Welcome to the Deep Dive. We're all about unpacking
complex ideas, finding that profound simplicity
that often gets hidden underneath layers of how
we usually think. Today, we're really embarking
on quite an extraordinary journey, I think, right
to the core of human experience. We'll be exploring
concepts that promise Well, liberation from suffering,
really, and a clearer path towards genuine inner
peace. Indeed. It's a significant undertaking.
It is. We're delving into a work that truly challenges
us to fundamentally re -examine our relationship
with our own minds and even our understanding
of time itself. Absolutely. We'll be exploring
the transformative insights from Eckhart Tolle's
work, The Power of Now. And like you said, this
isn't just about understanding a philosophy intellectually.
Right, not just academics. No, not at all. It's
really an invitation to recognize these, well,
timeless truths that might resonate quite deeply
within you, offering a practical, sort of actionable
pathway to a more conscious, freer, and ultimately
a more fulfilling way of existing. And our mission
today, really, is to pull out the most potent
insights from this material, not just to summarize,
but to really help you, the listener, grasp the
essence of what it means to be truly present,
to break free from those, you know, stubborn,
habitual patterns of thought and emotion that
so often keep us feeling stuck. Yeah, those loops
we get into. Exactly. And maybe discover that
vast, unshakable inner treasure that Tolie speaks
about so eloquently. So, yeah. get ready to maybe
shift your perspective a bit on time, identity,
and the very nature of your being. It's potentially
life -changing stuff. Definitely feels like it.
So to kick things off, let's just establish some
foundational concepts from this really powerful
work. First up, this word enlightenment. For
many people, it conjures up something almost
superhuman, doesn't it? Oh, absolutely. Levitation,
mystical powers. Yeah, exactly. Something totally
unattainable. But how does this work redefine
enlightenment for us in a way that maybe feels,
I don't know, incredibly accessible, relevant
to just everyday life? That's a great starting
point. Totally, well, he radically redefines
it. It's not about gaining something extra, some
special quality. It's actually about losing something.
Losing something, okay. Yeah. Specifically, he
describes it very simply as the end of suffering,
full stop. The end of suffering, wow. It's essentially
a return to your natural state, a felt sense
of oneness with what he calls being. Now this
being, it's described as this immeasurable, indestructible
essence. that is fundamentally you, but it's
also greater than your individual name and form.
So it's our true nature beneath the surface stuff.
Precisely. Finding your true nature beyond the
labels, the mental constructs, the stories we
tell ourselves. And when that happens, the illusion
of being separate from everything else, which
is the root of so much fear and conflict, that
starts to dissolve. OK. And crucially, he also
calls it the end of what he terms dreadful enslavement
to incessant thinking. The constant mind chatter.
That endless noise, yes. So the work suggests
this state of liberation isn't something you
achieve or acquire through effort. It's actually
already within you. It's an inherent truth that
just needs to be, well, remembered. A return
to your original state before the mind's chatter
sort of took over and obscured it. That's quite
a provocative definition. The end of suffering.
It almost sounds too simple given how deeply
ingrained suffering feels in the human condition.
It does sound simple, but the implications are
vast. Yeah. So if it's truly about the end of
incessant thinking, then our minds, which are,
let's face it, constantly active, they must be
the primary obstacle, right? The main blockage.
That's exactly the central insight Tolle presents.
How does he suggest our mind often works against
us then, rather than for us? He makes this really
crucial distinction. The mind itself, he says,
is a superb instrument when used rightly. Okay,
so it has its place. Absolutely. But when used
wrongly, Or rather, when it uses us, it becomes
destructive. And that, he says, is the more common
scenario. It often uses us. He even calls this
the disease of humanity. The disease. Yeah. So
the core delusion, the fundamental mistake, is
believing you are your mind. Believing that the
relentless internal monologue, the stream of
judgments, the worries, the plans, that that
is who you are. Instead of just activity happening.
Exactly. In reality, he suggests, the instrument
has taken you over. It's like being possessed,
he says, but without even knowing it. Most people,
he argues, are run by these involuntary thought
processes, that incessant internal monologue
or dialogue that's constantly commenting, speculating,
judging, complaining, liking, disliking, worrying.
Non -stop. Non -stop. And this voice, this stream,
is often. completely disconnected from the present
moment. He's constantly dredging up the past
or projecting into these imaginary, often quite
negative future scenarios. Right, replaying old
hurts or worrying about what might go wrong.
Precisely. So this conditioned mind views the
present moment through these distorting filters
of past experiences and future anxieties. This
creates a skewed, usually negative perception
of reality. And in doing so, it becomes your
own worst enemy. It attacks you, punishes you
from within, drains your vital energy, and just
perpetuates this cycle of misery and unhappiness.
That's quite a picture. He poses a challenge.
Can you find the off button for this constant
thinking? Can you choose to be free from your
mind, whatever you want? If not, he suggests,
then the mind is almost certainly using you.
That image of being possessed by our own minds
is quite chilling, isn't it? And honestly, quite
relatable on some days. Very relatable for most
people, I think. It really sounds like the mind
is just relentlessly pulling us away from what's
actually happening, from the unfolding reality
right in front of us. Away from life itself.
Which perfectly highlights why the very next
concept from Tali's work is so incredibly vital,
the now. What exactly is the now and why is it
presented as so profoundly important for our
liberation? The now. Well, it's the one point
that exists outside of what Tolle calls psychological
time. It's eternal and he emphasizes uniquely
precious. Outside of time. Outside of psychological
time, yes. He states it quite unequivocally.
Nothing ever truly happened in the past and nothing
will ever truly happen in the future. Everything
only ever happens in the now. Okay, that needs
unpacking. How can nothing have happened in the
past? What we perceive as the past, he argues,
is simply a memory trace. A former now stored
within our minds. When you recall something from
the past, you're not actually traveling back
in time. You're reactivating that memory trace
right now in the present moment. Ah, I see. The
remembering happens now. Exactly. And similarly,
what we imagine as the future is merely a projection
of the mind. And when that projected future arrives,
if it does, it will also manifest as the now.
Always now. Always now. The present moment is
the singular unchanging reality of existence.
