Practicing Presence in the Gaps: 20 Minute Meditation with Eckhart Tolle

This is not a conventional meditation. We can do that by yourself, easily, by using a meditation method, focusing the mind and then becoming still. I haven't planned this session at all, so I have no idea how it's going to unfold. It's much more interesting and alive that way. I'd like to mention, for those of you who are new to this, to be aware as you sit here and listen and watch. To be aware that I don't talk continuously right now, there are short gaps in between words or sentences. And as part of our meditation, please just notice that there are gaps when I don't speak. Notice means pay attention, just note. One could even say the gaps are more important than the words. You need a certain alertness to notice the gaps. I could say what you notice is the silence in between words or sentences. And to the mind, the thinking mind. That is something silly and absurd, because the thinking mind is mental noise. So it doesn't know what to do with silence. It's not high on your list of thinking minds, a list of priorities. And the thinking mind says, I've got other things to worry about than silence. But that's the problem. It worries a lot. The thinking mind is not ever silent. But to find that dimension is very important in your life. I would even say the most important thing now. What happens inside you when you notice the silence between worse and gap? You become silent when you notice that there is a silence, a silent space like Dao. In that moment of noticing, whether it's two seconds or five seconds, in that moment of noticing, you are not thinking, but you are conscious. And that's meditation, to be conscious without thinking. In addition to noticing the silent gap gaps, you could also become aware that you are breathing. The breath flows in and out, close in and out. So it may help you to be aware not only of the silent spaces, but really it's only ever one space, because there's only the present moment to be aware of the one space, the gap between words. It may be helpful while you are aware of that space, to be aware that you are breathing. Also your breathing, just feel it, sense the air flowing in and out. So there's a knowing in the background that's not thinking, a conscious presence, but you're not thinking. It's vitally important to be able to access that dimension. Not just when you sit and say, okay, now for the next 10 minutes, 15 minutes, half an hour, one hour, I'm going to do my meditation. That's fine. Can be very helpful, but it's more important to access that dimension in everyday life. That's stillness, in a word, right? And in that stillness you are there. But not the historical you. The person that thinks about his or her problems and fears and desires in the past and the future is all connected with the stream of thinking. Me and my life think about that. Who I am as defined by thinking, the judgments about myself, things I'm proud of, things I'm ashamed of, things I regret, things I'm anxious about, that might happen. All that usually gives you your sense of who you are. But when that comes to a stop, there's a cessation in that stream of thinking that usually provides you with your sense of identity. Then now you become aware that there is another dimension of consciousness in you. That's one could say deeper than thinking, or one could say higher than thinking. Awareness, presence, stillness, spaciousness. And you can sense that there is something there that has no form. When you think about your life, your problems, your anxieties, so on. It's all form. Every thought is a thought form. And yet there's another dimension in you that most people don't know about that is formless. One could say you become aware of your being, your beingness, your presence. When there's a moment of no thought, is there nothing there anymore? Well, there is undoubtedly a conscious presence left, the light of consciousness. And that is you more essentially than the story of your life. That is the universe of which you are an intrinsic part. The universe becoming aware of itself. It's conscious. You are conscious. And suddenly you know that you are conscious. You sense that consciousness, that presence that underlies everything. Your entire, all the thinking couldn't happen if you were not conscious. You couldn't have any emotions if you were not conscious. You couldn't have any sense perceptions if you were not conscious. It underlies everything. It's the foundation for everything. It's the one thing that is totally beyond any doubt. Maybe your entire life is a kind of dream. Could be. So you can doubt the absolute reality of your so called life. What you cannot doubt, because the evidence for it is here and now and immediate. What you cannot doubt is that you are conscious. The essence of who you are is that presence, that consciousness. I want to leave aside today for our meditation. The question that may have arisen in your mind. Whether the brain, the physical brain, produces consciousness, or whether the brain receives consciousness like a radio, receives the signals and translates them. I would suggest the second is the case, but we don't need to explore that here. Now this, our session here is practical. And direct. We don't need to go at the moment into abstract speculation or philosophy. Although it's interesting, the fact remains that that presence that's there is the essence of who you are. Most people are not aware of their own presence. They are only aware of what arises in that presence, in that consciousness. Sense perceptions. They look, they hear, they touch. Thoughts and emotions. Now those are the things that arise in that light of consciousness. So most people's attention is completely absorbed by those things. So they are totally drawn into identified with those three things that constitute your so called life. Three things. Sense perceptions, thoughts. And usually sense perceptions are perceived through the filter of your thoughts, which are conditioned by the past. So you don't really see that clearly. Sense perceptions, thoughts, feelings, emotions. So that. So that is your life. And you go thinking, looking and doing. It's a kind of hypnotic state. It's like going to a movie. See it in the cinema. You watch what's happening on the screen and you talk. Completely drawn into it. Forget yourself, completely identify with the characters or with one of the characters. And that's how most people live. They live in that. Oh dear. Sometimes this, sometimes almost accidentally, moments arise when thinking subsides and they go, then they perceive. But they're not burdened by sense perceptions. Sometimes spontaneously, that spaciousness or stillness or presence can arise. And suddenly life feels good. Feels good to be alive. There's a joy, an intensified sense of aliven it.