Are you constantly looking for the next thing? | Eckhart Tolle

Thank you. More than a question. I'm seeking a little guidance. I have a deep intention to transcend and to dissolve the. The illusion of separation. And I wonder how. That is a tricky way that the ego is, but a tricky way that the identification itself is keeping me as not thinking that this moment is enough. By seeking that. Does that make sense?

Yes. Can you say what is it you're seeking? Transcendence.

Yes. I'm seeking to awakening experience a greater disidentification with the form.

Right.

And. And it seems that somehow in the seeking. I'm not fully resting.

Ah, thank you. That's good. Good question. Yes, it's true that the great obstacle for especially the spiritual seeker is the fact that they're seeking for something. Now, of course, everybody is seeking in this world. They're seeking some kind of relief, greater aliveness. Even the egoically dominated people, they want to feel more fully alive, more fully who they are. They want to be themselves more fully. And so they seek it through this, that or the other identification with this, with that or the other. Ultimately, always with some kind of thought, they seek it. There's a seeking and the seeking pattern. Even when people become disenchanted with the usual things that people seek their happiness through in this world, you realize it can't be found there. It's not in the. It's not in what you possess. It's not in what you achieve. Ultimately, you can't find true and lasting peace, aliveness. You don't find yourself ultimately there in things, in thought. It can't give you that. The deep sense of rootedness in being, of being at home within yourself. And then you become a spiritual person. A spiritual person already knows. The spiritual person is no longer looking for a job on Wall street, perhaps. I'm not saying that somebody. Wall street cannot suddenly turn spiritual. That's fine. But people are seeking. It's a mind structure. And when you see that you can't find it there, you think, okay, now what I really need is spiritual realization, or whatever you call it, awakening. I don't need. I know that the car is not going to do it. The big house is not going to do it. The great job is not going to do it. The bonus at the end of the year is not going to do it because you might have tried it already, or you have the maturity that tells you it doesn't work. Or you've seen others who are unhappy, who have all these things and are completely unhappy. And then you say, okay, what will work? Because you read spiritual books, you Listen to spiritual teachers. You see, there is such a thing as enlightenment or awakening. And that's going to work. This is where I find myself finally, which of course is true. But you carry with you the mind structure of seeking. Now, the mind structure of seeking, you then take it from the worldly things into the spiritual. And so you become a spiritual seeker. Seeking implies, of course, that there's something there that you seek which implies future. Because you're not seeking it. You know that you're not going to find realization by seeking in space. You're not going to kind of look around this room and say, I'm seeking awakening in this room. So it's not the seeking that looks in space. Well, some people think if I go to India, I might find it. They can try that. You won't find it in any particular place. So the seeking isn't a seeking in space. It's a seeking in time. It's a seeking in future. In other words, seeking. Plus, you need the future to be who you truly are. That's a belief. The spiritual seeker needs future. He might try India, but then finds. Well, I didn't find myself there either. So you really. It's not a place, but it's the seeking implies future. The next moment. Let's call it the next moment. Maybe I'll get it in the next moment. But you can't, because realization is present moment. Realization. It has nothing to do with time or future. And who you are does not require time. Everything else requires time. Learning to play an instrument requires time. Learning a language requires time. Building a house requires time. Acquiring knowledge requires time. Making a cup of coffee requires time. Crossing the street requires time. But knowing being yourself, knowing who you are, does not. Time stops you from realizing it. Future stops you from realizing it. So it's going into the present moment and finding a new attitude towards the present moment, which is one of openness rather than of using it as a stepping stone to the next moment. That's the fallacy. That's also the spiritual seeker's fallacy, is to use this moment as a stepping stone to the next one. So you devalue this moment because you're thinking you're going to get there in the next one. But the next moment, what is that? What existence does it have? It's a thought in your head because there's no otherwise. It has no existence. It never comes. The next moment always remains as a thought in your head. It is never actuality. It can't be, because actuality in the present moment are indivisible. They are one. So you're still relying on thought. When you look to the. When this moment is made, reduced to devalued, reduced to a stepping stone to the next, which is going to promise fulfillment. Then you miss it continuously. Because the next moment is a thought no more. It doesn't exist. In conventional terms, it does, but in absolute terms, it doesn't exist. If it did, somebody would have seen it or touched it. I've never encountered the future. It's never but the moment it comes, it's the present. There's only this. So don't be a seeker. Or let's say, if you have to seek, then seek to be open to this moment. Be say yes to whatever arises, whatever form it takes. Any form that arises in your life at this moment, say, that's what is. You don't impose judgments on it. It just. It is what is already. It already is. Then you have arrived. So you are. And then you realize that you are the space for it. You are not what happens. You are the space for it. You are not the thought. You are the space for the thought. You are not the emotion. You are the space for the emotion. You are the formless space of consciousness itself, which is no time, has no time to it. And so that's the end of seeking. You don't seek an experience. Some people have spiritual experiences, but the experience comes and goes. Some people have great spiritual experience, like fireworks, and it lasts, and it lasts for a while. And then, because it's a form, and then it dissolves or. I had such a great experience three years ago, five years ago. I wish I could have that again. I'm trying to have it again, but it's not working. It's not an experience. It's the. You become aware of the background to all experience, the space for all experience, the stillness behind all experience, which is always there. It's only covered up by mental noise. Thoughts become aware that that's who you are, and then that's it. Then you embody that. You become an opening for that. And that's all. That's your. The fulfillment of your life here is to be an opening for that. And then perhaps your realization deepens of that. It's not an experience, but the sense of spaciousness deepens. And more and more the balance changes between perhaps at first you are a person 90% of the time and the little 10% of space. So you're not a person who is totally identified anymore. So there's some space, and that's fine. It's already a big improvement in your life. And then as gradually there's more space that comes through in between the thoughts, in between the emotions. And then you 70% per person, 30% space, and perhaps eventually 50% person, 50% space. And you already beautiful spiritual teacher. And that's fine if 50% form, 50% formless. I'm quantifying something that cannot be quantified. It's a little silly, but balance the dance between form and formlessness in your life. And as you grow old, perhaps when you reach the age of 80, there's more and more formlessness. Or there may already be 90% formlessness. And you sit. And you might then decide to travel to India, because only there will they fully appreciate it. And you can sit under a tree and only occasionally you say a few words. That's the 10% of the person still there. But basically you are an opening for consciousness to come through, as was a sage such as Ramana Maharshi in India. Just sit there. And in India, as you sit there for long enough in that state, people will come and live next to you. 1, 2, 3, or 10, 20, 30. And then before you know it, you sit in the middle of an ashram. I must admit, I feel tempted sometimes to do that. But there's still a lot to do in the West. Thank you.