Friday, September 18, 2009

Eckhart Tolle on the “mind” and “thoughts”.

“Thought cannot exist without consciousness but consciousness does not need thought.
Enlightenment means rising above thought, not falling back to a level below thought, the level of an animal or a plant. In the enlightened state, you still use your thinking mind when needed, but in a much more focused and effective way than before. You use it mostly for practical purposes, but you are free of the involuntary internal dialogue, and there is inner stillness. When you do use your mind, and particularly when a creative solution is needed you oscillate every few minutes or so between thought and stillness, between mind and no mind. No-mind is consciousness without thought. Only in that way is it possible to think creatively, because only in that way does thought have any real power. Thought alone when it is no longer connected with the much vaster realm of consciousness, quickly becomes barren, insane, destructive.
All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no mind, from inner stillness. The mind then gives form to the creative impulse or insight. Even the great scientists have reported that their creative breakthroughs came from a time of mental quietude.”

The above is what Eckhart Tolle says about thought and the mind in his book “The Power of Now” which I have been reading repeatedly  for the past few months. In other words, I don’t think I’ll be wrong if I say, all those thoughts which are not self-seeking or ego-feeding are valid and are more powerful than those which are selfish in a way which divide one from the other or create a distinction from others. Since all of us are connected at energy levels, those thoughts which unify are stronger than those which divide.

5 comments:

  1. why people are making life so complicated by disscecting thinking or thought to its micro-levels?
    till the age of 15 or 10nth grade we were taught ancient,medieval,modern history which includes principles of all religions,about vivekananda,gandhi,adi shankaracharya,and different revolutions and civilisations.and we were taught bhagavadgita,ramayana and mahabharata by parents and well wishers and friends.we were taught what good and bad is from the environment we live in.till the age of 15 we are inspired by various people and thoughts.

    after we cross our age 15, its the period of transition or transformation,it is we who has to decide to have our own path or to follow others footsteps.

    when we follow others footsteps by trying to learn what life is all about and what's thinking is,we are overwriting our perceptions and perspectives with others thoughts.we do this by reading more and more books on philosophy and way of thinking.we don't know the authors perspective instance or his circumstances that lead to his thoughts and the civilisation that he inherits which plays an important role in one's thinking.at the end of the day we live in others ideology and when the time comes to face real problems and issues in life,the perceptions and thoughts from books we stuffed in mind doesn't find solution.when we look back we dont find anything of our own coz we have travelled in others path.

    person who chooses his own good path need not read or learn from others about life.this is what we call self-realisation.

    a wise person never writes a book on how to think or lead life.there are millions of philosophers and spiritual and religious people who wrote millions of copies on the way of life and thinking.though we have excess stuff in market ,our world failed to resolve issues coz people dont like to have their own good path.people are comfortable in praising and reading others work than thinking and realising on their own.people instead spending time in reading books about way of thinking can allocate the same time to think and have their own perceptions.

    the day this world history is written with ideologies without names will be better and free from all problems.
    i insist everyone to have their own thoughts and path instead being loyalists to others thinking.we humanbeings are gifted with the ability to think and we should remain unique to see a better world.

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    1. Well said ;)
      Why is anybody wiritng about how to lead a god damn life? I mean each person lives his/her own life right? How do they even know if what they think is right for them is also right for someone else?
      No wonder I never took philosophy seriously.
      appreciate minds, opinions and decisions. Whats with names and their national identities. Following someone from England doesn't place you higher than a person who learned frim his parents.
      Chill scene hai everyone. Live your life like you want to. Stick to norms, yes, but dont limit your thoughts to a certain pattern. Let it out. Be free.

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  2. While I can understand Rohan's comment, however, I do not entirely agree with it. Books are there to be read in order to enhance one's own knowledge. One cannot claim to be knowledgeable without knowing the details of a topic.

    It will be a "Quantum" leap if people overcome mind over matter. Having said that, while it is too simple a term to write on paper, overcoming the mind is the issue! Mind, as we all know, is but a bundle of thoughts that arises due to what we perceive from out of our sense organs....the question arises as to why should there be a mind at all when the primary aim of our existance is to seek THE TRUTH!! Sigh... GANESH AYYER

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    1. Brother, are you actually saying mind is useless?
      Its there for a reason. A person isn't born with a book, he is born with a mind. Which clearly points out what's more necessary.

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  3. ganesh you din't understand,read another time.i am not saying this coz of ego.

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