Here, Eckhart Tolle skillfully introduces the central concern of psychotherapy, meditation & other positively transformative practices that facilitate the shift to a higher level of consciousness - the prerequisite for wiser living. This in turn ushers in greater & greater peace & joy, and less & less unnecessary suffering for ourselves & others :
“What I call Presence (or Awareness) is a state of consciousness that transcends thinking. You may have noticed that most of the time, you have a voice in your head that never stops speaking. What I call the voice in the head are your habitual thought processes. For many people, the voice in the head (or self-talk) is predominantly unpleasant, because for many people, the self-talk tends to be, to a large extent, negative. In fact there are millions of people in this world who are tortured by their own minds, by the self-talk in the head, which of course is the conditioning of their minds. But they don’t even know that because they are so identified with the voice in the head that there is no space beyond from where they can realize that there is a voice in their head, because when they identify with it, they are the voice in their head.
Presence is the arising of a dimension of consciousness from where you can become Aware that there is this voice in the head. That Awareness is above thinking. It’s a space of consciousness where you can be the observer of your own mind, the Awareness behind the thought processes.
For human beings to discover that dimension within themselves is extraordinarily important. It is, in fact, as I see it, the next step in the evolution of humanity, to discover that unconditioned dimension of consciousness within themselves. That’s an amazing shift.
All the ancient spiritual teachers have already pointed to this possibility from the Buddha, to Jesus and so on. But until now, only very few people have been able to actually experience that state of consciousness and embody that state of consciousness. One could say that until fairly recently, it’s been a luxury for human beings to attain that new consciousness. But the world situation that we are at now is so critical. We are faced with so many problems collectively that the transformation of human consciousness, which is what the arising of Presence is, is no longer a luxury, it’s now a necessity for the survival of humanity.
Most, if not all of the problems we are facing as a species, are actually generated by our own minds. So all these problems are not natural disasters, but disasters created by humans. So there is a strong element of, one could almost say, insanity or dysfunction in the old consciousness – the ‘normal human consciousness.’ It has produced an enormous amount of suffering quite unnecessarily. And already, the ancient teachers have pointed to that. The Buddha said the human condition is one of suffering. And Jesus said, what we need is to find the kingdom of heaven within, we need salvation. And only now are many, many humans on the planet - still a minority, but far more than ever before – ready to enter that new state of consciousness, and make Presence part of their lives, so that there is a shift – for most people, a gradual shift; for a few people, a radical sudden shift – from the state of consciousness of being identified with a continuous stream of thinking, a lot of it is dysfunctional, as I had said, the shift from that, to discovering the possibility and the reality of another dimension of consciousness within you, that is the space of Presence or Awareness. And from there, you can observe your own thought processes, and you’re no longer trapped, completely identified in the conditioned mind.
That’s about the most important thing in your life, to undergo that shift. And it’s not extraordinarily difficult. Unfortunately, it’s not yet general knowledge in the mainstream culture that such a thing is even possible. So the arising of Presence is something that needs to happen now. Humans are ready for it. You are ready for it.
And as this new state of consciousness gradually arises in you, you will begin to notice changes in the way in which you react to events in your life, changes in the way in which you relate to other people, and they’re all changes for the better. You will find, for example, that situations that before cause you a considerable amount of pain or suffering no longer have the power to cause you that pain or suffering.
You’ll also discover the amazing truth experientially within yourself. You can verify what I’m saying now by becoming aware of situations in your life, and observe how, when you become unhappy in situations, unhappy in whatever form, unhappiness takes on many forms, even irritation is a small form of unhappiness, anger, resentment, self-pity – many, many kinds of unhappiness. You become aware that the unhappiness in your life, to a large extent, is actually due to the thought processes in your mind rather than the actual situation. So in the majority of cases, you feel unhappy not about the situation you find yourself in, but about what your mind is telling you about the situation.
I often give the example of being in a lineup, either at the airport or in a supermarket, and it’s not moving. And there’s some kind of delay, because people are too slow, not efficient enough. And people easily get irritated, angry, upset in a situation like that. This is just a minor example. And they believe that they are being upset because of the situation. However, if they looked more closely into the origin of unhappiness, they would find that they are not unhappy because they are standing there in line. They are unhappy because their mind is (negatively judging) saying that it is a bad situation to be standing there in line. It says all kinds of things. The voice in the head comments.
If you were Present in that situation, you would become aware of what your mind is saying. And if your were Present in that situation, and many, many other situations, even so-called serious situations, if you were really Present, you would see that the unhappiness that you experience actually arises in your mind, and is not ultimately caused by the situation you find yourself in. And when you discover that, the possibility of freedom comes in, the possibility of choice, because now you have a choice.
Do I want to continue thinking these thoughts and feeling unhappy, or would I rather be free of that unhappiness in this situation? And then Presence arises more strongly, and suddenly, you accept this moment as it is, because there’s nothing much you can do. And there’s a complete shift in the way in which you experience that moment. You’ll be free of the burden of unhappiness.
This is just one small example of how Presence can actually transform your life. And of course, talking about relationships, when you no longer judge people continuously, through the conditioned mind, you experience many positive changes in the way in which you relate to other human beings.
So I would suggest to you that the most important thing that can happen to you in this lifetime is to undergo this shift in your life, so that you’re no longer at the mercy of the conditioning of your mind, which has been conditioned through your whole upbringing, your childhood, many, many influences. So instead of being at the mercy of the conditioning of your mind, and there’s no freedom in that, suddenly, the possibility arises of transcending the conditioning of your mind and actually becoming free. That’s why the term ‘liberation’ is sometimes used in various spiritual traditions – becoming free, becoming liberated. Liberated, ultimately from your own mind. And then you’re able to use your mind and your thinking ability in a much more effective way.
What changes is that you are no longer used by your mind, but you are using your mind. And that’s a vast difference. When you’re identified with that continuous stream of thinking, that ultimately you are not thinking – the thinking happens to you. You don’t even know it. You identify with it, and you think it’s you thinking, but it’s just the conditioned mind thinking in you, and you give it a sense of self. But there is really no self in it, as the Buddha already pointed out a long time ago.
So there is a shift from being self-identified with a stream of thinking, then discovering that there is a stream of thinking in you. Very often it interprets reality in a certain way that actually produces suffering, for yourself and others. And then discovering that you can be free of it, and coming back to the simple example I gave just now, you’re standing in line at the airport or supermarket, getting very upset, and you discover that you can actually be free of unhappiness in that moment by not adding a dysfunctional mental commentary to the situation. And suddenly, the situation is (simply just) the way it is. And you actually feel quite good. And this is a small example, but Presence affects all areas of your life, as you will discover.
So if you get a sense of what I’m talking about, and it sounds interesting, that means you’re probably ready for this shift in consciousness.
If however, you have not the slightest idea of what I’m talking about, and it sounds like a load of nonsense, that probably means you’re not quite ready yet, and I’m not trying to convince you that you should be ready. And it also means that you just need a little bit more suffering before you’re ready, so we will meet again in a few years’ time.”
Eckhart Tolle's recent free “Video #1 – Why Presence?” https://teachings.eckharttolle.com/why-presence-power-of-presence-2021/
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