Eckhart Tolle explores self-esteem beyond the ego and how addiction to thinking shapes our sense of self. He discusses what remains when you stop identifying with your thoughts and the path toward genuine consciousness.
You are the consciousness of the universe.
That's a very significant thing. It doesn't matter what you have achieved.
Or not achieved as a person.
More fundamentally.
You are the consciousness of the universe.
You are a focal point of that consciousness.
Of course, the consciousness of the universe pervades all space. But you are a focal point.
Of that consciousness.
Appearing temporarily under the guise of a person.
Not for too long. Then the person evaporates like a soap bubble.
It goes pop.
Many people have a problem with self esteem, with thoughts arising that say, I'm not good enough.
I'm not as good as those people or that person.
Not as good looking, not as physically.
Strong, not as knowledgeable, not as intelligent, not as popular. But when you. Of course, you could work on self.
Esteem on the level of the person with limited success, some success. Yes.
You can repeat affirmations. I am good enough. I am good at everything I do. I'm getting better and better. Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. No doubt that was one of the first affirmations that somebody came up with a long time ago, when books started to appear about positive thinking. Yes, it is a positive statement. Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better. But who is that?
I am.
The person. No, the person.
Yes, things can get better and then.
They get worse, and then they get better again and then something else happens.
So the person exists within the polarities.
Of gain and loss, good and bad, up and down. That's inevitable. There's nobody who can continuously be successful. The life will put obstacles in your path of different kinds. That's how it is. So you can get better up to a point, but not continuously. There are polarities, but there's a deeper.
Dimension in you that exists beyond the polarities of good and bad, gain and loss.
This dimension is not dependent on the.
Polarities.
Good and bad, gain and loss. That's a transcendent dimension.
And then you're in touch with something.
Which we could call, if we wanted to use the terminology used by the.
Ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates, the good.
The good is the ultimate.
Sometimes the good, as they use this.
Term, means perhaps something like God. It just happens to be that the English language good and God are very similar words. Perhaps that's no coincidence, but that's only in English or in some Germanic languages too.
So you feel there is a good.
Deep down, a something. It's not something, some.
Let's just call it something. Language always refers to things, something that.
Is beyond the polarities, that there's A good that's also there even when you're experiencing great loss. And sometimes, particularly in those times when.
You experience great loss, you feel that which is beyond.
The polarities, good and bad. There's a deep peace that's nothing to do with a person.
It transcends the person. But when there's no cessation in the continuous stream of thinking, then you are.
Unaware of that dimension. People don't realize how much of a.
Burden they carry.
Through overthinking, excessive thinking, purposeless.
How many people are making themselves unhappy continuously.
Through unconscious mind activity, judgments, interpretations, negative interpretations of themselves, of other people, of situations.
So thinking is.
Perhaps the greatest addiction for most humans. And when it's an addiction, which means you can't stop it, I mean, that's.
If you wanted to define an addiction.
You say there's something, it's a habit.
Something you need to do.
And you.
No longer have the ability to stop.
It is stronger than you, or seems to be stronger than you. Or perhaps to say you don't have.
The ability to stop.
Perhaps one could say you, you no.
Longer are willing to stop.
Perhaps you have the ability, but you're not willing to stop because it gives you a sense of temporary satisfaction.
But you always need more.
It's never enough. Again, you can see how it relates to drugs. That type of thinking, which is most of thinking, is not useful. It's harmful. So that self esteem, coming back to that, you can work on self esteem on the level of the person. But true.
Self esteem, or a sense of self worth.
Actually is derived from or emanates from.
Who you are beyond the person. A sense of worthiness, a sense of.
Something precious, that is the essence of yourself.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
