In this talk Eckhart Tolle explains that unhappiness (dukkha) is the default state of most humans, arising from identification with an involuntary, conditioned mind that constantly generates thoughts of lack, irritation, and longing. He illustrates how external attempts to escape—winning the lottery, falling in love, drinking alcohol or using drugs—only provide brief, fleeting relief because the underlying mental identification remains unchanged. Tolle emphasizes that the inability to be fully present in the now, to feel at home in the present moment, keeps people trapped in a perpetual sense of discontent. He links this condition to the Buddhist teaching of dukkha, noting that suffering inevitably re‑emerges regardless of circumstances. Tolle also uses Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial as a literary embodiment of this existential unease, showing how great literature can reflect the same inner dysfunction. Finally, he observes that this dysfunctional state of consciousness has been increasing over the centuries, suggesting a cultural widening of the problem. The core message is that ending unhappiness requires recognizing and disidentifying from the conditioned mind rather than seeking external fixes.
Chapters
Even in a beautiful city like Prague, seemingly, although it may be surprising, even in this beautiful city, it is possible to be unhappy. How is that possible? Such a beautiful city. For many humans, they don't realize they are tortured by their own minds. They have an unhappy identity, and they feel most of the time, if not unhappy. They feel discontent, unease, irritated, resentful, angry. There's always something. And so they perceive the world through that conditioning, and so they experience themselves as an unhappy entity. The identity of humans, many humans is a predominantly unhappy one. Occasional moments when you feel okay physically, you've had a good meal, you begin to think less. And it's always when thinking diminishes, you begin to feel a little better. But in most cases, humans are moving below thinking. Their level of consciousness becomes lower than thinking. Alcohol can do it too. Have a glass, feel a little better. Have a second glass, feel even better, and you're not thinking that much anymore. And then if the second glass is better, the third one must be even better. And many humans drink alcohol or other drugs to experience these moments of becoming free of themselves, free of the self. This is unhappy person, this entity. But they don't realize that the unhappiness is created and sustained mostly by involuntary and unconscious thinking. And so they're longing. All humans are longing to become free of the self, as the Buddha would talk about it, to become free of this. This unhappy entity, the me which humans carry as a burden. They carry this burden of their personality, which is never happy for very long. There's always something missing here. There's always something not quite right here. They cannot relax fully into the now. They're not at home where they are. They never feel they have arrived. Brief moments. Yes, I have arrived. For example, you win the lottery. All my problems are solved now. No more problems arise, probably more than you had before, or you fall in love. That's it. I found the person who is going to make me happy. And then you start living together. And then, oh, something went wrong again. The lottery win was supposed to make me happy. Falling in love was supposed to make me happy. And it did, for brief moments. Certain period of the honeymoon was nice. And then you live together and daily life begins. So humans carry this as part of their identity without knowing it. They carry this burden of what the Buddha called dukkha, which is usually translated as suffering. But dukkha, the Buddha said, wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever situation you find yourself in, sooner or later, and usually sooner. By the way, that's a free translation of the Buddha Sooner than later, and probably sooner, you will encounter dukkha. Suffering will appear again, no matter where you go. Move house, find a new job, move to another country, exchange relationship. Another way of putting it, of course, is dukkha is suffering. Or we can use the term unhappiness. It's a generic term. Unhappiness can manifest itself in many, many forms. And many humans don't even know that they are unhappy because it's their normal state. Their normal state is to be in a state of discontent or stress, or in the background, this continuous irritation, and they're looking for the next problem. Wherever they go, they will encounter, oh, that's not right, then, an inability to be in the present moment and feel at home in it without needing to arrive at some future moment. And this is very, very important. And this has been increasing, this dysfunctional state in human beings has been increasing over the centuries. I saw here. There's a Franz Kafka museum. And when I saw it, I haven't been there yet, but I saw it on the map and I remembered many, many years ago, I was reading the novels of Franz Kafka, and. They express that state of consciousness, that is the state of threat or continuous unease. There is something wrong here, but I don't know what it is. In the Trial, the novel, he is accused of something, having done something, but nobody knows what. Even the judges that he goes to don't know what exactly his crime is. There is something deeply wrong, but I don't know what it is. This is in the beauty. This is by such great literature, in the novels you read, that symbolically, if you could paraphrase the entire novel, you would say there is something very wrong, but I don't know what it is, and I don't feel at home in this world. I feel as though I didn't belong here. I'm going to reread Kafka soon. It's so beautifully, wonderfully expressed, and a lot of it was probably experienced by himself. Great authors ultimately talk about their own life experience. And you see, even in a beautiful city like Prague, seemingly, although it may be surprising, even in this beautiful city, it is possible to be unhappy. How is that possible? Such a beautiful city, wherever you go, you carry with you the conditioning of your mind. So that is, again, we could call that a dysfunctional state of consciousness. And the reason for this is that humans are completely identified with the conditioned mind, the conditioned mental, emotional entity, and they don't know anything else.
