The Seer

For two years, a small man sits quietly on a park bench. People walk by, lost in their thoughts. One day someone asks him a question. In the weeks that follow there are more people and more questions. Word spreads that the man is a “mystic,” and has discovered something that brings peace and meaning into our lives.

It sounds like fiction, but today that man, Eckhart Tolle, is known worldwide for his teachings on spiritual enlightenment through the power of the present moment. His first book, The Power of Now, is an international bestseller, and has been translated into 17 languages.

More than 20 years have passed since Eckhart Tolle answered his first question on that park bench. While his audience has grown, his message remains the same: that it is possible to stop struggling in your life, and find joy and fulfillment in this moment, and no other.

Sounds True: Can you describe to us your own experience of spiritual awakening (and of course, can you define spiritual awakening as well)? Was there a singular event that occurred or has it been a gradual process?

Eckhart Tolle: Since ancient times the term awakening has been used as a kind of metaphor that points to the transformation of human consciousness. There are parables in the New Testament that speak of the importance of being awake, of not falling back to sleep.

The word Buddha comes from the Sanskrit word Budh, meaning, “to be awake.” So Buddha is not a name and ultimately not a person, but a state of consciousness.

All this implies that humans are potentially capable of living in a state of consciousness compared to which normal wakefulness is like sleeping or dreaming. This is why some spiritual teachings use terms like “shared hallucination” or “universal hypnotism” to describe normal human existence. Pick up any history book, and I suggest you begin with studying the 20th century, and you will find that a large part of the history of our species has all the characteristics we would normally associate with a nightmare or an insane hallucination.

~ From an Interview with Eckhart Tolle: The Power of Now and the End of Suffering, by publisher: Sounds True. circa July/2008

~ Read More of Eckhart’s interview.

~ Watch a YouTube video clip of a talk on ‘Enlightenment’ given by Eckhart two years ago.

Stand up, wake up, take note!
New possibilities have arrived
For these lives we had thought were our own.

The possible human stands free now
Of its past constraints,
Of the cage it grew up in, that served it well,
Trembling now with wonder at what it sees.

Old habits of mind fall away like old skin
No longer needed, no longer helpful
Outgrown and abandoned.

A different world, a new earth
Comes into view, fresh and alive
By a change of perception,
A new way of seeing.

We are joined together now
In a new maturity
A new awareness of how it is,
How we are carried on a new wind,
And a new response stirs.

~ by Alice Gardner, © 2009

“The outer (spiritual) Teacher gives the instructions, the inner Teacher sends the strength — the alert application is the student’s. Without will, intelligence and energy on the part of the student (of truth), the outer Teacher is helpless. The inner Teacher bides Its time. Obtuseness and wrong pursuits bring about a crisis and the student wakes up to his or her own plight. Wise is the student who does not wait for a shock, which can sometimes be quite severe.”

~ by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (I Am That)

Allow awareness to rest into the quietness in the room. Notice that the same quietness that is “out there” in the room is also “in here” in the body and mind. Just rest into that quietness. The quietness is a portal to the pure awareness that is who you are.

What are you seeking? You may believe that you are seeking more money, a better relationship, a better drug, a new job, or enlightenment. But what is it that you really want?

If you are really honest, you will discover that you already know those ‘things’ outside you will not provide the permanent contentment you are seeking. Even if you get the new job or the new lover, at some point the newness will wear off and the seeking for something more or something better will begin again.

If you are really honest, you will discover that what you are really seeking is the end of seeking itself. But if you listen into the quietness that is already here in this moment, that silent stillness already contains peace.

That peace is who you already are. The notion of seeking into future to find what you already are is insanity. Just rest as awareness in this moment. The end of seeking is already here in the quiet stillness of awareness.

~ From: Reflections of the One Life, by Scott Kiloby. If you would like to get an inspirational reflection like this each day by email for free, >>>Subscribe Here.

Sometimes the question arises, ‘If all is one, then why don’t I know what you’re thinking?’

