WHEREVER YOU ARE, BE THERE TOTALLY - раздел Образование, Acclaim for THE POWER OF NOW
Can You Give Some More Examples Of Ordinary Unconsciousness?...
Can you give some more examples of ordinary unconsciousness?
See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought,
about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say,
your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain
is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an
unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself
into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change
the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or
possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.
Ordinary unconsciousness is always linked in some way with denial of
the Now. The Now, of course, also implies the here. Are you resisting
your here and now? Some people would always rather be somewhere
else. Their “here” is never good enough. Through self-observation,
find out if that is the case in your life. Wherever you are, be there
totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you
unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation,
change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for
your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must
choose now. Then accept the consequences. No excuses. No
negativity. No psychic pollution. Keep your inner space clear.
If you take any action — leaving or changing your situation — drop
the negativity first, if at all possible. Action arising out of insight into
what is required is more effective than action arising out of negativity.
Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been
stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at
least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If
you remain stuck, you learn nothing. Is fear preventing you from
taking action? Acknowledge the fear, watch it, take your attention into
it, be fully present with it. Doing so cuts the link between the fear and
your thinking. Don’t let the fear rise up into your mind. Use the power
of the Now. Fear cannot prevail against it.
If there is truly nothing that you can do to change your here and now,
and you can’t remove yourself from the situation, then accept your
here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance. The false,
unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself
can then no longer survive. This is called surrender. Surrender is not
weakness. There is great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has
spiritual power. Through surrender, you will be free internally of the
situation. You may then find that the situation changes without any
effort on your part. In any case, you are free.
Or is there something that you “should” be doing but are not doing it?
Get up and do it now. Alternatively, completely accept your inactivity,
laziness, or passivity at this moment, if that is your choice. Go into it
fully. Enjoy it. Be as lazy or inactive as you can. If you go into it fully
and consciously, you will soon come out of it. Or maybe you won’t.
Either way, there is no inner conflict, no resistance, no negativity.
Are you stressed? Are you so busy getting to the future that the
present is reduced to a means of getting there? Stress is caused by
being “here” but wanting to be “there,” or being in the present but
wanting to be in the future. It’s a split that tears you apart inside. To
create and live with such an inner split is insane. The fact that
everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it any less insane. If you have
to, you can move fast, work fast, or even run, without projecting
yourself into the future and without resisting the present. As you
move, work, run — do it totally. Enjoy the flow of energy, the high
energy of that moment. Now you are no longer stressed, no longer
splitting yourself in two. Just moving, running, working — and
enjoying it. Or you can drop the whole thing and sit on a park bench.
But when you do, watch your mind. It may say: “You should be
working. You are wasting time.” Observe the mind. Smile at it.
Does the past take up a great deal of your attention? Do you
frequently talk and think about it, either positively or negatively? The
great things that you have achieved, your adventures or experiences,
or your victim story and the dreadful things that were done to you, or
maybe what you did to someone else? Are your thought processes
creating guilt, pride, resentment, anger, regret, or self-pity? Then you
are not only reinforcing a false sense of self but also helping to
accelerate your body’s aging process by creating an accumulation of
past in your psyche. Verify this for yourself by observing those around
you who have a strong tendency to hold on to the past.
Die to the past every moment. You don’t need it. Only refer to it when
it is absolutely relevant to the present. Feel the power of this moment
and the fullness of Being. Feel your presence.
Are you worried? Do you have many “what if” thoughts? You are
identified with your mind, which is projecting itself into an imaginary
future situation and creating fear. There is no way that you can cope
with such a situation, because it doesn’t exist. It’s a mental phantom.
You can stop this health-and life-corroding insanity simply by
acknowledging the present moment. Become aware of your breathing.
Feel the air flowing in and out of your body. Feel your inner energy
field. All that you ever have to deal with, cope with, in real life — as
opposed to imaginary mind projections — is this moment. Ask yourself
what “problem” you have right now, not next year, tomorrow, or five
minutes from now. What is wrong with this moment? You can always
cope with the Now, but you can never cope with the future — nor do
you have to. The answer, the strength, the right action or the
resource will be there when you need it, not before, not after.
“One day I’ll make it.” Is your goal taking up so much of your
attention that you reduce the present moment to a means to an end?