And because of that, it holds the absolute key
to liberation, because it's the only point where
we can access being, that deeper reality we talked
about. So focusing on past and future, actually
makes us miss the only reality there is. That's
the core idea. The more you're focused on psychological
time dwelling on past regrets or obsessing about
future outcomes, the more you inevitably miss
the now, which is ironically the most precious
thing there is. It's where life actually happens.
It makes sense when you put it like that. And
Tull points out that spiritual masters throughout
history. figures like Jesus or the Buddha, have
consistently pointed to the now as the fundamental
key. Even if their teachings sometimes got misunderstood
or obscured over time, the very essence of Zen,
for instance, is about living right on what's
called the razor's edge of now. Being so utterly
completely present that no problems. Nothing
mine made can actually survive in that space
that makes so much sense It's like we spend our
lives watching a mental movie about life rather
than truly experiencing the actual unfolding
reality That's a very good analogy lost in the
movie So let's delve a bit deeper into this fundamental
obstacle, the mind. If the mind uses us, as Toli
suggests, how does that actually show up in our
daily lives? And what's the direct link to our
emotional experience, our feelings? Well, the
mind's insidious use of us. Toli highlights this
with a really powerful distinction. He says,
just because you can solve a complex crossword
puzzle or, you know, contribute to building something
as technically intricate as an atom bomb, That
doesn't automatically mean you were using your
mind effectively. Okay, so intelligence isn't
the same as conscious use. Exactly. Often he
argues it's your mind using you. It gets its
teeth into problems, whether they're real or
completely imagined, and just chews on them endlessly.
This mind is perpetually concerned with keeping
the past alive. Why? Because without that past
narrative, the egoic sense of who I am feels
threatened, like it might dissolve. Ah, so identity
is tied to the past. deeply. And then it compulsively
projects itself into the future, creating this
persistent internal narrative that promises,
OK, one day, when this happens, or I achieve
that, or I get this thing, then finally I'll
be OK. Then I'll be happy. Peace I'll be happy
when syndrome precisely and this unobserved mind
which totally essentially equates with the ego
Perceives itself as this separate little fragment
adrift in a vast often seemingly hostile universe
a feeling of isolation Yes, and this fundamental
misperception gives rise to all these ingrained
patterns Resistance to what is needing to control
situations and people power dynamics greed defensiveness
attack You name it. All those lovely human traits.
Indeed. But the critical insight here is that
these egoic strategies, they never actually solve
the ego's perceived problems. Why? Because the
ego is the problem itself. It's this deep identification
with the mind, with its endless stream of thoughts,
concepts, labels, judgments, that creates this
kind of opaque screen. A screen? Yeah, a screen
that blocks your true relationship with your
own... deeper self, your being. It blocks genuine
connection with other people, with the natural
world, and with, well, whatever term you prefer,
the divine universal consciousness, life itself.
It's a constant barrier to presence and true
connection. So the mind isn't just a voice chattering
away. It's this deeply ingrained system of belief
that constructs and fiercely defends our very
identity, our sense of self. That's a very accurate
way to describe it. And how do our emotions fit
into this picture? The material seems to draw
a very direct, almost immediate line between
our thoughts and our feelings. Absolutely direct.
Emotion fundamentally is defined as the body's
reaction to your mind. It's a direct physical
reflection of your mind's manifesting in your
body. Okay, give me an example. Sure. So if your
mind generates, say, a hostile thought about
someone, your body immediately responds with
the biochemical changes we associate with anger,
heat, tension, maybe a faster heartbeat. Or,
if you have a thought related to threat, what
if this bad thing happens? Your body instantly
manifests fear. Again, with corresponding physical
sensations and hormonal shifts. It's automatic.
Completely automatic. And what's crucial here,
and often missed, is that we are frequently unconscious
of our deeply entrenched thought patterns. They
run on autopilot. We don't even realize we're
thinking them. Often not. So it's primarily through
observing our emotions, really feeling them in
the body without judgment, that we can begin
to bring those underlying, often hidden thought
patterns into our conscious awareness. So the
emotion is like a clue to the hidden thought.
Exactly. Totally suggest that if there's ever
a conflict between what you think you're feeling,
fine, and what you're actually feeling in your
body. your stomach, tension in your shoulders,
the emotion always offers a truer, more honest
reflection of your current state of mind. That's
interesting. Trust the feeling more than the
thought about the feeling. Yes. And observing
an emotion is quite similar to watching a thought,
but it carries a much stronger, more visceral
physical component. By simply observing it, feeling
the anger, the fear, the sadness, without getting
caught up in the story around it. without resisting
it or judging it. Just letting it be there. Just
letting it be there. You step into the role of
the watcher, the observing presence. This allows
the emotion to simply exist without you being
controlled or overwhelmed by it. And this very
act breaks the unconscious identification. It
brings those often deeply buried unconscious
patterns into the light of your conscious awareness
where they can begin to dissolve. That makes
incredible sense. And that leads us to this.
Well, rather unsettling concept, Tolien introduces
the pain body. It sounds like a significant,
almost parasitic part of our emotional landscape.
What exactly is it and how does it operate? The
emotional pain body. Yeah. Yes, it's a profound
and for many a challenging concept to really
grasp, but it's absolutely central to understanding
why suffering persists so strongly. Tolien describes
it as an accumulated negative energy field. It's
made up of all the past emotional pain you've
experienced and, crucially, not fully faced and
accepted in the moment it arose. This pain gets
lodged not just in the mind as memories, but
deep within the body's cellular structure. Like
trapped energy. Exactly. Think of it as a semi
-autonomous energetic entity, a kind of psychic
parasite, a reservoir of old hearts, resentments,
grief, anger, trauma. All coalesce together.
Wow. Now this pain body can lie dormant for periods
just waiting in the background. but it becomes
active, it wakes up, when triggered by various
situations, particularly situations that resonate
energetically with some kind of past emotional
pain. So something now reminds it of something
old. Precisely. An innocent remark from a colleague,
for instance, might suddenly activate it if it
touches an old, unhealed wound related to criticism
from childhood, causing a completely disproportionate
emotional reaction. Right, like overreacting
massively. Exactly. And here's the critical insight.
