Eckhart Tolle Reveals the Secret to Fulfillment Through Stillness and Action

What you do really is secondary. Some may do great things, others may do things that look on the surface not so significant. But how you do it is primary. When the how means the consciousness that flows into what you do it on ET tv, we can have some stillness on normal tv. That would be dreadful. It often people ask questions about manifesting or the power of, not the power of now, the power of intention. And how does that relate to the power of now? And about wanting? One person asked a question about what's the difference between wanting, continuous wanting that I write about in a New Earth, always wanting or needing the next thing. What's the difference between wanting and intention? Intending to create something, and what is the importance of manifesting things in your life or creating? Or is that counterproductive? Somebody asks, maybe we should focus on something else, not on manifesting or creating now. There are many exciting books these days about creating and manifesting. The secret teachings of Abraham, channeled teachings, and so on. And so often people ask, well, how does that relate to stillness and inner peace and acceptance of what is and surrender to the present moment and living in alignment with now? Is there a conflict? Is one wrong or misleading or leading you into illusion? And so they ask, and then expect me to answer. So this is an important question for almost everybody, unless you've reached the age of 95, and then you can be almost sure that you're not really into manifesting anymore when it's you've done that, been there, done that. And some people don't have to reach 95 before they have a feeling that my life does not need to be focused anymore on creating or manifesting. So it may have something to do with the stage, not necessarily chronological age. It has something to do with where you are at in your own life, but really your own life is a microcosm of the microcosm. So if you look at the universe, the first thing you see that it likes to create and it likes to manifest. On this planet alone, the universe is continuously creating and manifesting countless life forms, millions, millions of life forms. And then outer space, we can only assume we don't know what exactly is there. But there's a vastness of life out there, that's for sure, and probably many more life forms than we have on this planet, which is more than we can count. And the life forms, both in the sea and on land, including humans, they seem to enjoy a dance of coming into being and destruction. They eat each other up. If you are born in the sea, you go around, it's A transformational process. And this entity becomes you. And then suddenly something comes up from behind and gets you and you become that entity. Continuous D and also, if you observe life on this planet, the universe also seems to manifest conflict. And sometimes people say, I don't want conflict. But if there were no conflict at all in your life, challenges and so on, what would that be like? Imagine going to a movie that has no conflict in it. Would that be interesting? Maybe. I doubt it. A movie in which nothing goes wrong. Everybody's perfectly fine all the time, no challenging people. Everybody is so conscious, nothing happens. It's. Well, you could try that. Maybe that's an idea for a scriptwriter. Or maybe the script wouldn't be very long. How many people would come and watch that movie? Don't know. So you have that by just looking, not having a theory about life, but just looking, you see that the universe loves to manifest. And also it seems to be the case that life forms over periods of time, become more differentiated, many more come and even the human societies become more complex. We've had ancient civilizations that were quite complex. But probably our present civilization, if we can call it that, is the most complex, which of course includes problem ridden also. That goes with complexity. It's full of. And every individual who is part of this civilization has a life that is full of problems because you live in a very complex civilization. So it produces complexity. I mean, computers just getting into. I can't get into that anymore. Maybe I've gone beyond that age. It's so complex. I cannot learn all these stuff that you need to know on computers. Boys can do it 6 year olds. To me it's too complex. And the differentiation of the analytical mind, science, cutting every phenomenon up into little pieces and then you have little pieces and then each piece is cut up into further pieces and the microscopes get bigger and bigger. Now let's examine that. And everybody's specialization gets narrower and narrower because you have to be, because there's thousands of people writing PhDs about your subject. So you have to have only a little corner. Then you have to take that out and then examine that, and then spend three years examining that complexity. Of course, complexity cannot go on forever. On some level, complexity at some point, if a tree grows too many branches, eventually suddenly a winter storm comes and most of it collapses. So the universe likes to create, to manifest, to experience the play of form. That's one movement and you can see it in yourself. On some level. You enjoy that, or you enjoyed it, or you still do enjoy it. And then there's something else in humans. You can only really see that perhaps in yourself, an inner phenomenon. The universe also wants something else. It wants not only to experience that manifested life. It also wants to experience peace. And something that is not touched by the continuously fluctuating forms. It wants to know itself deeply, directly in its essence. And that really is the root of spirituality, is that the universe not only wants the outward movement, it also wants the inward, the return movement to the one. And so every human being also embodies these two movements. And that seems you are torn sometimes between the outward movement into form and the inward return movement to the source where it all started. But the source that was never really lost, that is still there because it's timeless. The source of all life is timeless. And it's in you. And you feel drawn back to that. And that is the pull towards spirituality, peace, stillness, being rather than doing. And then you wake up the next day and you look in a shop window and say, oh, that looks nice. I need to get that. I'd like to do this, get that, achieve that. And then you get, okay. But on the other hand, I want peace also. The two exemplified by perhaps Eckhart Tolle exemplifies the return