The problem appears because of our life-long experience as an ‘individual.’ We totally identify as an individual and see others as individuals too.

Once it is understood that I am Awareness and not just this human form, it is also seen that there really is no-one here or there – no ‘me’. The ‘me’ who believes it has control and power is in reality imaginary.

Einstein talked about the mind of God. This can be expressed as if ‘God’ is dreaming and we are all dreamed characters.

The ‘individual’ is imaginary — a belief only — and a dominant belief, as beliefs tend to be. This whole imaginary world is within a belief system.

What we (all) are is the awareness of a human experience. The individual experiences which are yours and mine appear as you and me in awareness. This experience can’t hear your thoughts and that experience can’t know mine.

Awareness is all there is, everything else is an appearance in or on it. In growing up we have been taught to identify with the perceptions of the human form that we came to think we are, that we’ve identified as. With the development of the ‘me’ belief as a central idea it is then thought that ‘I’ exist as an individual in a big world.

The perception is from a ‘me’ perspective that receives its thoughts just as different TVs around the world are receiving different images. My TV can’t receive a programme that’s airing in Newfoundland and vice versa. ‘My’ thoughts, which aren’t mine anyway, appear to me — to this dream figure. That dream figure receives its own thoughts and sometimes different figures receive the same thought but react to them differently. And we don’t ‘think’ anyway — thoughts appear.

The important thing is to understand, at least theoretically at first, that I am the awareness of everything that happens to this human. We ask the question, of ourselves, WHO AM I? And notice the answers that arise in the mind. At some point we may simply notice that the real ‘I am’ is watching this whole process (as if from above or behind).

There is nothing intellectual, philosophical or difficult about enlightenment although it often appears so and is usually treated so. The truth of who you are is unbelievably simple — it’s the mind that complicates it. Right now, whether you know it or not, you are awareness and it is as if you have stepped forward into (and identified with) the character you thought you were.

Now it’s time to metaphorically step back to what you have always been in essence — infinite, eternal, limitless, spacious Awareness..

~ by Roy Townsend

What is pointed to here is neither revolutionary nor new. It is the same reality that has been pointed to by uncounted spiritual guides for more than three thousand years.

The ending of mind-made suffering does not come about through adherence to any system, method, ritual, or belief; nor is there an exclusive path to enlightenment.

Self-created suffering ends at the moment there is a clear seeing or realization of Truth, a clear realization of what is — within you. To realize Truth, the mind must be free of any and all systems of belief, which is to be, as the Buddha put it, in the ‘highest state.’

This requires that no interpretation, no opinion, no idea, no belief, no ritual, and no judgment be in the way. It requires a mind that is free of all that. In that state of mind — the highest state — suffering ends.

~ From the book: The Christ is Not a Person: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Destiny of Man by J.C. Tefft pp xiv

As Christmas approaches, and without taking any stance for or against the occasion, those who celebrate may experience Christmas and the days leading up to it as stressful. What was originally meant to be a time of stillness and peace has been made into its opposite by the human mind.

The occasion we are celebrating at Christmas is, of course, the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago. In a deeper sense, however, Christmas represents the birth of Christ within the human soul, the arising of who you are in your essence – stillness, the unconditioned, timeless dimension of consciousness.

Just as Christmas is the celebration of light arising when the darkness is greatest and the nights are longest (in the northern hemisphere), the spiritual birth in the human soul often happens at a time of great despair and suffering. This is the dark night of the soul that often comes before the spiritual awakening.

Once the awakening has happened, most people undergo a process during which the darkness within them, the unconsciousness of the ego, is seen more clearly and dispelled by the light of consciousness, the light of Presence. In other words: living in the Now dispels the darkness!

Collectively, Christmas comes to symbolize the spiritual birth on earth, the arising of a new consciousness in humanity. This is what lies at the core of all religions: the realization of enlightenment, the Christ within, or your Buddha nature. May the spirit of Christmas deepen the stillness, love, peace and joy that you are. Peace and blessings to all.

