[The_Now2] Eckhart Tolle quotes...

The present moment
has always been available to spiritual seekers,
but as long as you are seeking
you are not available to the present moment.
"Seeking" implies that you are looking to the future
for some answer, or for some achievement,
spiritual or otherwise.
Everybody is in the seeking mode,
seeking to add something to who they are,
whether it be money, relationships, possessions,
knowledge, status.. or spiritual attainment.

~~~~~~~~~

All cravings are the mind seeking salvation
or fulfillment in external things and in the future
as a substitute for the joy of Being.
As long as I am my mind, I am those cravings,
those needs, wants, attachments, and aversions,
and apart from them there is no "I"
except as a mere possibility, an unfulfilled potential,
a seed that has not yet sprouted.

~~~~~~~~~~

Your mind is an instrument, a tool.
It is there to be used for a specific task,
and when the task is completed, you lay it down.
As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent
of most people's thinking
is not only repetitive and useless,
but because of its dysfunctional
and often negative nature,
much of it is also harmful.
Observe your mind and you will find this to be true.
It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Internal and external are ultimately one.
When you no longer perceive the world as hostile,
there is no more fear,
and when there is no more fear,
you think, speak and act differently.
Love and compassion arise,
and they affect the world.

~~~~~~~~~~

Direct your attention inward.
Have a look inside yourself.
What kind of thoughts is your mind producing?
What do you feel?
Direct your attention into the body.
Is there any tension?
Once you detect that there is a low level of unease,
the background static,
see in what way you are avoiding, resisting,
or denying life — by denying the Now.

~~~~~~~~~~~

What a liberation to realize
that the "voice in my head" is not who I am.
Who am I then?
The one who sees that.

~~~~~~~~~~

"How" is always more important that "what."
See if you can give much more attention
to the doing
than to the result
that you want to achieve through it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason why some people
love to engage in dangerous activities,
such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on,
although they may not be aware of it,
is that it forces them into the Now --
that intensely alive state that is free of time,
free of problems, free of thinking,
free of the burden of the personality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Choice implies consciousness -
a high degree of consciousness.
Without it, you have no choice.
Choice begins the moment you disidentify
from the mind and its conditioned patterns,
the moment you become present....
Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain.
Nobody chooses insanity.
They happen because there is not enough presence
in you to dissolve the past,
not enough light to dispel the darkness.
You are not fully here.
You have not quite woken up yet.
In the meantime, the conditioned mind
is running your life.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Always say "yes" to the present moment.
What could be more futile, more insane,
than to create inner resistance to what already is?
What could be more insane than to oppose life itself,
which is now and always now?
Surrender to what is. Say "yes" to life --
and see how life suddenly starts working for you
rather than against you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True freedom and the end of suffering
is living in such a way
as if you had completely chosen
whatever you feel or experience at this moment.
This inner alignment with Now
is the end of suffering.
Is suffering really necessary?
Yes and no.
If you had not suffered as you have,
there would be no depth to you as a human being,
no humility, no compassion.
You would not be reading this now.
Suffering cracks open the shell of ego,
and then comes a point
when it has served its purpose.
Suffering is necessary
until you realize it is unnecessary.


~ Eckhart Tolle