As humans, we are on a collective journey to find peace and love, to live in harmony, to create a better world for our children and to surpass the limits of the form we were born into, to evolve the human spirit to new heights. Some may call it a search for nirvana (not the 90’s grunge band!).
Yet, why over the course of human history, and even today, is there so much violence and suffering? Why do so many of us contribute to the discord and suffering in our daily lives and interactions with our fellow humans? Eckhart Tolle in his truly inspiring video called “Finding Your Life’s Purpose” provides a clear, concise recipe for stopping the insanity and reaching a pure state of consciousness where we will find that collective peace and can begin to create transformation in our world.
Everything that Tolle has produced (books, DVD’s, CD’s, lectures) leads you on this path to the ultimate state of being, living in the now, present to the collective spirit and power of humanity. If you’re not already a fan, check out his web site at www.eckharttolle.com to see everything that he has to offer.
Today I want to share some key lessons from Tolle’s DVD that struck a chord with me.
Our ‘mental noise’ distracts us from our true purpose, from reaching these heights. Our endless thoughts, largely based on our illusions about the past, are constantly churning and often repetitive. Most of them you have thought many, many times, and the negative ones can have more power and be more frequent than the positive ones. We do not need to be dragged along by the mental noise, by every thought that arises.
Instead we must be present in the now. It is all that truly exists. The future is an illusion, doesn’t exist except as a thought, it is a conceptual thing. Be aware, present, find the aliveness within by putting attention on your body, on breathing in and out, on the stillness between thoughts. Use awareness of your breathing as an anchor for being present…
The essence of our thinking mind is that it is usually thinking about the past or the future and it is conditioned by our illusions and judgements about what happened in the past. But can you find the dimension within yourself that exists outside the thinking mind?
Our primary purpose in life does not involve time yet we find it hard to believe in a purpose that does not require expectations about the ‘future’. My primary purpose right now is to sit in my chair, hands on the keyboard, breathe in and out and share the wonderful lessons that Tolle has given to the world. The universe has put me here, right now, and this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing.
What you are doing, wherever you are, right now, you are fulfilling your life’s purpose yet your mind doesn’t think that makes sense… if you’re already here, how can that be your purpose?
So to be here fully, you must align yourself with this moment in eternity, and know that wherever you are, is exactly where you’re supposed to be but this is hard because the mind will expect that everything you “do” must just be a means to an “end”. As the “end” is in the future, which is really just a thought/concept in your mind, we can become ‘frustrated’ causing us to live in constant discontent or fear. Being present means every moment that you are ‘doing’ or being, can be joyous and fulfilling.
Remember, our primary purpose is to be aligned with the NOW which we cannot do if we are always trapped in our minds, living only for the next thing to happen..
So, we must stop living in the phantom world of the mind, constantly judging and labelling and reviewing everything that happens and everyone we encounter (this is the insanity, the dysfunction of our existence), and believing our own stories about who we are.
Instead, be present to the other dimension of your being, to the formless presence that exists in the stillness, between thoughts, that is your very essence. You will only find it in the NOW before consciousness becomes thought, a sense perception, your interpretation, your stories about the past, etc., etc…
Sadly, if you read our history books or watch the news, you will be reminded that the collective human ego has wreaked havoc and human suffering for millenia. If there is no shift in our consciousness then the madness will continue. How can our species survive unless there’s a change in our collective spirit, our consciousness? The only way that we can affect such as a transformation is by working on our own individual consciousness.
So, from the point of view of a truly present, enlightened being, you will be able to feel the sacredness of the world around you, of our universe, the sky, the garden, the people around you but when your mind takes everything down to a conceptual state, using judgement and thought, this can deaden the beauty around you.
There is a vast power in the inner stillness of this formless dimension of consciousness.
Achieving this state, right now, in this moment, is our ultimate life purpose..
I recommend that you get Tolle’s DVD and listen to it yourself.
Love and Peace to all…