The School of Awakening presents: A Pure Awareness Meditation & Conversation with Eckhart

Button on this page. Also, please note that we're in the final enrollment period for the School of Awakening, and that's because the program starts at the end of this month. The first day of school is soon. It starts on March 27th. Again, we'll be starting our webinar with a guided Pure Awareness practice. And then following that, I'll ask Eckhart some questions that we've received from from the Eckhart Tolle community about the Awakening process. And now, as I said, a great joy to welcome Eckhart Tolle.

Eckhart hi Tammy. Hi everybody. Nice to see you. Well, don't see everybody, but you see me. So apparently we are starting with a Pure Awareness meditation, if we want to call it that. Pure awareness is an interesting idea. Of course it's not an idea. It only becomes an idea when we talk about it. Pure awareness is beyond any idea or concept. It's the essence of who you are. And most people go through life without ever encountering that dimension of their being. And that's a great pity. I often use the term form identity and essence identity. Your form identity is whatever you add after you say I am. Whatever you add to that statement I am is part of your form identity. Usually people would start with an identity is very important for everybody. Everybody's looking for a stronger sense of identity. It starts with in childhood already. So it's after meeting the basic needs of food and shelter, one could almost say the next thing that arises is not a physical need, but a deep seated psychological need. And that is a need for an identity. So everybody is searching, starts in early childhood already, is searching for a more stable, more secure, more expanded sense of who they are, sense of identity, sense of self. So that everybody is searching. So wherever you go, or lots of the things you see on the Internet, it's a search for an identity. So let's just explore what you would add to if you said I am, the normal things that you would probably add is perhaps your gender. Very popular subject these days, used to be a very simple subject. Now it's much more complex. But for our purposes here, it's not complex. Whatever it is that you want to add, as your gender is fine, I am. And then other things come. Of course, perhaps racial things are also very much in the forefront these days. So perhaps that would come to you also next, white, black, whatever shade of color, doesn't matter. You add that because it has become part of your sense of self, your sense of identity. And then of course, there's your there's the body, whether it's old or young. Your age, you add, I am such an age. I am an old, such and such an old. An old white black man, woman, whatever, and so on. And then it goes on after that to do with your station in life, perhaps work, profession, or your relationship to other human beings. Mother, father, daughter and so on. Anything else that you have incorporated into your sense of self and manufactured sense of self out of that possessions. Perhaps you are a big person who has lots of possessions. I am the owner of a company, I am the owner of a private. That that would be a big sense of identity. Or perhaps you have the opposite. You have might have developed a sense of identity of somebody who has less than others and been disadvantaged all their lives. And then you have an equally big sense of identity. I'm somebody who's been treated unfairly by life. It's a terrible. Another big. Also part of your identity. Negative or positive doesn't matter. You add more things accumulate in your inner space and you hold them together with your name. That's your. My name is such and such. The name becomes the receptacle for all the other things that you put in there that you derive your sense of self from. And then you say, oh, well, that's me. And it's never quite very satisfying for long. And it's very rarely enough. That's the strange thing about that sense of self. And this is what I call the form identity. And it's fine. Everybody has one. Nothing wrong with that. So you acknowledge your form identity. You don't need to say I don't want to have a form identity. You have a form identity as long as you hear as this particular form, you have a form identity, whatever it may be. And that's fine. The problem is that there's always a sense of. There's still something missing of the things that I have in here that I put into this receptacle. This is my name. And I've put in all those things that I identify with as me. And then the things not quite right. I need something else that more needs to be put in. So there's always a sense of dissatisfaction that arises very quickly. I'm not enough. Ultimately there's something missing in life, in my life, I don't know what. And you come up with all kinds of things. And the awakening, spiritual awakening begins with the realization that there is more to you than that. And this more to you is your essence identity. And you find your essence identity. If as an experiment, now let's say we Have a board, a blackboard or whiteboard. And on this board we have written I am. And then imagine whatever you would have added to that. A list of things that you feel is you, gender, age, profession, etc. Etc, etc. You add that I am. Let's say you add it vertically. And for our meditation, or it's not really meditation, it's a little experiment. You take whatever it is you do, you use to erase whatever is written on the board. They used to have chalk and a sponge. You would erase what's written with chalk on the blackboard. So you get that and you start just for the best. What is left of me, if I temporarily to rush for this moment, I erase what I have added to I am. So you, whatever it is, mother, father, profession, gender, race, etc, age, opinions about yourself. I'm a great. I'm the best that's ever been or the worst that's ever lived. That too is a concept that you have identified with. There are concepts that you accumulate there and you erase just temporarily, so you don't give it any more tension, it's gone. And then even the last thing, the receptacle itself, the name, you can temporarily erase that. I don't remember my name, I don't remember my email address, I don't remember my gender, my. So what's in order that you have to let go of all the accumulated concepts because there are ultimately all mental concepts that gave you your sense of self. You let go of the mental concepts. What is left of me if there's no more anger, no mental concept left of who I am, there's only I am. Is the essence of me gone? Or is the essence of who I am still there? If I don't even remember my past or anything, any conceptual thing about me, I'm so present at this moment that all I know, and I'm talking for you, I'm so present at this moment that all I know is that I am. Now, if you can just add a glimpse of that, what is left, what is that I am? And there's no concept there anymore. But what. What is that feeling? Is it a feeling, that sense of being, that sense of I am being and I am is the same thing. To be is the infinitive and I am is the first person singular. They just sound very different. Really, you should be saying I be. But English language is developed in a different way. I am. It