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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“When I occasionally quote the words of Jesus or the Buddha, from A Course in Miracles or from other teachings, I do so not in order to compare, but to draw your attention to the fact that in essence there is and always has been only one spiritual teaching, although it comes in many forms. Some of these forms, such as the ancient religions, have become so overlaid with extraneous matter that their spiritual essence has become almost completely obscured by it. To a large extent, therefore, their deeper meaning is no longer recognized and their transformative power lost. When I quote from the ancient religions or other teachings, it is to reveal their deeper meaning and thereby restore their transformative power -- particularly for those readers who are followers of these religions or teachings. I say to them: there is no need to go elsewhere for the truth. Let me show you how to go more deeply into what you already have.”
— Eckhart Tolle
1
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
I am grateful for what I am and have. My Thanksgiving is perpetual. ~Henry David Thoreu
"If you feel pain, you're alive. But if you feel the pain of others, you're human"
~Leo Tolstoy~
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Awakening is a shift in consciousness in which thinking and awareness separate. For most people it is not an event but a process they undergo.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“The return movement in a person's life, the weakening or dissolution of form, whether through old age, illness, disability, loss, or some kind of personal tragedy, carries great potential for spiritual awakening – the disidentification of consciousness from form. Since there is very little spiritual truth in our contemporary culture, not many people recognize this as an opportunity, and so when it happens to them or to someone close to them, they think there is something dreadfully wrong, something that should not be happening.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration.
"I was absolutely wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief that I had ever experienced.
"I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting so starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.
"This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable."
— William Shatner, actor
1
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
"Flight or Invisibility, it is THE question. Do you throw caution to the wind and fly off to save the day? Or do you take the more calculated approach and learn the whole picture before you act? Put simply, what type of hero are you?" ~ Excerpt from Heroes S3Ep19
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
This article in Variety contains a larger excerpt of the William Shatner story above.
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Thinking serves to sustain you, keep you alive and achieve a goal. But on the moment that goal has been achieved, it is no longer intended for anything. A bird that wants to fly at the top of the tree uses its wings. When he is above, he does not continue to fly, but sits down, folds his wings and relaxes. Well, thoughts are like wings: they lead you to the goal but when that is achieved: 'Ah, yes now I see it', then wings become redundant and then there are no more thoughts.”
— Wolter Keers
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
~Pres. John F. Kennedy~
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“If people ask you what to do, what practices to adopt, which way of life to follow, answer: ‘Do nothing, just be. In being all happens naturally.’”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Your very search for safety and joy keeps you away from them. Stop searching, cease losing. The disease is simple and the remedy equally simple. It is your mind only that makes you insecure and unhappy. Anticipation makes you insecure, memory — unhappy. Stop misusing your mind and all will be well with you.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
Some people are wise. Some are otherwise. ~Tobias Smollett~
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“I am now 74 years old. And yet I feel that I am an infant. I feel clearly that in spite of all the changes I am a child. My Guru told me: that child, which is you even now, is your real self. Go back to that state of pure being, where the ‘I am’ is still in its purity before it got contaminated with ‘this I am’ or ‘that I am’. Your burden is of false self-identifications — abandon them all. My Guru told me — ‘Trust me. I tell you; you are divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine, your
suffering is divine too. All comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your will alone is done’.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“There is nothing to practise. To know yourself, be yourself. To be yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be. Let your true nature emerge. Don’t disturb your mind with seeking.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“The entire universe is your Guru. You learn from everything, if you are alert and intelligent. Were your mind clear and your heart clean, you would learn from every passerby. It is because you are indolent or restless, that your inner Self manifests as the outer Guru and makes you trust him and obey.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. Being right is identification with a mental position – a perspective, an opinion, a judgment, a story. For you to be right, of course, you need someone else to be wrong, and so the ego loves to make wrong in order to be right.”
— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
4
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Can you cease looking to thought for an identity? When you let go of the belief that you should or need to know who you are, what happens to confusion? Suddenly it is gone. When you fully accept that you don't know, you actually enter a state of peace and clarity that is closer to who you truly are than thought could ever be. Defining yourself through thought is limiting yourself.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“The wisdom of this world is folly with God.”
