Finding Fulfillment in the Gaps | Eckhart Tolle

There is a moment of spacious awareness. You haven't interpreted it yet because you did not have enough time to interpret it. So there was a timeless moment of pure perception. It frees you very briefly from the egoic self so you can continue to function without going totally insane. Awareness is rising above thinking. And I asked you before to become aware of gaps between words. And this is the secret. The entry point is there. By becoming aware of gaps between words, for example, you become aware that in those brief moments you are actually not thinking. This is the key to the evolution of human consciousness, is realizing the possibility of, let's put it like that, of becoming familiar with that space of pure awareness where you are able to think, but you don't have to think. This is rising above thinking instead of falling below thinking, rising above thinking. There's an alertness to it. This is the opposite of what happens when you take in certain substances. There's a decrease of alertness. You become less conscious when you rise above thinking. And I would suggest to you that as we talk about it here, that it's not just the words that become aware of your state of consciousness right now. When you listen to these words and realize that in order to understand and recognize the truth behind these words, you don't have to think. You don't have to figure out in your conceptual mind whether what I'm saying is true or not. At a deeper level, you know it's true. But how do you know that it's true? Because you experience, if only briefly, here and now, you experience that beautiful space of pure awareness or presence. So there are moments when you actually, you're not thinking right now. I can stop speaking now for 10 seconds. Now when I stop speaking now for 10 seconds, do you need to fill that space by adding thought to it? Or are you able to just be with that 10 second space without adding any thought to it? And then I'll ask yourself, I'll ask you a question after that. But right now I will stop speaking for 10 seconds and I will just do something that certain Zen masters do in order to remind they are disciples of the state of alert presence. They go like. One Zen master never gave any other explanation. When he was asked to explain the essence of Zen, all he would ever do is raise his finger and look at you. Please can you explain the essence of Zen to us again? We didn't understand it yesterday. So for 10 seconds I'll raise my finger and please don't count the seconds, okay? Now when you're not, did you disappear when you are not thinking when you're not remembering your problems. When you're not remembering whether your life is a big success or a big failure. To take two extremes. If you think your life is a big success, you are in a state of temporary delusion. And just wait a little. It's amazing that now you may also find. Because that sometimes in your daily life, you have moments when there is pure awareness, but you don't even know it. Throughout your daily life, you have brief moments when you're actually not thinking. But they may be quite short, but you have brief moments without wanting them. Whenever you look at something, especially if it's something natural like this. This might be the sky or a flower or a dog, but not necessarily even natural. It could be almost anything that does not immediately stimulate conceptualization. Like something written. So you look at something, let's say especially you just step out of the building. You open the door. Or you come into the building and you open a door and. And you step. And for a moment, something new enters your perceptual field. Now, if you're very alert in the first two or three seconds, you have to take it in and you're not thinking. Then the mind kicks in and calls it something. Oh, this is that. This is that. Whatever the mind has to say about it, it identifies, attaches a label to whatever it is that you are perceiving. But in the first few moments when something new enters your perceptual field. There is a moment of spacious awareness. You haven't interpreted it yet because you did not have enough time to interpret it. So there was a moment, a timeless moment of pure perception. And the more you have that in your life, the more it frees you very briefly from the egoic self. So you can continue to function without going totally insane. Because you have these moments, these brief moments of awareness. Now, there are humans who almost never have them. But they are in a very serious mental state of mental dysfunction. So if you're not completely insane yet. And of course, all of you here have gone far beyond all that already. If you're not completely continuously trapped in dreadful unhappiness. That means occasionally you experience these brief moments of awareness, but you don't even know it. You might think, oh, this is caused by, let's say you witness something beautiful. Say you witness a sunset. And you go, oh. And you're really looking at that sunset. And for quite a while the mind doesn't say anything. There's a pure perception, and there's a stillness behind the perception. But all you're aware of is the perception itself. So when you