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All you need to do is be aware of your thoughts and emotions – as they happen. This is not really a ‘doing,’ but an alert ‘seeing.’ In that sense, it is true that there is nothing you can do to become free of the ego. When that shift happens, which is the shift from thinking to awareness, an intelligence far greater than the ego’s cleverness begins to operate in your life.” Each person is so identified with the thoughts that make up their opinion, that those thoughts harden into mental positions which are invested with a sense of self. In other words: Identity and thought merge. Once this has happened, when I defend my opinions (thoughts), I feel and act as if I were defending my very self. Unconsciously, I feel and act as if I were fighting for survival and so my emotions will reflect this unconscious belief. They become turbulent. I am upset, angry, defensive, or aggressive. I need to win at all costs lest I become annihilated. That’s the illusion.” When you recognize the unconsciousness in you, that which makes the recognition possible is the arising consciousness, is awakening. You cannot fight against the ego and win, just as you cannot fight against darkness. The light of consciousness is all that is necessary. You are that light.“
Through the present moment you have access to the power of life itself, that which has traditionally been called ‘God.’“ One of the most basic mind structures through which the ego comes into existence is identification. The word ‘identification’ is derived from the Latin word idem, meaning ‘same’ and facere, which means ‘to make.’ So when I identify with something, I ‘make it the same.’ The same as what? The same as I. I endow it with a sense of self, and so it becomes part of my ‘identity.’ One of the most basic levels of identification is with things: My toy later becomes my car, my house, my clothes, and so on. I try to find myself in things but never quite make it and end up losing myself in them. That is the fate of the ego.” Being present is always infinitely more powerful than anything one could say or do, although sometimes being present can give rise to words or actions.”A large-scale opening of spirituality outside of the religious structures is an entirely new development. In the past, this would have been inconceivable, especially in the West, the most mind-dominated of all cultures, where the Christian church had a virtual franchise on spirituality.” Of course different people fulfill different functions in this world. It cannot be otherwise. As far as intellectual or physical abilities are concerned – knowledge, skills, talents, and energy levels – human beings differ widely. What really matters is not what function you fulfill in this world, but whether you identify with your function to such an extent that it takes you over and becomes a role that you play. When you play roles, you are unconscious.“ He basically says everything we do on this earth is secondary to our primary purpose of Being, and having a oneness with the universe. He encourages us to focus on that beingness, to breathe, to be fully present in every moment. He then goes on to say that just b/c this earth is not our primary goal, that doesn't meant that there is no purpose to life. Our purpose is whatever we are doing at any present moment. don't live for the future, don't dwell on the past. Do whatever you're doing to the best of your ability and with all your being, even if that means just typing this out. this is what my purpose is right now.
What I call the ‘inner body’ isn’t really the body anymore but life energy, the bridge between form and formlessness. Make it a habit to feel the inner body as often as you can.” In Zen, such a glimpse is called satori. Satori is a moment of Presence, a brief stepping out of the voice in your head, the thought processes, and their reflection in the body as emotion. It is the arising of inner spaciousness where before there was the clutter of thought and the turmoil of emotion.” Anyone can be mindful for an instant, staying mindful, though, can be the work of a lifetime. I feel like Tolle has reduced himself to a shell of a person with no ego, no emotions, no thoughts, no past, no future in the mistaken view that somehow his detachment makes him a deeper, more spiritual being. Unfortunately, I see him as a social misfit who has managed to hypnotize himself with endless verbiage so that he doesn't have to face up to the pain and suffering that are a normal part of existence. I am happy for him that he was able to "awaken" and get out of his hell that contributed to his depression and attempted suicide, but to assume that he is enlightened and can now enlighten everyone else is too weird.The surrendered state of consciousness opens up the vertical dimension in your life, the dimension of depth. Something will then come forth from that dimension into this world, something of infinite value that otherwise would have remained unmanifested. Some people who surrendered to severe limitation become healers or spiritual teachers. Others work selflessly to lessen human suffering or bring some creative gift into this world.” Not all unhappiness is of the pain-body. Some of it is new unhappiness, created whenever you are out of alignment with the present moment, when the Now is denied in one way or another. When you recognize that the present moment is always already the case and therefore inevitable, you can bring an uncompromising inner ‘yes’ to it and so not only create no further unhappiness, but, with inner resistance gone, find yourself empowered by Life itself.” Christ can be seen as the archetypal human, embodying both the pain and the possibility of transcendence.” I think that because I have what I feel is a strong faith, this book just didn't make a big impression. I feel like a lot of the ego stuff he was talking about is basically morals and values, of which if you already have a high regard for and were taught about them, then a new awakening to being good is sort of insulting. All creativity comes out of inner spaciousness. Once the creation has happened and something has come into form, you have to be vigilant so that the notion of ‘me’ or ‘mine’ does not arise. If you take credit for what you accomplished, the ego has returned, and the spaciousness has become obscured.”
