Eckhart Tolle on How Suffering Leads to Awakening

TL;DR

Aligning with the Now means recognizing that the present moment is the essence of who you are and the consciousness in which everything happens. When you stop resisting what is, helpful circumstances are more likely to arise. Intense suffering can burn away the ego, but once you reach awakening you no longer need suffering to evolve.

Transcript

When this shift comes, when you align yourself with life, which is now, and that now has a depth to it, and that now is more than what's happening in the now. That now is the essence of who you are. That now is consciousness. That now is the space in which everything happens. It's the underlying intelligence behind the manifestation of phenomenal e... Read More

Key Insights

• The Now has a depth beyond what is happening in it: it is the essence of who you are, consciousness itself, and the space in which everything happens, connected by an underlying field of intelligence of which you are only an aspect.
• Aligning yourself with life, which is now, makes it much more likely that helpful circumstances will arise and solve your problems, whereas resisting what is forces you to struggle.
• An external challenge that is not mind-created has the capacity to jolt you into awakening, delivering a shock that can destroy huge chunks of ego that had been there before.
• Some people have gone through spiritual awakening without ever contacting any spiritual teaching, purely because the ego got burned up through enormous suffering in the face of challenge.
• Suffering can drive people into surrender and total acceptance, with no more complaining, because intense suffering burns up the ego, as seen in some prisoners facing life sentences or death row.
• For the first time in evolution, a life form can consciously cooperate in entering a new state of consciousness, rather than the slow gradual increase that happened over millions of years through multiple life forms.
• You need suffering until you don't: once you reach a point of realization, you no longer need more suffering to evolve your consciousness, though life will still give it if required.
• As presence arises more, you stop transforming life's challenges into an unhappy, victim, angry, or complaining self, the kind of mind-made entity that, if it were a person, you would refuse to live with.

Questions & Answers

Q: What does Eckhart Tolle mean by living fully in the Now?

Living fully in the Now means aligning yourself with life, which is now, and recognizing that the Now has a depth to it that is more than what's happening in the moment. That Now is the essence of who you are, it is consciousness, and it is the space in which everything happens. It is described as the underlying intelligence behind the manifestation of phenomenal existence, an underlying field of intelligence that connects everything, of which you are only an aspect.

Q: Why does resisting what is cause more struggle?

When you align yourself with life as it is now, it becomes much more likely that helpful circumstances will arise and solve your problems. By contrast, if you are resisting what is, you really have to struggle. Acceptance opens you to the underlying field of intelligence that connects everything, so situations tend to resolve more easily, whereas resistance keeps you fighting against reality and locks you into ongoing difficulty and effort.

Q: How can suffering lead to spiritual awakening?

According to Tolle, intense suffering can burn up the ego. A true external challenge has the capacity of jolting you into awakening, giving you a shock that can destroy huge chunks of ego. Some people have gone through spiritual awakening without ever contacting any spiritual teaching, purely because the ego got burned up through enormous suffering. The suffering drove them into surrender, total acceptance, with no more complaining, leaving no complaining entity behind.

Q: Why does Tolle use prisoners as an example of awakening?

Tolle describes some people in prison who are in for life or even on death row, some falsely accused and others who did very bad things in states of complete unconsciousness. Facing the suffering of knowing they will never get out, or that death is awaiting, they project themselves into an unending dreadful future. After dreadful suffering, something inside happens and intense presence arises. The future is taken away, so the egoic identity is completely burned away through suffering.

Q: Is voluntary presence easier than suffering?

Yes. Tolle says suffering is one way, but voluntarily entering presence is a little easier. However, you are only ready to enter presence voluntarily now because you have had the suffering you have already had. That suffering has taken you to the point where you realize the possibility of voluntarily entering, by choice, a different state of consciousness. This possibility arising in you is described as an enormous thing in human evolution.

Q: What does Tolle say about human evolution and consciousness?

Tolle explains that in the past, evolution happened very slowly, a gradual increase in consciousness through multiple life forms over millions of years. Now, for the first time, a life form can consciously cooperate in entering a new state, a new evolutionary stage, a new state of consciousness. This means humans can actively participate in their own conscious evolution rather than waiting for the slow, gradual process that characterized earlier life forms.

Q: Do you still need suffering after awakening?

Tolle says you need suffering until you don't. Once you reach a point of realization, you no longer need more suffering for the further evolution of your consciousness. He does not promise you will not experience further challenges in life. The difference is that as presence arises more and more, you are not transforming the challenges of life into unhappiness. If more suffering is needed, however, life will give it to you.

Q: How does presence change the way you handle life's challenges?

As presence arises more and more, you stop transforming the challenges of life into an unhappy identity. You no longer create a victim self, an angry self, a complaining self, a heavy or very dense self, the kind of mind-made self you would never want to live with. Tolle notes unawakened people often live with an unpleasant mind-made entity they would have left long ago if it were an actual person making them unhappy all the time.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• When you align with life, which is now, you recognize that the Now is more than what is happening in it. It is the essence of who you are, consciousness, and the space in which everything happens, part of an underlying field of intelligence connecting everything.

• Resisting what is forces you to struggle, while acceptance makes helpful circumstances more likely to arise. External challenges and intense suffering can jolt people into awakening by burning up the ego, as seen in prisoners who surrender after facing life sentences or death.

• Voluntarily entering presence is easier than suffering, and humans can now consciously cooperate in a new evolutionary stage of consciousness. Once you reach realization you no longer need suffering, and as presence grows you stop turning life's challenges into an unhappy, mind-made self.