The process of awakening has two aspects or two dimensions. One is to find the Source within as yourself. Then (you have) to bring this more and more into your life – so that Silence permeates your everyday life.
As this Silence pervades your life, the ego begins to fade. You embody another energy field – as if something from another dimension is coming through you into this world.
The most important thing is the basis for all subsequent “awakened action”, as I sometimes call it. The world is full of people of action, but it is mostly unawakened action. It comes out of unhappy states and creates more unhappy states. Our first task is to bring this dimension, the other dimension, into this world. In your normal daily life, see if Presence can flow into the smallest things—listening to another person, getting from here to there, and so on. Being present involves accepting what is in the Now in accordance with the form of the Now as a spiritual practice. The more you align with the form of Now, the more this energy comes through.
It is vital for us to be grounded in the Presence of everyday life. The basis is the continuous acceptance of the existence of the present. Through this, the Presence emerges more and more. You work with the present moment, as your teacher, so to speak. Say “yes” to it. With this comes the Presence. You must first accept the existence of things – not the state of the world – just your limited reality. After a while you will notice that there is another aspect of Presence. It’s not just still – there’s a dynamic aspect to Presence. This is where “awakened action” comes into play.
First, it changes the way you treat others. One day you want to do something else that needs to be done. You might think of it as something you have to do. Suddenly you know what to do. It comes from within, or it comes from without – some situation in your life. Then the “awakened action” begins. This action is not the egoistic action where whatever you do is a means to an end. There is deep enjoyment in the activity. There is no excessive desire to achieve, but you actually achieve more – because there is so much enjoyment in the activity that the end result comes naturally. A very different kind of activity arises, which is not motivated by desire. As usual, we think “I have to achieve this”.
As the Presence moves through you, it is no longer based on desire, but based on pleasure. It is not based on wanting or needing anything because you come from wholeness. The promotion is not designed for you to complete. It’s not designed to add anything. Action comes from the wholeness in which you already live – so there is no need for it.
Obstacles will arise as they will, especially if you do things that are against the terms of the world – you may find obstacles. You may also find that a great power is helping you.
Obstacles may arise in the form of uncooperative people or situations, but there is a great power flowing into what you are doing and it will help you in many ways. Just the right thing, just the right moment, just the right person. When obstacles arise, they are not seen as enemies. The ego sees every obstacle that stands in its way as an enemy.
The obstacle is accepted as it is and you work with it – not against it. You either bypass it, or you take its energy and reverse it. It builds into what you need to do. You no longer see enemies in unhelpful situations, uncooperative people. They accept everything as it is, accept it as it is, and transform. It’s not so much that you do it, it’s that you become an instrument of action. It happens through you. Power comes when it wants to come.
After the change that happened to me, not much happened from the outside for years – then gradually people came to ask questions. There was some action, some talk. The answers came suddenly and it took several years. I knew there was power here somewhere, but for some reason it doesn’t reach many people. That hasn’t happened yet. It was fine, people came once or twice a week and asked questions. A workshop here, a workshop there, then large spaces.
I was once in a country church in England, in a small village in Somerset, and the church was completely empty – and all of a sudden the words came out of me, “Use me” and “Please, speed up.” I don’t know who I was talking to. I don’t know where the words came from. Consciousness seems to have been listening. At first nothing happened and I went home. A few weeks later I woke up to the fact that I had to leave England and move to the west coast of North America. I didn’t know why. That was the beginning and eventually the writing started there. That was the acceleration. I didn’t know (at the time) that this was part of the acceleration I requested. Then the events accelerated more and more. Be careful what you ask for.
I don’t feel like I’m “doing” it all. I’ll just go with it. Am I speaking as a human being? No, your Consciousness is speaking, using this mind to express what is most useful in this moment. So be at the service of it. You are at its service. Get rid of the idea that you have to “do” anything as a separate entity. Be open to what you want to do in this world, then conscious action will happen through you. Each so-called “individual” has a different function in this world. The more you get out of the way, by bringing the Presence into everyday life, the answer to what you want to do will come through you.
It’s a wonderful adventure to adjust to. Many things want to come through at this time. He doesn’t choose between people, he doesn’t say “You are special, I choose you”. Whenever a person becomes transparent to him, he comes through. It doesn’t ask “Who are you, what are your credentials?” He doesn’t ask, “What is your personal story? Are you worthy?” This is the timeless Presence. Your past doesn’t care if you were the most virtuous person. Wherever the opening is, the light comes in.
An inspiring story
Dear Eckhart!
The conversation in January (Eckhart Tolle TV) where you suggest a parallel story (the falsely accused Zen Master story) where one person reacts unconsciously and the other consciously reacts to the same situation burst out laughing! In fact, I am currently visiting my daughter, who is experiencing a real story similar to the story of the Zen Master, the conscious response version. I keep encouraging him to write it, but he’s too busy to live it! Here’s a quick summary:
Ten years ago, when she had been living with the man of her dreams for three years and was pregnant with their second child, her husband came home one day and told her that he had fallen in love with a student (both were university professors and the student was in training). He lost his temper, punched her and broke her nose. I had to have surgery.
Then he recovered. Within days, the three adults involved sat down and decided to do what was best for the children. The husband would live with his new love, and my daughter would live alone. All parenting would be shared between two households. Who would have thought that this impossible, difficult, difficult plan would work? Everyone around her encouraged her to be outraged, get even, take the children away from her, etc. All the usual reactions were available and not taken.
Obstacles may arise in the form of uncooperative people or situations, but there is a great power flowing into what you are doing and it will help you in many ways. Just the right thing, just the right moment, just the right person. When obstacles arise, they are not seen as enemies. The ego sees every obstacle that stands in its way as an enemy.
It was only recently that my daughter shared with me the tremendous pain she endured sitting alone in her house at night while her babies were in the other house and one of them drank the breast milk she pumped and wrapped. Yet he endured. I think this pain-body flavor (me, the abandoned woman) dissolved through it. Maybe it’s just a piece, but I find it shocking.
His now 9-year-old “baby” was recently shunned by his peer group at school. But he is safe. He has his mother’s precedent. Day by day I see it enduring, quietly, slowly becoming radiant and peaceful.
Blessing,
Elizabeth
Inspirational quotes
“If you were conscious, that is, fully present in the Now, all negativity would dissolve almost immediately. It would not be able to survive in your presence.”
“Almost every ego contains at least one element of what we might call a victim identity. Some people have such a strong sense of victimhood that it becomes the central core of their ego. Resentment and grievances are an essential part of their sense of self.”
“The awakened modes of action are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Each represents a particular vibrational frequency of consciousness. You must be alert to ensure that one of these is operating whenever you do anything at all—from the simplest task to the most complex.”
— Eckhart Tolle
