In this solo teaching, Eckhart Tolle explores the nature of presence as a sacred, non‑conceptual awareness that allows direct knowing of the Divine, which he distinguishes from the personified notion of "God." He argues that true presence reveals an underlying benevolent intelligence that cannot be proved by the senses but can be felt. To illustrate this experiential knowing, Tolle cites Carl Jung, who said he "doesn't believe, he knows" God; Mahatma Gandhi, who described an indefinable, mysterious power pervading everything; Albert Einstein, whose "scientist's religious feeling" recognized a superior intelligence beyond human understanding; and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who spoke of lying in the lap of immense intelligence. Tolle discusses how ego limits this perception, noting that humility—exemplified by Einstein—opens one to sensing the vast intelligence. He concludes that the Divine is life, truth, light, love, and the supreme good, urging listeners to move beyond a childlike, paternal concept of God toward a deeper, present‑based awareness.
Chapters
When they asked Carl Jung, who was a spiritual, quite a spiritual psychologist, they asked, 'Do you believe in God?' He said, 'No, I don't believe, I know.' That's quite a statement. So when you're really present, then you notice— I reluctantly use that word— That presence is sacred. There is a sacred presence that pervades this world. And all the evils of this world are like part of the birthing process of the awakening of God, and they're like nightmares Saint Paul says, 'All of creation until this time is in pain like the pain of childbirth.' I will read to you how Mahatma Gandhi talked about the way in which he perceives God or the Divine. The Divine to me is already an easier, more suitable word to use because the Divine leaves it open. God is like, makes it into something, there's God, and immediately the pronoun 'he' comes into your mind, there's God. Divine is a more open concept, it is diffused, it's not an entity. So Mahatma Gandhi wrote, There is an indefinable, mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it, though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses. I do dimly perceive that whilst everything around me is ever-changing, ever-dying, there's underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and recreates. That informing power or spirit is God. And is this power benevolent or malevolent? I see it as purely benevolent, for I can see that in the midst of death, life persists; in the midst of untruth, truth persists; in the midst of darkness, light persists. Hence, I gather that God is life Truth and light. God is love. God is the supreme good. Now, he said, 'I can feel it,' he said, 'I can feel it.' So he could He could sense that. And it's an interesting thing when Albert Einstein, a scientist, was asked about his religious beliefs or God. Very complicated, these phones. He said, he described it as the scientist's religious feeling, but was really talking about his religious feeling, because most scientists probably don't have that religious feeling that he has. So he said, the scientist's religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that compared to it all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. An intelligence of such superiority that all the systematic thinking of and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. So this certainly— many scientists have a big ego, and they cannot admit that they don't understand the universe, because their ego cannot admit that they don't know. The ego can't say, "I don't know." That's very hard for the ego to say. It must, "I know." So most scientists Ego doesn't allow them to admit that there is a vast intelligence that they're trying to understand, but they only have a tiny fragment of it that they can understand, and even that is probably completely distorted. And so Einstein had the humility to see that there's a vast intelligence surrounding us So he could also sense it, although I'm sure he used his mind more than Gandhi did, but he could also sense that. So he was not just— his perception was not confined to just thinking, or he was very good at thinking, but he could sense that his ego was very small. Of course, There were things in his life— every human being has things that are difficult— but he was quite a humble person, and this is a very important part of it, because that enabled him to be open to that realization, or that feeling, or sensing of, as, Emerson said, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, we lie in the lap of immense intelligence. We lie in the lap of immense intelligence. And this is something that you cannot, you cannot figure it out by using your conceptual mind. It is something that you can only sense when you let go for a little while of the conceptual mind, become present, and then begin to sense, begin to know that which can only be known through presence but not through conceptualization. And so, this is— we can return to God, but deepen our understanding, and we can, instead of being trapped in a childlike conception of God as the big father, we can deepen that, and then Usually when you talk about, you use the word 'believe.' When they asked Carl Jung, who was a spiritual, quite a spiritual psychologist, they asked, 'Do you believe in God?' He said, 'No, I don't believe, I know.' That's quite a statement.
