Q: What kind of guidance would you offer to people to remember, or be aware that we are a creative force in a creative Universe?ET: The awakening process has two aspects, or two dimensions, to it. One is the finding the Source within, as yourself. Then, [there is] bringing that into your life more and more – so that your daily life becomes interspersed with that Stillness. As your life becomes interspersed with that Stillness, the ego then begins to fade. You embody a different energy field – as if something from another dimension were coming through you into this world.
The most essential thing is the foundation for all subsequent “awakened doing”, as I sometimes call it. The world is full of people who are doing, but it’s mostly unawakened doing. This comes out of unhappy states, and creates more unhappy states. Our first task is to bring that dimension, the other dimension, into this world. With your normal everyday life, see if Presence can flow into the smallest things – listening to another person, walking from here to there, and so on. Presence implies acceptance of whatever is, in the Now, in alignment with the form of the Now, as a spiritual practice. The more you are aligned with the form of the Now, the more this energy comes through.
It’s vital for us to be grounded in the Presence of everyday life. The foundation is continuous acceptance of the is-ness of Now. Through that, Presence arises more and more. You work with the present moment, as your teacher so-to-speak. Bring a “yes” to it. With that, the Presence comes. You have to first come to an acceptance of the is-ness of things – not the world situation – just your limited reality. After a little while you will notice that there is another aspect to Presence. It’s not just still - there’s also a dynamic aspect to Presence. That’s where “awakened doing” comes in.
First it changes the way in which you deal with others. One day, something else wants to be done that needs doing. You might perceive it as something that you need to do. Suddenly you know what it is that you need to do. It comes from within, or it comes from without – some situation in your life. Then, “awakened doing” begins to happen. That doing is not the egoic doing, where whatever you do is a means to an end. There is deep enjoyment in the doing. There is not an excessive desire to achieve, but you achieve actually more - because there’s so much enjoyment in the doing that the end result looks after itself. A very different kind of doing arises, that is not motivated by desire. The normal way is thinking “I need to achieve this”.
As Presence moves through you, it’s not based on desire anymore, it’s based on enjoyment. It’s not based on wanting or needing anything, because you’re coming from fullness. The action is not designed to fulfill you. It’s not designed to add something to you. The action is coming out of the fullness in which you already dwell – so there’s no neediness in it.
Obstacles arise, as they will, especially if you do things that go against the conditioning of the world – you may find obstacles. You also may find enormous power helping you.
Obstacles may come in the form of uncooperative people, or situations, but enormous power will also flow into what you do and help you in many ways. Just the right thing, just at the right moment, just the right person. When obstacles do arise, they are not regarded as enemies. The ego regards any obstacle to its course of action as an enemy.
An obstacle is accepted for what it is, and you work with it – not against it. Or you work around it, or you take its energy and turn it around. It becomes incorporated into what you have to do. You don’t see any more enemies in the form of unhelpful situations, uncooperative people. Everything is embraced for what it is, accepted for what it is, and transformed. It’s not so much that you are doing it, you become a vehicle for the doing. It happens through you. The power comes when it wants to come.
For several years after the shift that happened to me, there was not much happening externally – and after that, gradually, people came to ask questions. There was some doing, some speaking happening. Answers were suddenly coming, and that lasted for several years. I knew somewhere that there was a power here, but it’s not reaching many people for some reason. It wasn’t happening yet. It was fine, people would come once or twice a week and ask questions. A workshop here, a workshop there, and then big spaces.
I was once in a country church in England, in a small village in Somerset, and the church was completely empty – and suddenly the words came out of me that said “Use me”, and “I’d like acceleration please”. I don’t know who I was talking to. The words, where they came from, I don’t know. The Consciousness was listening, it seems. At first nothing happened and I went back home. A few weeks later, I woke up knowing that I had to leave England and move to the west coast of North America. I did not know why. That was the beginning, and eventually the writing started there. That was the acceleration happening. I did not know [at the time] that it was part of the acceleration that I had asked for. And then things accelerated more and more. Be careful with what you ask for.
I don’t have the sense that I am “doing” any of this. I just go with it. Am I speaking as a person? No, its Consciousness speaking, using this mind, to express what is most helpful for this moment. So be in the service of that. You are in the service of that. Get rid of the idea that you have to “do” anything as a separate entity. Be open to what it is that wants to be done in this world, then conscious doing happens through you. Every so-called “individual” has a different function in this world. The more you get out of the way, you do it by bringing Presence into everyday life, then the answer of what it is that wants to be done comes through you.
It’s a wonderful adventure to be aligned with that. There is a lot that wants to come through at this time. It doesn’t choose between people, it doesn’t say “You are special, I’m going to choose you”. Whenever a person becomes transparent to it, it comes through. It doesn’t ask “Who are you, what are your credentials?” It doesn’t ask, “What is your personal history? Are you worthy?” It’s timeless Presence. It’s not interested in your past history, whether you were the most virtuous person. Wherever the opening is, the light comes through.
Eckhart Tolle
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