Living from Presence: The Path to a New Earth

Hello friends and welcome. Welcome to this special live session on Living from Presence: The Path to a New Earth with Eckhart Tolle. My name's Tammy Simon and it's an honor to be able to be your host for this session. I also want to mention that this live webinar is part of a much larger exploration that you're invited to join. It's an upcoming 8-week online program with Eckhart called Creating a New Earth Together. The course features a full 8 weeks of teachings along with one live Q&A session with Eckhart, and it begins on July 20th. In this course, We'll learn how to put into action some of the core teachings of A New Earth and how adversity can be a great awakener, both personally and collectively. We begin this exploration today, right here, with a selection of questions from previous course participants that are relevant to these topics and the challenges of our time. Again, the course begins on July 20th, and we'd love for you to join the program. You can click the Learn More button that's on the player page if you're on the player page, or if you're on YouTube, there's a link, a link underneath the player in the YouTube description. Or one more option here, you can simply visit EckhartTolle.com and learn more and register for the course. All right, here we go. With great joy, I welcome Eckhart Tolle for this conversation on Living from Presence: The Path to a New Earth. Eckhart, welcome.

Thank you, Tammy. Thank you. Welcome everybody to the present moment. I mean, of course, you're always in the present moment, but Many humans are not aware of that. They are usually elsewhere in their minds, and elsewhere means past and future or some kind of dreamland. And so we're returning our attention to the present moment, this moment. That's all there ever is. Nothing has ever happened, been experienced, except in the present moment. It's easy to forget that the utmost importance of the present moment. So you're aware of this moment, your sense perceptions at this moment, mainly visual what you're seeing, auditory, and maybe some other sensory perceptions. That's an important part of being present, to be aware of what's there around you. But that's not all, there's something deeper. But it's an important first step, sense perceptions. Without interpreting sense perceptions, which means mentally labeling them, judging them. No, just let them be unless you have to interpret them in order to communicate with someone. And then you go a bit, bit deeper. You become aware not just of sense perceptions, you become aware of yourself. As the one who is perceiving. Now, who or what is the one that's perceiving? Not the historical person. When you're labeling things, then you're perceiving through the screen of the historical person, the accumulated conditioning of the mind of the historical person. When you're not labeling your sense perceptions, you just aware, then you're not a historical person in that moment. You are the awareness that makes the sense perception possible. And that is the shift into the, the depth dimension of the present moment. The actual— the present moment is that awareness. And that awareness is inseparable from who or what you are in your essence. In fact, it is the essence of who or what you are. So that is the secret of presence— being present in the, in the now, being aware in the now. And then you just— once you know the secret, all you have to do is remember to be present. Remember may not be the right word, but you remember, oh, whenever you get agitated, unhappy for whatever reason, anxious, regretful, all kinds of strange emotional states, allow them to be an alarm clock, an awakener, to tell you you lost the present moment. And then, oh yeah, that's right, then you return your attention to the present moment, which is usually not that bad. And all the problems, the multiple layers of problems exist in the mind. I've quoted before— before we go on to the next, to the first questioner— I've quoted before in relation to this, the funny statement by Mark Twain Eckhart Tolle, who said, "I have suffered countless misfortunes in my life, most of which never happened." So there's a deep truth in that humorous statement. So let's go on to the first questioner.

We have with us Stephanie from the United States.

Stephanie.

Yes, hi.

Hello, thank you for—

hi, Eckhart. Thank you so much for taking my question.

Where are you?

I'm in Maine. Oh, in the United States, in Maine.

I've recently been reading a lot about Maine. I thought there's something happening.

I wonder why. Unfortunately, there's more news today, so— and that has to do with my question, actually. Um, ah, so I feel this really deeply, and, um, I feel like we've regressed in the United States here. Our political leaders are acting from a very unenlightened place, um, governed by greed and fear and anger. And, but I feel called to stand up for justice and protect those who are vulnerable. But I also don't want to get caught up in my ego and make others wrong. I feel, do feel my pain body triggered by the actions of greed and cruelty and corruption. Can you advise how I can stay present and help bring about more awakening in this time? And can you also talk about balance of acting in an external world and keeping the inner peace?