Like any entity, Toley suggests, the pain body
wants to survive. And it can only survive if
it gets you to unconsciously identify with it.
Meaning believe that you are that pain. Yes.
When it's triggered, it rises up. takes you over,
essentially becomes you for that period, and
then it lives through you. It needs to get its
food, its nourishment through you. And it feeds
on any experience that resonates with its own
kind of energy. Which is pain? Which is pain.
It thrives on anything that creates further pain.
Anger, rage, destructiveness, hatred, guilt,
intense grief, any kind of emotional drama. It
literally finds experiences of joy, peace, or
genuine love quite indigestible. You can't feed
on those. That's quite sinister. It can feel
that way. And it's more insidious manifestations.
The pain body will even unconsciously create
situations in your life through your reactions.
your behavior that are likely to generate more
pain just to perpetuate its own cycle. Because
pain can only feed on pain. So it sabotages happiness
to stay alive. In a sense, yes. Tolda describes
it as a dark shadow cast by the ego. And paradoxically,
it's deeply afraid of the light of consciousness,
your presence, because that light is what ultimately
dissolves it. So it's almost like this separate
autonomous entity living inside us, feeding on
our suffering and subtly orchestrating our lives
just to ensure its own survival. That's a good
way to understand the concept, yes. It sounds
dramatic, but reflects the experience many people
have with recurring negative emotional patterns.
Okay, so how on earth do we break free from this
if it's so deeply ingrained and, well, insidious?
To transcend the pain body totally emphasizes
one absolute crucial step. You must observe it
observe it not fight it not fight it not try
to suppress it or wish it away That just creates
more inner conflict and actually fuels it further
Instead you simply observe it feel its raw energy
within your body without judging it without mentally
labeling it all there's my anger again And most
importantly without identifying with it don't
say I'm angry say there is anger in me create
that separation Exactly, this is where presence
comes in presence is that higher dimension of
consciousness the witnessing awareness that breaks
the identification. When you are present, you
become the conscious space in which the pain
body arises and dissolves, rather than being
unconsciously overtaken by it. So watching it
is enough? Simply watching it is the key, and
this act of watching implies a radical acceptance
of it as part of what is in that particular moment.
It doesn't mean you like it, but you allow it
to be there. Okay. This sustained conscious attention
severs the vital link between the pain body and
your thought processes. Because normally the
pain body triggers thoughts and those thoughts
then feed the emotion creating a vicious cycle,
right? The thoughts keep the feeling going exactly,
but when you watch the feeling directly Without
thinking about it, you stop feeding it with more
thoughts and reactions. That raw, intense emotional
energy then gets transmuted. It doesn't just
disappear, it transforms. Tolle even describes
this process as a form of esoteric alchemy, transforming
the lead of suffering into the gold of consciousness.
It actually makes the flame of your own awareness
burn more brightly. Wow, so the pain itself becomes
fuel for awakening. That's the potential, yes.
But here's the biggest hurdle, and this is really
insightful. Okay. If a large part of your existing
sense of self, your very identity, has become
unconsciously invested in this unhappy pain body,
maybe you define yourself as someone who's suffered
a lot or someone who's always angry, then there
can be a deep unconscious fear of losing that
familiar identity, however painful it is. Fear
of losing who you think you are. Precisely. And
this fear creates strong resistance to disidentify
from the pain. But totally assures us, the moment
you become truly aware that you are attached
to your pain, or perhaps even deriving a subtle,
unconscious satisfaction from it. Like feeling
self -righteous or victimized. Exactly. The moment
you see that attachment clearly, it's already
broken. Awareness itself is the great liberator.
This idea of the pain body and the mind's constant
activity feeding it, it's incredibly insightful,
and for many, I imagine, quite a difficult truth
to really face. It requires honesty and courage,
definitely. But this also leads us directly to
what Tully presents as perhaps the biggest illusion
of all, time itself. How does he break down this
delusion of time and why is it so fundamental
to our suffering? The core delusion, the root
of so much unnecessary suffering, is what Tully
calls the loss of now. And this loss of now,
he says, is synonymous with the loss of being.
that connection to our deeper self. When you
lose that connection to the yes, and a mere situation,
an event, or even just an emotion instantly transforms.
It goes from being something that simply is unfolding
in the present into a personal problem and a
source of deep suffering. So the problem isn't
the situation, but losing the now around it.
That's the essence of it. He introduces the concept
of psychological time. This isn't clock time
which we need for practical purposes Psychological
time is the pervasive identification with the
past constantly dwelling on memories regrets
grievances replaying old stories living in yesterday.
Yes and simultaneously the compulsive projection
into the future endless worry planning not just
practically but obsessively anticipation or holding
on to the belief that Something better is always
just around the corner never here now waiting
for life to start exactly this creates an preoccupation
a constant mental noise that prevents us from
honoring and acknowledging the profound reality
the aliveness of the present moment toll emphasized
that the past gives us our sense of identity
this is who I am because of what happened to
me and the future holds this illusory promise
of salvation I'll finally be happy when X Y or
Z occurs but both he insists are ultimately illusions
when we live in them psychologically illusions
strong word it is because when you're trapped
in psychological time Your life loses its vibrancy,
its freshness, its sense of wonder. Everything
is filtered through past conditioning or future
anxiety. The very essence of what Toli is conveying
about time, he stresses, cannot be grasped by
the thinking mind alone. It requires a fundamental
shift in consciousness, from the realm of the
chattering mind to the quiet, vast reality of
being, from the perceived linearity of time to
the felt experience of the timelessness of presence.
That distinction between objective clock time,
you know, needing to know when the meeting starts
and this subjective psychological time makes
so much sense. It really does feel like we often
live in a constant mental movie rather than the
actual unfolding reality right here. Yeah, the
movie metaphor works well. We're directors and
actors in a film playing only in our heads. So
what are the consequences, maybe the collective
consequences, of this widespread delusion of
psychological time? He talks about it not just
individually, right? He does. Tolle highlights
the collective insanity, as he calls it, that
is born from psychological time, particularly
through ideologies or rigid belief systems that
prioritize a future ideal over present reality.
