One Last Serving of Tolle . . . For Now

For this post, I'm sharing one last thought of Eckart Tolle's with everyone–for now, at least. I'm sure some of his wisdom will find its way into my musings from time to time.

Through the present moment, you have access to the power of life itself, that which has traditionally been called “God.” As soon as you turn away from it, God ceases to be a reality in your life; and all you are left with is the mental concept of God, which some people believe in and others deny. Even belief in God is only a poor substitute for the living reality of God manifesting every moment of your life.

Whether you subscribe to any kind of orthodox belief system or not, I think it is a given that something knits our reality together. For the religiously minded, that something is easily identified as God. For those who do not consider themselves religious, it may be a much more ambivalent concept, but it's still there.

To connect to God/Life/Love/The Force in any way, we must be, as Tolle says, aware of and in touch with the present moment. For our constantly busy minds, this usually involves meditation or some other practice to quiet the mind. I touched on this in a previous post, but we barely scratched the surface of meditation. And honestly, I don't intend to go much deeper here. Meditation–in all its forms–is such a varied and profound practice that I wouldn't want to emphasize certain parts and ignore others. Suffice to say that I find meditation immeasurably valuable to spiritual health. And I urge everyone to try it and practice whatever method works for you. Even within different faith traditions and other spiritual paths, one size assuredly does not fit all.

Whatever approach you take, countless people (as well as much medical and scientific research) will attest to the effectiveness of regular meditation. And I strongly feel that through regular meditation, we cannot help but to become more attuned to this idea of presence. The more I stumble and feel my way through life, the more I am convinced that presence is the bottom line. Without being truly awake and truly aware of the now, all the right thinking, all the good intentions, even all the prayer only get you so far. It's like trying to explain Van Gogh to a blind person. You might be able to technically explain what's going on in Starry Night, but it must be seen.

And so must life. I've spent a good bit of my nearly-50 years on this earth with my eyes closed. I used always to worry about what would happen tomorrow, next week, next year. And as if the future weren't enough, I would obsess over every little thing in the past. It's a wonder I never developed an ulcer. Oh, wait, I did. How many seven-year-old kids give themselves ulcers?

I still have my moments, but I am at least starting to learn how to live in the now. When I remember to keep my thoughts and attention on the current moment, the overall level of stress is way down. My heart rate, which I am actually noticing, slows. Here is where life opens up to us, when we are fully aware. Here is where we can see and feel the connections with other people, and even with the earth and with the greater universe. That feeling you get from looking up at the stars on a clear night? Presence and awareness of the universe. The more we can seek that awareness, the more we can move toward it–even in our busiest moments; perhaps especially in our busiest moments–the more we are tapping into the fullness of life. And the more we get a glimpse of God, transcendence, or however you identify the mystery and the soul of it all.