— The Bible, 1 Corinthians 3:19
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited February 14
“Nonresistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe. Through it, consciousness (spirit) is freed from its imprisonment in form. Inner nonresistance to form – whatever is or happens – is a denial of the absolute reality of form. Resistance makes the world and the things of the world appear more real, more solid, and more lasting than they are, including your own form identity, the ego. It endows the world and the ego with a heaviness and an absolute importance that makes you take yourself and the world very seriously. The play of form is then misperceived as a struggle for survival, and when that is your perception, it becomes your reality.”
— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“The many things that happen, the many forms that life takes on, are of an ephemeral nature. They are all fleeting. Things, bodies and egos, events, situations, thoughts, emotions, desires, ambitions, fears, drama... they come, pretend to be all-important, and before you know it they are gone, dissolved into the nothingness out of which they came. Were they ever real? Were they ever more than a dream, the dream of form?”
Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you ?
Open your eyes and come, return to the root of the root of your own self.
~Rumi~
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Stillness is the language that God speaks, and everything else is a bad translation.”
— Anonymous
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Awakening is a shift in consciousness in which thinking and awareness separate. For most people it is not an event but a process they undergo.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“In most ancient cultures, there must have been an intuitive understanding of this process, which is why old people were respected and revered. They were the repositories of wisdom and provided the dimension of depth without which no civilisation can survive for long. In our civilisation, which is totally identified with the outer and ignorant of the inner dimension of spirit, the word old has mainly negative connotations. It equals useless and so we regard it as almost an insult to refer to someone as old. To avoid the word, we use euphemisms such as elderly and senior. The First Nation's “grandmother” is a figure of great dignity. Today's “granny” is at best cute. Why is old considered useless? Because in old age, the emphasis shifts from doing to Being, and our civilisation, which is lost in doing, knows nothing of Being. It asks: being? What do you do with it?”
— Eckhart Tolle
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“You don't have to wait for something “meaningful” to come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more meaning in joy than you will ever need. The “waiting to start living” syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state.”
— Eckhart Tolle
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“ “If you think you are so enlightened,” Ram Dass said, “go and spend a week with your parents.” That is good advice. The relationship with your parents is not only the primordial relationship that sets the tone for all subsequent relationships, it is also a good test for your degree of Presence. The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be; otherwise, you will be forced to relive the past again and again.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited February 21
“One of the ego's many erroneous assumptions, one of its many deluded thoughts is “I should not have to suffer.” Sometimes the thought gets transferred to someone close to you: “My child should not have to suffer.” That thought itself lies at the root of suffering. Suffering has a noble purpose: the evolution of consciousness and the burning up of the ego. The man on the Cross is an archetypal image. He is every man and every woman. As long as you resist suffering, it is a slow process because the resistance creates more ego to burn up. When you accept suffering, however, there is an acceleration of that process which is brought about by the fact that you suffer consciously. You can accept suffering for yourself, or you can accept it for someone else, such as your child or parent. In the midst of conscious suffering, there is already the transmutation. The fire of suffering becomes the light of consciousness.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“To love is to recognise yourself in another. The other's “otherness” then stands revealed as an illusion pertaining to the purely human realm, the realm of form. The longing for love that is in every child is the longing to be recognised, not on the level of form, but on the level of Being.”
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation. Always say "yes" to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that 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.”
"Reality isn’t a fixed thing but an unfolding interplay—where the distinction between "internal" and "external" is more about perspective than an absolute divide."
~What my wandering thoughts think~
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“What we are doing here is part of a profound transformation that is taking place in the collective consciousness of the planet and beyond: the awakening of consciousness from the dream of matter, form, and separation. The ending of time. We are breaking mind patterns that have dominated human life for eons. Mind patterns that have created unimaginable suffering on a vast scale. I am not using the word evil. It is more helpful to call it unconsciousness or insanity.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
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 tense faces, staring eyes, and a cruel demeanour. He said: "They are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something. They are always uneasy and restless. We don't know what they want. We think they are mad."
