Can you feel that there is something in you that is at war, something that feels threatened and wants to survive at all cost, that needs the drama in order to assert its identity as the victorious character within that theatrical production? Can you feel there is something in you that would rather be right than at peace?
Eckhart TolleFeeling will get you closer to the truth of who you are than thinking. I cannot tell you anything that deep within you don't already know. When you have reached a certain stage of inner connectedness, you recognize the truth when you hear it. If you haven't reached that stage yet, the practice of body awareness will bring about the deepening that is necessary.
Eckhart TolleAlways say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.
Eckhart TolleWhatever you accept completely will take you to peace, including the acceptance that you cannot accept, that you are in resistance.
Eckhart TolleWhen you are present, when your attention is fully in the Now, Presence will flow into and transform what you do. There will be a quality and power in it. You are present when what you are doing is not primarily a means to an end (money, prestige, winning) but fulfilling in itself, when there is joy and aliveness in what you do.
Eckhart TolleMany people live habitually as if the present moment were an obstacle that they need to overcome in order to get to the next moment, and imagine living your whole live like that. Always, this moment is not quite good enough because you need to get to the next one.
Eckhart TolleSpace really means the level of awareness or presence, not thinking. So, can you look at your partner and not think? Two conscious beings realize that the essence of the relationship is the space in it. Even when there is an egoic overlay, it is not too dense or heavy for you to sense the essence underneath it. You don't need to react to the egoic overlay. When you don't react to it you don't strengthen it.
Eckhart TolleFuture success is dependent upon and inseparable from the consciousness out of which the actions emanate
Eckhart TolleWhen you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life. It means fear is no longer a dominant factor in what you do and no longer prevents you from taking action to initiate change. The Roman philosopher Tacitus rightly observed that 'the desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.' If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into aliveness, alertness and creativity.
Eckhart TolleWaiting is a state of mind. Basically, it means that you want the future; you don't want the present. You don't want what you've got, and you want what you haven't got. With every kind of waiting, you unconsciously create inner conflict between your here and now, where you don't want to be, and the projected future, where you want to be. This greatly reduces the quality of your life by making you lose the present.
Eckhart TolleWhen you listen to the voice in your head, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. You'll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind.
Eckhart TolleTerrorism is an example of that extreme madness. People blow themselves up just to kill others. Unconscious reaction to terrorism is equal madness.
Eckhart TolleLife will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.
Eckhart TolleLife will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.
Eckhart TolleCan you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?
Eckhart TolleTo the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only past and future are considered important.
Eckhart TolleThis is why very often you find educated people in the media who look at spiritual books but they are so identified with their thought process, they don't get it. They write reviews or articles and they miss the whole point. They can't see the essence. It's not their fault; it's not them personally. It's the human condition and its mind-identified state. And intelligence in itself doesn't help. You can have two or three Ph.D.s; it doesn't get you any closer to spiritual realization. In fact, you might be more distant.
Eckhart TolleBut there's a shift happening in humanity, a shift in consciousness, happening now because it has to happen now.
Eckhart TolleYou don't need to condemn. Just observe, That is sin. That is insanity. That is unconsciousness. Above all, don't forget to observe your own mind. Seek out the root of the insanity there.
Eckhart TolleWhat a liberation to realize that the 'voice in my head' is not who I am. 'Who am I, then?' The one who sees that.
Eckhart TolleTo some people, surrender may have negative connotations, implying defeat, giving up, failing to rise to the challenges of life, becoming lethargic, and so on. True surrender, however, is something entirely different. It does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it. Nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action. Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life.
Eckhart TolleTo meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise is the greatest gift you can offer the universe.
Eckhart TolleThat stillness and vastness that enables the Universe to be, is not just out there in space...it is also within you.
Eckhart TolleSuffering cracks open the shell of ego, and then comes a point when it has served its purpose. Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary.
Eckhart TolleJust watching an animal closely can take you out of your mind and bring you into the present moment, which is where the animal lives all the time - surrendered to life.
Eckhart TolleThe present moment is all you ever have. There is never a time when your life is not 'this moment.' Is this not a fact?
Eckhart TolleBeing is central, and Being is now. The fulfillment of your life is not going to happen through anything. The outer activities in your life are secondary. What is Primary is Being.
Eckhart TolleMost people don't know how to listen because the major part of their attention is taken up by thinking. They pay more attention to that than to what the other person is saying, and none at all to what really matters: the Being of the other person underneath the words and the mind. Of course, you cannot feel someone else's Being except through your own. This is the beginning of the realization of oneness, which is love. At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is.
Eckhart TolleIf the only teacher you have is your suffering, you will need a substantial dose of it for the ego to dissolve. But if the power of spiritual teaching is already at work, then a minor event can dissolve the ego.
Eckhart TolleIdentification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship.
Eckhart TolleThe pain-body wants to survive, just like every other entity in existence, and it can only survive if it gets you to unconsciously identify with it.
Eckhart TolleThe teaching arises out of the stillness. But when I'm alone, there's only the stillness, and that is my favorite place.
Eckhart TolleIf you cannot accept an external event immediately, then some kind of resistance will come up. And there may be some external events you cannot accept at all.
Eckhart TolleGod is beyond all the forms of life, but also indwells every form of life as their essence. God is both beyond and within.
Eckhart TolleMany things in your life matter, but only one thing matters absolutely.It matters whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of the world. It matters whether you are healthy or not healthy, whether you are educated or not educated. It matter whether you are rich or poor - it certainly makes a difference in your life. Yes, all these things matter, relatively speaking, but they don't matter absolutely.There is something that matters more than any of those things and that is finding the essence of who you are beyond that short-lived entity, that short-lived personalized sense of self.
Eckhart Tolle