Is it taking the joy out of your doing? Are you waiting to start living? If
you develop such a mind pattern, no matter what you achieve or get,
the present will never be good enough; the future will always seem
better. A perfect recipe for permanent dissatisfaction and
nonfulfillment, don’t you agree?
Are you a habitual “waiter”? How much of your life do you spend
waiting? What I call “small-scale waiting” is waiting in line at the post
office, in a traffic jam, at the airport, or waiting for someone to arrive,
to finish work, and so on. “Large-scale waiting” is waiting for the next
vacation, for a better job, for the children to grow up, for a truly
meaningful relationship, for success, to make money, to be important,
to become enlightened. It is not uncommon for people to spend their
whole life waiting to start living.
Waiting 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.
There is nothing wrong with striving to improve your life situation.
You can improve your life situation, but you cannot improve your life.
Life is primary. Life is your deepest inner Being. It is already whole,
complete, perfect. Your life situation consists of your circumstances
and your experiences. There is nothing wrong with setting goals and
striving to achieve things. The mistake lies in using it as a substitute
for the feeling of life, for Being. The only point of access for that is the
Now. You are then like an architect who pays no attention to the
foundation of a building but spends a lot of time working on the
superstructure.
For example, many people are waiting for prosperity. It cannot come
in the future. When you honor, acknowledge, and fully accept your
present reality — where you are, who you are, what you are doing
right now — when you fully accept what you have got, you are
grateful for what you have got, grateful for what is, grateful for Being.
Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is true
prosperity. It cannot come in the future. Then, in time, that prosperity
manifests for you in various ways.
If you are dissatisfied with what you have got, or even frustrated or
angry about your present lack, that may motivate you to become rich,
but even if you do make millions, you will continue to experience the
inner condition of lack, and deep down you will continue to feel
unfulfilled. You may have many exciting experiences that money can
buy, but they will come and go and always leave you with an empty
feeling and the need for further physical or psychological gratification.
You won’t abide in Being and so feel the fullness of life now that alone
is true prosperity.
So give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself
slipping into waiting . . . snap out of it. Come into the present
moment. Just be, and enjoy being. If you are present, there is never
any need for you to wait for anything. So next time somebody says,
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” you can reply, “That’s all right, I
wasn’t waiting. I was just standing here enjoying myself — in joy in
my self.”
These are just a few of the habitual mind strategies for denying the
present moment that are part of ordinary unconsciousness. They are
easy to overlook because they are so much a part of normal living:
the background static of perpetual discontent. But the more you
practice monitoring your inner mental-emotional state, the easier it
will be to know when you have been trapped in past or future, which
is to say unconscious, and to awaken out of the dream of time into
the present. But beware: The false, unhappy self, based on mind
identification, lives on time. It knows that the present moment is its
own death and so feels very threatened by it. It will do all it can to
take you out of it. It will try to keep you trapped in time.
Все темы данного раздела:
A GUIDE TO SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT
Eckhart Tolle
NAMASTE PUBLISHING
and
NEW WORLD LIBRARY
NOVATO, CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER THREE: Moving Deeply into the Now
Don’t Seek Your Self in the Mind
End the Delusion of Time
Nothing Exists Outside the Now
The Key to the Spiritual Dimension
Accessing the Power of the Now
CHAPTER SIX: The Inner Body
Being Is Your Deepest Self
Look beyond the Words
Finding Your Invisible and Indestructible Reality
Connecting with the Inner Body
Transformation through the Body
About the Author
AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO
THE PAPERBACK EDITION
Six years after it was first published, The Power of Now continues to
play its part in the urgent task of the tr
THE ORIGIN OF THIS BOOK
I have little use for the past and rarely think about it; however, I
would briefly like to tell you how I came to be a spiritual teacher and
how this book came int
THE TRUTH THAT IS WITHIN YOU
This book represents the essence of my work, as far as it can be
conveyed in words, with individuals and small groups of spiritual
seekers during the past ten year
THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Enlightenment — what is that?
A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years.
One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the
FREEING YOURSELF FROM YOUR MIND
What exactly do you mean by “watching the thinker”?
When someone goes to the doctor and says, “I hear a voice in my
head,” he or she will most likely be sent to a
ENLIGHTENMENT: RISING ABOVE THOUGHT
Isn’t thinking essential in order to survive in this world?
Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific
task, and when the task is co
EMOTION: THE BODY’S REACTION TO YOUR MIND
What about emotions? I get caught up in my emotions more than I do
in my mind.
Mind, in the way I use the word, is not just thought. It includes your
emot
CREATE NO MORE PAIN IN THE PRESENT
Nobody’s life is entirely free of pain and sorrow. Isn’t it a question of
learning to live with them rather than trying to avoid them?
The greater part of human pa
PAST PAIN: DISSOLVING THE PAIN-BODY
As long as you are unable to access the power of the Now, every
emotional pain that you experience leaves behind a residue of pain
that lives on in you. It merges
EGO IDENTIFICATION WITH THE PAIN-BODY
The process that I have just described is profoundly powerful yet
simple. It could be taught to a child, and hopefully one day it will be
one of the first things c
THE ORIGIN OF FEAR
You mentioned fear as being part of our basic underlying emotional
pain. How does fear arise, and why is there so much of it in people’s
lives? And isn’t a certain
THE EGO’S SEARCH FOR WHOLENESS
Another aspect of the emotional pain that is an intrinsic part of the
egoic mind is a deep-seated sense of lack or incompleteness, of not
being whole. In some peop
DON’T SEEK YOUR SELF IN THE MIND
I feel that there is still a great deal I need to learn about the workings
of my mind before I can get anywhere near full consciousness or
spiritual enlightenment.
END THE DELUSION OF TIME
It seems almost impossible to disidentify from the mind. We are all
immersed in it. How do you teach a fish to fly?
Here is the key: End the delusion of time. Time
NOTHING EXISTS OUTSIDE THE NOW
Aren’t past and future just as real, sometimes even more real, than
the present? After all, the past determines who we are, as well as
how we perceive and behave i
THE KEY TO THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION
In life-threatening emergency situations, the shift in consciousness
from time to presence sometimes happens naturally. The personality
that has a past and a futur
ACCESSING THE POWER OF THE NOW
A moment ago, when you talked about the eternal present and the
unreality of past and future, I found myself looking at that tree
outside the window. I had looked
LETTING GO OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME
Learn to use time in the practical aspects of your life — we may call
this “clock time” — but immediately return to present-moment
awareness when those practical m
THE INSANITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME
You will not have any doubt that psychological time is a mental
disease if you look at its collective manifestations. They occur, for
example, in the form of ideol
NEGATIVITY AND SUFFERING HAVE THEIR ROOTS IN TIME
But the belief that the future will be better than the present is not
always an illusion. The present can be dreadful, and things can get
better in the future, and
FINDING THE LIFE UNDERNEATH YOUR LIFE SITUATION
I don’t see how I can be free now. As it happens, I am extremely
unhappy with my life at the moment. This is a fact, and I would be
deluding myself if I tried to c
ALL PROBLEMS ARE ILLUSIONS OF THE MIND
It feels as if a heavy burden has been lifted. A sense of lightness. I
feel clear. . . but my problems are still there waiting for me, aren’t
they? They haven’t be
A QUANTUM LEAP IN THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
I have had glimpses of this state of freedom from mind and time that
you describe, but past and future are so overwhelmingly strong that I
cannot keep them out for
THE JOY OF BEING
To alert you that you have allowed yourself to be taken over by
psychological time, you can use a simple criterion. Ask yourself: Is
there joy, ease, and lightness
LOSS OF NOW: THE CORE DELUSION
Even if I completely accept that ultimately time is an illusion, what
difference is that going to make in my life? I still have to live in a
world that is complete
AND DEEP UNCONSCIOUSNESS
What do you mean by different levels of unconsciousness?
As you probably know, in sleep you constantly move between the
phases of dreamless sleep and the dream sta
WHAT ARE THEY SEEKING?
Carl Jung tells in one of his books of a conversation he had with a
Native American chief who pointed out to him that in his perception
most white people have tens
DISSOLVING ORDINARY UNCONSCIOUSNESS
So how can we be free of this affliction?