comes from being. All you are left with is a sense of beingness or presence. And then you ask yourself, is anything vital Anything of absolute value lost now, am I essentially still here without referring to any concepts about myself or any thoughts. And you become aware at this moment that you are aware because that awareness is what's left when you take everything away. That beingness, that sense of presence, of beingness that you cannot define is what's left. We can use certain words to talk about it or to point to it, yes, but in itself it is beyond words, beyond concepts, beyond thoughts. So there is a space in you that is beyond words, concepts and thoughts, that is beyond thinking, but you're not asleep. There is that space in you that is always there. Underneath the fluctuation of words, concepts and thoughts, they're all thoughts. Ultimately, thoughts are inner words. Underneath this fluctuation of concepts in words there is the sense of presence or beingness of I am. And this sense of. This is pure awareness or consciousness that gets absorbed by thoughts. It flows into the sense of I flows into it animates the concepts in the mind. And then you derive your sense of self from the concepts without realizing that that which animates the concepts is the awareness, the pure awareness. And so it's not realizing the essence of your being and moving only on the surface of life, the surface of the ocean of being. That's your form. Identity is what happens on the surface of the ocean of being. Waves and ripples and waves clashing and all kinds of things. And every. Every wave thinks it's an me, I am. The wave doesn't realize it's the ocean. So what animates, what gives life to all the things that you identify with, which are ultimately concepts? Because you don't identify with objects. You seem to. Let's say you have possessions. You identify with the possessions, but you experience the possessions. How do you experience them? You experience them as mental concepts. My house, my car, my private jet. You experience anyways concepts in your hand and you attach the mind to it. The sense of. You associate a thing with the sense of self, but the thing with experienced as a concept. Maybe there is no car. Maybe the whole thing is. Maybe all things. You live in that matrix and everything is made up. No, nobody knows whether the actual, the external world is actually there or it's being created as a dream of consciousness. But all you know is you can't know whether the, the. The. What is it the Aston Martin or the Ferrari that you derive some of your sense of identity from is actually there. Or you have made it up in your mind, but all you know is that you have this thing in your mind. And that's your car. You have form identity. Nothing wrong with that. You need to operate, be able to operate on this level of form. Yes, use your mind. But the essence identity is there. That is underneath all that. And if you don't find that, I call it the deep eye sometimes, as opposed to the surface I. So the surface eyes, whatever you add to I am, the deep I is the realization of beingness, of I am. And the two can live together. They are compatible. It doesn't mean you can have either one or the other. You can have one leg, so to speak, a metaphorical leg. You can have one leg in the being and one leg in the form identity. The deep eye and the surface I. And that is the purpose, as I see it, of human life, is to be able to live in that way where you have. You are rooted in the I am. And you're able to deal with the things of this world and continue to have a form identity. But do you no longer exclusively derive your sense of self from that? It's a relatively superficial sense of self or a little while. But your deep sense of being comes from another place. And that is a place really, that is at that level, you are one with every other human being and other, any. Every other being. The level of oneness. On the level of form identity, you need the other. Because without the other, you cannot define yourself. You always need something that's not you. Imagine, let's say, your racial identity is strong. You feel that it's a very important part. Who you are is your race. And it's fine. You can honor that as a little thought experiment from science fiction. Let's say you suddenly wanted one. Suddenly the ETs come and they transport you to another planet where everybody is exactly the same race and exactly the same skin color as you. There's no other anymore. At that moment, your entire sense of who you are as this race would collapse. Because without the other, that race doesn't even exist. They wouldn't have a name for it. If you went to a planet where everything is green, every object and everything is green, they would not have a word for green. Obviously, you need the other. So for your form identity, you always need the other. And the ego very strongly emphasizes the other. It needs the other to be as other as possible so that I can sense this, my sense of self. Ultimately, if it's only a format and it is fictitious, to consent myself or sense more strongly, I need to have the other, more other. And this, we can see it everywhere in this world. You need to emphasize the otherness of others. It's an egoic need to strengthen your identity. It's an illusion and it leads to a lot of turmoil and suffering and chaos. But it's the ego at work. You have to recognize that and go to that deeper place where there is no other. And that is the awareness. And then you can be a do some good in this world. You can bring about a different world because you're no longer trapped in the world of needing to. To make the others other as other as possible. It's an egoic delusion. Terrible. Terrible. So here we have the deep I for. Here for our purposes, just experiencing the deep eye. Even if it's just a glimpse, letting go of concepts, what remains when you wipe clean the. What you've written on the board after the I am. And all that's left is I am presence. And then as you become familiar with that place, so to speak, it deepens and you can sense the power that resides in you, which is the power of consciousness itself, which is the essence of everything. You can sense that power, but it's not power over others, because in that power there is no other. You have power without having power over others. It's the inherent power of the universe. And you can. You can sense it now, perhaps only as a glimpse. Right now, as I stop speaking for five seconds. You can sense it now as a glimpse. And that's a good start. And you don't know much about on that level. What can you say about it? Not much. That's fine. And then you. You become more it. Then you sense it more strongly. And then it begins to even change the way in which you operate on your own identity. It actually makes a difference to that. Also. Pure awareness is simply then being aware. Right now, being aware that you are aware sounds strange. Being aware that you are conscious, being aware that you are consciousness. Better way of putting it. So that's the essence of all spiritual practice. Just. Just that it's not complicated. So it taken us 25 minutes to explain the essence of all spiritual practice. No, don't need to read all the books anymore. Just practice. Wonderful.