Can you give an example? Well, he cites historical
examples like, say, extreme forms of communism
or certain extremist religious doctrines. These
ideologies often sacrifice and sometimes still
do the present well -being and indeed the very
lives of countless human beings for the sake
of a projected future highest good or some idealized
heaven on Earth. Doing terrible things now for
a promised future utopia. Precisely. He points
out the stark reality that millions were often
murdered or endured immense suffering in the
name of creating a future paradise, resulting
only in a present hell, and the chilling illustration
of how the belief in a future ideal, no matter
how seemingly noble, can be used to justify horrific,
inhumane actions in the present moment. That's
sobering. And on an individual level, he argues
that all negativity and suffering can ultimately
be traced back to this accumulation of psychological
time and the denial or rejection of the present
moment. All negativity. That's a bold claim.
It is, but consider it. unease, anxiety, tension,
stress, chronic worry. These all stem from living
too much in an imagined, often feared future.
Makes sense. Conversely, guilt, regret, resentment,
bitterness, sadness, the inability to forgive.
These are all rooted in living too much in the
past, holding on to what was. Right. Stuck in
yesterday's pain exactly and totally notes that
most people find it incredibly difficult to truly
believe that a state of consciousness Completely
free of all these forms of negativity is even
possible. It seems like an impossible dream It
does doesn't it like negativity is just part
of being human Yet this is precisely the liberated
state that all profound spiritual teachings across
different traditions and cultures consistently
point towards. It's not about being blissfully
happy all the time in a superficial sense, but
about being free from the compulsive creation
of suffering by the mind. OK, so if I'm understanding
this correctly, the problems we perceive in our
lives, they're actually rooted in this time bound
mind, not necessarily inherent in the external
circumstances themselves. Precisely. That's a
crucial distinction. Tolle posits that genuine
problems, as we typically experience them, are
fundamentally mind -made creations, and they
need psychological time to survive. They cannot
exist in the now. They can't exist in the now.
How so? When you are fully present, truly anchored
in the now. Now he argues it's impossible to
actually have a problem. You might have a situation,
maybe a challenging circumstance, a task that
needs doing of physical discomfort, but in the
pure awareness of the Dysosopher. Now it's simply
a situation something to be dealt with acted
upon if necessary or perhaps totally accepted
if nothing can be done right now So what makes
it a problem then a problem is defined as dwelling
on a situation mentally usually with negative
thoughts and emotions without any true intention
or possibility of taking immediate effective
action and then crucially unconsciously allowing
that mental construct that situation plus negative
reaction to become an integral part of your sense
of self your identity so I am someone who has
this problem. Exactly. For example, maybe you
have a financial challenge. Now that's a situation
you can potentially address with clear action.
But if you constantly worry about it, endlessly
replay past financial mistakes in your head and
obsess about what terrible things might happen
in the future, then it becomes a heavy mind -made
problem that drains your energy and prevents
clear thinking. It takes on a life of its own.
It does. So he urges us to die to the past every
moment, which doesn't mean forgetting it entirely
but letting go of its psychological weight. Release
it fully and completely unless it is absolutely
and practically relevant to the present moment
for learning something or taking action now.
Only use it if it helps now. Yes. And instead,
focus all your attention on the immense power
and fullness of being that is only available
in the now. He asks this deceptively simple yet
profoundly challenging question. What is wrong
with this moment? Right now, not next week, not
five minutes ago, this exact moment. He subtly
suggests that when you strip away all the mental
labels, the judgments, the stories, there truly
is nothing inherently wrong with the present
moment itself. It just is. That takes some contemplation.
It does. So the fundamental choice for transformation,
the core decision, is simply to choose to create
no more pain for yourself. to stop feeding suffering
through identification with these mind -made
problems rooted in psychological time. This choice,
while it sounds radical in its implications,
is entirely possible, he insists, by consciously
accessing the power inherent in the now. That's
a truly profound reframing of our entire experience.
So, okay, if the mind creates so much of our
suffering and it's constantly pulling us out
of the present, how do we actively cultivate
the state of presence? How do we consciously
connect with this being in a more sustained way?
Well, first, let's clarify being. It's described
as, you know, the eternal, ever -present, one
life. It's not only beyond all the forms we see,
but it also resides deep within every form, every
person, every animal, every plant, as its innermost,
indestructible essence. The life within the form.
Exactly. And it's accessible as your own deepest
self, your true nature. And this is key. It can
only be felt known directly when the mind is
relatively still and your attention is intensely
anchored in the now. It's your invisible and
indestructible reality. So you can't think your
way to it. No, you cannot grasp it with your
intellect or try to understand it logically.
The mind is the wrong tool for that job. You
can only know it experientially by abiding in
that deeply rooted, wordless state of awareness.
And presence is related to this. Yes. Presence
is essentially when being becomes conscious of
itself through you. It's pure consciousness,
intensely alive, alert, awake, but entirely free
from the noise of compulsive, involuntary thought.
So it's not zoning out. Not at all. Quite the
opposite. When you are truly present, Tully says,
you are more fully yourself than you ever are
when lost in thought. You shed the conditioned
personality, the little me that's rooted in past
conditioning and future projections. It's not
a trance -like state. It's a heightened state
of alertness and awareness. More awake, not less.
Much more awake. And fascinatingly, he also suggests
that this state of heightened presence actually
raises the vibrational frequency of the body's
energy field. This can contribute to a tangible
sense of increased physical vitality and well
-being, a feeling of lightness. Interesting.
How do we actually practice this then? It sounds
like something we need to actively engage with,
not just understand intellectually. How do we
get to this state of presence and make it a more
consistent part of our daily lives? The primary
path. The most fundamental practice Thule offers
involves what he calls watching the thinker.
Watching the thinker. Yes. This means learning
to observe your thoughts as they arise in your
mind, but doing so without judging them, without
engaging with them, and crucially without identifying
with them as you or your thoughts. Just noticing
them. Like clouds passing in the sky. That's
a common analogy, yes. This act of detached observation
suddenly withdraws energy from the mind's compulsive
activity. It stops feeding the thought machine
and in doing so it begins to open up this timeless
dimension within your consciousness When you
simply observe your mind you realize you are
no longer trapped in it because there's an observer
exactly a witnessing presence a deeper awareness
has come into being and That awareness is presence.
