Eckhart TolleNYT Bestselling author of the Power of Now

You have overlooked who you truly are

3 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this excerpt from his YouTube talk, Eckhart Tolle explains that awakening involves recognizing a deeper dimension of self he calls the "deep I," which exists beyond the everyday "historical person" identified by thoughts, memories, and social roles. He asserts that most people are unaware of this deeper self because they are absorbed in their mental activity, personal experiences, and the external demands of the world, causing them to overlook the presence of the deep I.

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And as you awaken, you realize that in addition to the historical person, there's a deeper dimension to who you are, and I sometimes call that the deep I. Most people don't know that that even exists, or they are completely just simply unaware of it because The historical person has so many things to think about and to do and to experience. They get so absorbed in their thoughts and their experiences and the demands that the world makes upon them that one could say simply they overlook, they overlook the deep 'I'