Eckhart Tolle...

[RawJudah]

Happy Saturday!

Today I read up about Eckhart Tolle’s story on how he was ‘enlightened’ and I’m really confused about how he did it. From what I’ve read, one night he woke from his sleep and had an epiphany, got enlightened and was in a constant state of bliss and completely in the present moment. It all sounds very well and good for him, and it sounds like what the people on this path want in life, but it sounds a bit too easy.

So how come we have to do so much work to acheive this?? Can’t we just be in a deep bliss right now? Is there anyone other than Eckhart Tolle who has achieved this deep bliss so easily? After one night? It sounds like he didn’t need to do years of meditation either

There might be an obvious answer to this so I’d love to hear from anyone who can shed some light on this.

Many thanks.

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by RawJudah

[Shin]

You missed the part "I was so depressed that I wanted to kill me".

Edited January 6, 2018 by Shin

[Shanmugam]

@RawJudah He hasn't really disclosed much about his life in his book, except that he was in depression. But he was very much interested in contemplation about life... And when the weight of the separate and personal 'me' becomes too much, it sometimes gets dropped this way.

[zazed]

he clearly writes how he couldn't live with himself anymore. suddenly having the realization that himself not able to live with himself is a paradox. he talks about seeing how the thought thinking this is separate from himself. this is all and more in the first chapters of  his book "The Power of now".

being in such a dark place, ready to die, is not a natural state of mind you can intentionally reach. it requires deep self hate that is not recommended...

you are right in part. there is not that much to go on there. he was suddenly enlightened. the rest of the book is from an enlightened perspective. it's not as much a guide on becoming enlightened, as it is a guide on what life is like if you are enlightened. but it's inspiring to read.

so still a good read.

[Markus]

Being in deep depression is not fun. That's where Tolle was before his epiphany. For every Tolle who awakens after serious depression, many more stay stuck, become self-destructive or even take their own lives. So the Tolle method is not really a method. You can't emulate a spontaneous awakening like that.

[Nahm]

@RawJudah What we are is mystical, magical and amazing, and all is well. Not good or bad, but perfection. Consistent ‘reality’ is an illusion. Tolle’s awakening could be considered an inconsistent event, and indigestible if we’re in a paradigm of consistency. 

That sounds ridiculous if we’re in a science paradigm of biology, neurology, brain, evolution, etc - the “being right” paradigm.  It’s logically unacceptable because it’s rationally inaccessible. Logic & reason are real - ized as limitations to Tolle now (I assume, I don’t know him). Imo, this is what @AleksM is pointing to for us. Jim Carrey comes to mind. Many think he’s batshit crazy because what Jim is pointing to is transcendent of logic & rationalization, transcendent of being ‘right’. Transcendent of ego and the paradigm of consciousness being a product of the body & brain, vs the body & brain being an illusion of consciousness. Even the word consciousness....

[Peace and Love]

1 hour ago, RawJudah said:

Happy Saturday!

Today I read up about Eckhart Tolle’s story on how he was ‘enlightened’ and I’m really confused about how he did it. From what I’ve read, one night he woke from his sleep and had an epiphany, got enlightened and was in a constant state of bliss and completely in the present moment. It all sounds very well and good for him, and it sounds like what the people on this path want in life, but it sounds a bit too easy.

So how come we have to do so much work to acheive this?? Can’t we just be in a deep bliss right now? Is there anyone other than Eckhart Tolle who has achieved this deep bliss so easily? After one night? It sounds like he didn’t need to do years of meditation either

There might be an obvious answer to this so I’d love to hear from anyone who can shed some light on this.

Many thanks.

 

@RawJudah I was recently watching a video I rented from the library by Eckhart Tolle where he was talking about his enlightenment experience.  I also read in his book "The New Earth, Awakening your True Life Purpose," that he had depression after his first awakening experience for a few years and was on the brink of suicide.  This book has really been helping with the awakening process as I'm learning to differentiate between the ego and my true self, awareness. Transcendental Meditation or aka TM mediation says enlightenment is a natural, normal thing.  From what I read in Eckhart Tolle's books he was realizing some things logically in his mind about emotions and thoughts as he interacted with people. He was understanding what the ego was and that it wasn't who he really was.  Enlightenment isn't one experience and everything is done...it's a process, a transition. And once it is experienced it is hard to go back to everyday life knowing the truth.  The book is worth reading and is said to help the transition process.

A few weeks ago I had a brush with Consciousness, the infinite, nothingness.  It was great.  The monkey mind shut off for three hours and was just directly experiencing everything. There was wholeness, completeness, bliss, peace.  ... Yet nothing can compare to this experience... No outer experience or life purpose could ever fulfill that need.  It's all inner.  This awakening experience was random but I've also recently changed my diet, been practicing TM meditation, and have been using reiki and the law of attraction to manifest this transformation faster. 