So it's not about trying to stop thoughts Because
that feels impossible sometimes. Right. Trying
to stop thoughts is often just another thought,
creating more mental effort. It's much simpler,
though not always easy. It's about stepping back,
noticing the mental chatter, the stream of judgment,
the anxieties about tomorrow. The replays of
yesterday is if it's happening on a screen in
front of you without getting emotionally entangled
in the drama. Just noticing. Just noticing. The
moment you simply observe these thoughts impersonally,
a subtle but profound shift occurs. You realize,
ah. I am the awareness that is observing the
thought. I am not the thought itself. This simple
act creates a small gap, a moment of stillness
between thoughts. And that gap, however brief,
is your entry point to presence. Find the gaps.
Find the gaps. Or create them through conscious
attention. Another very practical way is to direct
your attention fully into the now through routine
everyday activities. Transform them from mundane
chores you rush through into an end in themselves.
Like washing dishes. Exactly, or walking upstairs.
Pay exquisite attention to every single step,
the movement of your body, your breathing, or
truly feel the sensations of the warm water and
soap on your hands when washing them without
your mind wandering off. This deep immersion
in simple acts, being fully present with a sensory
experience, is the essence of what many traditions
call mindfulness, or meditation in action. Being
present with the small things. Yes. And Tola
emphasizes that one profound experience of presence,
while valuable, isn't usually enough for a permanent
shift. It requires choosing to be present more
and more often, deliberately bringing awareness
into your daily life, making it an ongoing practice,
not just a one -off event you hope for. That's
a practical and accessible starting point, watching
the thinker, being present in daily activities.
Tolle also introduces this fascinating idea of
portals to the unmanifested. That sounds quite
mystical. What are these doorways and how do
they help us connect with this deeper formless
dimension? It might sound mystical, but the unmanifest
it isn't presented as some distant, otherworldly
realm. Tolle describes it simply as the formless,
invisible source of all things. It's the pure
potential, the underlying consciousness that
enables everything manifested in our world, everything
we can see, touch, and experience. Like the space
everything exists in. That's a good way to think
of it. Like the silent canvas on which all of
life's experiences are painted. It's the no -thing
that enables everything to be. The material identifies
several portals or doorways we can use to consciously
access this unmanifested dimension. And, as we've
discussed, the now is considered the main essential
portal. All other portals basically lead you
into the now. Okay. What's one of these key portals?
A very direct and powerful one is the inner body.
This isn't about thinking about your body or
looking at it from the outside. It's about truly
inhabiting it from within. Feeling it from the
inside out. Exactly. It means directing your
attention into your body, feeling its subtle
inner energy field. You start by feeling the
subtle aliveness, maybe a tingling, a warmth,
or just a sense of vibrancy in specific parts,
like your hands or feet. Then you expand that
awareness to feel your arms, legs, abdomen, chest,
head, eventually feeling the entire inner body
simultaneously as a single unified field of energy.
That sounds very grounding. It's incredibly grounding.
This practice anchors you powerfully in the now.
It prevents your mind from scattering into past
or future, or getting loft in external distractions
or obsessive thinking. Toli describes feeling
the inner body as the most direct doorway into
being. And there are other benefits, too. Yes.
He suggests that the more conscious attention
you direct into your inner body, the higher its
vibrational frequency becomes. This apparently
makes you less susceptible to the draining effects
of negative thought forms, strengthens your physical
immune system, and even, he claims, can slow
down the biological aging process. It's a very
practical, empowering practice you can do anytime,
anywhere. So feeling our body from within, that
can lead to deeper awareness and maybe even physical
benefits. That's quite something. What are some
of the other portals he mentions? Another vital
portal is simply the cessation of thinking. This
means consciously creating gaps in that otherwise
incessant mind stream. How do we do that consciously?
Well, practices like conscious breathing, which
we touched on simply focusing your attention
entirely on the physical sensation of your breath
flowing in and out, perhaps feeling it in your
abdomen rise and fall or intensely looking at
a flower, really seeing its details, its aliveness
without any mental commentary or labeling. Oh,
that's where he rose or truly listening to music
without analyzing it. These are all ways to bring
about moments of no thought. This essentially
is the core of formal meditation. When you are
intensely present with something non -conceptual,
the compulsive mind activity naturally subsides,
even if only for a few seconds at first. Finding
moments of mental silence. Precisely. Then there's
silence itself as a portal. This invites you
to pay attention not just to sounds, but to the
silence out of which all sounds arise, and into
which they eventually return. You listen for
the silence that surrounds and permeates all
sounds. The space between the sounds. Yes, and
the silence underneath them. Silence without,
he says, cultivates stillness within. Every sound
is born out of silence and returns to silence.
Silence is what enables the sound to be perceived
at all. By consciously listening for the silence,
even noticing the brief pauses between words
in a conversation, you cultivate an inner stillness,
an awareness of the unmanifested. That's a shift
in focus. Listening for silence, not sound. Exactly.
And similarly, space is presented as a profound
portal. Tolle points out that just as no sound
can exist without silence, nothing manifested
can exist without noting the empty space that
enables it to be. Like the space in this room?
