Essence of True Meditation: It's Not What You Think | Eckhart Tolle

Boys, meditation, true meditation, is not a doing, but it's the realization of being. And there's no time in being. Simple realization that you are. This is why I. Some techniques are fine. Eventually, every technique you have to let go, like a raft. Buddha Buddhism has the image of the analogy or the story of a raft that you use to cross a river. You use a raft to cross a river. When you've crossed the river, you don't take up the raft and carry it around with you. So the raft is a technique of the teaching that can take you there, perhaps. But once you're there, you realize you don't need it. So whatever technique you use in meditation, eventually it is to be transcended. Or you can transcend it right now without any technique. This is why I don't call this a meditation, because if I. Again, I love meditation. But there's another possibility, and that is any given moment to invite this awareness into your life, this dimension. To see there is a possibility of awakening. Simply realizing that you are in this moment. Awareness of awareness, the realization of being. And in that, then as you. This deepens again. This is time to talk about something timeless. And. And that becomes your identity, the being, not the personality or any achievement or whatever it may be in your past or future. That's fine. You manipulate, you hold, you handle your life consciously. It will actually improve when you are rooted in the unconditioned consciousness, because that's what it is. Then, if you are rooted in the vertical dimension, things begin to actually also improve in the horizontal dimension, because that consciousness flows into your life. Not that it ever becomes totally free of challenges. The challenges continue, but the challenges will then only take you deeper instead of making you more unconscious, which is what they often do for many humans. So the. That is. There's an ancient word, self realization. You can use that expression. That's who or what you are beyond the personality. And then that is what Jesus calls when there's a parable about. He tells a parable about a man who builds a house. And the house is built on sand. And when the storms come and the floods come, the house is swept away. And then there's another man who, before building a house, he digs deep. He. He digs deep until he reaches the rock, which is deep. And so he reaches the. After, he digs deep and finds the foundation. And then he builds the house on the rock. And the floods come, and the rains come, and the storms come, and the house is not swept away. It stands. This is an analogy about states of Consciousness, the state of deep connectedness with being, the vertical dimension, and the state of being trapped only on the horizontal dimension when life becomes actually suffering, to use the term of the Buddha, frustrating suffering. And then you can resent it all, and so on. So this is the now. Your mission is to invite this into your life. Throughout the day, don't miss an opportunity. Yes, you still go about your normal activities, but allow yourself to become aware of the vertical dimension as much as possible. It seems at first there's a current in you that doesn't want that there isn't the egoic self and will tell you that this is not the time to be present. You have other. I've got so much on my plate, I can't be present now. Don't talk to me about this. Look what I'm dealing with here. And you want me to be spiritual. Just. I'll be spiritual when I've solved all that. And then I'll find a nice place in the retreat center in Bali, and then I can finally. Of course, life does not stop challenging you. So don't wait. Have your life interspersed with that. Brief moments, initially. Brief, brief moments of spaciousness. Brief moments of spaciousness. One conscious breath is already something. Let's say you are. You're on your computer, okay? One conscious breath. You look away from the screen, if you can look away at the sky or a plant, anything natural, or close your eyes. But if you close your eyes, then your screen will still be there. You'll still see the computer screen. Awful. So you look at one conscious breath. A little bit of spaciousness has opened up. And during that time period, which if you measure in time, it would be like maybe 10 seconds, whatever. But that is a little bit of spacious consciousness you have suddenly experienced. And you might even want to take a second conscious breath. Follow the breath with your attention, and maybe even a third. Although your mind says, I don't have time for this, but it's only one minute, so don't believe every thought that comes in and says, I have to deal with this first. I have to deal this first. That's another parable in the Gospels where you're invited to a wedding feast. People get invited to a wedding feast. And everyone says, let me do this first. First I need to sell my cattle. No, I need to do this first. Let me do this first. There's always something. Don't believe your mind. And says, not now. Can't do it now. There's nobody who does not have one minute to be aware of their breath, unless it's an emergency. You have to get to the hospital now. Okay, get into your car. Every time I recommend you, you close the door and stay just a moment of spaciousness. I suggest half a minute to one minute, but don't measure it, just feel it. Okay, I'm going to do one minute now. And then you're just internally already trying to get to the end of it. You have to be there. Anytime you're waiting for something, be present. Use if you cannot just be present. This ability may arise a little bit later when you can just decide, so to speak, not the right word to just be free of thinking, but just be aware. So that comes a little bit later. Just the ability to just have that space. Somebody asked me some years ago, what's your greatest achievement in life? And I said, well, my greatest achievement is I don't think. When I don't have to think or don't want to think. I don't need to think. That's my greatest achievement. But it's not really an achievement. Is wouldn't get me a job. I'm applying for a job. In my curriculum, what you call CV resume can be free of thinking. So it's not an achievement. Again, it would be a misperception to call it an achievement because that discovery, this realization, that dimension of consciousness has already always been there. In that sense, it's not an achievement. I made it. No, you didn't do anything. You just became aware of being, which is not a doing. It sounds like a doing when you talk about it. You become aware of being not an achievement because being is the essence of who you are. And to know the essence of who you are is not an achievement. And so, wow.