Mindful Social Media Practices | Eckhart on Spaciousness and Social Networks

Okay, I have so much to deal with here. I need to do that first and then I can when my plate is empty, because you have so much on your plate now, as the expression goes. And of course the plate is never empty. Before they came up with all the digital devices, there was only the human, the busy mind. So creating one thought after another, keeping you trapped in content, the content of the mind, so that your entire life was content based, no spaciousness. Of course there was already television. It's been around for a long time. And when I talked to Arianna Huffington last week, she said what she used to do for many years, the moment she opened her door, the door to her apartment, she would turn on the TV news. So come in the door news. So that's one way of filling up your mind, continuously avoiding any moment of stillness, presence. And now of course, television has been around for a while, radio. And then came all the devices that we have now that can amplify the tendency of the human mind to live exclusively in the realm of content, so that you get continuous input of stuff, another word for content, so that you get the input from your emails and text messages, each one very, very important and I'm sure much more important than this talk, according to the mind, more pressing than a talk about waking up or the mind is. I can do both things I can do. I have developed the ability to text and email and at the same time I know exactly what you're talking about. I could repeat, if you ask me afterwards, although I have been texting, next thing I could repeat to you what you've been talking about and this may be true, maybe you could repeat what I was talking about and on that level you took it in, but you would have missed a much more important level, which is not the words, but an energy field that comes with the words. It is behind the words and in between the words. That's really it. And so you, unfortunately you would miss that. So you would take only in the teaching on the level of stuff, because the words are also stuff, but it's a particular kind of stuff that points beyond stuff, not self serving stuff. But if you only take it in as stuff, then it's just more stuff. Interesting perhaps, or not that interesting. I heard that before, so I might as well send another email. And you wrote that in your book, didn't you? The now is very important. I read that years ago. What else can you tell us? So I have plenty of time for more text messages because I've heard all that before. Okay, so that's one level of being here or not being here. So you would miss the more important dimension because the words are secondary. And all the words really point to is a particular inner state. So while you listen, if it works for you, that inner state of spaciousness arises. But you have to be really there with your attention, because it is the state of that spaciousness is the attention. It is the alert presence. So as you sit here, the alert presence needs to be there. This cannot be there. If you are texting, then you're only taking in the words, the information. So the most essential thing here is the alert presence. So all the words point to the alert presence. Sometimes the words point to obstacles that may arise to prevent you from being in the alert presence, so that when they arise, you recognize them. That's fine. But the very essence of being here is a deepening of that state of consciousness. And the mind, the egoic mind, can very easily convince you that it has more important things to think about than presence. I've got so much on my plate. Interesting expression. I've got so much on my plate. I can't deal with all with this now, at present, maybe when I've sorted out all the stuff that's going on, when my plate is empty, then I can deal with it. It's a very common mind pattern. Jesus already talked about it. He had these stories of a man who was invited to a wedding feast. And he comes up with excuses why he can't go to the wedding feast. And always what he says, or different people are invited and different people are asked. And each person has a different excuse. And the excuse always starts with the words. It's in the Gospels. The excuse always starts with the words, let me first. I have to sell my cows and my oxen. Let me first sell my cows. Let me first. Even once I let me first bury my father. But there's always, let me first do this before I can do it, before I can accept your invitation. The mind always can say, okay, yeah, but let me first. And that is the mind pattern which says, okay, I have so much to deal with here. I need to do that first. And then I can, when my plate is empty. Because you have so much on your plate now, as the expression goes. And of course, the plate is never empty, as you might have found. Life gives you one thing after another. In that sense, the plate is never empty. But the emptiness can only be accessed within in the present moment. As long as you get hypnotized by the excuses of the mind, then you can never access that dimension. So quite amazing how the gadgets can amplify the tendency of the human mind to be continuously trapped in stuff. So before it was just before radio and television, you just had your mind and you could talk to other people. And then came the beginning of device and now the digital devices. Of course you get bombarded. Most of humans, especially younger generation, some of the older generation too get continuously bombarded with things that require your immediate attention. It comes through your phone, your smartphone, in the form of, well, phone calls, but even more frequently, probably text messages. Bing, bing, bong, bing. And they come in all the time and immediately go, oh. And then it requires a reply and then emails. They can come in through all kinds of devices too. And then the latest postings on Facebook, your friends, very important what they're doing right now. You need to know that and they need to know what you are doing right now. It's so important. Oh, and Twitter tweets coming in all the time from all kinds of people. And you feel connected to these people. The youngsters get famous pop stars, you get their tweets continuously, things coming in or Justin Bieber is tweeting me, says the little girl. The girl, oh, wow. And that becomes a continuously filled with. There's never a moment of spaciousness because these devices amplify the tendency of the human mind to be reborn, the tendency of consciousness, one could say, to continuously be reborn into some new mental formation. And then people sleep at night here with many sleep even with their phone on the pillow next to them or right next to the bed. And I read that when people wake up in the night or the last thing before they go to sleep, they're still sending emails and receiving emails and. But there's a little bit, there is some hope on the horizon. I was told I was when I was at the conference last week in Wisdom Conference, where there are many people attending who are who work for these companies that engaged in digital producing or digital devices. I don't know how it all functions but. And we were told that some companies now, for example even in Germany, WVW Motor Cars, Volkswagen, they give you company phones which are programmed to turn off at 6pm and to turn on again at 8am that's wonderful. That's progress. That means there's some awareness here that the continuous engagement with these devices can be very harmful. And even companies are discovering that these things can be very harmful. So our alertness really needs to be there and some discipline so that we do not become the slaves of our gadgets. There are wonderful possibilities that are opening up through these. They are neither good nor bad in themselves. There are wonderful possibilities of connecting with people on a certain level is not necessarily the real connection but on a certain level entrance consciousness news are no longer the exclusive no longer can just big corporations disseminate news which used to be the case. Anybody can now disseminate news which is good and bad. It can be a wonderful thing you can reach if you have something important to say you can put it on the net. It could go as the expression goes viral and a few days later millions of people you've reached millions of people. It can happen now in many cases those things may not be very helpful that go viral. Often things that are particularly unhelpful for awakening go viral but it could be something helpful. So we need to be very careful when we use these have some discipline also especially at night so that we don't get this continuous input of stuff.