movement mostly. And you have Tony Robbins goes, it's that and not one or the other is right or wrong. It's only perhaps few. Totally lose yourself in one or the other. Maybe that's not quite it. Unless you live in a cave somewhere, then you can lose yourself in being. Is it possible? And perhaps this is a challenge of the universe here on this planet and perhaps on other planets. Is the challenge to reconcile the two movements rather than have them separate either one or the other? Is it possible to reconcile the inner movement towards stillness and being and the outer that wants action and doing? And I would say that it is, and that is our challenge at this time. Traditionally, let's talk about human doing and action first. Traditionally, it's been very unconscious what humans have manifested in this world. To a large extent as being unconscious. They have been identified with doing and identified with form. Because form is about the outer, the creation of form and your own form and creating more forms. And so that has been going on ever since anybody can remember recorded history and beyond this identification with form and identification with doing. And we call that ego. Now, what happens then is that the one consciousness that underlies everything timeless, formless, the one consciousness moves into form, assumes forms and enjoys the play of form. But it's not enough, it seems, for the one consciousness to enjoy the play of forms. It needs to completely believe in it, to really make it real. It's not real, but to make it seem real, you need to lose yourself in that dream of form, the play of form. And this has happened to humans, so identified with the form that you believe yourself to be a separate entity. You have a life of your own. There is no such thing. But a life of my own doesn't exist. There's only life. And you are an aspect of that one life. But humans believe that I have a life of my own and then others have their life. And of course that's if I have a life, then of course one day I could lose. I'm going to lose my life. Oh, God, I'm losing my life. I lose my life. Who are you and who is life? You must be separate from life if you can lose your life. So who is saying I is not life? Who is that I? What is that I? That says my life? Consciousness, the unmanifested, timeless one life. So every human then believes that they have a life of their own. That means they are identified with a form of life, that particular form of life, this particular physical body, this particular psychological life form, the thoughts, accumulation of thoughts, your past, your history, your viewpoints, and the emotions that go with these thoughts, feelings, it all becomes all part of that form, identity. That's me encapsulated form, identity. And so consciousness is trapped, or believes to be trapped in that. So we could say that in that state, the universe or the consciousness has entered a dreamlike state. It wants to do that. It must enjoy that dream up to a point. Consciousness has entered that dreamlike state where it is completely identified with form and doesn't realize that every other form is an aspect of itself, every other form. And of course then you are just an isolated entity. It becomes quite unpleasant after a while. So you have to get together with other entities. And instead of having an I form, you have a we form us. And that becomes encapsulated. It starts with a tribe of big family or tribe us. And all the others are totally weird and evil people. Just beyond the mountains, another valley you go to. All dreadful. That was quite common and in some places still is. Before people didn't get around that much to the Greeks or also the Romans. Everybody beyond were barbarians. The word barbarian comes from trying to imitate the foreign language that those barbarians speak. So there comes then, and for a while that universe seems to be okay with that. To have consciousness identified completely with form. And then the movie goes on. You read history World history. And that's the movie of what happens when consciousness is identified totally with form. And then comes a point when it's time for another stage to arise where the dream of form is no longer. Consciousness is beginning to awaken from complete identification with form. And that is happening to many humans. And this is why human beings are drawn to these spiritual teachings. With the awakening from the dream of form. Who am I? What does it mean I? What is identity? What does it mean when I say I? What does it feel like? What is I? What am I? Now, most people, yet, if you ask them what is who are you? They will define the word I in terms of form. They will say, well, obviously this body, that's I that comes maybe first. And then there comes the mind with its accumulations. It's accumulated. It's thought, habitual thought movements, it's memories. They come, the emotions that go with the thought movements, the psychological form of I. So they say, well, I am this body. Then there's a name, which of course is just a sound. You say, john. I am John. And many people, they think that's already a big part of who they are when they can say their name. Oh, okay. And then they add a little something else. I'm an architect. Oh, okay, we're getting even closer to who you are. And I'm a father, which. Okay, good. And your age. Okay, something. Okay, we're almost there now. Just need a few more details. And then we know who you are. And so you can put it on a piece of paper, a summary of it, or if you want a detailed account of who you are, you can write down your life history in a book and it becomes your autobiography. Oh, that's interesting. Now we know who you are. And if that's not enough, and if you think there may be hidden parts of me, then you can go to psychoanalysis for 10 years. And then all these hidden memories and hidden desires and feelings that you had when you were four and a half years old towards your mother and your forefather and your grandmother, and what they all readily. They all come up. And then you can add that. And then, okay, now I've got it. I've got my autobiography. And I go, that's I. I'm me. I'm complete now. And then you look 50 years later, which is not much on a universal scale. 