Eckhart Tolle teaches about the nature and power of the present moment (the "Now"), distinguishing between impermanent external forms (events, recognition, objects) and an unchanging formless consciousness that is the true essence of who we are. He argues that life is always experienced only as the present moment, and that recognizing the timeless space of consciousness prevents clinging to changing forms and their promised fulfillment.
Chapters
What really is powerful and beautiful is not the external form. It's something that's arising in you. That's the essence of the. Forms dissolve quickly, as the Buddha realized already, and you can verify in your experience things come and go. This retreat, there's a form, the external form of the retreat, the place, this room, the people coming together, it's beautiful. But what really is powerful and beautiful is not the external form. It's something that's arising in you. That's the essence of this and that is timeless. So nothing really important is coming to an end. That which really matters is there in you. And so the scenery changes as the body moves away. Today, tomorrow, next week. There's always something that remains unchanging, and that's consciousness itself. We could call it the present moment. It's always the now that doesn't change. You can be sure that your life, your life is always now. And the now in essence is who you are because it's the space for everything. Everything unfolds in the now, and it's inseparable from who you are. So ultimately, in the depths of it, what we call the now is the space of consciousness, the formless, the unborn. And that's why we can talk about the power of now. And as you may have heard me say before once or twice, the now is not what happens. That's the surface of the now, but it's not the now. People confuse, usually in ordinary existence, people confuse the now with what happens in the now. And therefore, they say every day consists of many, many moments, many present moments. That's how it looks when you think the now is what happens. But if you look more closely, which in other words means in your immediate experience, you will see that your life does not consist of many moments. It's only when you go into thinking and then you remember there were past moments, I had breakfast this morning, and so on. But in your. That's your immediate experience is always only of this moment. Your life is always only this moment. So that one can't really argue with, because it's so obviously true. So although we think life consists of many moments, that's because we confuse the now with what happens in the now. That of course changes continuously. That's what the Buddha refers to as the fact of impermanence. And that's what the pre Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, or Heraclitus, who lived about the same time as the Buddha 500 or so years bc he had this famous saying. I believe in Greek it's pantare which means everything flows. And he said, you cannot step into the same river twice because everything is different water. So everything is continuous flux. He saw that as the essence of all life, which is true on the surface of things. But if you go deeper within, you have two dimensions. You have the flux of birth and death, coming and going of forms. And you find the place within that actually is an unchanging presence or space. And that is the true meaning of now. And that's the only place where anything can happen. There was actually another philosopher who lived shortly. I don't know, shortly after. Shortly before Heraclitus, who said the exact opposite. He said, nothing ever changes. It's an illustration. Change is an illusion. They are both right. So if you can be. In the essence of who you are, and then from there you deal with the world of form, which continuously changes. So if you can sense within you that still presence, that's the essence and that's the now you become the space for whatever arises. Then you don't need to cling to the forms, but you appreciate them. But you don't need to cling and say, I need to have this thing, that or whatever form it is. It could be also totally abstract. I need to have recognition. People need to recognize me as important. They're all thought forms. I need somebody to understand me. Thought forms. I need you to understand me. Otherwise I can't be fulfilled. My parents need to understand me. It's just a thought. They don't just imagine. These people who need to understand you suddenly say, yes, now I understand you. Oh, okay. It looks when it's not there, it looks it's going to be some great fulfillment. When you look to a form that isn't here yet. And when you project, you think, when it comes, then I'll be fulfilled. When it actually does come, you go, oh, I need to be famous, become famous. When it actually does come, you say, oh, is that what it entails? All that stuff that didn't complete me? Let's think of something else. I want to become a hermit now.