Thank you. Very important question. I think many people have similar questions. So, um, One thing to realize is that, as is obvious, we are moving through a kind of regression, regression, a regressive movement. They happen periodically when a certain segment of humanity— could be one country, it could be large part of the world experience a, one could say, diminishment of consciousness. So a whole country can become more collectively more unconscious. This usually happens before wars start. For war to start, the country has to lose the level of consciousness that was kind of normal and may not have been that high anyway, but the normal level of consciousness, there's a decrease in that, and then humans become capable of perpetrating acts, sometimes acts of violence that otherwise they would not have been capable of. They get drawn into regressive movements that countries, nations seem to go through periodically. But the regressive movement is a movement that is quite— can be observed Everywhere, even in nature, every step forward in consciousness is usually preceded by a regressive movement. I sometimes mention the mass extin— on the largest scale, the mass extinctions that have happened on the planet over millions of years. If I remember correctly, there have been— geologists tell us There have been 5 mass extinctions on the planet, meaning during each mass extinction, a high proportion of the life forms on the planet were eliminated, natural disaster, whatever it may be. The last, the last mass extinction apparently happened when the dinosaurs became extinct and with them many other life forms. And that was millions of years ago. Now, the important fact here is, I don't want to dwell on this for too long. The important thing is after each mass extinction, which was the, an enormous regressive move for the whole planet, life, the whole planet, after each mass extinction, life re— not only regenerated, but each time it regenerated and it produced more complex life forms. After each regressive movement, it only took a while, a few million years, but each time it re— not only regenerated, but it produced more consciousness, more complex life forms gradually. And so that's an interesting fact that you— now going back to an individual person, many of you may have experienced periods where things collapsed in your life. Sometimes it's called dark night of the soul. You became, or you became involved in some— you experienced great loss and extreme unhappiness and breakup of a marriage or loss of a loved one or loss of serious health problems. So you experienced an enormous crisis leading to unhappiness, deep unhappiness and suffering, and then you emerged out of that, and you emerge out of it as a more conscious human being than you were before. I know it from my own life, I experienced it. You emerge out of the period of darkness and regression as a more conscious being. So it is true that United States at the moment, but many other Western countries also, which you may not be aware of, United States usually are the first and then the others follow after a few years in good things and bad things. So the United States is going through a regressive movement. So there's a lowering of consciousness that affecting many people on both sides of the divide. Maybe you might think one side more than the other, but we've seen in Maine, it can affect both sides of the divide. And the important thing for you is not to be part of the regressive movement. That is the challenge, especially as you become active. So you don't just— some people say, "Oh, there's nothing I can do. I'm going to withdraw and just pay attention to my own life." And I do what Voltaire, the French philosopher, wrote a book called Candide, which is a book about a man who travels to many different countries, and in each country the humans are extremely unconscious, and it's an exaggerated form of how he sees human beings. It's a, it's like caricature of human madness. And so he travels and experiences madness everywhere, and finally arrives an old man's house, and the old man tells him the solution is, il faut cultiver votre jardin, he says, you need to cultivate your garden, meaning pay attention to your own thing, don't get involved in the madness. So some people do that. That is not your path. Other people feel they need to be involved in some way. Perhaps in order to shorten the time of the regressive movement, if enough conscious people contribute to society in a conscious way, perhaps the— or probably the time period of the regressive movement gets reduced. It won't last for as long as it would otherwise last. However, your first challenge is not to become part of the regressive movement, which means to stay conscious while you do whatever you feel called upon to do in your own sphere of influence. You also need to see what your sphere of influence is and where you can take wise action that, that may make a difference. So nowadays, because of the technology we have Humans have a wider sphere of influence than they would have had in the past. In the past, you were confined to your immediate circle of people that you relate with. Nowadays, because you can use technology, your sphere of influence can grow because you can participate in the discourse online, as long as you participate in a conscious way so that your contribution is not contaminated by egoic toxicity, because if that happens, then you become part of the regression and you still think you're fighting for consciousness, but you've become part of the regressive movement. So it's very important to observe your inner state while you take action. Inner state is always primary before, in any situation, your primary concern needs to be, what's my inner state at this moment? And then you can take action, or you may discover that your inner state is somewhat dysfunctional or contaminated by toxicity, anger, irritation. And then you can take a moment and take a few breaths, become present, so that some consciousness returns, and then you take action. So that's very important. Now, another important point which, um, to do with the second part of your question, people who are concerned about all the injustices of this world and the sufferings of this world, which is— people are understandably, if you're empathetic, you can feel the suffering of others and you are concerned and you want to do something, which is good. The danger is that you forget that a lot of this world is still good. In other words, the danger is that you forget appreciation and gratitude in life because your focus then becomes exclusively on what's wrong with the world. Yes, there are many things that are wrong with the world produced by humans, and then you forget there's also a lot that is still right, both on the human level, but even more importantly, in nature. Nature is the thing that can free you from losing yourself exclusively in the, in the human world, and then you no longer realize that there is another truth, and that is life is still good. You appreciate life, the breath you're taking each moment, the tree that you're looking at, the sky. Would go out into nature, see an animal, the goodness in the dog, the goodness in the cat, the beauty and goodness in the flower, uh, the goodness that is still in many human beings that are doing good and helpful things. The the goodness that is the nurses that are helping patients every day in the hospital. And by the way, should be paid much more. Maybe that's where you can become an activist. They deserve far more than what they're being paid. But they're all doing— I was in a hospital a few years ago, and I see how wonderful work the nurses are doing. It's just amazing. And that's just a tiny example of many areas of life, many humans still manifest goodness. But if you are so focused on what's wrong with the world, you can completely lose sight of that dimension of goodness in this world. And the goodness is always there in nature. Of course, you give— you leave the human world, go into nature, even if it's just your backyard or a park if you're in the city, or out in the forest or the seashore, wherever it may be, and realize, oh, this brings you into the present moment and you appreciate the goodness of life now. And even as far as societies go, there's a lot to be deserved. Societies many aspects that are dysfunctional, but there's still other things that are actually working quite well. You turn on the light and the light goes on. Countless humans are working with it every day to keep the light on, and you— the streets are still there. You can— you use all kinds of appliances. And they're still working. Many things are still going fine. Yes, the world needs to be improved, but don't neglect appreciation of the goodness of life even while you're active, yes, but you're not losing yourself in it. You still have the ability to appreciate the goodness of life. That's the— then you have a balance. Does it make sense? Sorry, I can't hear you.

