Achieving Happiness Beyond Thought | Eckhart Tolle Teachings

This was already the philosopher, one of the last philosophers of antiquity, Epictetus. Already the main thing he, perhaps his main teaching is you're not unhappy because of what's happening. You're unhappy because of what you're telling yourself about what's happening. And once you realize that, that's an enormous breakthrough. First comes the realization, well, this is actually. And then you have to verify it in your daily life, because it's not enough to sit here and say, wow, yeah, isn't that amazing? Okay. And then you carry on as if nothing had happened. Then you have to verify it in your daily life, which includes the retreat situation. And see, whenever upset or unhappiness arises, where does it come from? Is it the situation or is it my reaction, which is a mental, emotional thing to the situation? And in most cases you will find it's your reaction. And then at that moment, freedom, the possibility of freedom comes into your life. The freedom to choose not to be in that reactive state towards what is happening in the present moment. Not to be antagonistic towards whatever is going on in the present moment for you, but to come to a friendly way of being with the present moment. After all, there's nothing else. So if you don't become friendly with the present moment in whatever form it takes, that is a profoundly dysfunctional state. It creates continuous unhappiness. And many people are in a very minor way in opposition to the present moment. There's always some complaining voice of something, this shouldn't be happening, that shouldn't be happening. So as particularly, let's use this retreat setting here, or if you are at home, you can do it in the next few days in your daily life and use this for self observation. I'm not saying eliminate mental commentaries. Why not just be aware of mental commentaries and how they are related to your well being or how they interfere with your natural well being. And once you see that when something that has been or is very unconscious, when it's recognized, it tends to drop away. So you don't have to use your willpower to eliminate negative thoughts. From now on, I will not think anything negative, but just be alert. Be alert so that you know what's going on inside you. So observe the ways in which your mind complains. For example, and this is one of the favorite ways of the egoic self to sustain and strengthen itself is complaining, either internally or out aloud. If somebody will listen, you'll be very happy to complain. Happy in your unhappiness, to tell somebody why you are complaining, in the hope that this will get reinforced by the other. It works beautifully on the Internet too. So much so that a new species is arising through the Internet, which are the perpetually aggrieved. They are just looking out for the next thing to be upset about and angry about. And that's the ego loves that. Offended. That's a big thing. It's a very fashionable thing. It seems these days to be offended. Even at universities, students are practicing it and they're getting very good at it. Every age has certain ways in which ways of being unconscious that are popular, and this is one of them these days. So here you observe your mind, and once you realize how unhappiness arises more through the mind than through the situation, you have a choice of, okay, you can ask, what would this situation be like if I did not judge it? And then you experience, okay, let's. For a moment, then you're facing a situation without the imposing the judgment on it mentally. And suddenly you experience a moment of opening, a spaciousness where it's neither good nor bad. You're not saying this is good because the positive thinking has its place. But this is not about positive thinking. Let's say you're caught up, you're caught in the middle of the rain and get totally drenched. Now, you don't need to say this is so good unless you are really enjoying it, which is possible. You just refrain from labeling it it is. And when you do not judge a situation, then it doesn't mean you no longer do anything about it. You don't, okay, I'm not judging getting drenched. Therefore I'm staying here and not removing myself from the rain. I've become paralyzed because I'm not judging it. So there is another way of taking action, responding to a situation that's not based on some kind of negative judgment. And another thing that this guy depicted to said the philosopher, I don't know, I'm not good at quotes, but something like true wisdom is learning to wish that all things should happen as they do. I think I got that right. True wisdom is learning to wish that all things should happen as they do. That does not condemn you to inactivity. That's a misconception and a misunderstanding of what that means. It does also not mean that you. All the things that are happening when people inflict suffering on other humans, that suddenly you say that's a good thing. No, primarily it should be practiced with reference to your life, your daily, your interaction with people and things and life situations. That's the primary practice. And so not to it Means no longer being in opposition to the present moment, the unfoldment, the unfolding of the present moment, not to internally oppose it. That changes everything, that changes your entire the way you are, that changes you, that removes the ego, the entrenched illusion, illusory identity, that loves that opposition. It sustains itself through boundaries, through condemning the other. It loves the otherness of others and emphasizes the otherness of others. So that's a practice for us here, especially on this retreat, so that we observe our own mind and reach the place of freedom. And if you're not part of our retreat, you're listening, watching this from somewhere else. You can practice it tomorrow when you're lining up at the supermarket, or you're stuck in a traffic jam and you think it's bad, or you're going somewhere at the airport and the flight is cancelled, or even worse, they overbooked and you booked, but you can't get on, they don't have a seat for you. And then to notice that you actually can face these situations without the judgment and be totally free internally, that gives you enormous power, not egoic power. The destiny of human consciousness is to pass through the thinking stage, which we've been trapped in for several thousands of years. To move through the the thinking stage, not to abandon it completely, but to transcend it, so that we are no longer trapped in the thinking stage, so that we no longer derive our sense of identity from the thinking stage, where thinking can become a beautiful tool without becoming the foundation for who we think we are. So we rise above thinking, and that is our destiny. As each of us is an expression of universal consciousness, and in particular an expression of human consciousness. So we are rising above thinking, so that we are, and this is why we are here, and this is what is really the essence of being here. To discover in ourselves the ability not only to think, you have that already, but to rise above thinking, where you don't need to think all the time. Where you discover there can be gaps in the stream of thinking. There can be spaces in the stream of thinking where you are very awake, nothing to do with the sleep state. Where you go, you are alert, you're bright, you kind of light up, and that is. So you discover the ability to have these moments of no thought. So if you discover within yourself that a lot of the time you are in a state of lack of insufficient deficiency, of not enough, and you feel that the answer to the remedy is to be active in this world and achieve and do as much as possible, then you'll probably find that ultimately that is not the answer to your state of lack. In order to transcend, to go beyond your state of lack of neediness, of not enough spiritual practice and spiritual realization is necessary. Focus on the realization of being. It's only there that you can go beyond that state of lack, which is ego. Go within and discover who or what you are beyond the person. It.