~ by Kim Eng. See her new DVD — Presence through Movement – Qi Flow Yoga — by Kim Eng with Eckhart Tolle

From time immemorial, I am trying to wake you up but you don’t.

Not complaining, for such is not my nature; mine is to wake you up.
Not frustrated for I can’t be, just know that I have to wake you up.

I put melody in bird’s chirping, coolness in the summer breeze,
Burning heat in midday sun and deafening noise in monsoon thunder
To just do one thing, wake you up.

Spark in your first kiss, comfort in mother’s embrace,
Rush in your home run and the musky flavor in lobster bisque,
I did it all to do just one thing, wake you up.

Desire to own, taste, destroy, love and hate,
I placed so you’d WANT to wake up.
Also put the fear in you
So you’d keep on desiring all and to wake up.

I made life beautiful,
So you can love the beauty and wake up.
I made it miserable
So you will hate the misery and wake up.

Now I think it is time you woke up.
Don’t argue about genetics, Darwin, evolution and creation.
I made them so, don’t ask me how and when,
All I know is why, and that is to wake you up.

You say, you can’t or you don’t know how?
For millions of years, in thousands of ways
As guru’s, gods, priests, friends and lovers,
I have been telling you how.

As Krishna, I told you to see me, see you
Not yours who you kill, to rid the world of evil.
As Buddha, I told you to pay attention
Be mindful of sufferings (good, great and bad).
As Shiva, the Tantric, I asked you to find me
In all ecstasies, from sex to breath of fresh air.
As Nisargdatta Maharaj, I told you,
You are That whom you look for.

Do ask me why I want to wake you up?
That is simple; you are asleep.

Do ask me, who am I?
That too is simple; I am you, asleep.

~ by Sunil K. Vidyarthi

Experiences of truth have been given different names by different spiritual cultures. Heaven, nirvana, resurrection, enlightenment, satori, samadhi — all are names pointing to this supreme, un-nameable, divine beauty, empty of suffering and filled with grace.

In any moment, in a split second, there is the possibility of recognizing the boundless, limitless, eternal truth of yourself. Opening to the truth of our own essential being is simply a matter of receiving; but, because of our conditioning, this doesn’t seem like a simple matter. We are conditioned to fear the unknown depths of ourselves, suspecting the worst.

Yet, when we are finally willing to face head-on the suspected worst in ourselves, we discover an amazing, unbelievable truth: Opening the mind to what has previously been feared and avoided reveals the capacity to bear and truly embrace discomfort, even pain. And eventually, we discover that whatever we fully embrace reveals the peace that we were seeking through all of our attempts to avoid discomfort.

To open your mind to the silence that is the source of your mind is to open to your true self. Conscious silence is already open. You are already open. Allow your mind to stop gathering information, to stop imagining the future, to stop strategizing for survival. Let your mind simply be held by its source. Recognize that the capacity to open to the truth of your being is always here ….

You are truth already. You are consciousness. Consciousness is spirit. Recognize yourself, and you will see yourself everywhere — in every other human being, in every animal, in every plant, in every rock. Until you recognize yourself, you are still figuring out how to find yourself, how to get more of yourself, how to know what is and is not yourself.

Truth is already here, regardless of the state of your body, your emotions, your mind, or your circumstances. Stop and see.

~ From The Diamond in Your Pocket by Gangaji.

To see/hear Gangaji on Conscious TV with Iain McNay, >>>Click Here.

So here we are — just a sliver past Equinox time. Some of us are noticing the leaves pushing out of their buds and the days lengthening and growing warmer. Others are feeling a slight nip in the air, the leaves are turning all their beautiful shades and the light is on the wane. No better time at all than this, says Tim Freke, to ponder polarities and to explore ways to be deep awake. Check out this Video where Tim talks about the theme of his new book, How Long is Now, available soon from Clearsight.

And hey, you might like this song by Jamus Dorey entitled:Be Real, Be Free.