then interpret it, you say, I felt though good because that sunset was so beautiful. Another example, you might be engaged in strenuous physical activity, perhaps even dangerous physical activity. You might be surfing, or you might be climbing a mountain wall or whatever it is, some dangerous or strenuous physical activity. And you feel so good, you feel so alive. You only feel alive when you're engaged in that activity. So you get addicted to that activity. Why? Because it frees you from yourself temporarily. And what does that mean? It means while you're engaged in that activity, you are not thinking, you are just present. And so. But you don't know that. You confuse the activity or the contemplation of the beautiful sunset. You confuse that with what caused that sense of being intensely alive. What. What was the cause of feeling so good in that moment? Well, you say, well, the sunset made me feel so good. Or when I engaged in surfing, I feel so good. The surfing makes me feel good. That's not entirely true. The deeper reason why you feel good is you. You are free of yourself in those moments. And what arises is intense presence. In that intense presence, you experience self transcendence. You are in touch with being. And then people get addicted to certain activities. And if they're dangerous activities. And you never know how much anything could happen. Now, the good news is, of course, if you enjoy certain activities of enjoy beauty in nature, it's wonderful. Just go into nature with all your senses alive and take in it frees. You can also, if you're alert, it can free you from the problematic thinking mind can free you from yourself. And you take in the incredible aliveness that's all around you, and you go in a state of astonishment and wonder. I think it was Plato or was it, well, Plato or Socrates who said philosophy begins with wonder or astonishment. You go, and what is wonder or astonishment? One astonishment. You're not thinking and you're not even trying to think. You're just aware and you're aware of it. There's a depth. You're not just aware of what's on the surface of sensory perception. You're aware of something that is deeper than sensory perception. The intense aliveness that's behind all phenomena. All phenomena of nature, but ultimately all phenomena, whatever we perceive is a surface dimension of reality. There's something far deeper hiding behind the surface dimension of reality. So you take in nature and you go, wow. Oh. So nature can free you temporarily if you don't mistake the thing that you think frees you, is not it? It frees you from your mind. And because it frees you from habitual or obsessive compulsive thinking. Addictive. Obsessive compulsive. These are three good words to describe most people's mind activity. Addictive. Obsessive compulsive. Dreadful. It frees you from that. And because it frees you from that, you suddenly feel good. Now, how do you feel good? What does it mean? There's a deep sense of connectedness with. Let's return for a moment to the ripple. Because we forgot about the ripple, hadn't come to the end of the story of the ripple yet. Because so far the ripple is unhappy. Because it lives on the surface of the ocean. At some point, the ripple becomes so dissatisfied with what it can find on the surface of the ocean, it comes to a stop and it goes, ah. And it suddenly becomes aware there's more to it than it had thought. There's more to it than meets the eye, so to speak. Because what meets the eye is the surface phenomena of reality. Sensory perception is there. So there's more to it than meets the eye. The ripple suddenly becomes aware that. Oh, but it cannot define what this more is. It goes, oh. It begins to realize that it's actually forever connected to and one with the ocean. And that's an enormous realization and liberation for the ripple. Wow. And then perhaps the ripple is able to remain in connectedness with that sense of beingness or presence. Even when it continues its rebel existence on the surface, it still operates as a rebel. And yet no longer in the state of continuous fear, anxiety, dissatisfaction, regret, irritation, and all the things that make up people's lives and life situation. Very, very unsatisfactory, not pleasant at all. And it can then begin to even enjoy its ripple existence on the surface of things. Because the neediness is gone. The neediness of needing some kind of satisfaction, ultimate satisfaction on the level of surface reality of the surface of the ocean. And the strange paradox is, or irony is that once you. Because you are the ripple, once you find the connectedness with being, the surface existence of the surface I Becomes a more satisfying experience. Because the neediness is gone. You do still do things, create things. You are active. You. You still acquire new things. You learn new things, new skills, more knowledge. You have experiences, you have relationships, you travel. You experience a new place. You continue to explore the sensory realm. But it becomes a much more satisfying place because you are not looking to it for ultimate satisfaction. That's a wonderful liberation. And you realize ultimate satisfaction is inseparable, actually, from the present moment.