Make it conscious. Observe the many ways in which unease,
discontent, and tension arise within you through unnecessary
FREEDOM FROM UNHAPPINESS
Do you resent doing what you are doing? It may be your job, or you
may have agreed to do something and are doing it, but part of you
resents and resists it. Are yo
THE INNER PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE’S JOURNEY
I can see the truth of what you are saying, but I still think that we
THE PAST CANNOT SURVIVE IN YOUR PRESENCE
You mentioned that thinking or talking about the past unnecessarily is
one of the ways in which we avoid the present. But apart from the
past that we remember and
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS
You keep talking about the state of presence as the key. I think I
understand it intellectually, but I don’t know if I have ever truly
experienced it. I wonder — i
BEAUTY ARISES IN THE STILLNESS OF YOUR PRESENCE
What you have just described is something that I occasionally
experience for brief moments when I am alone and surrounded by
nature.
Yes. Zen masters use
REALIZING PURE CONSCIOUSNESS
Is presence the same as Being?
When you become conscious of Being, what is really happening is that
Being becomes conscious of itself. When Being becomes conscious
CHRIST: THE REALITY OF YOUR DIVINE PRESENCE
Don’t get attached to any one word. You can substitute “Christ” for
presence, if that is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God-
essence or the Self, as it is
BEING IS YOUR DEEPEST SELF
You spoke earlier about the importance of having deep roots within or
inhabiting the body. Can you explain what you meant by that?
The body can become a point of a
LOOK BEYOND THE WORDS
I don’t like the word sin. It implies that I am being judged and found
guilty.
I can understand that. Over the centuries, many erroneous views and
interpr
FINDING YOUR INVISIBLE AND INDESTRUCTIBLE REALITY
You said that identification with our physical form is part of the
illusion, so how can the body, the physical form, bring you to a
realization of Being?
CONNECTING WITH THE INNER BODY
Please try it now. You may find it helpful to close your eyes for this
practice. Later on, when “being in the body” has become natural and
easy, this will no longe
TRANSFORMATION THROUGH THE BODY
Why have most religions condemned or denied the body? It seems
that spiritual seekers have always regarded the body as a hindrance
or even as sinful.
Why
SERMON ON THE BODY
What you perceive as a dense physical structure called the body,
which is subject to disease, old age, and death, is not ultimately real
— is not you. It is a misp
HAVE DEEP ROOTS WITHIN
The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your
inner body — to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and
transform your life. The more c
BEFORE YOU ENTER THE BODY, FORGIVE
I felt very uncomfortable when I tried to put my attention on the inner
body. There was a feeling of agitation and some nausea. So I haven’t
been able to experienc
YOUR LINK WITH THE UNMANIFESTED
What is the relationship between presence and the inner body?
Presence is pure consciousness — consciousness that has been
reclaimed from the mind, from the world
SLOWING DOWN THE AGING PROCESS
In the meantime, awareness of the inner body has other benefits in
the physical realm. One of them is a significant slowing down of the
aging of the physical body.
STRENGTHENING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Another benefit of this practice in the physical realm is a great
strengthening of the immune system, which occurs when you inhabit
the body. The more consciousnes
LET THE BREATH TAKE YOU INTO THE BODY
At times, when my mind has been very active, it has acquired such
momentum that I find it impossible to take my attention away from it
and feel the inner body. Thi
CREATIVE USE OF MIND
If you need to use your mind for a specific purpose, use it in
conjunction with your inner body. Only if you are able to be conscious
without thought can you use y
THE ART OF LISTENING
When listening to another person, don’t just listen with your mind,
listen with your whole body. Feel the energy field of your inner body
as you listen. That takes
GOING DEEPLY INTO THE BODY
I can feel the energy inside my body, especially in my arms and legs,
but I don’t seem to be able to go more deeply, as you suggested
earlier.
Make it int
THE SOURCE OF CHI
Is the Unmanifested what in the East is called chi, a kind of universal
life energy?
No, it isn’t. The Unmanifested is the source of chi. Chi is the inner
DREAMLESS SLEEP
You take a journey into the Unmanifested every night when you enter
the phase of deep dreamless sleep. You merge with the Source. You
draw from it the vital energy
OTHER PORTALS
The Now can be seen as the main portal. It is an essential aspect of
every other portal, including the inner body. You cannot be in your
body without being intense
SILENCE
Are there any other portals apart from those you just mentioned?