Thank you, Eckhart. As I mentioned at the beginning, we've received questions from the Eckhart Tolle community and have chosen a few to ask you here. And here's the first one this person wrote in. You're offering a new school of awakening. But can spiritual awakening actually be taught like other subjects that are taught? Your own awakening was spontaneous. If spiritual awakening can be taught. Tell me more about that and why do you feel now is the time for us to come together and explore these deeper teachings?

Oh, right. Would everybody be benef. Would everybody benefit from spiritual teaching? No, not everybody would benefit from spiritual teaching. There needs to be a readiness in you, which is very hard to define what that is. There needs to be a readiness for you to receive the teaching so that it can accelerate your awakening. Now, when I say accelerate your awakening, it implies that something has already started, something has already opened up in you. And there's still many humans who not only would they not be interested in hearing any spiritual teaching, many would even feel hostile towards it if they had to listen to it. They'd feel almost as a personal attack. There are many humans who are still extremely self possessed, which means possessed by the egoic sense of self. And there's no opening for anything else. They still believe that they can make it. They are basically in total control of their lives and they're going to make it or whatever the ideas is that they have in their minds. And the even such, the suggestion that there is a power that is beyond who they are as a person, even to hear that suggestion would be a personal. Regarded as a personal insult. So not everybody can be reached. Not everybody is ready. Many young people are still not, although there are many are ready. But as if you're very young, you still, the ego is still forming and you think you're not open yet to receiving what the spiritual teaching has to offer. And often I've met many, many accounts of people who have come to me and said, somebody gave me your book 15 years ago. And I opened it and I thought it was just complete mumbo jumbo. Complete mumbo dumbo. There was even a reviewer quite a few years ago in Time magazine who actually wrote that he or she, I can't remember, wrote a review of the Power of Now and described it as mumbo jumbo. And of course, from the reviewer's point of state of consciousness, that was an absolutely correct statement because that is how they perceive it. And so people have come to me, said, somebody gave me that book and I opened it. Was just, what is this? I read a page, they said, and I didn't understand a word. What, what's he talking about? They put it on a shelf five, six years later, they picked it up and opened it. Many people have told me similar accounts. They opened it. Wow. Suddenly it all made sense. What does it mean? They recognized the truth in it. But what happened in the meantime? From the time when they were given the book and it was meaningless to when they opened it up again. They suffered, they suffered. Something happened, they lost something vital. They experienced some kind of, perhaps a serious illness or had an accident or somebody close to them died or their business collapsed, they became ill. Whatever. Something happened and created suffering. And the suffering created a crack in the egoic, dense egoic cell. And then there was an opening suddenly. And then there was a recognition. The spiritual teaching, a school of spirituality, of awakening, it doesn't really teach you anything new. It's always perceived as a recognition. It's a recognition. Ah, and there's an immediate realization. Oh yes, I knew that I could not have said it, but I recognize the truth of that. So it addresses the deeper level of who you are. So in other words, it requires a minimum degree of awareness for there to be a receptivity to spiritual teaching. So that spiritual teaching can be helpful. Without that, it's not helpful at all. So this minimum degree of awareness is. Yes, it's awareness or presence, which is the same thing. The same no thing. Awareness or presence is the dimension of consciousness that is beyond thinking and that is realized the moment you stop thinking without falling asleep, for example, now. And you realize you are still very much there when you are not thinking, but some deeper dimension of you is there when you are not thinking. And of course that is in a spiritual school or school of awakening. That deeper dimension is pulled out of you. More that is helpful, it would come anyway. Life ultimately is the greatest spiritual teacher. So but a spiritual teaching can accelerate it. What otherwise would take much more longer time that realization. So it can be taught. What can be taught is partly. Let's see, one could divide. It could take three parts to it can be taught. One is. What can be taught is making people aware of what it is in them. What are the greatest obstacles or hindrances to the full unfolding of their consciousness? What are the hindrances in you? What are the obstacles in you? If