Yes, the empty space in a room, the gaps between
objects, or contemplate the sheer vastness of
space in the cosmos. This can lead to an awareness
of no mind, of the underlying emptiness that
is the source of all form. He even mentions physics,
noting that seemingly solid matter is actually
almost entirely empty space at the subatomic
level. Contemplating this nothingness not as
a void, but as a living presence, a field of
potential opens this profound portal. Seeing
the space, not just the objects. Seeing the space
as the potential for objects. And finally, perhaps
the most challenging, but also most transformative
portal, is surrender. Surrender. That sounds
passive. It can sound that way, but totally defines
it very specifically. It means letting go of
all inner, mental, emotional resistance to what
is in the present moment. It's not about resignation
or giving up on action. It's an active, internal
yes to the reality of this moment, exactly as
it is, even if you don't like it. Accepting what
is, internally. Yes. Because when you resist
what is, this shouldn't be happening. You create
inner conflict. You cut yourself off from others,
from your true self and from the natural flow
of life itself. Resistance strengthens the ego
sense of separateness and feeds suffering. In
surrender, your form identity, the egoic self,
softens, becomes more transparent, allowing the
unmanifested, your true being, peace, stillness
to shine through. It's an act of deep wisdom
and trust in life. These portals, they sound
like different pathways, different techniques
maybe, to get to the same profound state of presence,
of connecting with that deeper reality. That's
a good way to see it. Different doorways into
the same room, the room of the now. So, given
these profound shifts in perception and being,
Where does something as fundamental to human
experience as love fit into this framework? Is
love also considered one of these portals? Interestingly,
no. Tolle clarifies that love is not a portal
in itself, but rather what comes through the
portal. Ah, okay, so it's a result of being present.
Yes. As soon as one of these portals to the unmanifested
presence, inner body awareness, surrender is
open within you, love is naturally present. It's
not necessarily as an intense emotion, but as
the deep feeling realization of oneness. It's
a state of being, a profound recognition of the
interconnectedness of all life flowing from that
connection to being. So it's different from the
love we normally talk about. Often, yes. He explains
that true, lasting, unconditional love cannot
genuinely flourish unless one becomes relatively
free from mind identification and one's presence
is intense enough to dissolve the grip of the
pain body. This is a critical and often difficult
insight because most relationships that people
call love relationships are, in truth, deeply
rooted in egoic needs. Egoic needs? Like what?
Like an unconscious addiction to another person,
a need for validation, a way to avoid facing
oneself, or a pervasive fear of being alone or
losing the other person. These relationships
often oscillate wildly between periods of intense
pleasure or excitement and equally intense pain
conflict drama. jealousy. The love -hate dynamic.
Exactly. This happens because people often confuse
egoic attachment, clinging, neediness, and codependency
with genuine love. True love, Toley suggests,
has no opposite. If your love has an opposite,
like hatred, intense jealousy, possessiveness,
resentment, then it wasn't true love in the first
place. It was an egoic need, an attempt to use
the other person, consciously or unconsciously,
to cover up your own internal pain, fear, or
sense of incompleteness. That's a powerful, perhaps
confronting distinction, separating genuine love,
this realization of oneness from egoic attachment
and need. It really challenges conventional notions
of romance. It does. So if that's the case, then
relationships, rather than being solely about
finding someone to complete us or make us happy,
they actually become a profound reflection of
our own inner state and maybe even a spiritual
practice in themselves. Precisely. That's the
potential. Relationships have this incredible
power to become your most potent spiritual practice,
or sadhana, as it's called in some traditions.
How does that work in practice? It involves consciously
observing your own inner state when you're interacting
with a partner, or even just thinking about them,
noticing the subtle, or not so subtle, emergence
of anger, irritation, jealousy, defensiveness,
the urge to control the need to be right, any
form of inner resistance, but observing it without
judgment. Or seeing it arise. Just seeing it
arise in yourself, this non -judgmental observation
brings these unconscious patterns, often fueled
by the pain body, into the light of your awareness.
And awareness itself begins to disempower them.
Tolle suggests that the complete acceptance of
a partner as he or she is, right now, without
any inner need to judge them, criticize them,
or try to change them into who you think they
should be. That is the single greatest catalyst
for genuine transformation in a relationship.
And it's also essential for moving beyond your
own ego's constant machinations. Radical acceptance
of the other person. Radical acceptance. In that
state, he says, all the mind games, the manipulation,
the blaming, they just cease. And the addictive
clinging and neediness, which often masquerade
as love, start to dissolve. If both partners
agree to enter this space of radical acceptance,
they can then express their thoughts and feelings
honestly, but without blame or accusation, listening
to each other openly. This creates a vast still
space between them where true connection, true
intimacy based on being, can actually emerge.
That sounds ideal, but what if only one person
is doing this? Ah, yes. He acknowledges that
if one partner becomes dumpily rooted in presence,
really practices acceptance and non -reaction.
and the other partner is still strongly mind
-identified, still run by their ego and pain
body, this dynamic can become a major challenge,
primarily for the unenlightened partner. Why
for them? Because their fixed positions, their
egoic patterns, their demands, their dramas.
They are not being met with the usual resistance
or reaction from the conscious partner. There's
nothing for the ego to push against. This lack
of resistance can make those egoic structures
feel shaky, unstable. It can be deeply uncomfortable,
even infuriating for the ego. And eventually,
Tolle suggests, this can sometimes lead to the
collapse of those rigid egoic patterns, potentially
forcing a deeper awakening in that partner too.
Or, admittedly, the relationship might end if
the gap in consciousness becomes too wide. That's
a truly profound and clearly potentially challenging
transformation for any relationship. Very different
from fixing the other person. Completely different.
It starts within. And what about compassion?
How does compassion connect to this state of
awakened being and how we interact not just with
partners, but with all of life? True compassion.
in Tolla's framework isn't just pity or sympathy.
It's introduced as a deep felt awareness of an
inherent bond you share with all creatures, not
just other humans, all of life. A bond based
on what? It's rooted in two fundamental recognitions.
First, our shared mortality. The inherent vulnerability
and transience of all physical forms. The fact
that everything arises, exists for a while, and
then subsides. The inevitable return to dust.
as it were. Acknowledging impermanence. Yes.
Yeah. And second, and perhaps more profoundly,
our shared immortality recognizing the eternal
being, the one consciousness, the formless life
that underlies and pervades all these temporary
forms, seeing the timeless and the temporary.
OK. So compassion in this deeper sense is a state
where the natural sadness that might arise from
recognizing the transient nature of form merges
with the profound joy of being. the peace and
aliveness that comes from connecting with the
eternal dimension that exists beyond all forms.