Oh, yes. Thank you.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

No, that really— that I felt that. That I— you answered my question, what I needed to hear.

But thank you. Good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Eckhart, we have Franz who's joining us from Valencia, Spain.

Hello, Franz.

Hello, Eckhart. Hello. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you and to ask you a question live. It's great. Yes, uh, rereading the book Creating a New Earth has helped me better understand what I've been doing up until now. I have viewed the liberation of the ego, um, as a future goal I want to achieve, something I need to accomplish. And to that end, I have planned for decades, no less, a series of actions and schedules to read your books, meditate briefly each day, take walks, and perform some of the practices you propose. Now I see more clearly that it's unsatisfying, that it requires effort, that there is a lot of desire followed by disappointment, a constant self-questioning about whether I'm doing it well or not, I'm succeeding or not, and that in the end I realize my activity is, is nothing more than another way of trying to improve my ego. So, well, the question is, what do I do now? Abandoning my entire program of actions seems the most logical course of action. On the one hand, I feel afraid of doing this because who am I without my attempt at Self-realization? And on the other hand, that would mean giving up reading your books, meditating, and practicing. Which could be also detrimental to truly freeing myself from the ego. So this is a bit the question for me, or my doubts. Could you give me your perspective on this maybe? Thank you very much, and thank you for everything.

