Eckhart Tolle explains how accepting death dissolves ego and opens you to a dimension beyond the physical body. He traces this idea through memento mori in medieval art, Buddhist concepts of the deathless, and Christian resurrection, arguing that suffering itself becomes a path to awakening. Treating every circumstance as spiritual practice leads to the alert stillness that is your true nature.
Approaching death is something also that is a wonderful possibility of realizing that which is beyond death, that which is beyond form, both psychological form and the physical form. And all of us will sooner or later be faced with death when it comes. It won't be tomorrow, it'll come one day, it'll be today. Now, people in this world say, oh, don't think about death, it'll come anyway, you don't make yourself miserable, don't think about it. I don't think that is the best solution. The fact that you as this physical form are impermanent is very important. And that makes it more difficult to be deluded as to the importance of your egoic self and the importance of your physical form and your physical appearance. They knew that in ancient times, and if you look at old medieval paintings, European medieval paintings, they have often people in a room on the desk, on the table, on the windowsill, you see a human skull. And that many people had that at the time. It was called memento mori, the memory of death. In other words, remember that you are mortal as this vehicle. There is something deeper that the Buddhists call Amara, which translates as the deathless, no death, deathless, amara. And the deathless realm is what Jesus calls eternal life. Same thing, Jesus uses a positive term, Buddhism always uses a negative term. It denies the illusion. Jesus can be a bit more encouraging and stimulating, because eternal life points to this dimension within you that you can find. You can find this dimension that is not subject to decay, which is the physical. And the Buddha says the deathless is the same thing expressed in negative terms. In the same way that Buddha's teaching is meant to bring about the end of suffering, and Buddha says, I teach suffering and the end of suffering, which means I show you how suffering arises, which means through egoic unconsciousness. I show you how suffering arises and I show you how suffering can end by awakening, by Buddha awaken. So I teach suffering. And what is the essential image of the Christian religion? Even if you're not a Christian, you can appreciate that there is actually a deep significance to the central image of Christianity, which is the crucifixion on the cross, which is an image of ultimate suffering. So Jesus as the archetype of all humans It shows you the destiny of suffering and the potential of suffering leading to transcendence, which is resurrection. So the cross is a torture instrument, obviously horrible, but at the same time there's a dual nature to the cross, which is it's a symbol for the divine. So it points to something that one most humans would not understand if you talked about it, if you explained it in words, but the image contains a deep truth about the purpose and function of suffering and where it eventually can lead. It leads you then beyond suffering. So they all point to the same, and it's all very simple. Use whatever life gives you as part of your spiritual practice, and so that you don't complain about the world and people anymore. Allow the world to awaken you. Allow the world to bring you to presence, and that's what it's here for. So this is the ultimate purpose, but again, it comes back to the ability to access within yourself this dimension of alert, still presence, where being is there. This is the dimension.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