50 years is very little. I know that now. I thought when I was 20, 50 years was a lot. I'm a lot older than 50, by the way, by the body, the 50 years pass. And what's left of the body and the psychological me, that entity in the head with its history. What's left? Nothing. Well, maybe there's one or two copies left of your autobiography. And maybe one person finds a copy in a secondhand bookshop. This is somebody's autobiography. And your grandchildren or their descendants? My mother passed away three years ago, and I realized a few recently that I am virtually the only person now who remembers her. Because all her friends died before she did. And her family and all the other people who knew her only knew tiny fragments. They said, oh, she was a little bit of an eccentric, and she was outspoken and so on. They had little fragments. But the person who really remembers her more than a fragment is me. And when I go, nobody remembers. And then all is left is photos. And a generation later, nobody will know who this person on the photo is. But this is strange how an identity evaporates that seemed so solid and real and so form. We are talking about form, identity. That is when you are asked, who are you? Or you ask yourself, who am I? Ok, now, is that all there is to who you are? Is that what can be defined through form? What can be that which is form? Thought forms, emotional forms, physical forms, a conglomeration of that put together for a while, becomes what you think is I. Is that really your identity? Or is there something else? Well, perhaps we can just at this moment. See, as you sit here right at this moment, you don't remember your past. You don't have to. Let's pretend you don't have one. You have no past. There is no past. Let's say there is no past, which, by the way, is the truth. Ultimately, there is no past. There is only the now. So, okay. And no future. Let's pretend there's no future. Well, there is no future anyway, but there's only this. So you can't remind yourself. You don't even. Unless there's a thought in your head that says, I am such and such, even that you don't know right now, let's say you don't know anything about who you are, nothing that you can formulate, conceptualize, call something. What is left is there. What is lost. Nothing is lost. In fact, when you encounter this, which cannot be named, which is a formless presence, aliveness, let's see, you've touched that which is beyond form, consciousness itself, and that is identity. That is where your sense of I comes from. And so you are more truly yourself when you don't remember your past than when you do remember your past. And you are more truly yourself when there is not a single thought in your head than when you are full of thinking, thinking about me and my problems. And whenever you feel the sense of I this the light of consciousness, which you can know directly in the stillness that is always there, available to you as the essence, your essence identity. Your essence identity, timeless. That's always there. And that is one with universal consciousness. It's just coming through this form. It's never lost. When this form dissolves, the consciousness goes out like a little tentacle being. So let's stay with this for a moment. Here you have no past, or there is no past. What is lost? Nothing essential is lost. You get a stronger sense of who you are in your essence. When you are not telling yourself in your mind who you are. This is why I said in stillness speaks. I believe you are never more truly yourself than when you are still. And still means, of course, the mind becomes still. It's an inner. Whether there's noise outside or not doesn't matter. You're never more truly yourself than when you are still. Then you can sense the essence of who you are. And that does not depend on the age of the body. Whether you're 20 or 90. It's the same stillness that frees you then from the suffering that comes. If you have identified with form, which then sooner or later will leave you. You suffer. If you identify with a strong or beautiful body. And that body eventually grows old, you begin to suffer because you seem to dissolve. You haven't realized who you are. And so we have. You have form, identity and essence identity. And suffering arises through knowing yourself only as form, identity. My history, my story, my body, my past, my this, my that, my that, my, my, my. That's whatever you identify with in the world of form. If you know yourself only as that. That's the state of unconsciousness, the dreamlike state. Consciousness is dreaming the dream of form. And then it acts, attempting to become free of its inner state of incompleteness, dissatisfaction and fear, which is inevitable when all you know is your form identity. There's always underneath the surface, or even very much on the surface. There is dissatisfaction, fear, unease, discomfort. Fear. I am not enough. This is not enough. This is not the right place where I am now. This is not the right people I'm with. This is not the right thing that I'm doing right now. There comes the need to go out and search for more forms that I can identify with so that I can feel more complete. But the only way you can actually reach the state of being at home in. In being rooted in yourself. Without the dissatisfaction that always comes again and again and again and without the fear. The only way is encountering that which is beyond form. And it's so much. It's right here. It's closer. It's God realization. It's another word for it. But let's not go there. The God within, the timeless within. And so the universe then has. All the people who are into creating traditionally have been very unconscious. Because those who were most identified with form had the strongest desire to manifest and create more things out there and conquer an empire, or accumulate more and more possessions or have more power. So they got driven. So all the powerful people, the people who created human history, if you read the history books, they were deeply identified with form. And they were all unhappy, of course, very unhappy. Hoping by achieving this, that or the other, and conquering this, that or the other, the other tribe or whatever, to become free of their state of unhappiness and of incompleteness and never getting there. And that's been so traditionally, the doers. There were always some people who were not into doing. But in many traditional societies, there wasn't much of a place for them. Later, monasteries came into being so they could become monks. Long story, but so we still associate going out and doing with unconsciousness. I believe there's a line by T.S. eliot in a poem where he says the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity. Talking about contemporary humanity, early 20th century. The best, like all convictions, means that they don't know what to do because they are torn between. There's some inkling of. Inside them of their essence. So they're not. The desire to. To do is not as overpowering as