Eckart Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’ is one of the many books out there that looks at the idea of ‘no thought’, that is, being conscious without following the little monkey in our minds that likes to skip after every thought we have, making us miss the moment we’re actually in. Tolle describes this as an addiction to thinking. He argues that thinking is a way of trying to escape from the present moment. A non-judgemental being in the moment is a tricky little number to explain, as words explain concepts, and concepts are what we are still trapped in when we are trying not to think.
What’s the usefulness of what Tolle talks about? Well, if you like what he said in the first video, you might find out more of what he thinks it is from this one. On the other hand, you might have to create your own point, or even find it pointless to wonder how to connect with your deepest truth.
“The thinker is the thought”, there is no thinker separate from his thoughts. However, the physical brain over millions of years of evolution has evolved to divide itself and therefore live in a kind of duality. This is the root of all inner conflict. If thoughts were separate from the self then maybe you could control them. However, there is no two entities, and therefore a conflict arises because of the illusory nature of duality. It’s like looking in a mirror and thinking you can change the image in the mirror by physically touching the mirror. The image, although there, is only an illusion, therefore nothing can be changed this way. Only frustration builds-up as the mind becomes a battle field causing inner conflict as there is actually no other you that can be changed through the mirror.
So the only way to dissolve duality, is to see what IS, by an act of perception, and thus go beyond it. Is it from thought itself that the problem arises, and yet thought says “I will change these thoughts”, thus arises a contradiction, which is an absurdity that leads to all sorts of division and problems.
And anyway, how would we know our deepest truth if we found it, obviously through recognition, which means we already experienced it somewhere before, otherwise how should we know it.
So it appears Mr Toll and his followers are all searching and trying to bring about an end to that which
they bring about themselves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, great comment. Thanks. Its always a problem using language to describe experience. Just the use of it creates a split that isn’t there.
LikeLike