Eckhart Tolle breaks down "Be still and know that I am God," arguing each word points to the same thing: stillness and presence. The "I Am" in you is divine essence, like a ray of sunlight from the sun. Recognizing this presence beneath your temporary personality is what God-realization means.
If you can feel within yourself, in the stillness of presence, you feel that the power of presence in you, that's the power out of which everything comes, every thought comes out of that, everything comes out of that. And there's a wonderful Uh, line in the Bible, in the Old Testament, perhaps it's in— it's one of the Psalms, be still and know that I am God. This is one of my favorite sayings from the Bible. Be still and know That I am God. Now, when you look at those words, every word except and and that is synonymous. They're all the same. Be, the being of you, is the stillness, be still, and know, In this stillness of being, there is a knowing. Be still and know that I am is the deep I am that is divine in you, God. So the be still and know that I am God is the stillness of being. In the stillness of being, you know That the essence of you, which is the I Am, is your connection with God, is God, one could say, in the same way that you would describe a ray of sunlight is still part of the sun. So you are, at the deepest level, If you don't want to go so far as to say that I am God, that you are God, I would suggest— and this is a healing line, if I needed to express it in words— I would say you are an emanation of God, the One, in the same way that the ray of sunlight emanates from the sun. So you couldn't say this ray of sunlight is the sun, because the sun is a vast, incomprehensible energy. This is just an analogy. God is infinitely faster than any sun, okay, includes all suns. So, but we're just using an analogy. The ray of sunlight, if the ray of sunlight realizes its ultimate identity as part of the sun, would that ray of sunlight be justified in saying, I am the sun? Yes and no, it could say that, but it would be safer, probably safer to say, because other humans— coming back to human beings— they won't like it if you say, I am God. It sounds as if you had a gigantic ego. An emanation. If you can feel within yourself, in the stillness of presence, you feel that the power of presence in you, that's the power out of which everything comes, every thought comes out of that, everything comes out of that. And you feel that is the creative power of the universe. You feel the power of presence in you far transcends who you are as a person. As I said, the person is a garment. The presence has disguised itself in this temporary garment. And you feel the power of presence in you. And that is God-realization in you. Thank you.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
