Better yet, ever make your mind NOT wander?
I had read "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle about a year ago. It came from a referral of a wonderful sales associate at The Crystal Vortex store in Sedona, AZ (http://www.sedonacrystalvortex.com/). I found it SO annoying as Tolle repeats and repeats himself. After several chapters, I realized his method was to kindly bang the message into my hard head.
"OK, I'm in the "now", oh what about the dry cleaning, did I shut off the water? ... OK, I'm back in the Now". (rinse and repeat)
We are obsessed with thinking, 99.9% of it of no use whatsoever. The past is over, the future is not here and when it is, it will only be Now, nothing more. I studied this book for some time but it did not make the earth move. On another trip to Sedona I picked up Tolle's "A New Earth" which I just finished.
The same was true with A New Earth as far as reading difficulty, until about half way through. A New Earth is written in a similar pattern, but less repetitive. It relates back to the "Now" information in his former book, but is more so based around our out of control egos and how they manage and control our ever-waking life. Oh and sleep. Every wake up in the middle of the night and our mind gets busy and keeps you up? That's the ego at work.
It was not until about half way through A New Earth that I finally "got it". After a lot of the repetition I finally saw the sickness and lack of control of our egos which effects every aspect of our human be-ing. I bore the readers with this because I have FINALLY seen the ego from a third-party view - my real self. It's amazing when you finally see all the mania your mind-ego creates and manages you - not the other way around.
Wars, ego. A larger new home, ego. The latest gadget, ego. Gossip, ego. Putting others down, ego. the list is endless but there's hope. It's the sane moments in between all of the ego episodes that show the small glimmer of hope. Then the small moments become larger moments and awareness begins.
I have since read many other books from a large variety of authors that support the exact same premise. Oddly all of them were already read, or were on my shelves. I guess my ego kept me from seeing that truth back then.
I challenge you to take the opportunity and try these exercises. Like me you will probably be shocked at your initial ego insanity discovery but don't despair, it will get better. I now understand Tolle's title "A New Earth". It's not about the planet or civilization, it's about our shift away from ego insanity.
As with most recovery, admitting it is the first step ...
I recently read "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle and finally it all makes sense to me. Most of my life I have been controlled by my ego, a lot stems, I believe from parents who taught us to be competitive with our siblings, and, we were made to feel guilty about almost everything. I have been at war with my ego and the real me for 58 years. Yes, the author is repetitive, but, he is trying to get us to shift our deep inbreed thinking we were taught from our birth. I have been trying to practice what I have learned from his book, and I can see evidence of people's attraction to me, and by not allowing the almighty ego to rule my life day in and day out, I feel a great sense of peace. You can never win when the ego controls because it is never good enough for it. I cannot imagine the "what if" the entire planet stopped and understood that the collective ego has caused great harm to our planet. Think of all of the people that would no longer go hungry, universal health options for all, just caring and loving one and other, the list is endless. I do believe the planet is going through an Awakening as he describes. People are sick and tired of the old ways. It is time for all to change.
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