Shattering the Chain of Thought | A Guided Meditation by Eckhart Tolle

There's a dimension in you, a dimension of consciousness, one could say, where ultimately these artificial divisions of reality that we call minutes and hours and days, weeks, months and years, where these things don't really matter anymore, there's a dimension where that's not relevant, including how old you are. And unless you find that dimension, which we could call the inner spaciousness, stillness, presence, awareness, whatever term or pointer works best for you, of course, as you know, the word, isn't it, unless you find that dimension and it's there in your daily life, consciously, then the new year just be another one more thing, same thing as before, basically more of the same. Happy one day, unhappy the next, if you're lucky, or even more unhappy than happy for some people, mostly unhappy, except when they're getting too tired to be unhappy. I've taken a few drinks. Now. Some people, especially spiritual seekers, believe that at some point they are going to realize that dimension. Sometimes this is called self realization or awakening or enlightenment. They think they can at some point hopefully come to that self realization. And there are many spiritual seekers who have been seekers for a long time, who are getting quite frustrated because they haven't found it yet, despite the search. And there are some people listening to this, watching this, who may be getting quite frustrated and saying, so when do we start meditating? And they have missed the most essential dimension here, which is a space of stillness in between and underneath the words. That's the dimension where the year or how old you are or what your life situation is doesn't matter anymore. Not relevant. And the moment you notice that here, in addition to what you see and hear, the words and the image on the screen, there is also dimension of stillness. The moment you realize that there it is inside of you can't realize that notice, let's say notice, an even simpler word, realize, still sounds a little bit complex, but notice can you notice that they are the words and what you hear and see, but there's something that you don't hear and see that's even more vital. This is why we call this a meditation, because as I speak to you, that dimension is there. The words come out of that stillness that is, one could say, is in me, but the moment you notice that it's also arising in you, because if it were not arising in you, you wouldn't be able to notice it, because only the stillness in you can notice that same dimension in another or around you. So instead of waiting for one day when you're going to be self realized or enlightened, why not notice Pay attention to that dimension. And this is a good opportunity here and now. But it's always there in your daily life. It's easier here to notice it, but you're just training here in this protected space. But wherever you are, you can notice that in addition to whatever your life consists of, which comes down always, no matter what's going on in your life, it always comes down to sense perceptions, thoughts and emotions. And the mixture of how these things arise vary from person to person. So every person has his or her life situation, sometimes good, sometimes not so good. But there's always another dimension there. But most humans overlook it continuously. This is why we're here, to realize that the immediacy of self realization, how close it is to you, and you don't have to wait for some day when you're going to be realized. That's a idea in the mind that is a huge obstacle. Notice whatever is going on in your life, what I call your life situation, whatever it is, it sense perceptions, thoughts and emotions. But there's always something else and you overlook it, as I said, because sense perceptions, thoughts and emotions have cast a hypnotic spell upon you. One spiritual teacher called Doll Goldsmith had the expression for that, the universal hypnotism, I think he called it. And so that is the most powerful for contemporary humans, the most powerful hypnotic spell out of these three, sense perceptions, thoughts, emotions, I would say, is thought. And you could even reduce those three that I just mentioned, sense perceptions, thoughts, emotions, to one. Because ultimately, what are sense perceptions, thoughts and emotions, other than forms that arise in your consciousness? It all arises in your consciousness or in consciousness in that vast space, or that the light of consciousness that is formless, you can't say there it is, or I have it. So when you notice the stillness in between and underneath the words that you are listening to now, then you are listening to the words and noticing at the same time a stillness. That is the transcendent dimension and that is self realization. But really we only it doesn't mean that you are, wouldn't say that you are self realized. To say a person is self realized would imply that he or she lives continuously knowing that dimension in every situation. But it always starts, it's here and now. This is where the possibility opens up, not at some future point. And this dimension is what the Buddhists, if I remember correctly, sometimes call it the other shore. The other shore, like a river. You're crossing the river to the other shore. And there's the scripture. I believe, if I remember correctly, it says gate, gate, paragata gone, gone to the farthest shore or to the other shore. Describing the inner shift from being identified continuously with all the forms that continuously arise in consciousness. Hypnotized by them, hypnotized by every thought that arises and follow it wherever it takes you. And then another thought comes and says look at me, I'm so important. This you need to think about more about this now. Oh, oh. This is hypnotized. So most humans are hypnotized by their own minds or by the. Ultimately, it's the human mind, the collective mind. Sleep walking, another word, dreaming another word all describes the same state, whatever you want to call it, sleepwalking, hypnotized dreaming. Because nobody has told them that there is another dimension there and all they have to do is pay attention and notice it. Isn't it strange that that basically is still unknown despite these old scriptures that point point to it in various traditions? But it's not that unknown anymore because more and more people are beginning to realize the truth of it in their own lives, in themselves.