Eckhart Tolle presents an introductory retreat talk urging listeners to identify as the underlying presence or consciousness rather than with the personal, thinking self. He emphasizes the oneness of life, the continuous manifestation of the universe, and the deeper joy that arises from being conscious. Metaphors (eagles flying, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind) and practical pointers (let go of devices, avoid identification with labels) support the core teaching.
Chapters
You are life. You are an expression of the one life that manifests as the universe. Underlying the universe, there is the oneness of life. You are that one life that was there before the Big Bang, if there was a Big Bang. You are the one life, the one out of which the whole universe came. And not only out of which the whole universe came, out of which the whole universe continuously comes, continuously brings forth life, new forms. And you are that. And so isn't that a much more satisfying way of being in this world than a walking, problematic life situation? You are alive and here on this retreat. It's the recognition that you are a manifestation of the universe, of the consciousness that underlies the universe. And you are that universe experiencing yourself or the universe experiencing itself. And you go, it's all so wonderful. And there's an innocence comes with that perception, like you've just arrived in this world. You're not using, you're not applying the old labels of your mind. And if they do come occasionally, that's fine. You recognize them as a label. And then you say, okay, let's go. You look at a bird and you see that incredible aliveness that's in the bird, incredible energy that's in the bird when it goes, goes past. And some birds just fly and fly. And where does that energy come from? And they seem to be enjoying themselves. It's not just some scientists say everything is utilitarian now. They are flying in order to find food, and then they're flying in order to find the mate. No, they're also flying because they love flying. I have observed eagles in British Columbia, where we are the eagles. And you can see that they are there because they are in state of joy. They're not looking for anything because they can go around a long, long time. What are they doing? They must be enjoying themselves. And they hardly ever. The wings of eagles, hardly ever move. They fly totally effortlessly. They can be like this for 10, 15 minutes, no movement, just they go just like that. Imagine being that, experiencing the universe as an eagle like that high up, the incredible joy they must sense. So be in that joy. You also can be in that joy. That is the joy that underlies the joy of being conscious. That the joy of being consciousness. You become conscious of your own consciousness when you sense that presence, the under the presence. And underlies all sense perceptions, the I, the deeper I. And then you, you walk around the campus in a deep sense of enjoyment. So the enjoyment then has two levels to it. One is whatever you perceive through your senses. And then the deeper Enjoyment is the presence that you sense without which the universe would not perceive itself. You would not perceive the deeper underlying presence. And knowing yourself as the deeper underlying presence is real joy and sense of aliveness. Some people might call it happiness. I don't use that word too much because it's too often associated with superficial things. I'm happy because this good thing has just happened to me. And of course a day later you're unhappy because it disappeared. But it's a question of how one uses words. It's fine. Happy is good too, if you like the word. There's a deeper. I'm talking about the deeper happiness. So that's the retreat. Be the presence more than the person. If the person occasionally will reassert itself, even here and for a few minutes, you might be immersed in your life situation. Perhaps it happens when you use your check your emails and your mind gets easily cluttered again. Or you might even check Twitter, Facebook, what's happening on what are my friends doing? Text messages coming in more clutter for the mind. So as much as possible, let go. And when you. You might sense withdrawal symptoms if you don't use these devices for a while. And you might sense like it's almost like somebody who smokes or drinks and feels I need another fix, I need another drink, I need another smoke, I need another email. So this introductory talk is more than an introductory talk you made. There's a book that somebody wrote. It's called Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, which means the real Zen, which goes Zen. Really. It means awakening to be awake. The state of presence is Zen. A large stillness is Zen Zen Mind. Beginner's mind means it's not an accumulation of knowledge that takes you to awakening. In fact, the beginner's mind is the mind that still empty. It hasn't been filled yet. Now, of course your mind has been filled by life. It cannot not have been filled. And yet you don't need to be identified with all that stuff and confuse it with who you are. And so you can be a beginner again in that state of empty, which is also a state of fullness. And that is I will. It helps to be here because as I said, I speak from that alert stillness. It's not the person that gives these talks. It's kind of. That's why I have a little book that has Stillness Speaks, which is almost a paradox, but that's how it is. So living from there that speaks, that gives the talk. Not the person doesn't give the talk and the person doesn't listen to the talk. If you listen to this talk all only as the person, it makes no sense whatsoever. Because if you listen to this talk only with the accumulation in your mind, what is he talking about? And that was the case, for example, when a reviewer for Time magazine read A New Earth and said, what is this mumbo jumbo? And that became the review in Time magazine. But we need to be compassionate. I hate Time magazine. Never going to buy a Time again. And that was the same year when Time magazine declared Bush man of the Year. Well, what do you expect? It's called Time. It sa.
