Where Does Presence Come From? | Q&A Eckhart Tolle

My question is around before. You're talking about intensification of presence. So at times I've felt intense energy in my body, throughout my body, but that's more rare. And it's. I feel that I experience presence in more of an underlying calmness. So my question is, is presence experienced? Is there something consistent with presence?

Do you mean does it always feel the same? Is that what you mean? Perhaps. Well, as I said, the intensity of presence can vary then. So presence is the energy field. Now, this is very hard to talk about, but I will make an attempt. It is almost as if there is a place inside from where presence emanates. And that place is timeless. And I can only compare it in the sense perceived world could compare it to this. Like the sun that continuously shines, and yet it has no form. So it's like a space rather out of which presence emanates. So the sun is an actually positive presence. But if you imagine that the sun were an empty space out of which the light emanates, then you get a better. This is closer to the truth of how it is experienced as you go very deeply into it. So there is a space within or a spaciousness that is the point out of which the emanation of presence happens. And that space is absolute repose, absolute stillness. And to feel that in yourself is very joyful, for lack of a better word. There's an aliveness there, but it is absolutely still. That's the core. And that is perhaps, as I speak of it, you can get a sense within yourself what that is. You can only sense it when you're not thinking. You can't be thinking and sense that that's the innermost stillness within you. Out of that emanates presence, which can emanate directly from the body, can also move into your mind and be begin to use your mind and inform the mind and speak through the mind. There were times in my life when I was very passive, you know, my episodes on seeking, on park benches. But even after that, for long periods of time, I was so immersed in that inner stillness that there seemed no point in doing anything. And you don't need to go that way. I didn't have any guidance, so nobody could tell me what to do with that. So I gradually had to learn for myself that you can be active in the world and at the same time completely rooted in the stillness. So you particularly mentioned the state of calmness when you can feel it. So it may be that you have that connectedness with a still point within and feel that very Strongly. It's very hard for people to. People also differ in their choice of words when they speak about it. So you could ask, if you go to India or you go to any Buddhist country, you may find that. Ask them about spiritual awakening. You may find that the words they use to describe it are very, very different. And only if you know already from direct experience what it is they're talking about, you can recognize that they are talking about the same thing. So I've already said too much about it, because what I have said, those words may not be the words that you would choose to talk about your experience of presence. So are you able to suspend thinking for certain moments without going to sleep?

I'm not sure.

Okay, try it now. Okay, stop. Okay. How was that?

I don't remember a thought.

Okay. Yeah. So there was no thought because not thinking is not memorable.

Okay.

Now this is very significant. So the mind doesn't know what to do with not thinking because the mind is thought. The mind cannot really appreciate how important not thinking is because what the mind is interested in is. Let me ask another question. That's what the mind is interested in. It's not interesting in. In stepping aside and allowing no thought to arise. So the mind has a certain momentum. The most important thing is to become familiar with that state of no thought. Far more important than any question that could arise in your mind or any answer that the greatest spiritual teacher could give you. So that's why I mentioned I believe in the new Earth. I was visiting that big center where they offer countless fascinating courses on developing this and that faculty and spiritual development and physical development. And all kinds of huge number of courses are offered. You can have anything, a menu of courses you can pursue, any interest. Wonderful and fascinating. So I don't know if you remember reading it. I wrote, somebody came to me and showed me that program, that menu of fascinating courses and workshops, said, which one do you think is most suitable for me? And I looked through and said, there's so many, I don't know. But I can tell you this. The way I put it at that time was be aware of your breathing just for a few days, and you will gain more than attending any of these courses. And it's free. Be aware of your breath as you go through daily life as much as you can. What does that imply? That implies there's a space of no thought because you cannot be aware of your breath and think at the same time. If you want rapid acceleration of spiritual awakening, don't ask another question, because the next question and the next and the next won't get you any closer. Especially after, as you can see, I'm winding down. Especially after being here for several days. I have said all that can be said about spiritual awakening. The next step is up to you. And it does not consist in. Well, let me see. No, I need to. Something else. I need to know. I know that some questions are helpful because how to do. But ultimately, the most essential thing is bring presence into your life now, for example, by being aware of your breaths as much as you can. This is one way of bringing presence in. Or feel the inner body as much as you can, and that's rapid. Or if you can just step out of thought already without using any those portals just move out of thought and some of you can do that already. Then choose that as much as possible in your daily life. Choose to be in thoughtless awareness whenever you don't actually need to think. And that's quite a lot of the time. That's the spiritual practice. There's no other spiritual practice. Everything else would point to that. But this is the most direct spiritual practice. And very rapidly you'll find the shift happening. You have a choice now. With choice comes responsibility. Because the moment you have that choice, it implies that there is sufficient awareness in you for you to have choice. Once that has arisen, that choice becomes your responsibility. We have to look at it from that point of view. Because if people ask me, well, who is responsible, Presence, or you, and all kinds of strange questions, the most useful approach is to see that you can choose to be present. That's your responsibility. Choose to be present in many, many situations in your daily life. Choose presence over useless thinking. For example, when you are in bed at night, when you wake up in the morning, when you're walking in nature or walking to work from here to there, or traveling on public transport or sitting in your car stopping at a red light, choose presence over thinking. You are able to do that. You have to remember that you have a choice. That comes one, okay, I have a choice. And then exercise the choice and take your attention away from thinking and put your attention on attention itself. Become conscious of being conscious from another perspective, which is also true and actually more true, but less helpful. It is true to say that when you exercise your choice of being present, what is really happening is that presence is choosing to manifest through you. But what presence wants you is to feel that you can have that choice because it helps it to manifest. Ultimately, there isn't you and presence. You are an aspect of presence. So forget about What I just said. But exercise your choice to be present no matter where you are. And if you lose it, fine, it's coming back again and again. Of course you will drift off again. Sometimes you drift off into things, thinking you may drift off into reactivity and find, but then come back the moment you notice it. The moment you notice that you've drifted off into reactivity, your choice is to come back. If you cannot come back directly by saying, okay, just be present. Then use either your breasts to bring you back. Use the awareness of the inner body to bring you back. Use some conscious movement to bring you back, or use sense perception to bring you back. Looking without labeling, especially natural things are helpful. You look at them. Look at your dog, he's not thinking so. And immediately. It's so easy to be present with an animal, with nature, with the sky. You can use those things as help. So if you need some additional help to be present, use that. I sometimes call that a portal into presence. There was a man working with Byron Katie, a spiritual teacher. The man was saying, if I had enough money, I would move to Hawaii. And that would be so great. That's my dream. And she said, well, what would you do in Hawaii? Well, I would sit in a deck chair by the beach or in my backyard and look at the palm trees, breeze. And she pointed out to him, well, where are you sitting now? Is the chair comfortable? Yeah. So what's wrong with that chair? How different would it be to have just a slightly different view around you? You can be inner. Why now? It's an inner state. It's just the mind telling you you need to be somewhere else in order to be happy, you need to be somewhere else. It's here now. What's wise to seek postpone fulfillment to some future imagined point. Not realizing that the source of all satisfaction is within you already. And then sense that as your very presence. And everything else, whatever happens or doesn't happen, you catch the bus or you miss the bus, you lose money, you gain money. Up and down, hot and cold. That's all the details. This mind made sense of self is also much more focused on the negative than the positive. To be free, you awaken to who you are. Beyond your history and your life situation.

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