Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle’s message first emerged into the mainstream with his 2004 book, “The Power of Now.” However, it wasn’t until Oprah Winfrey featured the teachings from Eckhart’s second book “A New Earth” in a groundbreaking webinar series that he really started to influence world spirituality. Here are some of the key points of Eckhart Tolle’s teachings:
The Power of the Present Moment
The present moment is a state of grace where consciousness resides outside of the grip of the human mind (or “ego.”) We can access this peaceful, timeless state — which is our true self — more often by not identifying with the chatter of the mind. Watching your breath, which always takes place in the present moment, is one way to dis-identify from the mind’s endless chatter.
Tune into Stillness
“The Stillness” is a timeless, formless energy field that permeates all things. While the forms of this Universe can differ greatly, from human beings to plants to rocks to galaxies, at the most elemental level, everything is One. Tuning into The Stillness is spiritual awakening, and it comes with a peace that “passes all understanding,” since it doesn’t involve the mind.
Be the Watcher
One of the best ways to access this timeless, formless realm is through meditation and striving to “be the Watcher” of our thoughts and emotions. The mind constantly dwells on the past and ruminates about the future, but if we can see our thoughts as “changing weather patterns” that come and go, we can transcend their stressful grip. Acceptance and gratitude are two more keys to this transcendent state of being.
All of these ideas and techniques can assist us in tuning into that peaceful part in us — our true, essential self — more and more of the time. Eckhart Tolle’s teachings remind us that “we have a mind, but we are not our minds,” and there is great solace and fulfillment in this revelation.