Sadness and joy together. Yes, a simultaneous
recognition of both the fragility of form and
the instructability of essence. And this merging,
this compassionate awareness, holds immense healing
and transformative power. It's about looking
beyond the superficial veil of form, beyond the
personality, the history, the temporary manifestation
of another person or creature, and truly feeling
their radiant, eternal being through your own
connection to being. Seeing the essence beneath
the appearance. Exactly. This awareness allows
you to recognize that suffering, while undeniably
real and painful, on the level of form and ego
is ultimately from the perspective of timeless
being, a product of identification with that
limited form. It's rooted in illusion. This deep
connection, this felt recognition of oneness
with all life becomes a powerful force for healing
and transforming the world around you, not by
fighting against darkness or negativity, but
simply by bringing in the light of conscious
presence, acceptance, and compassion. Wow. We've
certainly covered a vast landscape of incredibly
profound ideas here. From redefining enlightenment,
to understanding the illusion of time, the pain
body, and the absolute power of presence, it's
a lot to take in. It really is deep waters. Definitely.
So let's try to distill some really practical
applications now, some rapid fire insights that
you listening can maybe start integrating immediately
into your everyday lives. What are some tangible
real world ways we can begin to cultivate this
presence and awareness starting right now? Okay,
practical tools. Let's start with simple self
observation a truly easy yet powerful practice
It's just to regularly pause throughout your
day and ask yourself internally Am I at ease
at this moment or maybe what's going on inside
me right now? Just checking just checking it
and then simply observe whatever thoughts and
emotions are present But without judging them
without analyzing them without getting entangled
in their stories Just watch them flow by like
noticing clouds drift across the sky witnessing
not judging So it's about becoming that neutral
observer of our own inner state. What else can
we do, especially maybe when we feel disconnected
or lost in thought? Body awareness is incredibly
effective for grounding. Make it a habit to continuously
feel the inner energy field of your body whenever
you remember. When your mind isn't actively engaged
in a specific task, just take a moment to flood
your body with consciousness. Gently focus on
different parts. Feel the aliveness in your hands,
then your feet, maybe your chest. Feel that subtle
tingling or warmth. Gradually expand it to feel
the whole inner body as a single field of energy.
Bringing attention inside the skin. Exactly.
This immediately anchors you in the Canada County.
Now pulls your attention out of the abstract
world of thought and into direct sensory reality.
And what if the mind is still very active, maybe
buzzing with worries or anxieties? What's a direct
route to finding some stillness then? For an
overactive mind, conscious breathing is often
the most direct portal back to presence. Simply
focus all your attention on the physical sensation
of your breath flowing in and out. Feel the air
entering your body. Feel your abdomen gently
rise and fall. Don't try to control or change
the breath. Just observe its natural rhythm.
This seemingly simple practice can gradually
quiet the mind, put you back in touch with your
inner body, and create those crucial gaps in
the incessant thought stream. Just focusing on
the breath. Simple but powerful. Very. Now, how
does this apply when we actually need to think?
You know, for problem solving, planning, being
creative, we can't just stop thinking entirely
all the time, can we? No, absolutely not. The
goal isn't to eliminate thought, but to end the
compulsive, unconscious thinking. You use your
mind, but in a creative and conscious way. Tola
suggests that when an answer, a solution, or
a creative idea is needed, you practice stopping
thinking altogether for a brief moment first,
by focusing fully on your inner energy field,
or your breath, becoming aware of the stillness
within. even just for a few seconds. Then, when
you resume thinking, you'll often find it fresher,
more insightful, less reactive, and genuinely
more creative, because it's arising from that
space of stillness, not just recycling old patterns.
He even suggests you can learn to think with
your whole body, oscillating fluidly between
focused thought and that background awareness
of inner stillness. The thinking then becomes
much more effective, much less compulsive. Thinking
from Stillness Interesting concept and what about
in our interactions with other people especially,
you know in today's world where everyone seems
to be Multitasking or mentally somewhere else
even when they're physically present That's where
practicing the art of listening comes in true
listening Not just hearing words while formulating
your reply but listening with your whole body
listening with the body Yes, feeling your own
inner energy feel your own presence as you listen
to the other person This practice naturally takes
your attention away from your own internal mental
commentary, your judgments, your preplanned responses.
It creates a still open space within you that
allows you to truly hear the other person, perhaps
even sensing what's being said beneath the words
without the distorting filter of your own mind's
interference. You're essentially giving the other
person space, the space to simply be. And Tolle
argues that's arguably the most precious gift
you can offer anyone. Giving presence as a gift,
I like that. Now, I often find myself, like many
people, waiting, waiting in queues, stuck in
traffic, just idling between tasks. Can those
often frustrating moments actually be used for
this practice? Oh, absolutely. Tolley specifically
highlights this. Transform those moments of waiting
into presence practice. Instead of succumbing
to the usual restlessness, impatience, mental
complaining, or boredom, consciously use these
opportunities to go deeper into the now. Focus
on your inner body. Feel your breath. Observe
your surroundings without judgment. This simple
shift changes your entire state from one of denying
or resisting the present moment to actively embracing
it, inhabiting it fully. So waiting becomes an
opportunity, not an annoyance. Exactly. His counsel
is quite direct. When you catch yourself slipping
into waiting, snap out of it. Come into the present
moment. Just be and enjoy being. Even waiting
can be peaceful if you're fully present with
it. Those are all really tangible practices,
thank you. What about some of the common emotional
challenges we all face? Things like complaining
or constant fear and worry. How does this framework
help us address those directly? Okay, let's take
complaining first. Make a conscious effort. A
commitment, perhaps, to catch yourself complaining
whether it's happening silently in your thoughts
or being spoken aloud. Complaining about situations,
other people, your surroundings, anything. Become
aware of the complaining habit. Yes. And recognize
it immediately for what it is. A form of non
-acceptance of what is in that moment. And fundamentally,
it's often a form of self -victimization, making
yourself powerless by blaming external factors.
Toled presents a very clear framework here. If
something in your present moment feels genuinely
intolerable or dysfunctional, you essentially
have three options. Three options, okay. One,
remove yourself from the situation. Okay. Two,
change the situation through action. Or three,
accept the situation totally, exactly as it is
right now. The crucial step is to choose one
of these now, decisively, without making excuses
or indulging in negativity. And if action is
needed, option one or two, drop the inner negativity
first, then take clear, effective action from
a place of acceptance or presence. Choose. Leave,
change or accept. And drop the negativity regardless.
