Awakening From Suffering | Eckhart Tolle on The Secret of Human Existence (Part 1)

We are moving into a time of turbulence. Feel this is only the beginning. And at the same time, this becomes an enormous opportunity for awakening into this dimension. Because the strange thing is no human being awakens from within their comfort zone. Sad fact. The ego doesn't like that. So the fact that there's applause here means you're already beyond ego and you've recognized the truth of it. And there's a deep, deep truth in that I have not met any human that awakened from within their comfort zone. They awaken through facing, to use some almost a biblical term, they awaken through facing tribulation. Tribulation. In this world you will find tribulation, said Jesus, wherever you go. The Buddha said the same thing. In this world you will find dukkha, said the Buddha, translated as suffering can also be translated as misery, unsatisfactoriness, and all just plain unhappiness. So that's what the Buddha said. This what? Wherever you go, you'll find that unless you awaken. And Jesus said, in this world you will find tribulation. But then he added, but I have overcome the world. I have overcome the world. And he shows people other how to overcome the world. What does that mean? Jesus did not have any worldly power, so in that sense he hadn't overcome the world like Alexander the Great, great conqueror. None of that overcomes an internal realization. You no longer derive your identity from the things of this world, but you can still live with them and play with them. It's fine, they're actually quite beautiful. When you play with the things of this world, you can appreciate, and when it leaves you or it breaks or it's taken away, you did not need it for your sense of identity. You can enjoy this world when you do not need it to give you an identity. You can enjoy other human beings too, and their company and their presence. But you don't need them to complete your identity. Why don't you need them anymore? Because you already have found your identity and you are connected with your essence. Identity as the awareness, that's the consciousness, that's who I am. So this is a wonderful freedom. And now people will have to find that because we are moving into such uncertain times. Many people will lose things that gave them their identity, and that's a great thing. And many people will lose also a sense of certainty or security that was delusory anyway, no matter how many insurance policies you have. It doesn't mean that the universe is not impermanent and fleeting. And to look to things or people or situations or places or attainments. To look to those things for your.

Identity that leads to suffering and unconsciousness.

Your primary purpose is to find the.

And stay connected to the depths of.

Who you are in being.

So that you are not just a.

Human, but you are a human being.

You are conscious of the being dimension.

In the being dimension, you have no age. You're not young or old. You have no gender.

Sorry, you have no status in the being dimension. Whether in the eyes of the world. Your life up to now has been a fantastic success story or the most dreadful failure.

To take two extremes makes no difference.

It is that does not. The being is beyond that. There's no age in it and there's no gender in it. There's no differentiation in that. It's the source. It's then. Then you no longer need to defend an identity that was fictitious anyway. You are comfortable with sometimes with not being right, others show you, no, you're wrong. Oh really? Whereas before being right was part of your, an important part of your conceptual identity. The most dreadful thing for an egoic self is to be shown to be wrong. Because it's a death. It's a kind of death. And you can, you still have opinions, you have opinions, but the opinions do not turn into an identity. If opinion turns into identity, then we get all the drama that we have on, on social media and all that because opinions have become identities. Crazy. What is an opinion? It's a mental, it's a concept, a construct. But you can still have the opinion and still voice your opinion without the defensiveness and the aggression that would be there if you equate opinion with identity. But you need to have something more powerful, deeper than this mind made identity. And that's what that is the essence of who you are beyond thought. So it is very important as much as possible to remind yourself to come into. And here we come to the One of the main portals was the main portal into the transcendent consciousness come into the present moment. That is where the portal into the transcendent consciousness begins to open up. For the present moment is a portal in the present moment. As much as possible. You take your attention into the present moment and it has stages. It is basically what they two or three stages, depending how you divide it. The first thing when you become present. So remind yourself, have little practices, as I wrote about that too. Whenever you're waiting for something become present. Whether you're in the car or just a minute waiting for the elevator or waiting for somebody to answer the phone, a human being to answer the phone, it could take hours. So you're waiting. And why waste that beautiful time and use it for presence now? How does it work? How do you. How do you transform an irritation while you're waiting into presence? So you get very irritated. Airports are very irritating places these days for many people don't have to be, but for many people they are. So you stand in. You stand. Security is very slow. And you stand. It could take an hour to get through security. Oh my God. Why can't they. They should have done something about it a long time ago. Why can't they? They. They're just so incompetent. It's just unbelievable. Completely unbelievable.

I'm.

I'm not going ever going to use this airport again. I don't know. And the rest of the world is bad too. I just don't. I just don't like people anymore. And all. We are going to hell in a hand basket. I can see that you become very unhappy. There's a very unhappy person. Why is this person unhappy? Well, because you obviously. Can't you see what's happening? This is why I'm happy. You see, you've been standing here for one hour, hardly moving, for God's sake. Okay. Why don't you experiment with something? What do you mean? Experiment with being in this situation without adding any thought to it. The baggage of thought. This situation. Don't add any interpretation to it. Is that even possible? Is it possible? The interpretation is a habit. It's no more than a deeply ingrained mental habit. But you don't have to be stuck with a deeply ingrained mental habit. Don't add any thought. Don't interpret this moment. Just let it be as it is. Okay, I'll try it. But if it doesn't work, I'm going to get perksie. Let's try it. Okay. So you're standing there, and now suddenly, you do not add thought to this. Which means you haven't been standing here for an hour. You're only standing here now because the hour was thought. Time is thought. The hour, the duration was created by thinking. But in the present moment, you are standing here now, not for one hour. You're not adding any thought.