Eckhart Tolle explains how human suffering stems from ego and form identity, and how accepting life's disruptions can lead to spiritual awakening and access to consciousness beyond personal problems.
I am a therapist and I now feel that I don't take people's problems seriously. I don't know if I can continue to be a psychotherapist. Okay. I also find myself when I listen to people's problems, a smile arises sometimes, not because of their problems, but because I'm in touch with a deeper reality where their problems are relatively unimportant. And to be in touch with that deeper reality is liberating. And there is a joy in there, in knowing who you are beyond your problems. There is still. There is that joy that's there. And I can feel the reality for that person beyond their problems. And that is I'm not laughing or smiling at them, but at the relative unreality of their relative unreality of their problems. And that is actually a form of healing. So if that is the case with you, then you can continue to be a psychotherapist. You're not just. You can continue to listen to their problems without giving their problems this absolute reality. A relative reality, yes. But be in touch with that level deep within, where there is no problem, where that person is already complete and whole. And that is the formless consciousness. Every form identity is not complete. It never has the feeling of being complete and whole. There's always stuff missing in your form identity. And there are things that didn't go according to what you imagined when you were young. How did you imagine your life to unfold? Well, you had all kinds of ideas. In many cases that didn't quite happen. And then people come and say things like, oh, I would have imagined when I was imagined, my life just unfold very differently from the way it did unfold. It's really a sad story. And I feel I haven't. My form identity is really. There's so much still missing in who I am. There's so much that I could have achieved, but things happen to stop me from achieving it. And then there's that stuff that I did achieve. Then it all came to nothing. It dissolved. I tried so many things, but why didn't I succeed in this or that? Or if you did succeed lately in this or that area, you go, why am I still so restless and unhappy? Everybody thinks I'm so great and I've got all these fans on Twitter and Facebook. Why am I still unhappy? Why do I need more of this or that? Even though my picture is in People magazine and other magazines that are not that great. So whatever it is, there's always something wrong with their form identity. And if you think everything is Right about your form identity. It won't last for very long. Then you happen to just have hit appear a brief period when you feel it's all. Everything is going great in my life. I've got a great place to live, I've got a great relationship, I've got a great job, I've got a great income, I have a great car. And people recognize my importance. They tell me I'm a vip. Everything is great. That's all life should be. Now it is possible for human for brief periods to be in that place. But they would be quite brief because life just isn't like that. It is designed for things to go wrong. No matter how much positive thinking you do, which is all good, but no matter how much positive thinking you do, there is this thing designed into life. It's a. We could call it a sabotage element of sabotage or disruption which universal intelligence has built into everybody's life. You might have noticed it, but you. What you might not have noticed is that it is built into everybody's life. And you might have thought that life singled you out to sabotage your life. Because some people are very good at hiding that element in their lives from others and they wouldn't even admit it that at night they lie in agony and. Or whatever it is. So that's an interesting fact. Once you know that this disruptive thing is built into your life, then you may come to actually accept that fact that that is a universal thing that every human is meant to face. So there's always, in some area of your life there's always some disruption happen or just happened or happened a few years ago, but still leaving a lot of traces around India, still influencing the way in which you experience life. And then the next thing comes in and the next. And once you've resolved your financial problems and you're okay there, finally I've got financial security and suddenly a health problem comes up or the other way around or the great jobs. You suddenly have this wonderful fulfilling job and suddenly your company gets taken over by another company and suddenly you're told we don't need you anymore. Who am I now without that, no matter what you can know, you all know examples from your own life. So. And with some of you it seems to be just a succession of things going wrong. But they can't have gone that wrong if you are sitting here now because it's taken you to a spiritual awakening. Nobody would go to a spiritual awakening. Well, nobody I know without experiencing the unsatisfactory nature of one's life situation. So I am grateful to that in my life. And you can be grateful to that in your life. Because otherwise the evolution of consciousness would not have happened if you had been totally happy all your life. No evolution is possible, no development is possible, no deepening is possible. You would be dancing on the surface of things. Have another drink and good food and lots and other good movies and sensory pleasures and sex and let's travel and go to another place and explore that. And isn't that nice? Just no depth whatsoever. Of course you would be incapable of compassion or empathy with other human beings. You would have no deep insights which all come out of suffering, just surface existence. But fortunately very few humans or no humans have that. And if they had it, that would become the disruptive element. The fact that there is nothing disruptive would become the disruptive element in your life. So on the level of form, identity, you never arrive at complete satisfaction. You can't. I can't get no satisfaction. And once you realize that, you actually. It's liberating to know, okay, you can still try to improve your life. It's wonderful thing. Of course you try to make your life better. If you're not happy where you live, if you can find a better place to live, or if your health is not well, maybe you can do something about it, maybe you can't. If you can't do something about it, take action out of. But the foundation for action needs to be present moment, acceptance of the isness of now. And then you take action. But it will never be totally satisfying. Therefore, the only satisfying thing is to realize that there is another dimension to who you are. And that's where all satisfaction comes from. The realization that there's more to you than the person, the personality and the personal history. And that is consciousness. You are in essence, timeless consciousness. This mind made sense of self is also much more focused on the negative than the positive. To be free, you awaken to who you are beyond your history and your life situation. It.
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