That's the key. Don't pollute your inner space.
And what about fear and worry? They seem to be
epidemic, especially anxiety about the future.
Fear and worry, as Toli explains them, are almost
always rooted in psychological time. They involve
projecting your mind into an imaginary future
that hasn't happened yet and may well never happen
and then reacting emotionally to that mental
projection now. Fearing ghosts. In a way, yes.
So the practice is acknowledge fear when it arises,
feel it as an energy, a sensation in your body.
But make a conscious effort not to let it rise
into your mind. Don't feed it with more fearful
thoughts, scenarios, what ifs. It'll fuel the
fire. Exactly. Instead, bring your focus immediately
back to the breath. Now anchor yourself in your
breath. Feel your inner energy field. Notice
your surroundings. The profound truth totally
offers here is incredibly liberating if you can
grasp it. You can always cope with the now, but
you can never cope with the future, nor do you
have to. You only ever have to cope with this
moment. Precisely. The strength you need, the
wisdom, the right response, the appropriate action
it will be there for you when you need it, which
is always in the now. Not a moment before. Worrying
about it in advance doesn't help. It just drains
you. So it seems the ultimate choice for transformation,
the real pivot point, is radical in its simplicity,
yet incredibly powerful in its effect. It truly
is. The core choice for transformation, the fundamental
decision, is simply to create no more pain for
yourself, full stop. It's to consciously choose
to stop feeding suffering through these unconscious
thought patterns and emotional reactions rooted
in time. Choose to stop creating suffering. Yes,
this choice sounds radical, maybe even impossible
at first, yet totally insists it's entirely possible
through consistently accessing the power of the
now. And surrender is key to this. Remember,
surrender here means accepting the is -ness,
the reality of the present moment, without any
inner resistance, without mentally labeling it
as good or bad, right or wrong. It just is. Inner
acceptance, not outer passivity. Exactly. It's
an inner phenomenon, a yielding to life as it
unfolds moment by moment. It's not passive resignation.
You can still take action. Paradoxically, this
inner surrender allows for much clearer, more
effective and more powerful action to emerge,
action arising from a place of peace and intelligence,
not reactive fear or anger. And if you really
can't surrender internally, if the resistance
is too strong, then totally advises. Take action
immediately. Either change the situation directly
or remove yourself from it if possible. Don't
just sit there generating negativity. But his
ultimate counsel is clear. Never, ever allow
unhappiness, negativity, resistance to find a
permanent dwelling place within you. It's always
an inside job. You have the choice in how you
meet the moment. This deep dive into the power
of now has truly offered, I think, a profound
reevaluation of how we relate to ourselves, our
minds, our emotions, and the world around us.
It's been incredibly rich. It covers so much
fundamental ground. It really does. So let's
try to distill the absolute core actionable insights
for you, the listener, to really help integrate
these powerful ideas moving forward. What are
the essential takeaways? OK, firstly, and perhaps
most importantly, remember this. You are not
your mind. That constant internal chatter, those
judgments, opinions, worries, regrets, they are
not your true identity. They're just conditioned
mental activity. Begin to observe these mental
processes impartially without identifying with
them. This simple act of observation is itself
a powerful liberating act of presence. OK, take
away one. I am the observer, not the thoughts.
Exactly. Secondly, the present moment is all
you ever truly have. Really let that sink in.
Let go of the powerful illusion of psychological
time that constant preoccupation with past regrets
or future anxieties All problems as totally defines
them mind -made suffering exist only in the mind
projected past or future Life is and always always
will be happening right now take away to life
is now let go of psychological time Perfect.
Thirdly, actively cultivate presence. Presence
isn't passive. It's a state of intense, alert
stillness. And it's accessible to you through
practical, everyday practices we discussed. Focusing
on your inner body's energy fields, conscious
breathing, observing silence, contemplating space,
being fully engaged in simple activities. Presence
is like an alchemical fire. It transmutes suffering
and allows your true nature, your being, to shine
through. Takeaway three. Practice presence through
body, breath, silence, space, action. Yes. And
finally, number four, embrace, surrender and
acceptance. This isn't about giving up, becoming
a doormat or being passive. It's a radical, courageous
inner yes to what is in the present moment without
internal resistance, without arguing with reality.
This profound choice instantly dissolves negativity,
breaks the cycle of suffering and opens the door
to an unshakable inner peace, fundamentally transforming
your entire experience of life itself. Takeaway
four. Surrender internally to what is, except
the now, powerful stuff. The core pillars, really.
As we conclude this deep dive, I want to leave
you with a provocative thought, something totally
implies throughout the material. What if those
seemingly negative events, the challenges, the
difficulties in your life, what if they are not
simply bad things happening to you? What if they
are precisely what's needed, perfectly designed
almost, to force your consciousness to evolve?
To push you, maybe kicking and screaming at first,
toward the very liberation and deeper awareness
we've spent this time discussing today. It's
a truly compelling idea, isn't it? It fundamentally
challenges our conventional understanding of
misfortune, of bad luck, of suffering. It invites
us to look for and perhaps find profound meaning
and incredible opportunity for growth, even in
the most difficult, the most painful circumstances
life throws our way. It suggests that suffering
isn't just an obstacle, but potentially the catalyst.
Exactly. It suggests that deep suffering, when
it's met not with more resistance, but with conscious
presence and surrender, can actually be the ultimate
catalyst, the very thing that forces you. Finally,
to relinquish your identification with the false
mind -made self and surrender fully to the now.
And that surrender can lead to the most profound
and lasting transformation possible. This deep
dive really serves as a practical guide to, well,
spiritual enlightenment, not as some far off
abstract goal for saints or mystics, but as a
living, breathing reality that's accessible to
anyone right here in every single moment. If
we choose to access it. We truly hope this exploration
has given you some profound insights, and importantly,
some practical tools for your own journey into
presence. If you found this deep dive valuable,
please do consider rating it or sharing it with
someone else who might also benefit from exploring
these powerful ideas. Sharing the presence, perhaps.
Exactly. Until next time, keep diving deep.