in those who are totally identified with their form identity. So that's an interesting that where we are at as humanity as a whole is an realization that there is an essence that has nothing to do with the form. And only if we are rooted, if some of our attention is in that formless essence, can we do things in this world without creating more havoc and suffering for others and ourselves. If we only go into doing, without the rootedness in the eternal dimension, which is stillness, which is here now, always now, inseparable from now. Whatever you do, when you lose yourself in the doing, identify it again with form and creating some new problem. So the foundation for all doing is conscious being. So that's the important realization. About what? About manifesting. That's good. But before we talk about manifesting, before we build some new Building or structure? Get the foundation first. Do you have the foundation? Don't start building a house without any foundation. Let's manifest this great business empire. This is going to change the world. Yes, but have you laid the foundation? What foundation? Being. Being the formless, the eternal. No, we haven't thought about that. No, of course you haven't. You can't think about it. The foundation is being rooted. Realizing what that means, what is what being is. Not intellectually, not by trying to understand. Because, as you may have noticed, there's nothing much to understand about being. Being. Can you explain a bit more, please? Being. Stillness. I don't understand stillness. Can you explain stillness? No, because there's nothing in it to explain. You can't look at it under a microscope or dissect it. Aspects of Stillness, PhD so the human needs to find its, his or her timeless and formless essence. Essence, identity. That's the foundation. If you haven't that, forget about manifesting or creating. You just create more trouble. That's okay. Then you're at the stage where the universe still likes to create trouble. That's okay. And I'm not saying you find that which is so close, closer to you than hands and feet. The stillness. The formless consciousness itself. Without which there would be no sense perception and no thought and no feeling that it's the light in which everything appears. That which the life within the form. And that's always there as your essence. Right here. It knows itself. Here it's not that I know is I. I am it. I and it are one. I know myself. Sounds like two again. But that's because we're using language. I know myself. I know I. The I knows itself. So this is the end of all differentiation and complexity. Because you're going back to the timeless, unmanifested source of all life. There's no complexity in that at all. Depth. Yes. Infinite depth. Vastness as vast or vaster than the outer space? It's inner space. The vastness of that inner spaciousness. So what you thought of as I is a tiny, tiny bit. And underneath there is a vastness that is as vast, although not in extension, as outer space, which is an externalization of who you are. Within the vastness of inner space, people don't know how to what extent they have reduced their own reality to this little entity that runs around the surface of the planet for a few years and then evaporates. And of course, that's the form. But what is it that animates that form? The foundation is not something that you find, okay, I've got it now, and then you forget it again. And then you start getting worried about the next thing you have to do and identify it with every thought that comes again and reacting and you lost not. The secret is to stay connected with the being while you do. And then whatever you do is conscious doing, not unconscious creation of form, but conscious creation. And maybe you'll do much less than you would have done before, but it's more powerful, very different kind of doing, conscious doing and conscious manifesting, if that's what happens. Through this form, foundation comes first and remains primary. Being needs to remain in your life. Whether or not you are engaged in a lot of doing or not being is primary. If you lose touch with being, you lose yourself in your mind and you lose yourself in doing. And you don't want to do any good for anybody really. And it may well be that the universal consciousness may use you and you do something that is then in alignment with this new stage that is arising on the planet, and that is conscious creation. Co creation. Before the universe created unconsciously and now through the human form, there is a possibility that the universe can create consciously. In that sense, all those books and teachings are quite exciting that tell you that there is an important relationship between your thoughts and so on and your outer reality. And that thought creates form. Yes, this is true thought creates form. And it's exciting that if humans can fully realize that and then fully realize their power, of their creative power, which is vast as unlimited, eventually they'll know that as the universal creative power. Because humans and the universe are not separate. You are an aspect of the universe. You are the universe expressing itself as this form. So it's wonderful creative power is there, but it's not the wanting power that is the. To answer the question that somebody asked, what about this wanting needing comes from a state of dissatisfaction and insufficiency. Now, Buddha called it desire. And the Buddha, of course, said, become free of desire, and then that's the end of suffering. He looked at humans and he saw that there was this unconscious reaching out continuously wanting. He called it desire. I call it wanting is a more direct term that you can actually feel. I want, I need, I must have. Now, this is still very much in many humans there, the identification with form that results in continuous wanting. And it keeps a lot of our economic system going. Advertising depends on humans who are identified with form. It does not mean that when you are, when you know your essence, you cannot enjoy form anymore, that you will say no more. Maybe some humans might do that. But again, there's a possibility of living in balance with form. You can enjoy all the forms around you and even create new forms without any sense that this is mine or any sense of attachment or any identification with the form. And only then can there be true enjoyment of forms and beauty. But then the compulsive nature of your relationship with form will go. The compulsive running to shopping malls the day before Christmas and then running to shopping malls again the day after Christmas because they've reduced the prices even