Eckhart Tolle explains two paths away from compulsive thinking: rising above it through alert presence, or falling below it through unconsciousness. Only one leads to freedom from suffering.
I don't know what happened and I don't know why, but I feel this deep peace, and I have nothing. I suddenly feel. Jesus called it the peace that passes all understanding. Which means you cannot explain, although I'm trying to explain it, you cannot explain why this person should suddenly be so peaceful. So I believe that no matter whether you are a Christian or whether you are not a Christian, there is a deep truth embodied in the central image of Christianity. And the central image of Christianity is a man who is on the cross, an extreme form of suffering. And ultimately that means every human being. One could say Jesus is the archetype for every human. Every human being is crucified by life. Every human being goes through the suffering. And with the suffering comes the possibility of transcending the ego by entering a state of complete surrender and acceptance. Ultimately, you step out of your thinking mind. And what's left when you're no longer thinking about yourself and your life and what went wrong. In fact, thinking subsides. And what's left of you when you're not thinking about yourself or about anything. Is that even possible? Is that even possible? For example, at this moment, Are you able to experience, as you sit there, being in that space of not needing to add any thought to this moment? Can you allow this moment to be as it is, so completely that you do not add any interpretation to it? Just be it. So what is left of you right now? You're not remembering your story because you are. You are still completely yourself without the story. Isn't it surprising? Even without remembering all your past suffering, there is a sense of being very. In fact, it's stronger. You don't remember all the things that went wrong in your life. Okay, that's gone. You don't even remember your email address. It's gone. Or your telephone number. You don't need it right now. When you need it, it'll be there. You don't need it. It's gone. So instead of I am this and I am that, and I am that, what remains is a sense of beingness, which is I am. But nothing is added to the I am. This is the what's left of you right now. You can what is left. There's a stillness when thinking subsides. You have not lost consciousness. You have not become. You have not gone down. You have not fallen below thinking. You have risen above thinking. There are two ways of becoming free, of compulsive thinking, which is how the ego arises. There are two ways of becoming free compulsive thinking. The Compulsive thinking that makes your life miserable. Not the thinking that is useful, not the thinking that is a useful tool for creating and manifesting and inventing things and so on. There's a beautiful thing, thinking is an enormous advance for humans, evolution of human consciousness. But the way it has developed. Now, humans are possessed by thinking. They do not think. The language you use, you say, I think. You don't think. Thinking happens to you. And, and the thoughts that happen to you are thoughts that you absorb from the surrounding culture. You watch the media, the mainstream media, and you take that in and then you regurgitate, this is what I think, or you're against it, this is what I think. Thinking happens to you. You don't think unless you are aware. And awareness or presence is a dimension of consciousness that is deeper or we could say higher than sinking. Awareness is when thinking stops and you have not gone to sleep. In fact, you are more alert than before. And you can look around wherever you are. For example, here and now in this room, you can look around this room and perceive everything visually and listen to everything without adding any thought to it. Just be still and perceive. There's still a knowing there, but it's not conceptual knowing. There's a deeper knowing there. Become familiar with the state of being free of thinking and just aware. But that requires a certain alertness. Without the alertness, you drift back into thinking. So what? The true spiritual teaching shows you the way of rising above thinking. So that you can begin to use thinking. Not you as the ego, but. But you as the higher consciousness that you are, can use thinking as a tool instead of being used by thinking, by thought. So there are two ways of being free of thinking. One is rising above, which is why we are here. The other is falling below. If you want to fall below, you have to walk out of here, go to the bar next door and order a few whiskeys. And then you can experience becoming free of thinking also gradually. But you're falling below thinking, oh, it feels so good, I can't even remember my problems anymore. It feels good. You start singing and there's the joy of life. No need to think, just be. Have another one. And then of course you're moving towards unconsciousness. And this is not the way we are going. It is not the destiny of humanity to regress to a pre thinking stage just because you want to be as happy as your dog. You say, well, the dog isn't thinking. And so I'm going to go there too. The dog hasn't arrived at the. The dog is a beautiful manifestation of consciousness, but is not a thinking consciousness. So you need to discover in yourself the ability to be free of thinking initially for brief moments. And this is a good moment when you perceive the world around you without mental labels, just an alert presence in the background of your sense perceptions.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
