' Two Awakened People '...

What does a relationship look like between two awakened people?

Tolle: There is a lack of expectation that the other person should fulfill you or make you happy. Without that demand, there is an openness where you can simply enjoy the other and accept the limitations. Every human being in the human form has limitations.. You can marry the Buddha, and after a few months you will find on the human form the Buddha, too, has his limitations. There may be things that the mind reacts to and irritates you about the Buddha. “Why is he sitting over there in meditation?”

Once you accept the limitations of the other, it’s a dance between two forms and a realization that the essence of relationship is the space in the relationship. So, the question that needs to be asked always is, “Is there space in this relationship?” Space really means the level of awareness or presence, not thinking.

So, can you look at your partner and not think? Two conscious beings realize that the essence of the relationship is the space in it. Even when there is an egoic overlay, it is not too dense or heavy for you to sense the essence underneath it. You don’t need to react to the egoic overlay. When you don’t react to it you don’t strengthen it.


-Ekhart Tolle