Eckhart Tolle distinguishes between two kinds of stillness: the unconscious kind that pulls you toward sleep, and the alert, dynamic stillness that sits above thought and unlocks creativity. He suggests going to sleep consciously from a felt sense of your inner body, staying present when you wake, and using retreats to practice stillness while moving through nature and daily life.
But in itself, thinking is not creative. And if you can never become still, you're not going to have a single creative thought in your head. You will only have the old thoughts going round and round and round. There's a dynamic quality to stillness. It's not the stillness that says, I can't keep my eyes open anymore. I'm becoming so still. It's not the stillness that goes below thought, it's the stillness that rises above thought. You have two kinds of stillness. First you have thought, which is here. And then for most people, they get tired periodically. And so there comes a short time between getting tired and going to sleep. When they become fairly still, thinking begins to slow down because the energy isn't there anymore and they feel sleepy. Now, what's called sleepy is something very strange, but we are so familiar with it. We don't recognize the strangeness of sleepy. It means something pulls you, it wants you to go there. And it's very sweet when you pay attention. Next time you're really sleepy, you can feel the pull. It says, come here. I'm so sweet. This is so sweet. And of course you're going there. You're going to the. You're going to the source. But you lose consciousness. You're being taken to the source to be replenished and to dissolve temporarily in the source of source of life. And that source is such a pull that even people who get stranded out in the cold and the snow and are trying to find shelter and they're staggering and then they're sitting down and they know if I close my eyes, I will die. If I go to sleep here, I will die from hypothermia. And yet the pull, the sweetness, it says, come here, come. You must be so strong that finally, unless somebody stops them, keep your eyes open, don't go to sleep. They go. They know they're going to die, but they prefer to go to that sweet place rather than survive. And that is the pull of sleep. And you can sense that next time you're tired, try to catch what that feels like. And you can feel this if you're in bed and you go, ah. And here, this is not where we are going, by the way. It's not the stillness that is towards unconsciousness. It's the stillness that is alert and dynamically alive. That, ah. And this is the. Our practice here. But when you do get tired, just pay attention to this. It's quite interesting to feel that tiredness. Even the word is so familiar and the state is so familiar, nobody really pays much Attention to it. Well, you can't pay attention to it very long because then you're gone. I don't know if they sell alcoholic beverages here, but I would recommend that you do not indulge in alcoholic beverages here. Because it could interfere with the rising of presents. Especially if after the first glass you cannot say no to the second glass. Once you are more established in presence, a glass of wine doesn't make much difference. Even two glasses of wine or three wouldn't make really any difference anymore to your state. Not that you'd even want to. I do enjoy a glass of wine with a meal, sometimes two. Never more than that. The body doesn't want anymore. You can enjoy it. There have been spiritual teachers who got their disciples drunk in order to wanting them to stay aware while that these changes were happening in them. And so these are controversial techniques for spiritual transformation. And. And then stay. And then you can have sex at the same time and stay conscious of that. So we don't practice these things here. Here we just. We pick up a pencil and look over. So you're going to go to sleep tonight. Pay attention to that. And before, if possible. I recommend it particularly on retreats. As you lie in bed, if possible, go to sleep consciously rather than in the thinking state. So I always recommend lying on your back for a while and feel the inner body. Use it as an anchor for staying present and the entire energy field. And go to sleep from there. And. And so you become still and go into sleep being still. You don't need to think about your life while you're lying there. There's nothing much you can do at that moment. And if you start thinking about your life, it's unlikely that you will come up with this great idea. You might, but probably not. Because the great idea doesn't come through thinking about your life. The great idea comes when you become still and al and present. Then it's much more likely that some great idea will come that could change your life, But not through thinking. Thinking is a secondary tool. But there needs to be something more powerful that informs thinking that arises. And then a consciousness, the primordial consciousness that you become one with. As you become still, the more stillness, the more creative, the more access you have to the dimension of all creativity. Obviously, that's where it arises. Not thought is always secondary, never creative. It can give form to something, yes, but in itself, thinking is not creative. And if you can never become still, you're not going to have a single creative thought in your head. You will only have the old Thoughts going round and round and round. So our entire retreat then, with the various dimensions that I explained is. Are really about becoming still, spacious, present as you interact with nature, with people, with a world of things. And even as you go to sleep, become still and go to sleep from there. And you wake up in the morning. Some people, even people, are usually burdened by their minds. Some people have told me that when they wake up first there's half a minute or so when they feel very alive and feels very good. They go. The eyes open and they go. And then the first thought comes in. And then the second thought, oh, no. And then the burden comes in, the kid goes. And then when they get out of bed, they're already in it. Just one more day to get through. So here, as you wake up also stay, stay present for. Just stay in bed for just a few minutes. And then here. The good thing is, I don't believe there's television in your room. I hope not. And I'm told the Internet downloads are very slow here, which is good too, because while you're waiting, well, would be better not to use it, but if you have to, while you're waiting, you can be, instead of waiting, be present. The moment when the download is complete is not going to be better than this moment. Not at all. It's just the download is complete, that's all. No better than this moment whatsoever. Whatever. So that's. I wish you well in your practice, if you want to even call it that, Sam.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
