Beyond the Form: Allowing Loss | Eckhart Tolle Teachings

The whole evolutionary impulse of the universe is towards that somehow. And I cannot explain it in words, it's beyond. We don't even attempt to fully to really understand what is behind that. It is far beyond understanding. But just to say that the evolutionary impulse of the universe is behind that. Consciousness wants to flower through the form. The human, it will flower through any form. It doesn't say, you are more worthy than this. I will choose this form because you are more worthy. It flowers where there is a transparency, where the form, the rigid mind structures give way. They die first identification with that me mind made self goes. And this is why we are here. Because as you sit here, you are finding death before death finds you. And these, the heavy, the mind structures that you are identified with as me, the thought forms die. So the flowering is happening here before death finds you. You embrace death already. But it doesn't matter when it happens. And consciousness will move through. It could be a criminal killed several people, inflicted suffering on others, and of course, on himself. And in that midst of hell, in his cell, waiting for execution, suddenly inside the entire structure of the self, mental, emotional structures dissolves because the suffering is unbearable. And suddenly something shines through. And now he doesn't care anymore whether the execution happens or not. And there have been cases like that when this happens. Sometimes when people speak about it and tell others about what happened to them, they may use certain words that correspond to their language or culture. But when you look beyond the words, you will see that they all point to the same. And there are some of those to whom it happens who can't even speak about it. They just look at you and you look at them. They may be uneducated, they may not have much to say. And yet you look and you see there's something that shines through that is deeper than a person. And any person could be there. The. The personal dimension has given way to that. And so it is always sacred when that happens. But so far it's been relatively few human beings to whom this has happened. No longer the case now. It is the destiny of all humans to go through that transformation. It is certainly your destiny, otherwise you wouldn't be here. The purpose of your life is to enable that to come through you. And it's happening already. So we embrace the death that is here. When you surrender to what is that's the greatest death, the resisting me entity gives way. You can surrender through suffering, or you can surrender through voluntarily, through the yes to what is which, as we saw yesterday, takes you beyond the form you are no longer reactive to a form. So the yes, that simple thing takes you beyond form. And I pointed out yesterday, often that which you say yes to is some form of limitation because it's form. And that in other cases, that which you say yes to may be some form of death, some form of loss, and that is particularly powerful. Any kind of loss or death leaves an emptiness behind. When a form is no longer there and you don't run away from that empty space and it's an opening into the formless. One could say every form obscures God. And the death of the form enables God, which is the formless one, life to shine through. Therefore, death has been long been recognized as sacred in ancient cultures who had not denied death. Whereas the modern culture, modern Western civilization denies death. It's not. They don't know it's sacred. They don't even want to talk about it. They don't want to see a dead body. You can't. It's not allowed. It's illegal to see a dead body. They would send you to a psychiatrist. If you ask to see a dead body, there must be something wrong with you. So death is hidden because the Western culture is totally identified with form, with mind. So the worst possible thing for it is death. And even in hospitals, they don't know anything about death, where death happens continuously. Old people's homes, every old people's home, if they such, would potentially would be a spiritual center. The greatest ashrams would be old people's homes, because that is the potential of old age. But it's not recognized yet. So they would be the most sacred places. So this ancient cultures have recognized the sacredness of death, not knowing perhaps why intuitively they knew it to be sacred. But now you can see why it is sacred. Because the formless shines through where there was the form. And that can happen when there's physical death, but it can also happen when you die psychologically to the me, that is the spiritual transformation. And that can happen through intense suffering or through the power of a spiritual teaching, or in many cases, a combination of both. And I suspect that in many of you it's a combination both you've had the suffering, otherwise you wouldn't have come. And now there's the power of spiritual teaching which tells you you don't need to suffer anymore and you don't need any more time before you can enter the surrendered state. Why would you need time to enter the surrendered state? Do you need more knowledge before you can enter the surrender? Yes, but before I enter the surrendered state. I need to understand the universe completely. You've had many pointers already. Everybody here has read scriptures. Beautiful pointers. No, I have not yet fully understood the nature of the universe. I need a few more years, says the mind. And the amazing thing is a deep understanding happens not in the way that the mind imagines it. A deep understanding of the universe happens as you enter the surrendered state. This mind made sense of self is also much more focused on the negative than the positive. To be free, you awaken to who you are beyond your history and your life situation. It.