your spiritual teaching can help you, you can point out what the obstacles are. They are all part of the ego. The obstacles are like reactivity. Becoming aware of the various ways in which you react to things. Becoming aware of identification with your thoughts when anxiety, worry arise, Becoming aware that you are not your thoughts. Explaining how the pain body works, how it can take you over, how it can pain body can use your mind. All kinds of things can be pointed out that otherwise you may overlook and they may obscure again the arising awareness. So spiritual teaching can help you to point out what the obstacles are. Because once you recognize the inner Obstacles to awakening, which are the ego, that you can transcend them more easily. If you do not recognize the obstacles, then you are in, they have you in their grip and they can easily obscure the arising awareness. And the another way in which can be helpful, it uses pointers, concepts, words, but they point to something. When I say the deep I, that's a pointer. The deep I is still a concept, but it points you beyond concepts. When I say, can you sense the deep I in? You can't think about that. And you think about it, you can't. So you have to stop thinking. So the concept points beyond itself. That's how a spiritual teaching can work. It can use helpful concepts, but point beyond the concepts. And another way in which it can work is as a direct transmission of presence. When words arise out of presence, they have this. They come out of this energy field of presence and that can awaken the presence in you, but only if there's already some presence there. A minimum of presence needs, already needs to be there. And how do I know? How do you know whether it's there? It's very simple. If these words that I'm saying now make sense to you and say, yeah, I can sense, I can sense the truth of it, then you have that minimum. Or you may have more than a minimum, you have that awareness of that minimum. Or you may have more than a minimum, you have that awareness. If what I'm saying to you now makes absolutely no sense to you, I suggest that you wait a little. 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 years and life will give you more suffering. It's inevitable. And at some point the suffering may have cracked the egoic cell sufficiently for the light of awareness to shine through to and that receives the teaching and that can then grow. So there needs to be something in you that's able to receive the teaching which is not. Ultimately it's not the teaching, it's the, it's the, the consciousness of the so called teacher. There's no teacher, there's only consciousness. But consciousness uses different channels. And Jesus said he made a very. Nowadays it would be deeply offensive statement, but he lived in a different time. And you could still, you could say offense. Deeply offensive things he said, do not cast pearls before swine. All that it means is that they are not ready for the teaching. They are interested in eating, drinking and fornicating and so to speak, let's be blunt. There are still many humans whose main interest is different. It's not, they don't, they're not interested in any spiritual awakening. So Jesus used that expression, but I would not use that because they are not swine. They are just humans waiting to be awakened or to come to an awakening. The essence of who they are is one with the essence of who you are. So you are not superior to them. In essence, you're not superior to any human because every human has come out of is a manifestation of the one consciousness. So one more point. Yes. To summarize the spiritual teaching with limitations, I'd say it can be taught if there's a readiness in the sense not adding information to your mind so much, but as an acceleration of what's happening in you already. A subsidiary question would be, what about religion? Is it being religious helpful for spiritual awakening? If you're very religious people, are they closer to spiritual awakening? Are they more open to spiritual awakening? And there's no. Some may be more open because their religion, because every religion has it transcendent dimension hidden somewhere, even though it might be obscured by ideology and dogma, and very often heavily obscured by ideology and dogma. But every religion, there is a transcendent dimension there in the background somewhere. And some people may have access through their religion, may have access to it, and then they would be open to it. I have had letters and communications from monks, Buddhist monks, Christian monks, nuns in monasteries, saying, your book has deepened my faith. Wonderful. However, there are others for whom religion is an ideology. It strengthens their egoic sense of self, and they would be totally closed to any spiritual teaching. So there's no receptivity there. So religion can mean yes, it has given you access to the transcendent dimension, or is it closed access to transcendence dimension completely. But perhaps if you suffer a bit more, then it might still. Suffering is so valuable. What would we do without suffering?

