Eckhart Tolle

Tape 5 

(Continuation...)

Not long after the transformation happened when the soap bubble of the self burst (his awakening as described in The Power of Now), I read those lines in the New Testament, "Deny thyself."   

And at the same time I was also reading certain Buddhist texts with the same characteristics, anatta (non-self),  

No self and any phenomenon - the illusion of self.   

Deny thyself.   

And then I remembered that night when I was in bed and the thought went through my head, "I can't live with myself anymore."   

No self, deny thyself, can't live with myself, the illusion of self, separate selfhood.   

Amazing to see the truth everywhere suddenly.   

Yes, yes there it is.

September 6th

Liberation

If unconditioned presence is what you really are, does this mean that you must seek some state in which you are totally calm and aware of everything?  No.  This is not about reaching any state or experience.  Everything - every state, experience, thought, emotion, and reaction - arises from and falls back into that unconditioned presence.

The word liberation points to a shift in which life is simply happening and there is no self trying to control it.  This includes not trying to control states, experiences, thoughts, or emotions.

There can even be a tendency to get stuck in awareness, believing that you are supposed to be in a state in which you are aware of everything.  Is that even possible?  Isn't it still control?

Liberation is childlike.  It is life living itself in whatever way it happens.  It is life being calm.  Life being obnoxious.  Life being quiet.  Life being loud.  Life being aware.  Life being unaware.  "You" are the unconditioned presence through which all of that happens.

When everything is allowed through that presence without resistance, the self that is trying to control or maintain states, experiences, thoughts, and emotions is seen to be an illusion.  This seeing brings a natural equanimity, peace, joy, and love.  But those attributes are not in any way contrived or brought about by a person's effort.  This shift happens only when the self trying to   manipulate the experience of living is seen through.

Michael Brown

From PART V: 2. 

(Continuation...)

The profound concept of being facilitated by someone who is of themselves being nothing or nobody, who is in a state of not-doing, may initially be challenging for us to grasp, because the world in general contains no context for what a real facilitator is or does. The intent of The Presence Process is to gradually open our mind and introduce us to the concept of authentic facilitation through the use of the expression "the messenger" and the experience of being "set up". It introduces us to a dimension of interaction between two human beings beyond our traditional understanding of therapists, councilors, and healers (TPP/Pg 142, 1st Edition). The moment we grasp the concept of messengers and of being set up, we are able to comprehend the role of an authentic facilitator.

Chapter 85

'I am': The Foundation of all Experience

(Continuation...)

Q: Please don't tell me that I am dreaming and that I will soon wake up. I wish it were so. But I am awake and in pain. You talk of a painless state, but you add that I cannot have it in my present condition. I feel lost.

M: Don't feel lost. I only say that to find the immutable and blissful you must give up your hold on the mutable and painful. You are concerned with your own happiness and I am telling you that there is no such thing. Happiness is never your own, it is where the 'I' is not. I do not say it is beyond your reach; you have only to reach out beyond yourself, and you will find it.