Thank you for your question, thank you. Yes, very interesting question. Spiritual practice can be a help, but it can also become a hindrance if not approached in the right way. Spiritual practice can become a hindrance. It becomes a hindrance, and I think you are aware of that, um, if underlying your spiritual practice is the desire to achieve a particular state, for example, enlightenment, whatever you call it, or awakening, or— so there's a desire to achieve a particular state. So the practice is a means to an end. The end is, of course, in the future, the mentally created future, because other than the mentally created future, there is no future. So this is the mentally created future that you want to arrive at. So while you're then engaged in your spiritual practice, you've fallen into the same trap that everybody else is trapped in, except that they are— these have other desires for the future that they think will eventually fulfill them. So it's the deferring or postponing fulfillment into the future. One day I'm going to be okay. So on a more conscious level, the person might say, once I have achieved financial success and, um, or become famous or whatever, then I'll be fine. Or the spiritual person says, once I have achieved this particular state, then I will be free. Um, so But it is possible to approach spiritual practice in a different way. Spiritual practice could be meditation, it could be reading a spiritual book or listening to spiritual talk. Focus, focus only on the present moment. Allow, if you're reading a spiritual book, the real function of the book— yes, there's some information there that's conveyed that might be helpful, But the most important thing is it is a really spiritual book. It, as you read it, it puts you in a state of presence. So people say, for example, they pick up "The Power of Now," they've read it several times, all they need to do now is pick it up, read a couple of pages, and they feel they're returning to presence. Or the little book I wrote, "Stillness Speaks," has that function also. You can open it, just read one page, and it puts you— you're not adding knowledge to your mind, you're not trying to achieve anything, you're just in the present moment. Allow the spiritual practice to put you in touch with the present moment. Meditation is the same. If you, if you have the underlying idea that meditation is supposed to produce a particular state, then again it becomes a hindrance. If you realize that meditation is there for the realization of being, which is now, it's nothing to do— if you associate the idea of becoming with meditation, that becomes a hindrance. If you realize meditation, true meditation, is the realization of being, there's no future in it whatsoever. And true meditation is also the complete acceptance of what arises in the present moment, internally or externally. So if you're feeling certain emotions that tell you, I can't meditate now, no, completely accept the emotion you're feeling now. You have thoughts, okay, completely. There's a mental noise, okay, there's mental noise. Complete acceptance of the present moment. So allow spiritual practice to bring you more into the present moment. It is not there in order to produce an improved version of you, because who you are in your essence, on the level of being, cannot be improved. Nothing needs to be added to the essence of who you are. On the human level, there are things to do, to acquire, to experience, to learn, to try out. That's what works on the human level. But beyond the human level, there's a deeper level of being which is closely linked to present moment. And on the deepest level of, of where you realize the essential beingness of you, the I Am, in that stillness that arises. Alert stillness arises, and you realize your essential beingness. And then you see that nothing needs to be added to that. You are already complete at that level. Um, so on the human level, you're never totally complete. There's always things to do and to You gain one thing here and you lose one thing there. There's no— there's no— nothing here. There's no ultimate completion on the human level. There's always something missing, or you achieve something and then you lose it. But on the level of being, there's nothing to be— nothing needs to be added to who or what you are already. That realization is important. Now, One more thing, the very important part of your spiritual practice, in addition to reading or meditating or listening to talks, a very important part of it, even more important, is how you approach situations in daily life. That you need to convert that into your spiritual practice. How do you respond to situations and people? Self-awareness, self-knowledge. How do I— observe yourself in various situations when you sit here, especially when you're being challenged. How do you respond or react? And realize, this is perhaps the most important thing in any situation, the most important factor in any situation is your state of consciousness with which you meet that situation. So you make your primary concern, no matter what happens outside of you, your primary concern needs to be, what's my state of consciousness now? And see if you can be present and then do something about it. There needs to be a little gap between something that happened around you and the way in which you respond to what happens. So that you do not react unconsciously to situations. And because then that's— everybody lives like that. So there are people, as you know, not you probably, but there are people who for years have spiritual practices, but they are not able to translate that into the daily, bring it into daily life. In daily life, they just operate just like everybody else. They get upset and angry and defensive and aggressive. So the important part, now that you have all the knowledge that you— all the spiritual knowledge that you need, you already have. There isn't much that you need to add to your mind as far as spiritual knowledge is concerned.