All right, Eckhart, we have another question here for you. This person wrote in I've heard that having a strong inner intention to awaken can be helpful when a person wants to accelerate spiritual awakening in their life. Do you think that is true? And if so, can you say more about this?

Right. Do you have a strong inner intention? I'm asking, not Tammy, I'm asking everybody a strong inner intention to awaken. Yes and no. Intention usually implies you want to get somewhere. If I have an intention to learn a new skill, I project myself. I want to get there. Intention implies I'm here, but I want to get there. I have an intention to achieve this, to obtain that, to build that, to manifest that this is my intention. Now, if you use the same for awakening, spiritual awakening, it would not be helpful. It would be a hindrance. Because the strong intention to become awakened would place the awakening in some future moment. And you would create a conceptual sense of self that you, the so called awakened being, want to achieve again in the future. And therefore the strong intention to awaken in this case would be the greatest hindrance to awakening. However, if we instead of intention, we could say motivation. Do you have a strong motivation to awaken? Or if we use the word intention in a different way, instead of intention directed towards the future, is it possible to use the word intention directed only into the present moment? And then your intention is in this moment, I intend to be awake. So there's no time in this moment. Your intention is to be awake now. So there's no, there can't be any future. Your intention is to be present now. And if that intention is very strong, that's great. Then you are present now. And to be present means to be no longer seduced by thought. Useless thinking especially. And this is why, if I may quote famous spiritual, wonderful spiritual teacher from India who passed away many years ago, Nisargadatta Maharaj, who said what? When they asked him what is spiritual awakening? He said he had very, a lot of yang in him. So whatever he said was very forcefully expressed. He said what? Spiritual awakening, it's the radical refusal to harbor thoughts. That's how he spoke. It's a radical refusal to harbor thoughts. Now, that's a strong intention, but it's not an intention for the future. It's an intention that goes into the present, merges with the present moment. Because that, that's where awakening, awakening is inseparable from present moment awareness. Awakening is present moment awareness. And you can only achieve, so to speak. You can't achieve it, discover it, but you can only have it. So there's no future in awakening. That's again, we have some schools of thought, of spirituality teach us claim that there's nothing you can do to spiritually awaken. They say let go of all effort. Just do nothing. Then it'll come. Just don't let go of all. No effort. Every effort is an obstacle. Okay, that's one extreme school. Okay. Then you go, okay, that's great. I have nothing. That's nothing to do. Okay. And 10 years later, you still find yourself sitting on your couch watching TV and drinking beer and waiting for your awakening. Not come yet, but that's okay. He told me, you want to come. Then you have another school that says the opposite, that says if you do not want spiritual awakening as much As a drowning man wants air, you're not going to get it. Now, of course, that would be a very strong desire to. If you're drowning and you really want air. So which one is right? The secret is you bring the two together, not have no intention directed towards the future, but only present moments. And there's an intensity suddenly in the present moment. That intensity is presence. And you no longer. You no longer that intensity. In that intensity of presence, you no longer want anything because it's already there. So you. It's so easy to be awake in the present moment. You can be awake in the present moment. You might lose it the next moment, not talking about the next moment, but right now. And that's the only thing you can do is be present now and let go of thinking unless it's helpful as much as possible. The radical refusal to harbor thoughts. And again, that's only one approach. It's the active approach. You can also have the passive approach. You're so surrendered to this present moment that very few thoughts, if any, arise. Because what is there to think about? If this is this, I completely accept this moment. Or as a teacher, an ancient teacher recommended as a best spiritual practice to say the mantra. Whenever any situation arose that was a little bit difficult or challenging, use the following mantra. He said, thanks for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever. That's the mantra. But you have to mean it. If you just say it, it doesn't work. But if you mean it, thanks for this. I have no complaint whatsoever. Thank you for this. I have no complaint whatsoever. That's also. That brings you to the same point as the radical refusal to harbor thoughts, which is a yang approach. Thanks for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever is a yin approach. Yin Yang. Yin Yang. So I love that. Thanks for everything. Which every moment is good as it is. Even the seemingly bad ones. Especially the seemingly bad ones. If somebody puts a great meal in front of you, it's great to say, oh, thanks for. Thank you. Thank you. I have no complaint whatsoever. It's a great meal. But then something else happens. But you said something is given to you that you don't want. Of course. Thank you. Because it's the present moment, you might as well be friendly with it because it's all there ever is. You appreciate what is. That's. There you are. That's the opening into the transcendent dimension. That's. There you are. That's the opening.

