Eckhart Tolle Quotes
Some people thought I was crazy to have let go of all the worldly things I had "achieved." They didn't understand that I didn't want or need any of that anymore.
One could say that everybody in this world has a spiritual teacher. For most people, their losses and disasters represent the teacher; their suffering is the teacher.
For most people on the planet, consciousness can be equated with thought. They haven't experienced what it means to be conscious without thought, or they have only for very brief instants.
A self - a me - exists in every thought and every emotion. Suffering arises through complete identification with thinking and emotions.
Life always is now, but the form the now takes changes continuously. Most people equate the form the now takes with the now itself, and so they believe there are many different moments.
When you observe yourself reacting to what are minor things in your life, you will find that the mechanism is the same as when major things seem to go wrong in your life and there is upset.
Often suffering is the trigger, or a spiritual teaching, or both. Call it readiness, or grace. This is the beginning of the awakening process.
In whatever way change comes, the important thing is to take responsibility for this moment. Then, life becomes cooperative.
When you are aligned with the now internally, when you take responsibility for this moment, then life is helpful and tends to bring you what you need.
As the character changes in the movie, it rubs off on the viewer, so the viewer also goes through that change.
When the movie comes to an end, you are not totally the same person you are when you started the movie.
If we don't change, if the egoic consciousness continues, I don't believe that humanity as a species can survive, or at least human civilization can survive, for another hundred years.
I sometimes say to people, "I am a window frame - no more. The window frame is not that important. What is important is the light that comes through the window.
Humans are potentially capable of living in a state of consciousness compared to which normal wakefulness is like sleeping or dreaming.
Whereas the notion of purpose before was always associated with future, there is now a deeper purpose that can only be found in the present, through denial of time.
"Spiritual teacher" of course is not an identity. "Spiritual teacher" is a function. Somebody comes, the teaching happens. Somebody leaves, there's no spiritual teacher left.
If 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.
Work to recognize the primary importance of the present moment. A good little pointer toward that is to ask yourself, "What is my relationship with the present moment? How am I relating to it?"
The power of now can only be realized now. It requires no time and effort. Effort means you're trying hard to get somewhere, and so you are not present, welcoming this moment as it is.
I am optimistic that humanity is going to make it, that humanity is going to reach, finally, a new state of consciousness which will then create a different kind of world.
Consciousness is not personal. Human consciousness is just an expression of universal consciousness, which pervades the entire universe.
Every practice at some point will become a hindrance. No practice can ever take you there, to freedom, to liberation. That's important to realize.
There can be associations - enlightened businesses, for example - that do not work on the basis of us against them or wanting profit as the main motivating force behind what they do.
The animals certainly like to be close to humans, especially as humans go through the shift in consciousness.
In certain extreme cases, medication may be necessary. But it is given far too often, too easily, and too readily. Millions of children already are on tranquilizers, for example, and that is absurd.
Let's say you have to catch a plane, and you are packing your suitcase and moving fast. Most people would call that stress. Most people live stressed like that all the time.
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but you thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking.
When you no longer perceive the world as hostile, there is no more fear, and when there is no more fear, you think, speak and act differently.
Mind isn't as serious as my mind makes it out to be.
The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.
What you react to in another you strengthen within yourself.
The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be...
Ego is the complete identification with form. Physical forms, thought forms, emotional forms.
When you want to arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you're doing, you become stressed.
Those who do not attempt to appear more than they are but are simply themselves, stand out as remarkable and are the only ones who truly make a difference in this world.
When you are aware that you are thinking, that awareness is not part of thinking. It is a different dimension of consciousness. It is that awareness that says "I AM
A new heaven is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness. And A New Earth is it's direct reflection in the physical realm.
How "spiritual" you are has nothing to do with what you believe, but everything to do with your state of consciousness.
The more you make your thoughts (beliefs) into your identity, the more cut off you are from the spiritual dimension within yourself.
Ego-generated emotions are derived from the mind's identification with external factors which are, of course, all unstable and liable to change at any moment.
True communication is communion- the realization of oneness, which is love.
To awaken within the dream is our purpose now. When we are awake within the dream, the ego-created earth-drama comes to an end and a more benign and wondrous dream arises. This is the new earth.