— told by Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“The moment you truly forgive, you have reclaimed your power from the mind. Non-forgiveness is the very nature of the mind, just as the mind-made false self, the ego, cannot survive without strife and conflict. The mind cannot forgive. Only you can. You become present, you enter your body, you feel the vibrant peace and stillness that emanate from Being.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“A victim identity is the belief that the past is more powerful than the present, which is the opposite of the truth. It is the belief that other people and what they did to you are responsible for who you are now, for your emotional pain or your inability to be your true self. The truth is that the only power there is, is contained within this moment: It is the power of your presence. Once you know that, you also realize that you are responsible for your inner space now -- nobody else is -- and that the past cannot prevail against the power of the Now.”
— Eckhart Tolle
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“If you cannot be at ease with yourself when you are alone, you will seek a relationship to cover up your unease. You can be sure that the unease will then reappear in some other form within the relationship, and you will probably hold your partner responsible for it.”
— Eckhart Tolle
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Cranky Old Man
What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!
4
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Just as the images in a dream are symbols of inner states and feelings, so our collective reality is largely a symbolic expression of fear and of the heavy layers of negativity that have accumulated in the collective human psyche.”
— Eckhart Tolle
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Until you practice surrender, the spiritual dimension is something you read about, talk about, get excited about, write books about, think about, believe in -- or don't, as the case may be. It makes no difference. Not until you surrender does it become a living reality in your life. When you do, the energy that you emanate and which then runs your life is of a much higher vibrational frequency than the mind energy that still runs our world -- the energy that created the existing social, political, and economic structures of our civilisation, and which also continuously perpetuates itself through our educational systems and the media. Through surrender, spiritual energy comes into this world.”
— Eckhart Tolle
1
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
— Voltaire
Comments
“When I occasionally quote the words of Jesus or the Buddha, from A Course in Miracles or from other teachings, I do so not in order to compare, but to draw your attention to the fact that in essence there is and always has been only one spiritual teaching, although it comes in many forms. Some of these forms, such as the ancient religions, have become so overlaid with extraneous matter that their spiritual essence has become almost completely obscured by it. To a large extent, therefore, their deeper meaning is no longer recognized and their transformative power lost. When I quote from the ancient religions or other teachings, it is to reveal their deeper meaning and thereby restore their transformative power -- particularly for those readers who are followers of these religions or teachings. I say to them: there is no need to go elsewhere for the truth. Let me show you how to go more deeply into what you already have.”
— Eckhart Tolle
I am grateful for what I am and have. My Thanksgiving is perpetual. ~Henry David Thoreu
"If you feel pain, you're alive. But if you feel the pain of others, you're human"
~Leo Tolstoy~
“Awakening is a shift in consciousness in which thinking and awareness separate. For most people it is not an event but a process they undergo.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“The return movement in a person's life, the weakening or dissolution of form, whether through old age, illness, disability, loss, or some kind of personal tragedy, carries great potential for spiritual awakening – the disidentification of consciousness from form. Since there is very little spiritual truth in our contemporary culture, not many people recognize this as an opportunity, and so when it happens to them or to someone close to them, they think there is something dreadfully wrong, something that should not be happening.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration.
"I was absolutely wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief that I had ever experienced.
"I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting so starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.
"This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable."
— William Shatner, actor
"Flight or Invisibility, it is THE question. Do you throw caution to the wind and fly off to save the day? Or do you take the more calculated approach and learn the whole picture before you act? Put simply, what type of hero are you?" ~ Excerpt from Heroes S3Ep19
This article in Variety contains a larger excerpt of the William Shatner story above.
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/william-shatner-space-boldly-go-excerpt-1235395113/amp/
“Thinking serves to sustain you, keep you alive and achieve a goal. But on the moment that goal has been achieved, it is no longer intended for anything. A bird that wants to fly at the top of the tree uses its wings. When he is above, he does not continue to fly, but sits down, folds his wings and relaxes. Well, thoughts are like wings: they lead you to the goal but when that is achieved: 'Ah, yes now I see it', then wings become redundant and then there are no more thoughts.”