more or whatever. It's amazing. Before Christmas they're all running. And then after Christmas it's even cheaper. I need, I must have. That's not the true enjoyment of form. You can enjoy form by looking at a shop window and say, oh, beautiful. Well, what, do you want to buy it? No. Or you might buy it. And then it's in your house for a while. Beautiful, beautiful. And then maybe the next day you arrive and a burglar has been there and it's gone. And it may only be in that moment that you know whether you were attached or not, because you might have had it in your home and said, I'm not attached at all. But when you get home the next day and the burglar has taken it, then you'll know whether or not that was true, what you thought, that you were not attached. That's a good test. So we need to. Then doing and stillness need to be in balance. Now, it does not mean that you separate your life into one part of your life as you sit still. And in the other part of your life, you run around. That's not the balance. The balance is when the two are fused together. And even while you're walking around the shopping mall, not running around the shopping mall walking, you can be in stillness as you look around. You may, perhaps you go with the convention of buying Christmas presents. Or maybe you don't. Doesn't matter if you do. Okay, let's see what I can find. Still, bring the stillness into the shopping mall. Let it come with you into the shopping mall. Just to give one example in the North American context or the bazaar or whatever, if you're somewhere else and see if you can, even while your attention flows out, have some attention within, feel the background of aliveness or stillness. As I always point out, the beginning of that is feeling the inner body, the aliveness within the body. That's the doorway into the formless. You're already moving into the formless feel the alive. The body is alive. No, it's Alive, it must be alive. But can you feel that? It is alive. And that's life energy. It's the bridge between formless and form. And there it is. And then if you can walk around a city, well, here you don't walk, but you drive around. If you drive around the city, can you drive with not too much thinking, just presence, or walk around to the shopping mall and just look. You bring a stillness in wherever you go. And then when you have to think, you think you can pick up the phone and say, oh, I found something nice, maybe should I get this for my mom or dad, whatever. Bring always the two dimensions, that's the most vital thing. And then you can also look into manifesting. But then the question is, what is it that wants to manifest through this form? It's no longer this is what I want the surface. I what is it that wants to manifest through this form? Very different. And you may not know that immediately. There may be a time period when you don't know exactly what to do with your so called life, which is not yours, just a conventional way of speaking. Maybe for a while you don't know what to do with your life. And so you just there be as still as possible, do your whatever activity you're already doing, but bring stillness into it, presence into it. And then at some point, either the realization of what it is that you need to do that wants to be done through you comes from the outside. Somebody tells you something, ah, or you wake up one morning and ah, this is what I have to do. And then you start taking action, always making sure you're not so attached to the outcome that you think it's more important than the present moment. An action can become egoic when you lose yourself. It becomes egoic when you lose yourself in the doing. And a good sign or good criterion is when something happens to that is against your seems to be an obstacle, a person or situation, I want to do this or achieve that. And suddenly somebody says, no, you can't do that, no, they won't allow you to do that, no. Or a situation becomes a challenge, it's difficult, it's blocked, you want to go. Somebody says, no, you're not qualified to do that, you shouldn't do that, it's not allowed. Whatever you need this and that which you don't have, obstacles come all the time. If you get upset, that means the ego is back in the doing. When obstacles come, if you're not upset, you're still present and you look at whatever the obstacle is and you look at it with this penetrating gaze of presence, which is stillness. Also you look at whatever the obstacle arises, you bring this penetrating stillness to it. And that is like a light shines on it and then that dissolves the obstacle or it shows you a way around it. That's the power of consciousness. It always happens. Either it shows you how to get around it or it shows you how to use the very force of the obstacle and you turn it around. If the obstacle is wanting to go this way and you go with it, for I'm just demonstrating now, something counteracts what you want to do, it's coming this way, you want to go that way. But you don't meet it head on and start complaining, no, this shouldn't be happening. No, perhaps you go with it for a little while and you go and then you turn it around and the very power that was against you then works for you and you achieve your goal through that. It happens. And this is the wisdom that comes with non resistance. So whenever you go into this conscious doing, resistance always pulls you back into unconscious doing. Can easily happen because it's an old habit pattern. Unconscious doing. Inner resistance to whatever arises in the present moment pulls you back. Inner resistance is some form of negativity, some form of complaining, some form of fear, aggression, anger. And this is important because whenever you complain about what somebody else does that you're already beginning to fall into that trap of unconsciousness. And of course, yes, you meet lots of people who are still trapped in ego and they may not like what you do, but just no judgment, just look at what the situation. They say this, they want that, you want that. And they don't say, oh, they're dreadful. I know what he wants. He wants to deceive me. And he always does that. He wants just clear, this is what he says he wants. This is where I want to go and see. Okay, never any judgment of a person or situation. Just clear seeing, clear facing. This is the power. It's like a light beam of consciousness. It falls onto illuminates that situation, that moment, that person. That's the power of consciousness. No resistance. Jesus already talked about the power of non resistance consciousness and that the moment resistance comes, you are drawn back into