Be Alert without Thinking: A 20 Minute Meditation with Eckhart Tolle

To enter that meditative state of consciousness, because that's what it is all about. Meditation is about a shift in consciousness away from concern with doing and thinking and becoming aware, really directly aware of the present moment. And that's perhaps the easiest and most accessible starting point for most people. To enter. The state of presence, which is the aim of meditation, is to get you into that state of absolute presence in this moment. And that's being, becoming aware of being. Most people are always engaged in doing that includes thinking continuously. And a lot of the thinking that people do is not very uplifting. A lot of the thinking that happens compulsively creates negative feelings. And a lot of thinking is actually harmful and dysfunctional. It doesn't serve any useful purpose. But you just can't stop it. Well, you think you can't, but you can. And that's, of course, what meditation is about. To realize there is in you a deeper dimension of consciousness. Deeper or higher, you could call it, depending from where you look at it, deeper or higher than thinking. And that is the state of presence in the now. So it's an amazing realization for most people that they can actually easily access that state of presence by bringing their attention into the present moment, like now. So I'm kind of. Although I'm talking, my aim is to talk you, so to speak, into that state of meditation. And it helps if, while I talk, you can become conscious or aware of the small gaps between words as I talk. So you're just aware not only the words, of course. You hear the words, you take them in, but you're also aware that there are little spaces between the words. You just acknowledge that these are little meditative gaps, so to speak. And in order to be really aware of the meditative gaps, you can't be thinking. You are just aware of that space. There is. What does that mean? Aware. There is a presence in that awareness, you know, in that awareness right now. You know that you are here as a conscious presence without any thought telling you that. In other words, you become aware of yourself, not as a person. Because to be a person, you need to be thinking about you and your life and your problems and so on. But there's a deeper dimension in you, deeper than the person. And this is what we are here to access. So you become aware that really, on the surface of your life, there is the person with a past and a future and all the thinking and the emotions that keep the person going, of course. And so you are happy one day, unhappy the next, happy one day, unhappy. The fluctuations of the person, it's quite normal. And the person is always concerned with doing and thinking and the next thing or the past, the future, the past is never really present. When you become present, like now, you realize that there is a deeper part in you. There is a deeper dimension to who you are, where you are more than a person, where you are a presence, a conscious presence. The question is, can you sense, feel or be aware of yourself at this moment as a conscious presence, without which there couldn't even be a person? So it's almost like saying the person is the surface of the ocean or the ripples or the waves on the surface of the ocean. But you are not just the ripples or waves on the surface of the ocean, you are the ocean. So there is a deeper presence in you. And to access that and to sense that in yourself, to sense yourself as the presence of a presence, that is what liberates you from being completely trapped and limited in an exclusively personal identity. In other words, there is more to you than meets the eye. You are deeper than you ever knew by thinking about yourself. And it's not difficult to access that dimension in yourself. Can one describe it? Well, one can give a few pointers. Let's see if that makes sense. The pointers I'm giving you now, let's see if they make sense. In your own experience at this moment, sensing yourself as a presence, there is a peacefulness there. There is a. That is really the essence of what is sometimes called inner peace. The person, the surface of the ocean, the waves and the ripples of the ocean cannot be at peace for long. It fluctuates occasionally if things happen to go well, yeah, I'm happy. It never lasts for very long. Then the storm comes and big waves come, or little, little irritated waves, whatever, then you are unhappy. But there's a deeper if, let's say you are a ripple on the surface of the ocean with a name and a date of birth and a past and a future and, and problems. And suddenly the ripple realizes there's more to me and realizes, oh, I'm actually much deeper and vaster. I'm the ocean manifesting as the ripple. And so you are the universe or the consciousness that underlies the sense perceived universe manifesting temporarily as a person, you are the universe becoming conscious of itself at this moment in your life as a person, you are not separate from the totality of the universe. You are the universe. The universe has all. The consciousness that underlies the universe has given form to who you are temporarily in order to experience Itself as a person, it's an amazing thing. And the universe here is in the process of becoming more conscious. That's what the entire evolution of the universe is about, it's consciousness. So you, your life is part of the evolutionary impulse towards greater consciousness. And if your life is not primarily about greater consciousness, which actually you can build into whatever you do, it doesn't mean you stop doing and just say all I'm interested in consciousness. No, it needs to flow into what you do. If your life purpose is not aligned with the evolving consciousness of the universe, then what is the point of it all? And then sooner or later you get very frustrated, it things become pointless. So you are here to become more conscious, because that's what the universe has put you here for. Instead of universe, you can use other terms. You're more comfortable with them. The universal intelligence God. So right now, in addition to being a person, which right now is not important, it becomes important again when we finish our meditation, I'm sure. But right now something else is more important. That's realizing yourself as the presence, coming into the present moment and feeling just being aware right now that you are conscious. If you were not conscious, you wouldn't be able to hear, see, perceive anything. The fact that you can perceive things, the fact that you can think, the fact that you can have emotions, all implies that you are conscious. The meditative state is becoming aware directly of that consciousness. Sometimes the word that is used also is stillness. Right now you become still. You become aware of just being, of being that presence. And that feels energizing. You don't go to sleep, you are actually alert and still at the same time. And now you access an intelligence that is deeper than the thinking mind by entering that state of alert presence. And then when you think again, you are connected with a, with the source of all intelligence, with creativity. You are become empowered. Your thinking and your doing and your actions are then aligned with the deeper purpose of the universe, not just little egoic desires. So all this is so terribly important. Aligning your life with that presence. So you need to. During your normal day, I'll give you a few hints of how to invite that presence into your life, which by invite I mean direct your attention to it, because it's always there. That really is what supports you in life. And if you can be aware of that, fear, anxiety happen less and less in your life because you can feel supported by that vast presence which is not just your. It's not your own presence, it is the universal presence of consciousness. You connect with that you are that. So on a day, normal day, you go to work or whatever, you do as much as you can. Become aware, just brief moments of yourself as the presence, in addition to being a person. So one of the things I recommend is. This sounds almost too simple, but from time to time, look at the sky for a few seconds, you look up. It doesn't matter whether it's blue or cloudy today. Here it's the early afternoon, happens to be a sunny day. Look at the sky for a moment. You're looking but not thinking. You could do that with anything. But the sky is easier because there's this vast expanse that has some correlation with the presence of stillness within you. So you look and for a moment there's just. There's the sky. And you can sense yourself as the presence that is perceiving. And you're not thinking. So there's a brief moment of not thinking but not going to sleep. Alertness without thinking. That's the key to bring that into your life more often. And don't believe when your mind tells you that you need to think and think and think all the time. Bring in gaps of just alert presence. That's the being. The rest is the doing. The two need to be. There needs to be a balance in your life between being and doing. Otherwise you go mad. A civilization that completely loses touch with the being dimension is going to self destruct.