Yoga Life Book
Page 6

AN INTERVIEW WITH ECKHART TOLLE

The essence, the very foundation, of the teaching is that a different state of consciousness is possible for humans. The state of consciousness that is considered normal and that has been running human history for thousands of years is not the only possible state of consciousness. It’s also not the most advanced state possible for humans.

It’s nothing new. All the great teachings and teachers have pointed to the fact, since the normal state of consciousness is a state that is extremely deficient, a state that in the ancient teachings has been called suffering. The Buddha called it suffering, Jesus called it a state of sin and illusion, and the Hindus call it a state of illusion.

The second part of the teaching is that it’s possible to enter that state now. Not only is it possible to enter it now, but the only time when you can enter that state of consciousness is in the Now; not needing the future in order to arrive at a projected state of consciousness, but realizing that new state of consciousness one that is free of time.

The main characteristic of the old state of consciousness is that it is dominated by past and future, in other words by time. If you observe the workings of your mind you will see that you’re almost never in the present moment. The mind is always engaged in projecting a future, thinking about the future, trying to get to the future or reviving the past.

The old state of consciousness is also a state of identification with thought processes. Now what does that mean? To be identified means to derive your sense of self, of who you are from thought movements, to be completely trapped in the mental noise, to have your identity in the mental noise.

Then your whole sense of self is derived from thought, which means an image forms in the head of "who I am," of "that’s me," and that image is always ill at ease, even in the people who look very confident.

In order to feel the present moment, I have to find a way to feel what I haven’t been feeling. I have to get beyond the pretense or the shield that’s over my heart, to somehow get through that to even get to the place of thinking about it. The moment you say yes to what is, you’re no longer resisting life, because life is always now.

So, how can one drop into the Now?
Very good question. Whenever you are observing what your mind emotions are doing, witnessing what is going on inside you, the state of presence is already arising. You can watch all of this, how noisy your mind is. When you’re suddenly aware of it, that ability to watch means you’ve dropped out of the time-bound state. Something has arisen that is very different. I call it the state of presence.

So, again, one could almost say there is no how. That state of consciousness, which I call the state of presence, being fully present in the Now, is the state of high alertness. Some people have experienced it in certain situations of great danger accidentally. That can be good if one remembers being in a state of intense aliveness where there was also absence of thinking and of mental noise, just a state of intense alert presence.

People who climb mountains or engage in other dangerous activities love that state. It’s the only time when they can be in that state. If they were in past or future climbing a steep wall they wouldn’t survive for very long. So, in some situations you’re forced into a state of presence and it’s so alive and fulfilling that the old state becomes very unsatisfying.
People keep wanting to go back and have more experiences so they can be in that state.
Yes, but it’s very limiting if the only place where you can be in that state is where you engage in dangerous activities. Ultimately the risk is very high that something will happen and you will drop off the mountain.

That state of consciousness that I call presence, the good news is that state is actually arising now almost by itself in many humans. So it’s not so much that we need to bring it about, "How can I make it happen?" We can’t. Rather it’s being open for it so it can happen with greater ease.

So hardly any of us are going to have some flashing moment of realization.
Some do, but that’s not necessary. Gradually a state arising that is inner stillness rather than noise, a state when mind activity becomes secondary. All the mental noise no longer has the power to grab you and to draw your attention in so completely that you’re totally identified with it. You begin to be able to see thinking as just thinking, not such a big deal, and you realize that all the problems that you and most humans are burdened with are mental noise.
There’s no reality to any problem. I’m not saying that challenges don’t exist in life.

Challenges come, but the only way they can exist is in the Now and that’s the only place where you can face the challenge by taking action in the Now or surrendering to what is. In either case it’s not a problem.

You can verify this for yourself by asking, "What problem do I have at this moment?" When you ask that question the mind becomes still and you realize this moment is actually fine, because most moments are fine. Even when they don’t look fine on the surface, if you become still enough the present moment always has a deep goodness to it underneath the external appearance of what’s happening in it because the very power of your being is inseparable from what I call the Now.

Ultimately the Now is the power of your consciousness prior to thought, prior to forms arising out of it.

What you’re saying would sound quite familiar to someone studying Buddhist Vipassana meditation techniques, using the practice of watching the breath and just noticing what arises. Are you bringing a message that’s akin to that or is it different from what one would experience in practicing that technique?

The essence of the Buddha’s message was that, also. Meditation methods are aimed also at bringing about the state of presence, although he never used those words.

The whole of nature, the beauty of the flower, unfolds in complete silence.

Then your whole life can be an expression of no longer being Little Me trying to make it, trying to survive or succeed, always trying, trying, trying. Instead you become an expression of that consciousness, the very intelligence that runs the universe, realizing that you’re far greater than you could ever have imagined coming from the Little Me trying to become a Big Me.

That’s the state of just inhabiting the body. That becomes an anchor for staying present. It’s also the entry point into that state of beautiful inner stillness where the mental noise subsides and you’re then highly conscious with out noise. The amazing thing then is that intelligence operates noiselessly.

Humans think that intelligence is associated with thinking. Thinking is just a tiny aspect of intelligence, but most intelligence, the whole of nature, the trees, grow in complete silence. The embryo in the womb grows silently. It doesn’t make a noise. The whole of nature, the beauty of the flower, unfolds in complete silence.

The galaxies exist in total silence and stillness and yet there’s incredible activity there, so they’re all expressions of intelligence that is at work silently. It’s only in humans that intelligence, in its limited expression as the human mind, is very noisy. The far greater intelligence that is at work within yourself operates in silence. That is the state of presence which is inseparable from inner stillness.

That becomes your dwelling place, your home. You can still think when it’s needed. Thought will arise, but it will be in the service of that deeper field of stillness, of being, no longer self-serving thought. There’s no effort, no trying to make it happen. That would be the opposite of it. It’s simply being open for it to happen because it wants to happen.

From and interview with Eckhart Tolle by Michael Bertrand

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