identification with form protection, resistance, fighting. Are you going to succeed all the time in this? No, It's a shift from a way of doing that has been with us for thousands of years and a new way of doing that is only arising now. So you are transitional beings between the old consciousness and the new. And don't judge Yourself, if you fall back occasionally into the old consciousness, but you will quickly know it. How will you know it? You begin to suffer. You get upset. You get upset about situations, you get upset about people. You get upset about what somebody said, you get upset about what somebody should have said but didn't. You get upset about what somebody did or failed to do. Oh, there's a sign that you've fallen back. Beautiful line in the course in miracles. I am never upset for the reason. I think. Now, upset is a generic term. Could be in any way that out of alignment with isness, there's a disagreement with the isness of the present moment and then you become upset. Now, many people are upset a lot of the time, but they don't realize they are upset. And if you talk to them and say, why are you upset? They say, I'm not upset, I'm just bloody angry. Or I'm not upset, I'm deeply hurt because he didn't invite me to his birthday party. Deeply hurt, not upset. I'm never upset for the reason. I think. Now the deeper meaning of this, of course, is you are upset because you have lost awareness of being, your essence, identity, and the reason you think is superficial. When you lose connectedness with being, just wait a few minutes and something or somebody will upset you. And so if we believe that that which seems to cause the upset is the actual cause, this is not the case. These are interchangeable, could be anything and it will. So you'll be upset many times every day by other people, by situations, by the slightest things or the biggest things. Upset, upset, upset by the entire world is so frustrating. So that's a little sign then. If you're upset, you want to go somewhere. But people are not cooperative, situations are not cooperative and you can talk to yourself. So that's a good sign. Then you can use. Also shows you to what extent the ego is active in you. Because what's upset is not you, it's the ego in you. The ego is the erroneous identification with form, a false sense of I which wanted something to make itself feel more at ease or bigger or more important or whatever and is frustrated in its aims. Well, well, that's a good. Then it's like a little. If you had a little. It's almost like having a little technical device on your arm that tells you whenever your ego comes back, it goes bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. You don't need that. Well, if somebody here is a technical wizard and is going to invent it, it's fine. But you don't need that because all you need is to know if you are upset or not. In everyday life now, for many walking egos, upset is their normal state. They might not even know it anymore because they're upset virtually all the time and just waiting for some other thing to happen to explain why they are upset again. But of course, there's the underlying dissatisfaction is always there. Foundation then is stillness. That's the return journey. So can we be then simultaneously in the return journey to the source of all life, spiritual dimension, God, stillness, and still be active in this world. And then if we are that, what we then do in this world becomes empowered by the intelligence that emanates from the source. And then the source creates through you no longer. The power of the source is then no longer distorted by the ego and its power greatly diminished to a trickle. So the source is like light. You can say sunlight wanting to shine through fully, but for a long time it's become reduced to a tiny little hole. There's a little bit of light coming through just to keep you going. And now it can come through and use you. When we use language, we always create duality. So when I say it uses you, it's not quite true because you are it. But language does that it uses. Once we know that it's okay, we can use those words. It uses you then. Now, what exactly it wants, I don't know. Perhaps it simply wants to create beauty or forms that are alive and joyful and enjoy that. It's enjoyed the drama for thousands, hundreds of thousands of years. It's enjoyed the drama of people cutting each other to pieces and eating each other up. It's enjoyed the drama. The movie is changing now. And perhaps it's creating a much more pleasant movie. And who knows what is in store for us? I cannot predict the future. I'm not particularly interested. The present moment is wonderful enough, but something is. There's a change happening. And of course, there comes a point in your life when you may not. The source may become much more important than whatever you do. So you reach a time when you say, well, I've done this and that and it's been wonderful. And then all you as you are just still and you emanate that stillness. And even then you affect the world around you without any doing. If you just be there and whoever you come into contact with, there's some almost, one could say, transmission, even if they don't notice it. You can do that. And some humans perhaps will mostly live in that Way, how much doing you do, how much varies from form to form, person to person. Some will be very active into conscious doing and create and enjoy the creation. And others may do relatively little or may just continue to do what they are doing already. But whatever they are doing will be a vehicle for consciousness or stillness that flows into it. This power, this beautiful energy that flows. It could be even a person who just gives information. Let's say you work at an airport and you give information to people and maybe you stay there. And then everybody who comes to ask, where's gate number 16? You say, well, you go that way and it's only about a three minute walk. And they were not only the words, there was a transmission of stillness with the words not in the sense that I. And maybe you stay there. And then everybody who comes to ask, where's gate number 16? You say, well, you go that way and it's only about a three minute walk. And they were not only the words, I am going to transmit stillness. No, it happens because you let go of the sense of doing, of I do. It happens. And the person. This is one traditional word for there was a transmission of stillness with the words not in the sense that I am going to transmit stillness. No, it happens because you let go of the sense of doing, of I do. It happens. And the person, this one