Creating From Presence Instead Of Ego | Conscious Manifestation, with Eckhart Tolle

Well, the ego lives in an almost continuous sense of not enough, we could say a sense of lack. It may not be always in the foreground, but it's always in the background. At least that sense that you're not complete, you don't have enough, you are not enough. You are not fully yourself. You are not fully yourself yet. Which, of course, is true on the human level. Because on the human level, you can always achieve more. You can attain more, you can experience more. But it's not true who you are, who or what you are in the essence of your being, in the essence of your being, you're already complete. So there's the depth dimension to who you are, and there is the surface dimension to who you are. The surface dimension is the ego. The ego comes from a place of lack. And whatever you attain through the ego, the ego has access to some power. Obviously, it's the form that consciousness has taken. But you're much less powerful creator as an ego compared to what you could be if you're aligned with the essence of who you are and you're coming from a deeper place that is in alignment with what the universe wants and where the universe is going, which is greater consciousness. So if you come from the ego, there's a sense of lack of. You always know it retrospectively, that after you have attained something through egoic endeavors, if you have attained it, then sooner or later, and usually sooner, it does not satisfy you. Whatever you attain, the moments of satisfaction are fairly brief. And then again you fall back into the state of lack and dissatisfaction. So no matter what you create from ego and through ego, it won't satisfy you. Now, you may not know this while you're engaged in the process, but retrospectively, you can always know it while you are creating, though, there are also certain signs that are indicative that the ego has gained the upper hand. Even if you might even have started your manifestation from a deeper place. And then suddenly something happened and the ego started to take over. And so, for example, a good sign is that when you no longer enjoy what you're doing, you're engaged in a creative process. You're active, you believe that you can achieve it. But a time comes when you suddenly realize you don't enjoy the work anymore. And whenever an obstacle appears, because in any creative process, even though it may be empowered, you will still occasionally encounter obstacles. Anybody who has created something new in this world has experienced that, yes, you are assisted. The more you are aligned with the depths of who you are, the greater the assistance you get. Nevertheless, even in Those cases you will encounter when you create something new. You will encounter obstacles because the world. There are certain structures in the world that don't want to change. They are against change. There's a certain inertia in the structures of this world. And if you want to bring about something new, then sometimes you come up against that. And some of the inertia manifests through human beings who don't want the change that you are trying to bring about. So when you encounter obstacles, as you are bound to when you're coming from ego, you will be upset and you will regard the obstacle as an enemy, and you will start complaining. Or you will become discouraged. You might become aggressive, you may become stressed, you can't sleep anymore, so you're finding the obstacles create a dysfunctional state within you. And then your entire work becomes a source of stress for you. And when stress arises, it means the ego is there and is interfering. Even if your initial attention might have been very good. You say, for example, I want to create a great spiritual center where people come and learn to be more conscious. Now, what could be better than that? And that's great. So the intention is great. Maybe the initial intention may be absolutely wonderful. But as you start working, then without you knowing it, the ego can creep back in and claim, first of all, it says that you are in desperate need for this to happen. And you cannot be fulfilled and happy unless this happens. These are the first thoughts that come. They may not become conscious. At the back of your mind, this feeling arises. So you desperately need this to happen. Every obstacle and every person who represents this obstacle becomes an enemy, and you get upset when you encounter them. And so, without you knowing it, you fall back. If you fall into a state of. Of lack of neediness, of not enough of the place you want to get to the aim, the intention becomes so important to you. Where you need to get to the end result that you want to achieve becomes so important to you that you neglect the importance, the primary importance of the present moment and your state of consciousness in the present moment. So instead of focusing on the step you're taking at this moment and giving your utmost attention to what you're doing now. And if you do that, you will actually enjoy what you're doing. Instead of that, you're excessively focused on the desired outcome. And the present moment is no more than an inferior moment towards this imagined future moment. So your fault is these are all egoic patterns that you fall back into. And that is why it can become very frustrating. So a good intention is not enough. You need to be conscious throughout the creative process, because the ego can creep back in during the creative process without you knowing it. It's a very subtle thing. You need to be really alert, but that's how it is.