— Wolter Keers
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
~Pres. John F. Kennedy~
“If people ask you what to do, what practices to adopt, which way of life to follow, answer: ‘Do nothing, just be. In being all happens naturally.’”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Your very search for safety and joy keeps you away from them. Stop searching, cease losing. The disease is simple and the remedy equally simple. It is your mind only that makes you insecure and unhappy. Anticipation makes you insecure, memory — unhappy. Stop misusing your mind and all will be well with you.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
Some people are wise.
Some are otherwise.
~Tobias Smollett~
“I am now 74 years old. And yet I feel that I am an infant. I feel clearly that in spite of all the changes I am a child. My Guru told me: that child, which is you even now, is your real self. Go back to that state of pure being, where the ‘I am’ is still in its purity before it got contaminated with ‘this I am’ or ‘that I am’. Your burden is of false self-identifications — abandon them all. My Guru told me — ‘Trust me. I tell you; you are divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine, your
suffering is divine too. All comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your will alone is done’.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
“There is nothing to practise. To know yourself, be yourself. To be yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be. Let your true nature emerge. Don’t disturb your mind with seeking.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
“The entire universe is your Guru. You learn from everything, if you are alert and intelligent. Were your mind clear and your heart clean, you would learn from every passerby. It is because you are indolent or restless, that your inner Self manifests as the outer Guru and makes you trust him and obey.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
In English, we say "Can I be a child again?"
But in poetry, we say "take me back to when laughter was endless, and my dreams were bigger than my fears"
Oops I made a mistake...one of many.
Shoshin1
“You cannot enslave a mind that knows itself. That values itself. That understands itself.”
— Wangari Maathai
“What is real, is as it always is. All that is needed is to cease to identify with what is unreal.”
— Ramana Maharshi
“When your vision comes more and more in tune with wisdom, you will discover that the world is God. It is a way of looking.”
— Ramana Maharshi
“We are as much alive, as we keep the Earth alive.”
— North American indian proverb
Hobbes take on Mediation:
“There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. Being right is identification with a mental position – a perspective, an opinion, a judgment, a story. For you to be right, of course, you need someone else to be wrong, and so the ego loves to make wrong in order to be right.”
— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
“Can you cease looking to thought for an identity? When you let go of the belief that you should or need to know who you are, what happens to confusion? Suddenly it is gone. When you fully accept that you don't know, you actually enter a state of peace and clarity that is closer to who you truly are than thought could ever be. Defining yourself through thought is limiting yourself.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“The wisdom of this world is folly with God.”
— The Bible, 1 Corinthians 3:19
“Nonresistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe. Through it, consciousness (spirit) is freed from its imprisonment in form. Inner nonresistance to form – whatever is or happens – is a denial of the absolute reality of form. Resistance makes the world and the things of the world appear more real, more solid, and more lasting than they are, including your own form identity, the ego. It endows the world and the ego with a heaviness and an absolute importance that makes you take yourself and the world very seriously. The play of form is then misperceived as a struggle for survival, and when that is your perception, it becomes your reality.”
— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
“The many things that happen, the many forms that life takes on, are of an ephemeral nature. They are all fleeting. Things, bodies and egos, events, situations, thoughts, emotions, desires, ambitions, fears, drama... they come, pretend to be all-important, and before you know it they are gone, dissolved into the nothingness out of which they came. Were they ever real? Were they ever more than a dream, the dream of form?”
— Eckhart Tolle
Wot?
They haz gems of wisdom in The Book (original meaning of Bible)...
Well I never. Oh wait I did...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(Gnosticism)
Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you ?
Open your eyes and come, return to the root of the root of your own self.
~Rumi~
“Stillness is the language that God speaks, and everything else is a bad translation.”
— Anonymous
“Awakening is a shift in consciousness in which thinking and awareness separate. For most people it is not an event but a process they undergo.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“In most ancient cultures, there must have been an intuitive understanding of this process, which is why old people were respected and revered. They were the repositories of wisdom and provided the dimension of depth without which no civilisation can survive for long. In our civilisation, which is totally identified with the outer and ignorant of the inner dimension of spirit, the word old has mainly negative connotations. It equals useless and so we regard it as almost an insult to refer to someone as old. To avoid the word, we use euphemisms such as elderly and senior. The First Nation's “grandmother” is a figure of great dignity. Today's “granny” is at best cute. Why is old considered useless? Because in old age, the emphasis shifts from doing to Being, and our civilisation, which is lost in doing, knows nothing of Being. It asks: being? What do you do with it?”
