A New Earth – by Eckhart Tolle
His book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose inspired Oprah to produce a global online class with Eckhart Tolle.
In the book and his article The Most Important Dimension of Human Existence, Tolle writes about how we need to pay attention in order to grow:
We’re here to find that dimension within ourselves that is deeper than thought.
This teaching isn’t based on knowledge, on new interesting facts, new information.
The world is full of that already… You’re drowning in information… More information, more things, more of this, more of that.
Are we going to find the fullness of life through more things and greater and bigger shopping malls?… Is “more” going to save the world? It’s all form.
You can never make it on the level of form. You can never quite arrange and accumulate all the forms that you think you need so that you can be yourself fully.
Sometimes you can do it for a brief time span. You can suddenly find everything working in your life: your health is good; your relationship is great; you have money, possessions, love, and respect from other people.
But before long, something starts to crumble here or there, either the finances or the relationship, your health or your work or living situation.
It is the nature of the world of form that nothing stays fixed for very long — and so it starts to fall apart again. ….
People usually live carrying a burden of past and future, a burden of their personal history, which they hope will fulfill itself in the future.
It won’t, so roll up that old scroll. Be done with it.
You don’t solve problems by thinking; you create problems by thinking. The solution always appears when you step out of thinking and become still and absolutely present, even if only for a moment. [continued]
Also see related section: Meaning and Purpose.