The author also talks about some other regular aspects of human life for how we expect things from others and sometimes do not accept what they give. This book’s main lesson is to tell its reader to live happily in the present without emphasizing material possession. In the start, the author describes some problems that humans face due to misconceptions and then goes through various points ending at how a person can overcome them and refrain from them by implementing the author’s advice to live the present happily. Source: whiterabbit.gifts A mature first-year student at twenty-five, I saw myself as an intellectual in the making, and I was convinced that all the answers to the dilemmas of human existence could be found through the intellect, that is to say, by thinking. I didn’t realize yet that thinking without awareness is the main dilemma of human existence.”Here’s the author’s summary: “Enjoyment of what you are doing, combined with a goal or vision that you work toward, becomes enthusiasm. Even though you have a goal, what you are doing in the present moment needs to remain the focal point of your attention; otherwise, you will fall out of alignment with universal purpose. Make sure your vision or goal is not an inflated image of yourself and therefore a concealed form of ego, such as wanting to become a movie star, a famous writer, or a wealthy entrepreneur. Also make sure your goal is not focused on having this or that, such as a mansion by the sea, your own company, or ten million dollars in the bank. An enlarged image of yourself or a vision of yourself having this or that are all static goals and therefore don’t empower you. Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic, that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged in and through which you are connected to other human beings as well as to the whole. Instead of seeing yourself as a famous actor and writer and so on, see yourself inspiring countless people with your work and enriching their lives. Feel how that activity enriches or deepens not only your life but that of countless others. Feel yourself being an opening through which energy flows from the unmanifested Source of all life through you for the benefit of all. What is dreadful is your reaction, your inner resistance to it, and the emotion that is created by that resistance. In Shakespeare’s words, ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’“
There are three ways you can align your life with the power of the universe: acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm. He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. To him there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is. Events are not personalized. He is nobody’s victim. He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power over him anymore. Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness.“ If you ever read Viktor Frankl, he was teaching what it is to be awake, he learned this from being in the death camps in Nazi Germany and by watching those around him, who were survivors and who were dying...Man's Search for Meaning is a much better book to read about becoming whole and getting everything out of our lives. i read it last summer and have it if you want. Emotions and even thoughts become depersonalized through awareness. Their impersonal nature is recognized. there is no longer a self in them. They are just human emotions, human thoughts. Your entire personal history, which is ultimately no more than a story, a bundle of thoughts and emotions, becomes of secondary importance and no longer occupies the forefront of your consciousness. It no longer forms the basis for your sense of identity. You are the light of Presence, the awareness that is prior to and deeper than any thoughts and emotions.”The physical body is no more than a misperception of who you are. In many ways, it is a microcosmic version of outer space.” Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won't die. You will come to life. And don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don't be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.” The ego may be clever, but it is not intelligent. Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees the larger whole in which all things are connected. Cleverness is motivated by self interest, and it is extremely shortsighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few are intelligent. Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence includes.“ Here is another way of finding inner space: Become conscious of being conscious. Say or think ‘I Am’ and add nothing to it. Be aware of the stillness that follows the I Am. Sense your presence, the naked, unveiled, unclothed beingness. It is untouched by young or old, rich or poor, good or bad, or any other attributes. It is the spacious womb of all creation, all form.“
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