— Eckhart Tolle
“You don't have to wait for something “meaningful” to come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more meaning in joy than you will ever need. The “waiting to start living” syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“ “If you think you are so enlightened,” Ram Dass said, “go and spend a week with your parents.” That is good advice. The relationship with your parents is not only the primordial relationship that sets the tone for all subsequent relationships, it is also a good test for your degree of Presence. The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be; otherwise, you will be forced to relive the past again and again.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“One of the ego's many erroneous assumptions, one of its many deluded thoughts is “I should not have to suffer.” Sometimes the thought gets transferred to someone close to you: “My child should not have to suffer.” That thought itself lies at the root of suffering. Suffering has a noble purpose: the evolution of consciousness and the burning up of the ego. The man on the Cross is an archetypal image. He is every man and every woman. As long as you resist suffering, it is a slow process because the resistance creates more ego to burn up. When you accept suffering, however, there is an acceleration of that process which is brought about by the fact that you suffer consciously. You can accept suffering for yourself, or you can accept it for someone else, such as your child or parent. In the midst of conscious suffering, there is already the transmutation. The fire of suffering becomes the light of consciousness.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“To love is to recognise yourself in another. The other's “otherness” then stands revealed as an illusion pertaining to the purely human realm, the realm of form. The longing for love that is in every child is the longing to be recognised, not on the level of form, but on the level of Being.”
— Eckhart Tolle
'it ain't over till it's over."
Yogi Bara
“Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation. Always say "yes" to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that 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 Tolle
"Reality isn’t a fixed thing but an unfolding interplay—where the distinction between "internal" and "external" is more about perspective than an absolute divide."
~What my wandering thoughts think~
“What we are doing here is part of a profound transformation that is taking place in the collective consciousness of the planet and beyond: the awakening of consciousness from the dream of matter, form, and separation. The ending of time. We are breaking mind patterns that have dominated human life for eons. Mind patterns that have created unimaginable suffering on a vast scale. I am not using the word evil. It is more helpful to call it unconsciousness or insanity.”
— Eckhart Tolle
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 tense faces, staring eyes, and a cruel demeanour. He said: "They are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something. They are always uneasy and restless. We don't know what they want. We think they are mad."
— told by Eckhart Tolle
“The moment you truly forgive, you have reclaimed your power from the mind. Non-forgiveness is the very nature of the mind, just as the mind-made false self, the ego, cannot survive without strife and conflict. The mind cannot forgive. Only you can. You become present, you enter your body, you feel the vibrant peace and stillness that emanate from Being.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“A victim identity is the belief that the past is more powerful than the present, which is the opposite of the truth. It is the belief that other people and what they did to you are responsible for who you are now, for your emotional pain or your inability to be your true self. The truth is that the only power there is, is contained within this moment: It is the power of your presence. Once you know that, you also realize that you are responsible for your inner space now -- nobody else is -- and that the past cannot prevail against the power of the Now.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“If you cannot be at ease with yourself when you are alone, you will seek a relationship to cover up your unease. You can be sure that the unease will then reappear in some other form within the relationship, and you will probably hold your partner responsible for it.”
— Eckhart Tolle
Cranky Old Man
What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!
“Just as the images in a dream are symbols of inner states and feelings, so our collective reality is largely a symbolic expression of fear and of the heavy layers of negativity that have accumulated in the collective human psyche.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“Until you practice surrender, the spiritual dimension is something you read about, talk about, get excited about, write books about, think about, believe in -- or don't, as the case may be. It makes no difference. Not until you surrender does it become a living reality in your life. When you do, the energy that you emanate and which then runs your life is of a much higher vibrational frequency than the mind energy that still runs our world -- the energy that created the existing social, political, and economic structures of our civilisation, and which also continuously perpetuates itself through our educational systems and the media. Through surrender, spiritual energy comes into this world.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
— Voltaire