We have one final question for you, Eckhart. There's two parts to this. The person wrote in, can you Tell us more about what it feels like to be fully awakened and what are signs of awakening along the journey?

What it feels like. Well, let's put that aside for a moment. But the signs of awakening are perhaps more important for people because people ask, well, is it happening? Am I awakening? Or question I often get when am I going to awaken? It's the wrong question. When am I going to awaken? Is the wrong question. But a slightly better question would be how do I know if the awakening process is happening in me or to me? How can I know that? Because for most people it is a gradual process of disidentification, ultimately disidentification from thinking. So that you realize that thinking and awareness are no longer completely intertwined. Awareness or conscious pure consciousness. Pure awareness separates itself from thought and there you have. And then thoughts very easily collapse because they're no longer feeding on and then thoughts very easily collapse because they're no longer feeding on awareness, on consciousness. So there's a separation of thinking and awareness. That's the disidentification from thought and that is the process. And that is. Has its ups and downs. But there are certain signs that you have. And one of the clearest signs is you live more in the present moment. That's a very simple thing. One of the clearest scientists, you have the ability to aware on consciousness. So there's a separation. They have more aligned with the present moment, in other words, of thinking and awareness. That's the disidentification from thought and that is the process. And that is a. Has its ups and downs. There is an appreciation of whatever it is around you at this moment. There's an appreciation of the little things. The little things. So but there are certain signs that you have things because you're no longer waiting for the big thing. In the unenlightened egoing consciousness. You're waiting for some big thing when you're going to start living. However you interpret the big thing. The big thing would be you meet your ideal, the, the ideal partner, or you meet the big thing. You finally make it in whatever you want to achieve. Or the big thing is the world finally recognizes you as. As the one. And one of the clearest signs is you live more in the present moment, the greatest or whatever the big thing is. And so you're no longer looking for that. I mean, some people look for the big thing. They want to get married, they want to have the wedding. The wedding lasts one day and they spent several years thinking about it. And then let's not talk about what Happens after that. So the little things, all the appreciation, the gratitude is one word that you can use for present moment living. Because he appreciates the little things that including objects. There's an appreciation of the. You can't see it. I have a wooden desk here. It is lovely. I love touching the wood often looking at the sky. Many times during the day I look at the sky and it changes all the time. And it's so wonderful. The weather is for me a wonderful source of joy. Because you're always surrounded by some kind of weather. And I love weathers. Always be the changing weather, rain clouds, sky. And I give it attention. It's a natural thing because it's part of being in the present moment. So the all the little things in the looking up, that's a very simple thing. One of the clearest scientists. You have the ability to live more aligned with the present moment. In other words, there is an appreciation of whatever it is around you at this moment. There's an appreciation of the little things. The little things because you're no longer waiting for the big thing out of the window. Giving attention, appreciation of what is even anything. Even man made things. So you live more like that life. Then as you live more in the present moment, you also notice that life becomes the you in the unenlightened egoic consciousness. You're waiting for some big thing when you're going to start living. However you interpret the big experience fewer problems in your life because the big thing would be you meet your ideal, the the ideal partner. Most problems are manufactured in your mind. Or you meet the big thing, you finally make it in whatever you want to achieve. Or the big mind, the unobserved mind. And many humans inhabit a world of problems. The entire identity is derived from their problems. And it's all make believe in the mind. What's the problem at this moment? Well, nothing. That's a miraculous question. Because at any given moment there is no problem. Even if you don't know what you're going to eat for dinner and you don't have no money left, it's not a problem right now. Thing is the world finally recognizes you as one of the greatest. Whatever the big thing is. And so you're no longer looking for that. I mean some people look for the big thing. They want to get married, they want to have the wedding. The wedding lasts one day. There was a time in my life when I was more or less at that stage. And it was very interesting. It was an important part of deepening the what had already happened to Me not knowing what deliver on the next moment, but this. And if you're present in the moment, what you need does come to you. It's almost miraculous. So as you live more in the present moment and they spend several years thinking about it and then let's not talk about what happens after that. So the little things, all the appreciation, the gratitude is one where there's more inner peace. And so you notice that less obsession with past, less obsession with future, more appreciation of this moment, which means there's more inner peace that you feel. So that is a clear sign as you're able to live more in the present that you can use for present moment. Living because you appreciate the living is a clear sign that the awakening has happened. And another good sign is you notice that you're not complaining the way you used to in your mind or out aloud. Because many people spend a lot of their time complaining things that including objects. There's an appreciation of the. I have a. You can't see, but