New Earth

Now, I actually believe this book is better than the Power of Now.

It seemed to click more into place for me.

Regardless, Eckhart Tolle has a way with words and he’s done a great deal for helping to reshape ideas about ourselves.

Here are my notes:

The unconscious compulsion to enhance ones identity through association with an object is built into the structure of the egoic mind. Identification is to make something the same as you, part of your identity. As a child, it could be a toy. Later on it becomes clothes, a house etc. we try to find ourselves in things but never quite make it and end up losing ourselves in them. That is the fate of ehe ego.

The ego’s sense of self worth is in most cases bound up with the worth your have in the eyes of others.

Wanting keeps the ego alive much more than having

Body dismorphia = identification with the mind. If you could see or feel your aneroxic body for what it is, you would behave different.

Whenever tragic loss exists, you either resist or yield. Either way, there can be ego collapse as the previous identification is destroyed. If you yield, it can lead to compassion and a greater sense of awareness. If you resist, the ego can attach to victim identification or anger or sadness. The ego does not care what emotional state this puts you in, so long as it has form.

The content of the ego varies from person to person (nationality, Religion, ideology) but the structure remains the same: identification and separation. To uphold the ‘I’ thought, it needs an other. And this is easiest in the creation of enemies.

Non reaction to the ego in others (i.e. forgiveness) is one of the best ways of overcoming your own ego and stabilizing the collective. Recognise that it is not the individual speaking but the unconscious.

Complaining gives you a sense of superiority and feeds the ego because you are right and they are wrong. Being right is identification with a mental position - a perspective or opinion. You need to make others wrong to have a stronger sense of self.

Thought can point to the truth but it never is the truth. A finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.

Laws and regulations are needed for those cut off from the truth, the Christ within, to prevent the ego from its excesses. But they are not necessary if you have conscious spirit. “Love and do what you will” - st Augustine

Insanity is complete identification with thought and emotion, ie ego.

All that is required to be free of the ego is to be aware of it, because ego and awareness are incompatible. Only presence can transform your state of consciousness.

Thought is a blessing as well as a curse. It has allowed us an awareness of ourselves, but it has also removed connectedness with God.

The underlying feeling that governs all activity of the ego is fear. Fear of being nobody, of nonexistance of death. All it’s activities are designed to eliminate this fear but it can only ever cover it up. Why fear? Because ego arises by identification with form and it knows deep down that no forms are permanent. So there is a sense of insecurity of the ego even if it comes across as confident.

When you realise all structures and forms are unstable, peace arises within. This recognition of the impermanence of forms awakens you to the dimension of the formless that is within yourself, which is beyond death.

An ego that wants something from another will play some kind of role until it’s needs are met, be they material gain, power, or gratification. Usually people are completely unaware of the roles they play (eg as a doctor, then enter a shop and become a customer, then at home become a parent). The ego also plays roles because of the feeling it is not enough.

We feel disconnected from each other when we sense that the other is playing a role because there is no space for Being

We used to rely on functions for roles and identity (eg priest, farmer). In the contemporary world things are less structured, leading people to question who they are. But do not look for yourself in words. Words merely limit you. Stop looking to thought for identity.

The ego tells us we should not suffer. But we need to say yes to suffering in order to transcend it. Suffering causes the evolution of consciousness and the burning up of the ego.

To love is to recognise yourself in another. The others ‘otherness’ is shown to be an illusion of the human realm, of forms. Love is the recognition of oneness in the world of duality.

In human form, you are and always will be inferior or superior to others. In Being, you are one and the same. True self-esteem and humility arise out of this realisation.

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. - Shakespeare

To think you will one day be free of ego is ego talking. Simply focus on being aware of thoughts and emotions, and eventually an intelligence far greater than ego begins to operate in your life.

An argument is where a person is so identified with the thoughts that make up their opinion, that those thoughts harden into mental position which are invested with a sense of self. Then, when they defend their opinion (thoughts) they feel they are defending themselves.

Power of Now

And here’s my notes on the original book, why not:

Consciousness takes on the disguise of forms until they reach such complexity that it completely loses itself in them. However, the suffering that arises from this apparent distinction forces consciousness to dis identify from form and awakens it from its deep self. It regains self consciousness but at a far deeper level than when it lost it.

In order to bring yourself back to the present, ask yourself “what at this moment is lacking?”, “if not now, when?” or indeed “what is the next thought that will appear?” Listen to the silence underneath or between sounds.

All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non forgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence.

Do not be concerned with the fruit of your action - just give attention to the action itself. The fruit will come of its own accord. Non-attachment to the fruit of your action is called Karma Yoga and is described as the path of ‘consecrated action’.

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find the here and now intolerable, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. Choose one of these three and accept the consequences. No psychic pollution, keep your inner space clear.

Christ refers to your in dwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or god-essence

Presence is Being conscious of itself.

Darkness cannot recognise light. Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Only light can recognise light. This is why you may find yourself drawn to other teachers.

Attention is like a beam of light - the focused power of your consciousness that transmutes everything into itself.

Forgiveness is to offer no resistance to life - to let life flow through you.

Reserve some consciousness for your inner body in whatever you do, whether that’s reading or walking. When thinking, think with your whole body and not with your mind. If you become overwhelmed with the ego at any time, focus on your breathing and the movement of your lungs and gradually return to your inner body.

The impermanence of life is linked to the cyclic nature of the universe. Growth and dissolution, creation and destruction. The down cycle is absolutely essential because without it the up cycle wouldn’t be possible. It allows for new growth. Your physical energy will also be subject to cycles and if you do not allow yourself to rest, the intelligence of your Being will manifest an illness to force it. Do not label any condition as ‘good’ because a happy wedding can be an unhappy divorce, it all is the same from higher above.

Things can give you pleasure but nothing can give you joy as it is uncaused and comes from the state of Being.

The Unmanifested is present in the world as silence and as space, from within and without. All manifested form is a vibrational frequency, like music. You cannot think and be aware of space or silence. This is why becoming aware of the space around you becomes a portal to Being as you become aware of the space of no-mind, pure consciousness, the Unmanifested.

The inner equivalent of space is no-mind, and of time is Being. Thus infinity and eternity.

When you are enlightened, there is one relationship you no longer have: the relationship with yourself. When you have a relationship with yourself, you split yourself into two: “I” and “myself”, subject and object. That mind-created duality is the root cause of all unnecessary complexity, of all problems and conflict in your life. Do not judge yourself, feel sorry for yourself, love yourself. Just be.

Full attention is full acceptance is surrender. Presence removes time. Without time, no suffering and no negativity can survive. The acceptance of suffering is a journey into death. You realise there is nothing to fear and only the ego does.

Imagine a ray of sunlight has forgotten it is an inseparable part of the sun and deludes itself into believing it has to fight for survival and create and cling to an identity other than the sun. Would the death of this delusion not be incredibly liberating?

The way of the cross means the worst thing in your life, your cross, turns into the best thing that happened to you by forcing you into surrender, into death, into becoming nothing. To become as God because God is nothing.