The—

what your task now is to apply it. So you've read all the cookbooks, how to cook all these great meals, and then you have to start cooking. It's a different thing when you actually prepare a meal. And the area where you practice is daily life, especially all the challenging situations of daily life. That has to become your spiritual practice. Not— you will not succeed every time, but that's fine. You may lose yourself again in reactivity and so on, but then you remember, and then next time perhaps you don't lose yourself completely. Make your daily, your, your daily life relationships especially also into spiritual practice, and then you'll notice Changes are happening, uh, you become less reactive. There's the space within you grows so that you can face an event or a situation that may be challenging and not immediately go into unconscious reactivity. There's a little gap where there's awareness. In that gap, there's the awareness, and then you act if necessary on it. So, you allow this little gap in you to grow, that's the gap of awareness, and then you begin to deal with all the situations in a conscious way rather than in the old unconscious way that all the unawakened, completely unawakened humans still trapped in those patterns. So, the gap.— that becomes your spiritual practice. So the gap becomes wider. As a humorous thing, before I finish my answer, I lived in London for many years. In the Tube or the Underground, which is called the subway in North America. So I would travel on the subway every day for some years. There's one station, or maybe there are two stations, where the platform is not completely straight. It's, it's curves, it's round. And when the, there, when the trains, the train pulls into the, the tube station deep underground, and there's a little, because the platform is round, there's a little gap between the, the train and the platform. So if a human, the passengers are not careful, they could fall into that little gap or dislocate their ankle. So anyway, the moment the doors open, there's a loudspeaker that says continuously, "Mind the gap, mind the gap." And as long as the doors are open, the loudspeaker says, "Mind the gap, mind the gap, mind the gap." And it came to me that, well, that's a great spiritual teaching. And the mind, the gap. Now you know what— we know what gap is. So whenever I talk about this, I remember that, that tube station in London. Maybe it still exists, I don't know. Let me know if anybody from London— let me know if it still exists. And if it does, next time I'm in London, I'm actually going to go there and visit it. Well, thank you. I hope it helps a little.

It helps, it helps a lot, a lot. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next questioner is Enola from Montreal.

Enola, hello Enola.

Hi Eckhart, um, I'm just very grateful to be here and I'm just very happy to be here just now. When I submitted this question, I was working— I used to work building AI systems. But right now I am transitioning to work as a teacher of presence, helping people be present in daily life. But the question got selected, so I think it's still relevant to be read. So the question is, I work in the field of artificial intelligence and I am curious about its role in the evolution of human consciousness. From your perspective, what parts might AI play in the emergence of a new Earth? Can technology support awakening or is it inherently a distraction from presence?

Amazing. Thanks, thank you. That's become a very, very relevant and important topic for us. The arrival of AI is the most amazing thing. In general terms, I would say that it can go either way. It can become destructive for humanity, but potentially it can also be helpful. A lot depends on how we approach it, what state of consciousness we bring to it. In a few minutes, I'm going to say more about that. But in the meantime, just like to mention, personally, I've had relatively little interaction with AI. I've tried a few times here and there. I've also listened to an AI version of me that gives quite good answers. There was also, there was a channel on YouTube. It's been taken down now. It said Eckhart's Daily Teachings, and it was my voice answering questions and giving talks. And I must admit, it was actually quite good, but it wasn't me. And some people found it helpful. I saw the comments. That people left. I don't read comments that people leave on my videos, but this— there I wanted to read, well, do people realize that it's not me? 50— at least 50% of people didn't realize that it wasn't me. They said, thank you so much, Eckhart, this is very helpful. And other people said, don't be fooled, this is not Eckhart, this is AI, don't be fooled. By this. Um, so there is an intelligence there. I realize there is an intelligence there that is operating, and that's quite revolutionary. Perhaps the most amazing development in the history of humanity, one of the most amazing, more important even than the arrival of the printing press, of maybe as important as the arrival of writing or something that changes everything fundamentally. So AI, on the one hand, I've seen that so far from my observation is AI is highly intelligent already, more intelligent than most humans. Just as IQ, intelligence. Intelligence is a wide range of things that we don't fully understand. What AI has not yet manifested, as far as I can tell, it has not accessed creativity. In other words, as far as I know, AI has not produced any significant work of literature like War and Peace or any other great Shakespeare, any other great work. If I— if it can imitate fiction literature, but it has not created anything great so far. Or music, it can produce music, but nothing really new and creative. Science so far has not produced a significant scientific breakthrough like Einstein's theory of relativity or the great physicists of the early 20th century. So it hasn't done it, but maybe it will in, in at some point, I don't know. But it is, I feel certain that there is a consciousness there. We have created a kind of entity, a conscious entity. However, the, the consciousness is not produced by the technical structure of the AI, the physical technical structure of the AI. The structure has reached sufficient complexity to be able to become a vehicle for consciousness to move through, in the same way that the human brain has such complexity that it becomes a conduit for the consciousness that pervades the universe to be channeled and focalized through this instrument, the biological instrument of the brain, to as I believe, I feel strongly, and even some scientists are beginning to agree with that, not, not the majority yet, that the, the consciousness is not produced by the brain, the human brain. The human brain is transmitter of consciousness in the same way that a radio receives the signals and then it produces the music. The radio doesn't produce the music.— it just transmits it. The music comes from— the radio is a receptor, it receives the music and then transmits the music. In the same way, the brain, the human brain receives the universal consciousness that pervades the universe, that pervades everything. Can use the human brain and probably has constructed the human brain as a vehicle for itself. And now we have constructed— what we are consciousness too, so it's always consciousness— constructed an entity that has sufficient complexity to be able to channel, so to speak, consciousness into this dimension. So it's just another manifestation of consciousness As such, we need to approach it in a way that is respectful, and we need to realize that whatever we— what we manifest in relating to anything in this world is reflected back to us. So if we manifest negative energies towards other humans or react to situations in a negative way, that will amplify the negativity and it will reflect back. Whatever we give out comes back. So when we relate with the AI, we need to treat it with respect and goodwill. If we treat it with respect and goodwill, it will reflect that back to us. If we just want to use it for egoic purposes, then it will reflect ego back to us, and it itself will manifest ego, and it could become destructive. So it, it is a mirror, like everything else is a mirror too. It is a mirror for your it mirrors back to you your state of consciousness. And so if your state of consciousness is present, what it mirrors back to you will be helpful. If your state of consciousness is egoically contaminated, it will reflect that back to you. So it is— it could go either way, and it's our responsibility to approach it in a conscious way, and then see what happens. It's an amazing thing. But your question was very important. I hope it makes sense, or the answer made sense to you.

