The Deep Meaning of the Cross | Eckhart Tolle Explains

If dreadful things happened in your past, it is especially liberating to sense that. And it's often people who have had a very difficult life that come to this realization. They have had their course, affection. And then there comes the transcendence of suffering. And again, please remember, I'm just using words. So it's not. The ultimate truth cannot be expressed in words. It's only a distant approximation. That which you sense when thinking subsides, if only for a moment. And you can sense the beingness that is always there underneath it, the timeless presence you sense that is that. And then as you can sense that and you become more rooted in it, even in your daily life, you begin to be able to sense that in the background through the simple fact that you are aware that you are aware even when you are doing things, you're aware that you're aware. When you're looking at something, there's not only what you're looking at, there's only the awareness that you're aware of. So that's there, the awareness of awareness. And that. No. Is that God? I would suggest not quite. It is. I'm speaking purely intuitively, but some mystics and others have had similar realizations. It's the emanation of God. In other words, the consciousness that inhabits you temporarily disguises itself as a person, is an emanation of the source of all life. And that source which cannot be named, which does not exist because exist means to have a location in space and time. Everything exists, is somewhere. So in that sense, God does not exist because God does not have a God is beyond this dimension where existence unfolds. But like the sun emanating light, God, or the source of all life, which cannot be named or understood at all, emanates consciousness into this dimension. And gradually this dimension evolves. Gradually it expresses more of that light that emanates from the transcendent source of all life. Gradually, because this universe, this was important discovery of Darwin, that there is an evolution of life, it becomes increasingly complex. What he didn't realize is there's an intelligence that expresses itself through that. So there's a source of all life beyond the transcendent source, which is God. And God shines like the sun shines. And the light of the sun, you can feel it on your skin. Now, whether you say this is the sun, in some sense the light of the sun is the sun because there is no separation. But in another sense, the sun is not different, but infinitely faster than the light that you feel on your skin. In the same way that the emanation of God, which is consciousness, yes, it's God in the sense of it is an emanation of God. And so this is what you are. You are an emanation from source, source emanation. And the consciousness in you is the light, as Jesus said to his disciples. But he meant really every human being, because his disciples were not that special. You are the light of the world, he said. And he said it of himself in another gospel, he said, I am the light of the world. He said both things. He told others, you are the light of the world. And he said, I am the light of the world. What could that possibly be, except that because the people he was talking to were not special, particularly important VIPs in this world. But you are the light of the world. The light in you is the consciousness in you. And without the consciousness, you are the consciousness of the world. You are the light of the world. Without the consciousness, the world would not even be. And that is when you realize that, that your essential identity is being, consciousness, which is an emanation of source, whatever you want to call that. And your essential identity is that the being. And then that is where you derive your sense of identity from who you are. It's no longer the memory of your past becomes relatively insignificant. Yes, you remember it, but the wonderful thing about your past, it has brought you to this point of awakening, no matter how senseless it seemed at the time. Because every life is kind of messy one way or another, and many things seem, why did this happen to me? Why did I do that? That was so stupid. Why did this have to happen to me? My childhood could have been. It was so unhappy. Why did this? But all your past did. It brings you to this point of awakening. So it fulfilled its function, but it no longer gives you an identity. You recognize it, you acknowledge it, you know it. But you no longer derive your sense of who you are from your past that comes from a deeper place. Ah, you can sense the presence that you are the being, that you are not conditioned by your past whatsoever. And this is especially liberating if you have a very heavy past. If dreadful things happened in your past, it is especially liberating to sense that. And it's often people who have had a very difficult life that come to this realization. They have had their crucifixion. And then there comes the transcendence of suffering, as it's pointed out, even for non Christians, even if you're not a Christian, you don't have to be Christian to understand the Deeper significance of the cross, which is no different from the Buddha's teachings. Buddha said, I teach suffering and the end of suffering. And in the Christian cross, it's there as an image. The teaching is that suffering is. The cross is the instrument of suffering. Jesus is nailed to the cross, the deepest image of suffering. But the cross is also the symbol for transcendence of suffering. The cross is also a symbol for the divine. It's both. It's a torture instrument and it's a symbol for the divine. That's amazing, the two together. This can be a teaching, can be transmitted in this way even to people who would not never understand it conceptually, as I'm talking about it conceptually, there's a deep truth embedded in that archetypal image. Jesus is the archetypal human and the, the cross. And it is the archetypal journey of every human being. So be thankful for all the suffering that has brought you to this point. It's brought you here. That's amazing. Awakening. Does it mean that from now on life will not be challenging anymore? No, the challenges continue, but they may be of a somewhat different kind. No longer produced by the dysfunction of the egoic mind, as is often the case with many humans. But still, challenges come in many forms. The difference is as you become increasingly rooted in the being of yourself, the transcendent self, not this, the being. The challenges are no longer converted into suffering. So there's no longer a personality that complains about what's happening to me. The tantes are simply accepted for what they are. Action is taken. If action is necessary or possible, no action is taken. A simple surrender happens. When a challenge comes and there isn't really anything you can do, then that's what is. And then once you reach this point, every challenge can deepen. If it's a real challenge, it deepens your state of consciousness. It makes you more present. And that is a wonderful thing when you've reached that point. I have noticed with the so called pandemic, the last couple of years, some people have become very, very become less, less conscious than they were before the pandemic. Some, this is the same with any. Also the challenge that happens to you individually. Anything going wrong in your life, a breakup, loss of a job, loss of home, a desk, someone close to you, a court case or whatever threat. Some people become more unconscious when they're being challenged by life, more reactive, more deeply entrenched in their conditioning, the ego. Every divorce lawyer meets people at their most unconscious, usually unless they're already evolving, in which Case, it's. It's fine. And even realtors and people like that find people that are. So why are people, as they get so attached to the outcome result, it really pulls them down. A challenge can make you unconscious or more conscious, depending where you are at. And some people through the pandemic have become more present. They've accepted, they have had perhaps been affected in different ways, financially or jobs or life situation or relationships have been affected by it. All kinds of things have happened. And some people have been able to use that and become more. Go more into being. Sometimes there wasn't that much doing anymore. You had to go more into being. And others have become more reactive and more angry and more fearful. Fear has been a big thing. More fearful of the fear of ultimately the fear of death. What could happen to me? Fearful, oh my God. That's ultimately fear is always ultimately the fear of death. The greatest loss of myself. And that tends to go away when you are rooted in the being. It's hard to explain why it goes away and how it goes away, but it does. The fear of death seems to disappear. I have to. I'll just mention the challenges continue to come. I've had my entire life. I had virtually no health challenge until last. Late last year, early this year, late last year. I'd never been in a hospital as an inpatient, hardly ever see a doctor. And suddenly I was hit by a. Just a few months ago, a huge challenge. What normally people would consider a huge life challenge to a medical cond. Oh, and immediately comes the possibility, okay, well, I may only be here for another few more months or not, who knows? And after the initial diagnosis, I just went, okay. I became even more emptier than I normally am. I'm normally fairly empty. But I mean, I was just, just like that. And there wasn't any. No fear. I was basically dead already. There was no. But there was a presence left. The person didn't matter very much. And then I spent many hours in just complete presence. And then I was operated on. And then they looked at it again. And for the time being, the challenge seems to have dissolved completely. Will it come back? Who knows? So they continue to come, but just the greater the challenge, the greater the intensity of presence. I've often found that in other situations in my life too. And the challenge is come, you go. So there's no longer a person that reacts to what's happening. It's just the being, there's just the presence, just the consciousness.