@egoeimai

[Joseph Maynor]

To me he has a certain look that gives him that guru look.  That makes him sort of naturally interesting.  He looks like an alien.  He's so weird looking he must be wise eh?  That's what I think is happening subconsciously with people and why he is as popular as he is.  And his personality is strange too.  

Edited January 6, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Peace and Love]

@RawJudah, @egoeimai

Here are the titles of the books and the dvd I rented from the library if you are interested. 

 

[star ark]

I found his explanation of sudden awakening a bit too vague. I like all his ego stuff, his pain body stuff and a bit about how ducks fight in a pond.

[RawJudah]

@Markus this is what I’m talking about, it just seems so unbelievable how he went from one day a deep depression to the next day enlightened and in a deep bliss. It just doesn’t make any sense and it just seems that he’s talking about enlightenment without actually being the real thing. 

Id rather gain enlightenment by working hard for it, meaning I’ve achieved it and I’m happy about the path I lead to get there.

[RawJudah]

@Peace and Love thank you, I’ll look into getting them.

[pluto]

You must experience darkness to experience light.

[eputkonen]

19 hours ago, RawJudah said:

So how come we have to do so much work to acheive this?? Can’t we just be in a deep bliss right now? Is there anyone other than Eckhart Tolle who has achieved this deep bliss so easily? After one night? It sounds like he didn’t need to do years of meditation either

There might be an obvious answer to this so I’d love to hear from anyone who can shed some light on this.

Many thanks.

You missed the part where he was so depressed he was almost suicidal...and he saw the thought, "I just can't live with myself anymore" and the question came to mind "what is this I and myself...there are not two?" 

Eckhart had a combination of intense suffering (which will sometimes awaken people) and self inquiry (of a sort).

Besides, it does not take "so much work to achieve this".  Some people just feel they need to work for it and pay for it, before they allow it to happen.

Anyone besides Eckhart...I only know it was easy for me as well.  I was on the spiritual search 13 years...an off and on meditator...and then I gave up the search and quit entirely.  About a year later, while simply being truly present for the first time (no thought)...I woke up.  I clearly saw awakening was not a culmination of the spiritual search and meditation...but happened in spite of it (so to speak).

[Faceless]

This no self state doesnt happen through will, effort, and time as in ‘’becoming” has nothing to do with it. The “me” the image has to cease for this to happen. Any movement from or by the me which implies various methods, practices, and so on will only prevent this from happening.

Anyway if you are not in this state of being, how could you known if someone else was?  

 

Edited January 7, 2018 by Faceless

[zazed]

2 minutes ago, Faceless said:

This no self state doesnt happen through will, effort, and time as in ‘’becoming” has nothing to do with it. The “me” the image has to cease for this to happen.

Exactly. The self cannot work and struggle and think a million philosophical thoughts to make itself disappear.
Everything the self does, enlarges it.

The self has to leave the room and close the door. You are the room.
One thought it truly believes can be enough to make it leave, if it is willing to listen. It only needs to do this one thing.
This is what happened to Eckhart, he saw it was so, his self fully believed it and checked out. 

The problem is, our self does not believe it is not the room. Even though it is working hard, meditating and philosophizing to become the room.
The self thinks it is the room, and there should be something else should leave the room, and then it will have become the room.
Most selves have now found a scapegoat, called the ego, using it to label undesirable parts of their selves. This undesirable ego has to leave the room, giving the self an excuse to stay in and keep on struggling to become the room. But the self is not divisible at all, so this will never work.

 

15 minutes ago, Faceless said:

Anyway if you are not in this state of being, how could you known if someone else was?  

You can never. If you aren't in this state you wont know. If you are in this state you have no desire to go around labeling people, it would be absurd to waste mental energy on such a thought. If you do go around labeling people you are not in this state.

[Faceless]

@zazed

Lol Yeah we tend to divide parts of our conciousness. That’s what thought does, fragments. There’s the “real self”, “ego”, “sub concious”, and so on. This is all a movment of thought that creates this division through fragmentation. Of course the center which  manifest as a fragment of thought further exaggerates this division. 

 

Edited January 7, 2018 by Faceless

[Natasha]

@RawJudah That's how the shift happens with any awakened being - the false self collapses, you become disillusioned, you see through the smokescreen of the ego. That's why they call it liberation. You embody what is. And this happens different ways for different people. Nothing to be puzzled about 

[clouffy]

@zazed do you think most spiritual teachers have gone through intense sadness/ was suicidal at one point? 

if so then why not all suicidal people become enlightened?

[purerogue]

4 minutes ago, clouffy said:

@zazed do you think most spiritual teachers have gone through intense sadness/ was suicidal at one point? 

if so then why not all suicidal people become enlightened?

Probably because they are not looking into why they are at such state , why they have such thoughts, there is huge difference from someone who is in practice and gets in such situation and just random Joe who wants to kill himself.