I have a wooden desk here. Designing mentally out loud and on social media. Lovely. I love touching the wood often looking at the sky. Many times during the day I look at the sky and it changes all the time. Media and the Internet 3 they always find something to complain about. And that's part of the egoic sense of self. The need to emphasize the otherness of others. Even to emphasize the otherness of situations. I'm critical about this situation. This shouldn't be. This shouldn't be. This shouldn't be happening. And then you can be critical of others complaining about others. What they did, failed to do, did wrong. Said great. Oh no. Of course, now you have a. The ego has created. The egoic mind has created social media. It's a wonderful thing now for complaining. You can spend your life on Twitter and Facebook complaining about others. And it's so wonderful. The weather is for me a wonderful source of joy because these are. You're always surrounded by some kind of weather. And I love weathers. Always be the changing weather, rain clouds, sky. And I get. Millions of people are doing it. So you find the end of complaining. That's another sign that the awakening is happening to you with attention. It's a natural thing because it's part of being in the present moment. Because you recognize it's not. It's not only it's futile, it's destructive. It's unpleasant. Before you didn't know that. Because the ego can't tell the difference between pleasant and unpleasant. The ego for the ego. Often what is unpleasant is regarded as pleasant and the other way around. So no complaining anymore. And that's also connected with being able to live in the present. And so that's a huge burden that's lifted. If you don't this obsessive complaining is gone. You notice also you're less reactive in situations where before you used to be reactive. You might notice it when you're driving. You're not reactive to other drivers. You don't misinterpret other drivers whatever they do as a personal insult to you. So there's less reactivity in your people that you normally all the little things in the looking out of the window giving attention appreciation of what is even anything even man made things. So you live more like that trigger you to use that word people who trigger negative reactions in you and then suddenly it doesn't happen anymore. You're able to just accept them for who they are. You can visit your parents without going through the same thing that go through every time you get together with your parents. They come, they criticize you. I'm just not everybody but they criticize you, you defend yourself or then you criticize them the same like old I used to say old records but records don't exist anymore. So old you have to different metaphors and computer programs are still the same programs are running and so people have compute the same programs are running in their minds for years and years and years and they don't even have then. As you live more in the present moment you also notice that life becomes. You experience fewer problems in your life because most problems are manufactured in your know it because they're completely identified with it. And when you as you begin to awaken you recognize these old programs and gradually you detach from the old programs in your mind. And it's another clear sign that you're awakening mind the unobserved mind. And many humans inhabit a world. There are many signs but they all means your life actually feels less heavy. The burden of being the burden of yourself becomes less because people don't realize it but they carry a huge burden of themselves with all their preoccupations and worries and reactions. And there's an absence of problems. The entire identity is derived from their problems. And it's all make believe in the mind. What's the problem at this moment of the transcendent dimension Complete the complete ignorance of the transcendent dimension which is the deep I well nothing. So all that is these are signs that the awakening is happening. And another sign as I pointed out before that's a Miraculous question because at any given moment there is when you listen to a talk, a spiritual talk, or you read a book that was written from a spiritual state of consciousness, there is immediately a recognition and you feel more enlivened in some way. You feel, you feel better. You feel definitely it's an act of recognition. Oh yeah, sure. Yes, yes. There's a. There's always when you hear tears for teaching, it's not really ultimately anything new. And you say, oh yes, I knew that I couldn't have said is no problem even if you don't know what you're going to eat it. But I knew it. I knew that. But that knowing is not conceptual knowing, it's non conceptual knowing. And that's something that our civilization doesn't know anything about. Schools cannot teach for dinner and you don't have no money left. It's not a problem right now. There was a time in my life when I was more or less at that stage and it was very interesting to you that this apart from conceptual knowing, there's a deeper sense of knowing that is non conceptual. Well, we may be talking about that in the School of Awakening, but don't wait for it. So yes, it was an important part of deep. I trust it will be helpful to those of you who were open, who are open to the message. And if you're not open to the message, you've left us long ago anyway. I assume unless you're in the process of writing critical comments about it on Facebook or Twitter, that's fine too. So let's leave it at that for today. I wish you well and let's spend just moment in presence or becoming aware of to go back to the very beginning the what had already happened to me not knowing what to live up on the beginning where we started. Become aware of the deep I erase all the other stuff that gave you your sense of self and realize the deeper sense of self that arises from the deep I which is beingness or presence. I am that I am. I am next moment. But there's. And if you're present in the moment, what you need does come to you. It's almost miraculous. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so very, very much, Eckhart, for this special School of Awakening webinar. Thank you again.

