car has been stolen; your mother-in-law has arrived; the trip ids cancelled, the contract has been broken; your partner has left you; they demand more money; they say it's your fault. Suddenly there is a surge of anger, of anxiety. A harshness comes into your voice; "I can't take any more of this." You accuse and blame, attack, defend, or justify yourself and it's all happening on autopilot. Something is obviously more important to you mow than the inner peace that a moment ago you said was all you wanted, and you're not an immortal spirit anymore either. The deal, the money, the contract, the loss or threat of loss are more important. To Whom? To the immortal spirit that you said you are? No, to me. The small me that seeks security or fulfillment in things that are transient and gets anxious or angry because it fails to find it. Well, at least now you know who you really think you are." Eckhart Tolle

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Today's Wisdom From Eckhart Tolle

I've lived with several Zen masters - all of them cats" Eckhart Tolle, "The Power of Now"

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Today's Wisdom From Eckhart Tolle

"Nobody can tell you who you are." Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

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Today's Wisdom From Eckhart Tolle

"Maybe you are being taken advantage of, maybe the activity you’re engaged in is tedious, maybe someone close to you is dishonest, irritating or unconscious, but all this is irrelevant. Whether your thoughts and emotions about this situation are justified or not makes no difference. The fact is that you are resisting what is. You are making the present moment into an enemy. You are creating unhappiness, conflict between the inner and the outer. Your unhappiness is polluting not only your own inner being and those around you but also the collective human psyche of which you are inseparable. The pollution of the planet is only an outward reflection of an inner psychic pollution: millions of unconscious individuals not taking responsibility for their inner space." Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now

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Today's Wisdom From Eckhart Tolle

"Choice implies consciousness - a high degree of consciousness. Without it, I have no choice. Choice begins the moment I dis-identify from my mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment I become Self-present. Until I reach that point, I'm unconscious, spiritually speaking. This means that I'm compelled to think, feel, and act in certain ways according to the conditioning of my mind. Nobody consciously chooses dysfunction, conflict, and pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They happen because there isn't enough conscious Self-presence to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. I'm never fully here in the now because I'm either time binding with the past or the future. I have not quite woken up, meaning I'm not fully Self-conscious yet. In the meantime, my conditioned mind is running my life. As long as my mind (with its conditioned patterns) runs my life, what choice do I have? None. I'm not even there yet, and I won't be there until I become Self-conscious. The mind-identified state is severely dysfunctional. It is a form of socially acceptable insanity. Almost everyone is suffering from this illness in varying degrees. The moment I realize this, there can be no more resentment or guilt. How can I resent someone's illness or my own? If I'm primarily run by my mind, I will suffer the consequences of my mind identification, and I'll create further suffering for myself and my loved ones. I will bear the burden of fear, conflict, problems, and pain. The suffering that I'm creating is my mind's false attempt to make me feel safe by ignoring, denying, or repressing that which I'm experiencing."

Eckhart Tolle The Power Of Now

Today's Wisdom from Eckhart Tolle

"If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is already enough presence in you to recognize presence in another. There were many people who did not recognize Jesus or the Buddha, as there are and always have been many people who are drawn to false teachers. Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot recognize light. Only light can recognize light. So don't believe that the light is outside you or that it can only come through one particular form. If only your master is an incarnation of God, then who are you? Any kind of exclusivity is identification with form, and identification with form means ego, no matter how well disguised. Use the master's presence to reflect your own identity beyond name and form back to you and to become more intensely present yourself. You will soon realize that there is no "mine" or "yours" in presence. Presence is one."

Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now

Today's wisdom from Eckhart Tolle

It is "the peace of God, which passes all understanding." Compared to that, happiness is quite a shallow thing. With this radiant peace comes the realization-not on the level of mind but within the depth of your Being-that you are indestructible, immortal. This is not a belief. It is absolute certainty that needs no external evidence or proof from some secondary source. -Eckhart Tolle

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Our Collective Purpose

" You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are" --Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

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