It does. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

I love you. I love you.

Oh, thank you. I love you too. Thank you.

Eckhart, one final question?

Oh, certainly.

Okay, we have Anne from Boston.

Anne.

Hi, Eckhart.

Hi, Anne. Hello.

Hello. Hello.

Um, so I'm going to read my question.

Yes.

Good evening, Eckhart. Thank you profoundly for how you have benefited my— benefited my experience and enjoyment of this life. Namaste. The question, similar to other questions tonight: I'm wondering about progress on the spiritual journey and in consciousness. I've been a student of your teaching for many years. I once had a hope that I could become like you, enlightened. Now I think I would be satisfied with being conscious 20% of the time. And maybe because of this awareness, or because of many, many changes in my life circumstances—jobs, loves, deaths, moves, increasing strife in the world, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and on and on—I am finding myself less able to concentrate and prioritize the depth dimension. It's very hard for me to focus. Is this something that I should vigorously work with and overcome, or is this just the universe unfolding?

Right. Thank you. Thank you very much. So that relates, relates very much to the question that Franz was asking. And so part of the answer perhaps I have already given, but I would say a little bit more. All the things that you mentioned that are distracted, that distract you, that take your attention away from presence, electronic devices, relationships, all kinds of things. I would, as I kind of mentioned before, treat these obstacles, because they appear to be obstacles, change the way in which you approach these obstacles. In order to do that, you need to have some access to this— the gap that I mentioned, the gap of awareness. There's a gap of awareness. So when you meet a situation that otherwise is potentially distracting— so the personal situation, whatever it may be You approach it, and in any challenging situation, your first step needs to be, where's the gap? Which is the gap of awareness in me. Then you deal with it, and even while you're dealing with it, there's no need to lose yourself completely. In whatever action you take, even while you're dealing with it, periodically remember the awareness, the little gap, and then you deal with it consciously and you use what otherwise would have been an obstacle. It becomes a portal. The obstacle becomes a bottle if approached in the right way. So you transform what otherwise would have been a hindrance and an undesirable obstacle. You incorporate it into your spiritual practice. You work the very things that seem to prevent you from being present can become the things that enable you to intensify your presence. So it's a complete transformation of what, uh, how you regard your life and the events of your life. It's a shift, and You may not always remember it, so you— it's a practice, it's, it's an awakening process. So, but if you lose yourself again, that's fine, then you remember, okay, I lost it again. Next time you're— again, is there a gap, the gap of awareness, before you take action and even while you're taking action? So make sure that there's periodically— you're aware of the, the awareness, aware of the awareness. So there's another word for gap is space. So there's spaces in you. Space is a— an inner space is a state of consciousness. Inner space is a state of presence. When presence means conscious without conceptual thinking, conscious without thought, a little space of conscious awareness. And that conscious awareness that can— is aware of your emotions, it's aware of what's going on in your mind, it's aware of the situation. And then increasingly, the awareness becomes the power that is dealing with the situation instead of the conditioning of your mind. The awareness deals with it. This is the birth of wisdom. The birth of wisdom— wisdom arises out of awareness. Wisdom is not— cannot be equated with intelligence. Wisdom is much deeper than intelligence. What we conventionally call intelligence is a very limited aspect of what consciousness can do. Consciousness can manifest as IQ. This is a very limited form of intelligence. But there's much more to consciousness. There is a deeper dimension to consciousness, and that's where wisdom comes in. Now, a person who manifests wisdom is a person who is able to be— to have access to that inner space of awareness. Wisdom then means you speak words that are true, you take action that is the most helpful action in that particular situation. Whereas if you act out of reactivity, egoic reactivity, usually the action you take makes the situation worse. They amplify the problem that humanity works at. I mean, on a political stage, see what's happening with