So as you live more in the.

Present moment, I want to remind everyone who's joining us that you can find a button on this page that allows you to learn more about the Eckhart Tolle School of Awakening. Registration is open through March 23rd. And then the School of Awakening begins on March 27th. You can just click the button.

There's more inner peace and so you notice that less obsession with past on this page.

To learn more, I also want to share just a little bit that will give you a little bit more insight into the program. The Eckhart Tolle School of Awakening is a five month immersion program that includes two virtual retreats. You'll also receive monthly teachings from Eckhart and Kim.

Less obsession with future, more appreciation practical.

Exercises and meditations to help accelerate the Awakening process and enable you to integrate presence into every aspect of your life. Additionally, one of the most powerful parts of the program is the opportunity to join online with a vibrant community of like minded people dedicated to intensifying presence in their life. This is certainly the deepest and most.

Advanced of this moment, which means there's.

More inner peace online program that Eckhart and Kim teach. Some of the additional topics that Eckhart will cover include the specific obstacles to spiritual awakening, how to work with feelings of disconnection, irritation and difficult emotional states that you feel.

That is a clear sign as you're able to live more in the present.

What it means to view suffering as a great teacher and how when viewed in this way, suffering can quicken spiritual realization. How to live from the deep eye as Eckhart mentioned instead of the surface eye and contribute to the collective evolution.

Is a clear sign that the awakening has happened. And another good sign is you notice that you're not complaining the way you.

Used to in evolution of our species. When you join the program, you'll have access to attend the two virtual retreats and then also these five months of live teachings with question and answer sessions and live group meditations. Again, you can click the button on.

This page the Mind or out Aloud because many people spend a lot of their time complaining mentally out aloud and.

On social media to learn more. And whether you join us or not in the School of Awakening, I want to thank you so much for being with us here for this special media on the Internet.

Three they they've always found something to complain about and that's part of the egoic sense of self, a webinar and.

For your own interest, commitment, resonance and motivation to intensify presence in your life. Thank you so so much. And thank you Eckhart for this special School of Awakening webinar and everyone for being with us. Thank you.

The need to emphasize the otherness of others, even to emphasize the otherness of situations. I'm critical about this situation. This shouldn't be, this shouldn't be. This shouldn't be happening. And then you can be critical of others, complaining about others what they did, failed to do, did wrong. Said great. Oh no. Of course, now you have a. The ego has created. The egoic mind has created social media. It's a wonderful thing now for complaining. You can spend your life on Twitter and Facebook complaining about others, and millions of people are doing it. So you find the end of complaining. That's another sign that the awakening is happening to you, because you recognize not only it's futile, it's destructive, it's unpleasant. Before you didn't know that, because the ego can't tell the difference between pleasant and unpleasant. For the ego, often what is unpleasant is regarded as pleasant and the other way around. So no complaining anymore. And that's also connected with being able to live in the present. And so that's a huge burden that's lifted if you don't. This obsessive complaining is gone relative. You notice also you're less reactive in situations where before you used to be reactive. You might notice it when you're driving. You're not reactive to other drivers. You don't misinterpret other drivers, whatever they do, as a personal insult to you. So there's less reactivity in your people that you normally trigger you to use that word, people who trigger negative reactions in you. And then suddenly it doesn't happen anymore. You're able to just accept them for who they are. You can visit your parents without going through the same thing that goes through every times you get together with your parents. They criticize you, just not everybody, but they criticize you. You defend yourself. Or then you criticize them the same. Like old. I used to say old records, but records don't exist anymore. So old you have to do different metaphors. And computer programs are still the same programs are running. And so people have computed the same programs are running in their minds for years and years and years. And they don't even know it because they're completely identified with it. And when you, as you begin to awaken, you recognize these old programs. And gradually you detach from the old programs in your mind. And it's another clear sign that you're awakening. So there are many signs, but they all means your life actually feeds less heavy. The burden of being the burden of yourself becomes less because people don't realize it, but they carry a huge burden of themselves with all their preoccupations and worries and reactions. And there's an absence of the transcendent dimension complete the complete ignorance of the transcendent dimension, which is the deep I.