Being in Nature with Eckhart Tolle | 20 Minute Special Teaching

SAM.

When the Buddha was teaching 2500.

Years ago, he told people to seek.

Out a quiet place in the forest.

And meditate there. That was an essential part of his teaching. So nature was an essential part of his teaching. The story goes that the Buddha sat.

Under a tree.

When, as the story goes, he awakened spiritually or became enlightened. So his enlightenment is associated.

With the tree.

It Sam Ram. SAM.

So here I am in the forest in Northern California. There are some amazing trees here, the redwood trees.

I'm taking a little break.

I have a little bit of a cold, so that slowed me down quite a bit.

Usually when I take a walk in.

Nature, the first part of my walk is fairly fast. I don't have the energy for that today. And then when I return, I walk more slowly and in a very contemplative way.

So I'm getting a little bit hot.

So we'll take the scarf off, if I can get it off. Oh, it's very loud. Okay. So I just like to share with you.

How.

I experience nature and the state of consciousness that's behind it. And we start right now with something that I don't know whether the microphones can pick it up. We listen to the stillness that is here now. Whether a microphone can pick up stillness, I don't know. We will see. For me, the stillness is not 100%, because at the moment I have a little bit of ringing in my right ear, but the stillness is still picked up with my left ear, and it's very deep. And in order to listen to the.

Stillness in nature.

Acute listen. And you can combine that with looking around. So you are listening and you are watching what's around you. The secret of being fully in nature and experiencing the sacredness of nature is to refrain as much as possible from thinking while you are in nature and just be the awareness behind all the sense perceptions, the alert presence. And then you will notice that there is a depth to nature that transcends anything you could say about it or conceptualize. There are also arising within the stillness occasionally very subtle sounds. So it's actually quite helpful and can help you stay alert if you listen to the sounds. So you're aware of both the stillness and the sounds of the leaves here. Occasionally we may get some distant car passing by. That's fine too. So just be alert and listen to.

Both the stillness.

And the sounds. Very subtle sounds, nothing spectacular. And then it seems almost as if the forest were whispering. And you can sense that it is a live energy field pervaded by.

The.

One Consciousness out of which it has come. So this contemplation of nature frees you.

From temporarily from yourself and preoccupations about yourself. Nature can help you.

Transcend.

That trap of only paying attention to that limited self. And so, as you walk or sit in nature.

The person.

The personality that you are.

Recedes.

If you are alert enough, it recedes. You don't remember your past, you don't need to right now, or what's going on in your life. All that is replaced with alert awareness. And so the most wonderful thing, the most wonderful, most conducive place for meditation is to be in nature and have your senses attuned to the sense perceptions of nature. And that includes also breathing the air. Everything slows you down, helps you to become still. And so you begin to resonate.

Internally.

With the stillness that's all around you. Occasionally, of course, thoughts may come into your head. You might look at something, and occasionally.

The mind may say something.

For example, here.

The tallest and oldest trees here.

And I believe the oldest trees here. Are close to a thousand years old. Those trees, many of them are scarred.

So they have survived many forest fires.

These gigantic trees survive forest fires. In fact, I'm told that they actually need the forest fires. And some of those trees will not drop their seeds. Until the forest fire has cleared the space around them.

It's burned down all the smaller trees. And then the seeds will fall.

And then a new tree will come into being.

So this may arise as you walk.

You have that thought, you see. It is amazing how these trees have lasted for so long. And then let that thought go, don't follow it. So that you return your attention to stillness. And thinking again is replaced with awareness.

If I use poetic language, I would.

Say that being nature nourishes the soul.

So there is something here that is very healing.

But you need to be there. If you're engaged in continuous thinking, then you're not really where you are. If you sit somewhere in nature, you may occasionally want to close your eyes for a few minutes. And then just listen to the stillness and be aware of any sounds that may be there.

And of course, you're aware of yourself.

The presence, the underlying presence that you are.

And somehow.

The presence that you are aligns itself with that still.

Presence.

The energy field that surrounds you. You kind of merge with the energy.

Field of the forest.

The boundary between inner and outer, which is created by excessive conceptualization subsides. And so then you participate, and not only participate in the stillness, you are one with it. And you are when you then look.

At the trees.

You feel no longer a sense of separation. And it's almost there comes goes a little plane, which is fine too.

You allow it to be there.

It's almost as if, when you perceive.

Nature in that way.

As if in this case it's a forest, it became conscious of itself through you, because there's no longer a separation between you and it. There is a continuity, a continuum. And I would suggest, and I strongly.

Sense.

That nature loves to be. To become aware of itself through you. So we have a continuum of consciousness.

And when you look at a tree.

Or touch the tree, or become aware of how still these trees are just deeply rooted in the earth and deeply rooted in being. When you become aware of that, we could say that the tree becomes aware of itself through you.

So what you provide, do you bring.

To nature, is the aware dimension and a kind of completion. So we could say that nature needs you and wants you to be aware of it and loves you for it.

When the Buddha was teaching 2500 years.

Ago, he told people to seek out.

A quiet place in the forest.

And meditate there. That was an essential part of his teaching. So nature was an essential part of his teaching. And of course, as you know, probably the story goes that the Buddha sat.

Under a tree.

When, as the story goes, he awakened spiritually or became enlightened. So his enlightenment is associated.

With the tree.

A tree. Don't believe what science tells you.

The tree.

There's more to the tree than that. And you can know that and sense.

That if you become still enough and give it your attention, looking, almost sensing its stillness. So. But it is a reciprocal movement. It goes both ways. Yes, nature becomes conscious of itself through you, but nature also helps you to realign yourself with stillness.