Yes, there are. The Unmanifested is not separate from the
manifested. It pervades this world, but
THE TRUE NATURE OF SPACE AND TIME
Now consider this: If there were nothing but silence, it wouldn’t exist
for you; you wouldn’t know what it is. Only when sound appears does
silence come into being
CONSCIOUS DEATH
Apart from dreamless sleep, which I mentioned already, there is one
other involuntary portal. It opens up briefly at the time of physical
death. Even if you have m
ENTER THE NOW FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE
I always thought that true enlightenment is not possible except
through love in a relationship between a man and a woman. Isn’t this
what makes us whole again? How
LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIPS
Unless and until you access the consciousness frequency of presence,
all relationships, and particularly intimate relationships, are deeply
flawed and ultimately d
ADDICTION AND THE SEARCH FOR WHOLENESS
Why should we become addicted to another person?
The reason why the romantic love relationship is such an intense and
universally sought-after experience is that i
FROM ADDICTIVE TO ENLIGHTENED RELATIONSHIPS
Can we change an addictive relationship into a true one?
Yes. Being present and intensifying your presence by taking your
attention ever more deeply into the Now:
RELATIONSHIPS AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
As the egoic mode of consciousness and all the social, political, and
economic structures that it created enter the final stage of collapse,
the relationships betw
WHY WOMEN ARE CLOSER TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Are the obstacles to enlightenment the same for a man as for a
woman?
Yes, but the emphasis is different. Generally speaking, it is easier for
a woman to
DISSOLVING THE COLLECTIVE FEMALE PAIN-BODY
Why is the pain-body more of an obstacle for women?
The pain-body usually has a collective as well as a personal aspect.
The personal aspect is the accumulated res
GIVE UP THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOURSELF
When one is fully conscious, would one still have a need for a
relationship? Would a man still feel drawn to a woman? Would a
woman still feel incomplete without a
THE HIGHER GOOD BEYOND GOOD AND BAD
Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace?
Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive;
inner peace does not.
Is it not
THE END OF YOUR LIFE DRAMA
In that state of acceptance and inner peace, even though you may not
call it “bad,” can anything still come into your life that would be called
“bad” from a perspe
IMPERMANENCE AND THE CYCLES OF LIFE
However, as long as you are in the physical dimension and linked to
the collective human psyche, physical pain — although rare — is still
possible. This is not to
USING AND RELINQUISHING NEGATIVITY
All inner resistance is experienced as negativity in one form or
another. All negativity is resistance. In this context, the two words are
almost synonymous. Negat
THE NATURE OF COMPASSION
Having gone beyond the mind-made opposites, you become like a
deep lake. The outer situation of your life and whatever happens
there is the surface of the lake. So
TOWARD A DIFFERENT ORDER OF REALITY
I don’t agree that the body needs to die. I am convinced that we can
achieve physical immortality. We believe in death and that’s why the
body dies.
The b
ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOW
You mentioned “surrender” a few times. I don’t like that idea. It
sounds somewhat fatalistic. If we always accept the way things are,
we are not going to make any
FROM MIND ENERGY TO SPIRITUAL ENERGY
Letting go of resistance is easier said than done. I still don’t see
clearly how to let go. If you say it is by surrendering, the question
remains: “How?”
SURRENDER IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
What about people who want to use me, manipulate or control me?
Am I to surrender to them?
They are cut off from Being, so they unconsciously attempt to get
TRANSFORMING ILLNESS INTO ENLIGHTENMENT
If someone is seriously ill and completely accepts their condition and
surrenders to the illness, would they not have given up their will to
get back to health? Th
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES
As far as the still unconscious majority of the population is concerned,
only a critical limit-situation has the potential to crack the hard shell
of the ego and f
TRANSFORMING SUFFERING INTO PEACE
I read about a stoic philosopher in ancient Greece who, when he was
told that his son had died in an accident, replied, “I knew he was not
immortal.” Is that surre
THE WAY OF THE CROSS
There are many accounts of people who say they have found God
through their deep suffering, and there is the Christian expression
“the way of the cross,” which I s
THE POWER TO CHOOSE
What about all those people who, it seems, actually want to suffer? I
have a friend whose partner is physically abusive toward her, and her
previous relationship w
Document Outline
Author’s Preface to the Paperback Edition Introduction The Origin of This Book The Truth That Is Within You CHAPTER ONE : You Are Not Your Mind The Greatest Obstacle to Enlightenment Freeing Yourse
Новости и инфо для студентов