Dear Eckhart

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We invite you to submit a question in writing to info@eckharttolle.com (subject heading “Dear Eckhart”) and Eckhart may answer your question through our newsletter and Dear Eckhart web page. Please note that only one to three of the total number of questions received each quarter will be answered and please limit questions to 50 words or less.

Question: You often use phrases such as "true alignment with life" and "inner alignment with what is". How can we ever be out of alignment with what is? Surely what is is WHAT IS and must include confusion, resistance and non surrender to the present moment?...

Question: Dissolving the ego is quite a scary business. When it comes to complete surrender, it is actually quite difficult to do because everyone wants to be an individual. Is individuality lost? Is there any awareness of an individual self after awakening and what about after physical death?...

Question: It is grief I would like you to talk on some more. I have “Even the Sun Will Die” and get it about form, just having lost 3 family members. Even when watching my mind, and feeling some peace, tears just come like a tidal wave. Then there is a hole, I sit with it, but all the spiritual teaching in the world does not seem to allow relief from grief. It is as if as a human form you have only one way and that is through; I noticed feelings of guilt for the feelings, but even surrender doesn’t seem to help... for want of trying to communicate my question much is lost... Grief seems separate to me, from all other emotions we experience and can have some effect on anger, self pity ect.?

Question: Is it frustrating to have gone from being able to interact with people on a casual basis, to having now found yourself behind a network of protection from which you are unwittingly walled in and limited in how much you can do and respond to? My analogy is of the rock star who starts by playing pubs and clubs and is close contact with those he is trying to reach, but in reaching becomes a victim of his success, no longer able to interact on a direct level - more a myth to the public and a prisoner to his work. I very much enjoyed being in your presence at Glastonbury a year or so ago?...

Question: I am a devoted listener of your words and the space in between them. I along with many others I know are wondering what kind of food diet you recommend in assisting our realization of present moment? Strictly vegetarian or are animal products ok?...

Question: You realized the “truth” (I am referring to the permanent shift of consciousness you have achieved) with no help from others. Do you know of anyone who achieved the same by following your teaching through books/tapes?...

Question: I have been wanting to ask you this for months- What are your thoughts on the New Testament? It appears that you believe certain parts were add-ons, or apart from the essence of the teaching. Are there any parts in particular? And why?...

Question: If you only live in the now, what would stop someone who is in a relationship or marriage from resisting the temptation to have sex with anyone who is attractive but who is not his/her partner? After all, if you are in the now and see someone attractive, you want to have sex with them now?...

Question: Is there any way in which your spiritual teachings may be applied to everyday life? Can your teachings make us any happier today? How?...

Question: Why are we so afraid of stillness and silence? What can be created from them?...

Question: Is there any relationship between ailments such as depression and anxiety and the way we conceive our life? In which way are mind, body and emotions connected?

Question: One of the great principles of philosophy and psychology is: “Know yourself”. How can I know who I really am? Which traps should I avoid? And which tools should I use?...

Question: Many trends in psychology work to empower individuality, personal differences, developing one’s singularity and uniqueness, to develop one’s strengths and abilities through willpower. Is that compatible with the idea of transcending the ego? Without ego, what is character or personality reduced to? Is psychology compatible with spirituality?...

Question: What do we experience when we connect with our real self? How does that experience change the way we live our own life?...

Question: Wouldn’t it be more encouraging to set ones goals and try to fulfill them? That could also give us a strong purpose in life… What is the difference between the two approaches?...

Question: If everyone could connect with that state of awareness, would there be a change in global consciousness at a planetary level? How would that new world be like? How do you imagine that new era, as a new human evolution?...

Question: Once I have felt what being present is like, do I carry that knowledge inside all the time, like something learned once and forever, or do I have to practice constantly in order to become more conscious?...

Question: Is everybody prepared to feel the Presence? Could you please explain a simple exercise, meditation or visualization for us to try to connect to the present moment?...

Question: A powerful word: Love. Which is the role of love in existence?...

Question, My wife and I have interesting discussions about your teachings. Yesterday, she pointed out something interesting. She asked if the business created with your books, CDs and DVDs is another form of ego. What do you think about this?

Question, Do people really have the ability to choose? As an enlightened being, do you feel that your will and the will of God is the same? I worry that I will become like the Borg on Star Trek, just part of one collective. Thanks for your time, Eckhart. *laughter*