traditional word for it is blessing. The person goes away being blessed with that energy and so beautiful. So it is blessing. The person goes away being blessed with that energy and so beautiful. So what you do really is. So what you do really is secondary. Some may do great things, others may do things that look on the surface not so significant. And ultimately what you do is secondary. But how you do it is primary. When the how means the consciousness that flows into what you do, or if you're working with your hands again can also happen that how do you put together this piece of wood and this piece of wood? There can be presence that flows into the doing and that's beautiful and that expresses itself in the final product. If something is made in the state of presence, then it contains energetically, it contains quality. Quality. Now, there are perhaps quite a few things in this world that are not at all conducive to presence. Maybe it could be certain things that are extremely repetitive. Even that perhaps is possible. But let's say you're in a factory and all you do every day is, well, probably by this time you probably have been replaced by a machine anyway. But there are certain things, or you live in an office environment that is so insane that when you bring stillness into it, there is an incompatibility with your surroundings that will result in your dismissal or will result in your walking out. But if there is even the slightest compatibility, if it's not 100% insane, the environment, if it's only 90% insane, then there may be a possibility that if you bring stillness to it, this alert stillness, you walk into the office and you listen and you are alert and you answer the phone and you go to the committee meetings where everybody's. And you sit there and listen to everybody. You don't say, oh, everybody's insane, you know they're insane, but you don't say it mentally. They're not insane in their essence. That is on the surface. And you are there as the still point. It doesn't mean you can't speak anymore, but you embody the being, rootedness in being. And then it is possible. If it's only 90%, the environment is only 90% insane, some change is possible. And perhaps the one or two people will be changed by their interaction with you and a shift happens in them. Or if it's a meeting, suddenly there's a change in energy in the room. Or suddenly you are the only person who says something meaningful. And suddenly everybody listens. Oh, or your silence is enough to bring some harmony to the surroundings. Many ways in which this can affect the outer world. And even if you stay at home and all you do every day is water the plants in the garden and make a cup of tea and look around at the beauty like a little child, but with a depth that is perhaps not yet there in the child. A depth of non conceptual knowing. Then at this you are at a point where the universe is contemplating its own creation and knowing its own beauty and its sacredness and its aliveness through you. And that's enough for a fulfilled life, isn't it? That's enough. The mind is. Yes, but I should be doing something meaningful that is meaningful. And for some people, that is how they contribute to the shift in consciousness. By being a point of consciousness through which the universe sees its own sacredness, its own beauty, where the flower recognizes its own beauty. Because the flower doesn't know it's beautiful. It needs you to perceive it and respond to it and go. Not call it anything, but go, really. There is no ultimately separation between you and the flower. It's a single field. So when you contemplate the flower, the flower becomes conscious of itself through it's one consciousness. And so if you provide that, that's a Wonder, that's the universe waking up through this form to its own sacredness and beauty and aliveness and depth. And all you do is walk around the garden every day and make a cup of tea. Wonderful. And if occasional thoughts come, maybe thoughts come, will say, wow, I made all that. You become like God says. And God saw. He rested on the seventh day and he saw that it was. It was good, or something like that. At the end of May, he saw that it was good. See the goodness of all that. And so it varies. You may be I call one word I have for that which I used in New Earth. A person who is not called to do very much is frequency holder. Because what you do is not a doing. You hold the frequency of that consciousness of presence. And you don't have to do anything. You just hold the frequency by embodying it, by embodying presence. That's a fulfilled life. Every moment is fulfilled. And who knows, it could be that you do that for two years and one morning you wake up and suddenly, suddenly something wants to be done. And suddenly you start doing something and you pick up the phone and say, we're going to have. Do this. A huge enterprise where everybody can come and experience beauty and healing and so on. I'm going to transform my garden into. Into a healing center. And I'm going to. Maybe, maybe not. One person asked the question is connected with this somebody who is fully awake, would they still have a personal identity? And of course, we know the answer by now. You are in touch with your essence identity, and the person can still operate. There are the two dimensions. You have your personal identity, but you are not lost in your personal identity. You know that it is not ultimately who you are. It is only temporarily who you are on the surface, but not who you are in your essence. And so in that sense, no, you still have a personality, but you are not possessed by your personality. It still operates and you can function normally. You don't need to look weird. But if you do, that's fine. Also, you certainly have no desire to stand out and say, I am special. Of course, then you would have fallen back into some form identity. There is something to be careful of, which is called the spiritual ego, one could say. And that is the identification with form coming back, even sometimes to people who are able to periodically go into the stillness and feel the power and be that. And then they come out again. And then the old ego pattern reasserts itself and it remembers the beauty of stillness and the power of stillness. And then it says, oh, I Am very special. More special than you. Well, it may not say that in words because the ego at that stage can be very subtle. So it doesn't say more special than you. But there's just a sense of superiority that can creep in easily. The sense of me. And again, one needs to be careful. Any kind of conceptual identity that you really