Remarkable and very entertaining!  Tolle's task is great: he must teach you, in the subtlest and gentlest way, how to find that within you which is below the noise of your habitual thoughts, yet above the small ego identity that is your concept of self.  He must guide you past your resistance and false notions into the recognition of your deepest truth - a truth that lies eternally waiting for your entrance into the Now.  The Now, or sometimes called Presence (or even, as he explains, called "such-ness" in some Eastern traditions), is the conscious awareness of timeless being that rests always in non-thought, non-resistance, and inner peace.

That he succeeds so well is testament to his popularity as both author and speaker.  His gift of eloquence blends perfectly with his comedic sense.  He finds just the right word or phrase to get you laughing at your very typical response even as you are made aware of your brand-new life perspective.  How can you not love the sage who points out that, even while listening to his words of wisdom, some feel they are "morally superior to reality".  They cannot let go; they cannot accept the present moment; they live continuously at odds with it, and thus at odds with reality.  These folk are not at peace within, and Tolle would guide them there instead.

In short, Tolle's message here, as in his recent books, is about discovering within oneself the ultimate peace/flow/acceptance/non-resistance of one's true being.  To do so, one must let go of obvious barriers such as aggressive thinking, but also of subtle barriers such as the insistence of egoic identity.  It's a tough struggle that we all face, especially in a challenging era such as today's, but it is the glorious destination of a path of spiritual evolution that he is humorously yet seriously taking us along.

It's a wonderful thing to be able to listen to a master's words, and even to hear his pleasant voice.  Highly recommended, even for those who ordinarily don't like this sort of stuff! 

***

 

In the abundance of the light pouring forth into the higher, intuitive realms, and awakening all who tune in, there is to be had great comfort, wisdom, and reconnection, for even as all seems disheveled, chaotic, and lost, in that there is a turning. The turning and a yearning... a quest that impels the mind to seek solution, answers, guidance, and its own wisdom. It is a though the news in the here and now is faulty, pockmarked, untrustworthy, not reliable. The voices of one's fellow man cannot be trusted. It is as though the mind feels it cannot build its foundation on these fellow travelers but needs something greater now, something transcendent.

This is a general trend, not yet as visible but hidden within each soul as the world seems to grow more strange. And so the yearning propels the mind to seek... to seek that which is full of sense, full of light, a ground upon which one can build one's future, a message that is given that one can rely upon.

Where is this to be had? What realms must we travel through to find that which is so rare and inaccessible in the everyday world? Where should we turn?

Behind this yearning, this universal question, comes the thought: I need my own interior connection with something higher, something above, something that transcends the petty bickering and false beliefs that I see all around me. It is not that I don't love my fellow man; I just do not see in him or her the answers that I seek, for we all are as blind men and women, stumbling about, trying to feel our way in a very confusing world.

And so we return to our first point, which is that light in abundance is flowing forth - in fact, it is a gusher! It is more available than ever. The path is through attunement, alignment, inner connection. The path is by setting aside the questioning mind, the mind that analyzes, the mind that deduces, the mind that controls. Setting that aside long enough to taste of a spark of pure light, of pure contact, to realize the self in its true god-form. The spiritual self shining broadly into the wavelengths of materiality, its radiance awakening, available, pure. It is the path - not religion, but spiritual connection - and then the answers and guidance will appear.

It is yours for the taking. Merely, learn how.