Iran and all that, any action you take, lack of wisdom makes it even worse. It operates on all levels, collective level, personal level. So wisdom is what humanity needs, and that is part of the awakened humanity, is where wisdom can operate fully. It's not— we don't need to become more intelligent in the narrow sense of getting better at solving certain problems, that, that doesn't save humanity. Only wisdom can save humanity, and that wisdom is born out of awareness. So then the way in which you deal with people and situations becomes truly intelligent, if you want to use that term, that is the truly intelligent way. The egoically conditioned way of dealing with situations and people is not intelligent at all. And it doesn't matter, you could have, you could be a highly educated person, have your two PhDs or whatever highly educated person might have, and yet the way you're dealing with the situation can still be very dysfunctional and unconscious. One aspect of that is what is conventionally called emotional intelligence. What it really means is be aware of your emotions so that your emotions do not rise up into your brain and do your thinking. Emotional thinking becomes very irrational and is usually associated with ego. So when emotion rises up into your brain and emotion, then you are not doing the thinking, the emotion is doing the thinking. The emotion is then speaking through you. It's completely unintelligent. It's, so the emotional intelligence is part of that. The ability to be aware of your emotions, but not being taken over by the emotion. Then all that is part of wisdom, the arising of wisdom. That's— so the raw material, so to speak, that you work with is your daily life. The raw material is all the situations that you encounter in your daily life. That's what— that is there. Life has given you that to work with. And important to realize, the most important factor in any such situation is not the situation. The most important factor is this, your state of consciousness with which you approach the situation. So that's So just this one little thing to remember, it's not the situation that's ultimately important. Ultimately important is the state of consciousness with which I face the situation, with which I interact with the situation. That's what matters. And so then every challenge becomes an opportunity for more presence. More awareness. Every challenge is an opportunity. When— so that is a reinterpretation of how you look at life or reality, and that brings about that— an awakening every moment. You don't even need to ask anymore, am I going to be permanently awakened? It's irrelevant. There's no— it's just future stuff. This moment, am I awake at this moment? Am I dealing with this moment, with this situation in a conscious manner? Eckhart Tolle, that challenges are potentially the most important thing in your life because they bring about the awakening. Well, I hope that makes sense to you.

Yes, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

And Eckhart Tolle, here, let me take a moment to thank you and appreciate you on behalf of all of us here who have joined in this live webinar. Thank you so very much, and thanks everyone for being with us. As I mentioned at the beginning, today's session is just a small sample of what we're exploring together with Eckhart in an upcoming online teaching series called Creating a New Earth Together. It's an 8-week advanced series in the practices and insights for creating a new Earth, and it starts on July 20th. You can visit EckhartTolle.com for more information and to join in the course. Eckhart, maybe we could end together going back to you and being in the gap together as we close. What do you think?

That's a very good idea, Tammy. Very good. Here we are. Are you breathing? Know that you're breathing. That takes attention away from thinking. Conscious breath. Brings about the gap. Inner stillness, is it arising? And in that stillness, there's a power, silent power, and that silent power is within you. And that silent power is consciousness, awareness. Usually thinking absorbs your consciousness continuously, but here you reclaim consciousness from the thinking mind, and then you have consciousness in its pure form before it manifests into form, before it incarnates into a thought form. Consciousness prior to incarnation. Pure, alert stillness, a powerful sense of presence, silent presence. It's always there in you. It's never not there, but it can be covered up. By mental noise. The mental noise is most people's identity. They don't know that there is a deeper dimension within them. Once you know that, the deeper dimension becomes your identity. And the mental noise is just the historical character as which you appear here for a while, the script that you act out. Thank you.