believe in is another trap. Being trapped in form. Ultimately, you're only yourself fully when you have virtually no concept in your head of who you actually are. Now, that doesn't mean when somebody asks me, when I go somewhere, whatever, across a border somewhere, somebody says, well, what do you do? What's your profession? Or what do you do? I don't complicate things by saying I don't do. I be. I just be. And so it's good if you have a little concept that you can give to a person if the situation requires it. You can say I'm such and such, and then they believe you. Don't say, I'm a spiritual teacher. When you cross a border teacher is okay, spiritual teacher. And of course you're not a spiritual teacher. And I'm not a spiritual teacher. Because that's another form identity. If you believe I am a spiritual, that's who I am. And then the next moment when I go do my shopping, I'm no longer a space of allowed presence in the supermarket, but I carry around the identity of here's a spiritual teacher walking around the aisle. Very subtle traps can happen. Now, that doesn't mean that at this moment, this form. Spiritual teaching happens through this form. So I could say at this moment I'm a spiritual teacher, but when I get up, I'm no longer a spiritual teacher. It's only a function, it's temporary. In the same way that I could do somebody's accounts. Well, I couldn't, but. And I would be an accountant. But if I carry accountant around with me in my head, I'm a walking accountant. That's a terrible trap. These are only functions. They're not who you are or whatever it is. Any identification with that brings you back into form. And so to be free. And that's a continuous practice in daily life. To be as one can express it negatively. It's not negative, but it sounds sometimes negative. To walk around as nobody in particular, not be anybody in particular, just be as a presence. But nobody in particular, just an alive presence. You don't need to be anybody in particular except when you conform to the conventions. When you talk about yourself, it's fine. You observe the conventions of this world and say, I'm a doctor, I'm an accountant, I'm this, I'm that. Not a spiritual teacher, but whatever. But not to be anybody in particular. This is to be free of carrying around with you a defined identity which is either, in many cases it either take puts you into position of superiority towards others and inferiority towards others. Because then if you have some defined identity you always look to, then you give everybody else an identity too. That's a dreadful thing. It's not only you create the present for yourself, everybody else. Once you look at the world through your defined identity, then you give everybody else a form identity. First you do it to yourself. Once you've done it to yourself, you do it to others. And then you reduce every other being to a form. And then usually because all this is part of ego, usually then you will try to locate where this other being is in this form as either superior or inferior to you. It's an unconscious process. Where does this person fit in? The ego is always looking to wear it inferior or am I inferior? And if the ego feels inferior, it's uneasy and then tries to get something to reduce the other so that you can feel, if only make negative comments or whatever, or say. Or if somebody, on a very simple level, the other woman wears a very nice dress and you feel diminished by her beautiful and expensive dress, you say, oh, that dress would look good on your sister or something. The ego loves to do these unconscious things because by diminishing somebody it believes that it has grown a little bigger itself. Amazing delusions. It's a whole delusional system operating gossip. By talking negatively about others. Every time you say something negative to others who are not there. This is quite a common thing. You feel a little bit superior because you have judged the other as not good enough. Certainly you have put yourself in a position of judging the other, which implies that you are superior morally or whatever. You know what she did? She did that. And then she said. And then how dare she. She's always wrong, of course. Amazing silliness. But for many people it's their life. That's how they live. So be nobody, so to speak. Be a presence. Don't define yourself except when absolutely necessary. When you have some interaction with somebody who says what's your name? And so on, of course, name. Nothing wrong with your name as long as you don't believe that that's who you are and so on. But the practice is to gradually shed the. The belief that you are here as a person and just let the person become transparent to the light of consciousness. And then you have the two. That's the form. But essentially you are that which animates the form, the underlying, deeper consciousness that by living in connected in conscious connection with that, you live in conscious connection with an intelligence that is far greater than whatever your mind could manufacture, or that it may use your mind, but it will then inspire your mind with creative insights, creative ideas, and so on. It can use your mind, or it may bypass your mind and will simply emanate. Throughout every cell of your body you emanate a beautiful, alive, peaceful presence. If your mind is not highly developed, it may not say. The universal consciousness may say, well, this mind is not that great. I'm not going to use this mind, but I'm going to use the entire body to emanate peace and aliveness and presence and healing for the world. It uses whatever is there. Or if you're an artist, then suddenly your artistic creations become inspired, empowered, beautiful. In my case that doesn't happen because I can't draw and paint. It just doesn't happen. So the consciousness is not going to flow into my arm and my hand and suddenly I'm going to produce a masterpiece. That's not going to happen. Nor am I going to produce the unified field theory that Einstein couldn't find, because my mind doesn't work in that way. Physics and mathematics don't. So the consciousness is not going to use my mind and bring up make me into another Einstein. The consciousness uses what is there and empowers that. And there's always. Everybody has something that consciousness will use and flow into, if only every cell of your body. That's more than enough. And then there's nobody to claim credit. When something has been produced, created, you just step back. It's not I did that or the way people go, yeah, yeah. No, you just. Because you know, it's not. Not I didn't. I did it. Yes, but not I. It's the one sa.