The Age of Awakening

by Kim Eng

copyright August 2003

source Eckhart Teachings

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The evolution of consciousness is inevitable. It seems we are living in an age of awakening. This may not be immediately apparent when we watch the daily news and witness the violence, the warfare, the horrific suffering that humans inflict on each other. Here it seems that nothing has changed or things are getting worse. What we are witnessing in fact is the unconsciousness of the human mind playing itself out in front of our eyes. This is the world we create when we are unaware of the one source that sustains and connects us all, and instead identify with opinions, judgments, labels and mental positions. The one source, the one consciousness that is prior to and beyond any form - color of skin, gender, culture, religion, or even any thought the mind can think.

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When we witness world events on television, we are in fact seeing only the effect of human unconsciousness. However, it is only in yourself where the prime cause originates and thus can be dissolved. Only then a new world can come into existence.

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Kim Eng: Large numbers of people are beginning to awaken spiritually at this time. Many of them look to a teacher, such as yourself, for guidance and support. Although ultimately nobody can do it for you, a teacher is no doubt helpful - some would say essential - during the process of awaking. In the face of such overwhelming demand for spiritual truth, why is it that you have substantially reduced your public teaching for the remainder of 2003? (except October, see Eckhart's "upcoming events" at www.eckharttolle.com). What is your message to all those awakening beings who rely on you for guidance?

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Eckhart Tolle: Don't rely on me. Whoever and whatever you rely on externally will let you down sooner or later. All forms dissolve, change, die, leave you. Many people feel they are being drawn to me, the "form" of Eckhart, but they are wrong. They confuse form with essence. When people come to a talk, an intensive, or a retreat, they don't come to be with me, although this is how it may look on the surface. They come to be with themselves, or rather, to be themselves more fully. Something shines through the form of Eckhart, and it is one with the essence of who you are. The peace, stillness, joy or intense aliveness you feel in the presence of the spiritual teacher emanates from the one Source within yourself, inseparable from who you are at the deepest level. The teacher cannot give it to you. He or she reveals to you what is already there, within yourself.

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The teaching is continuously available to you through the books, tapes, videos. For those who are ready to awaken, they are just as powerful as the physical presence of the teacher. But beware of excessive attachment to these things and the constant need for more, which is not a true need but a mind-created one. One needs to see when the point has been reached where that which is helpful, that which puts you in touch with the truth of who you are, has served its purpose. Buddha had the beautiful analogy of the "raft crossing the river" - once you have crossed the river, you don't carry the raft around with you. As long as you need the raft, the teaching is there.

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Through the books, tapes, videos, the teaching is there in its full power, and that teaching, if you allow it, will put you in touch with the only living teacher there is: your own innermost being. But the egoic mind keeps saying: I need, I want, I must have. The mind's need for more is a way of avoiding and truly being with the teaching. Which is here now.

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KE: You are already yourself, fully.

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ET: Yes, nothing essential can or needs to be added.

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KE: What is the nature of that self that we already are? Can one say anything about it?

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ET: One can only point; but not explain or define. One can say: space, or inner spaciousness, is who you are at the deepest level. It is utterly still, yet vibrantly alive. I have nothing to give you except that: space. But since space is the essence of who you are, I have nothing to give you (Eckhart chuckles). If you look for anything other than space in a spiritual teacher, you will be disappointed, let down. Whatever he or she gives you, it will never be enough. Nothing in the realm of form will satisfy you for long.

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KE: Yes, form is duality. Therefore, at sometime or another, the opposite must occur.

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ET: When you internally allow each moment to be as it is, when you witness your thoughts and emotions as they happen, space arises within you - stillness, peace. That is who you are. That is beyond the opposites.

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