What if Life was a Movie? | Eckhart Tolle Teachings

How do you deal with challenges? And challenges will continue to come. That's the weird thing, and that's a wonderful thing, because if life did not give you challenges, you would not evolve. And that not only applies to humans, it applies to every life form on the planet. Life is challenging for every plant and every tree and every animal on the planet. There's no doubt about that. It presents challenges for every species on the planet. And that is how consciousness grows through being faced with challenges. And once you see that, you might recognize it in a movie. You wouldn't want to go to see watch a movie where things, the characters are not challenged by life. In other words, let's say you go to a cinema and the movie begins and nothing goes wrong. And then you would say after 15 minutes, this is not an interesting movie. There's nothing going wrong. Almost any movie, something needs to go wrong. Otherwise there is no movie. Because it's only if things go wrong, the character gets challenged and then something happens. Either the challenge is resolved on an external level, which is a not so good movie, which means the bad guy is finally eliminated or put away. Or if the challenge is if it's a good movie, the challenge with which the characters are faced brings about a change in the character. And in a very good movie, then there are not many of those, but some. The character becomes more conscious through the challenges. And then you might even want to see that movie again and again and again. It no longer depends. You already know what's going to happen, but that's secondary. You just enjoy the process of watching something, somebody awaken. And as you watch somebody awaken, you somehow participate in that awakening. And it could even be a funny movie. In addition to that, one of my favorite movies, I'm sure most of you know it, Groundhog Day. And I've watched that many times. And that shows somebody deeply unconscious who. And suffering and suffering and suffering is stuck in the same day again and again and again. And he can't get out. This is of course the state of the egoic state. And then until finally something changes in him, finally comes to acceptance and surrender and becomes helpful by accepting and surrendering what is, he becomes helpful to other people. And then in the end, the same day, which is forced to repeat again and again. And he stuck in a place that he hates, in a town that he hates, doing what he hates, seeing people that he hates. And. And finally he can't stand the suffering anymore. And then he's not hating anymore, he just accepts. And then suddenly experiences the same day Differently, he begins to awaken. And in the end of the movie he says, oh, this place is so nice, let's stay here. And then he's free to go. So that kind of. That you want to watch many times, because that is a rare thing. It shows the unconsciousness and then how a character, by facing challenges, ultimately self created. And then there's a deepening that happens. So, and that's reflective of life. You would not want to see a movie when nothing goes wrong, but when things go wrong in your own life, implicitly you think, this should not be happening. The movie of my life should be such that nothing goes wrong. I want it to be totally boring. So people complain when what they love to watch in movies, when it happens to them, they complain and think, this shouldn't be happening to me. So I'm talking about the challenges that are an inevitable part of your daily existence. And even as you awaken, you get challenged by the gravitational pull of the unconsciousness within yourself, but also in the form of other people around you and situations that you encounter. Your workplace, family members, relatives, friends. You are challenged by the unconsciousness of the world that you inhabit. And that's how it's meant to be. Now you might develop a theory that if only the conditions in my life were more suited for my spiritual growth, all would be well. And then if you could devise a list of things that you need in order to facilitate your spiritual growth, you would say, okay, I have enough money to go to the most exquisite spa places in the world where I will have massages two or three times a day, live in absolute bliss through the most pure food imaginable. My needs are being met so that I can meditate if I want to. I can exercise my body, clean, pure air, not being disturbed by noises and things around me. Everything will be so beautiful. I can dedicate myself totally to my. To being present. And if that became a reality for a while, you would be happy. And then after a while, you would find yourself. You would find your level of presence decreasing. After a while, it can be nice as an interlude in your life for a week. It might be great. Withdrawal and so on can be great. But if it's a. If you think that that will facilitate your spiritual growth, the absence of challenges will facilitate your spiritual growth, you would be very much mistaken. You would eventually find yourself, your level of presence decreasing because it is not needed. Things are going too well. There is no challenge. Everybody is so nice. Of course they are nice because you pay them if you lived with them. They wouldn't be nice. But that's so you have enough money to pay all the people around you so that they can be nice to you, and you're not being challenged by these obnoxious humans anymore. It would not ultimately facilitate your spiritual growth. And you may reach a moment after spending two years in this wonderful spa of longing to get back to your challenging life, if you even have enough consciousness even to long for something at that point. So what I'm really saying is whatever arises in your life is your practice. It is the practice designed for you. It is your spiritual path and particularly the challenges it.