Eckhart Tolle delivers a spoken teaching arguing that the ordinary sense of self—the egoic identity—is largely a mental image composed from identifications with the body, gender, race, possessions, status, clothing, and time. He explains how these identifications require an 'other' to define themselves and how being bound to time (growth then decay) produces suffering. Tolle connects this view to Buddhist and Christian teachings (the Buddha; Jesus’ instruction to 'deny thyself') and asserts there is a deeper, non-personal awareness accessible beyond the conditioned self; the personal self may remain but ceases to be all-consuming.
Chapters
That identity that people carry around with is ultimately an illusion. There is something deeper that is beyond that. Identification with body image. Identification with body, which is of the many identifications that make up the personality, the person, the self, I would say probably starts with the body. The body obviously you consider to be this, my body, me. And you identify with the body. But of course, ultimately it's not the body. It's a mental image of body. Everything is a mental image. You don't even know where there's anything out there at all. It could just be a creation of your mind. But let's not go that way right now. There is a. And you identify obviously with your body. Body becomes part of the self. Self image. And the body is young or old. Could be young or old. It could. And it's male or female. That's already another important identification. You're man or woman. Well, nowadays there are many other possibilities, but we don't need to go into that. Let's say you're a man or woman. I'm old fashioned. So you're a man or woman and that becomes part of your identity to some degree is almost unavoidable that you feel being a man or being a woman becomes part of your sense of self. And again, it's a. It's ultimately a mental an image. In some cultures, being a man or a woman is even more important than in our cultures here, the very traditional cultures. Then for some people, being a man becomes like almost 80% of their identity is that they are a man. And the same applies to the woman. And in some ancient cultures, patriarchal cultures, for example, being a man immediately gives you a feeling of super superiority over 50% of the other humans who are not a man. That's interesting. So if you have nothing to show for it in your life, but at least you're superior to 50% of the never done anything much. Maybe very, very stupid. Sorry, stupid is politically incorrect. I won't say that. Of low intern. I don't know, maybe you can't even say that. But you're superior. You're a man, I'm a man. That's a big chunk of your identity in some ways, but. And then you have other. Then of course you have the color of your skin. Inevitably it becomes part of your sense of self because there are others who have a different skin color. So it inevitably is part of the sense of identity. But your sense of identity, this is all egoic identity. Then you have the skin and then you have things you put on your body, which is the clothes you wear, that becomes part of your identity too. In many cases. Then it becomes things that you possessions that you own, you identify with those. That becomes part mental baggage that becomes part of your. You have this. But it only works because other people don't have it. If everybody has the same thing, it no longer can strengthen your fictitious sense of self. If you have a. If you drive a Ferrari. And that enhances your sense of self, your egoic self, which is a thought formula, nothing else. You have the environment. It only works because most people don't have it. But if 80, at the age of 18 or 21, the government. The government gave every human a Ferrari as a gift, it would be meaningless. It could not help you in strengthening your sense. Fictitious sense of identity. Same thing with race. Obviously there's always the other in this sense of identity. You define yourself by looking at the others who are other than you. So this sense of identity, egoic identity always needs, desperately needs the other for its self definition. Let's imagine you wake up one day. Let's imagine that your race, which is inevitable. I'm not questioning that. I'm not saying don't identify with yours. We are observing how this structure works. Works. Let's say your race is an important part of your identity, which could be. And so a science fiction scenario, you wake up one morning and you find yourself on a planet or the same planet. But suddenly every human being is exactly the same race and skin color as you, exactly the same. If that your race was an important part of your identity, suddenly it becomes completely meaningless because the other isn't there anymore. So the egoic sense of identity needs the other for its self definition. So always, whether it's possessions, whether it is status in society, which you must have higher status than others, the clothes you wear, body image. Is your body stronger or better looking than others? Then that great that works until. Until it doesn't. Because time tends to erode your body. You may not have noticed yet, but you will. Time. If something does something to your body, gradually you don't. And one day you look in the mirror and you say what happened? And then if you have enough money, you can spend money on repairs. And it works as long as you don't smile too much. But eventually time will catch up. And eventually time, the very thing that you loved so much, that the very thing that for a long time in your life, time is the thing that makes everything possible. Time enables you to grow. Yes, it's great. Time enables you to acquire knowledge to enable you to Achieve this or that. Time enables you to get stronger. All this is wonderful. Time gives you all that and then it takes it away. So first time is your friend, and then something happens. Time becomes your enemy. So you're, you're trapped in time. If you're trapped in time, you're also trapped in this, the entire egoic identity that is part of that. And you will encounter suffering. Everybody is. Has a fatal illness. We could call that time. Eventually it'll kill you. Sooner or later it'll kill you. Oh my God, that's bad news. So very. We have an identity that is intimately bound up with time. And. What is the way out of what I've just been describing? This self, the sense of self that is derived from the story making of your mind, Is there anything beyond that? Is there a dimension that is deeper than this self, this person that you are here for a little while. Everybody has a history and you are a person. You are a conditioned entity. Is there anything beyond this conditioned entity? The self. The Buddha calls it the self and he another. Other than the fact of suffering, another important part of his teaching is the ultimate unreality of that self, the ultimate unreality of that self, which was also Jesus teaching. But it's usually overlooked by churches and theologians because Jesus said literally. Here's another little quote that he, I'm sure he actually said literally. He said, deny thyself. Oh, I thought the Buddha said that it was actually Jesus. Deny thyself means. What does it mean? What is the point in denying yourself? If yourself is actually real, if it has a substantial ultimate reality, then to deny something that is real wouldn't make sense. So. But deny thyself. He said that because he agrees with the Buddha that that identity that people carry around and with is ultimately an illusion. There is something deeper that is beyond that. So when Jesus says deny thyself, what is really meaning is recognize the unreality of yourself. That's what is deny yourself. Recognize it. Ultimately, this is not who or what you are. Yes, it has a certain function here. It is a part of you. You are on the level of form, physical form, and psychological form. This is why I call it your form identity. Everybody has one. You have a body that's the physical form and you have a mental form which is you, you as this person that you can think about and talk about. And it has its emotions that go with that, conditioned by the past. Whatever happened to you in the past conditions you to become this particular person. Is there anything beyond that conditioned entity? And here we come to the realization that there is. It is possible to go deeper where you. Your sense of who you are goes beyond this personal sense of self. The personal sense of self is still there, but it is no longer all consuming. Sam.
