What is it like to be awakened? (覺醒是什麼樣子)

What is it like to be awakened?

TRANSCRIPT OF SKYPE WEBCAST INTERVIEW OF ALINA SHALEV WITH ONENESS RUSSIA


Liliana Maresca en Oneness

【覺醒是什麼樣子】 ( 中文)
http://paris-linda.blogspot.tw/2012/03/blog-post_20.html

View Video http://www.worldonenesscommunity.com/video/what-is-it-like-to-be-awakened



Gratitude to Debra Garver for the transcript.





SASHA: Everybody says Hi to you.



ALINA: Thank you. Dobrei Vecher, Russia! (meaning Good Evening in Russian) It's so good to be with you. Thank you so much for having me.





ALINA: Very good. So the first thing I wanted to speak is about misconceptions about the awakened state, why we make so many ideas about what an awakened state is. So I think one of the main misconceptions is that we think this cannot happen to normal people, to mothers and people who are just normal just like us.



So now it starts to happen to normal people, people like us, people who did not meditate for 40 years in a cave.





And it's very interesting when people feel it, but still people don't quite recognize it because it's so simple and it's not something extraordinary. It's something very simple that is your natural state of being. And with each person that awakens, it will be easier and makes it easier for other people to awaken. And that's why it's so important to awaken yourself, to do the work that needs to be done in order to awaken yourself.





I see so many people, they say how can I help others, how can I help others. The best way to help others is to do the work for yourself and to awaken yourself. When you awaken yourself, you will help so many others just by the state you are in. And another myth about awakening, another misconception is that it will be very hard to happen, and that's not true either. It can happen like this (snap).





I really, really believe it will happen to many, many people this coming year, to many people. Yes. A lot of people, I think, will see that the dream state, meaning not the awakened state, it's really just an illusion of the mind. And this dream state, it's still very strong in the human consciousness, in the collective human consciousness.



But that is changing too. You see that is changing.





It is changing with every awakened person. It's changing in music, it's changing in the movies. And when it starts changing very fast, people will start popping in awakened state like popcorn in a bag. You know, it will be pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, like that.



And one thing that needs to be done, if there will be one thing that you ask me -- "What should I do?" -- it's nothing really you can do because it's all through divine grace and it can happen very fast. But what you can do is to be aware of what's happening to you and to do the work.





When you feel conflict inside your heart, go inside your heart. And look inside your heart and remember not to blame others, not to blame the event, not even to blame yourself. No more blaming. Just look inside, what's happening in your heart, and just see. That's all. Just be aware.





Yes. Maybe we'll take some questions.



PARTICIPANT: The main question is could you please describe perhaps how your state is different from the one which was before, I mean in just normal things like in the family, in the relationships, and how just you feel about your life.



Like we all know that we're full of fears and insecurity and craving for significance, and how is it after that now?





ALINA: Very good. So how has this state changed my relationships? You pointed out perfectly a lot of what's happening. A lot of the suffering comes from the ego because we do crave significance. So if I would be to describe this state, will be that the ego is gone, completely gone. Just not just the ego, but the "I." Like Sri Bhagavan says, the "I," it's completely gone.





In relationships it's very difficult to argue if only one person gets triggered, so nobody can really offend you. If the "I" is gone, how can they offend you?



And, also, the need for significance, maybe it's still there in a way, but it does not grab you. It's not controlling you. I still like to feel loved, I still like to be the center of attention, but it's not controlling me. I just like it.





So in relationships also, let's say in relationships with my son. I have a nine-year-old boy, I feel so much closer. Nothing has changed, it's just everything that's good has enhanced. And I feel so much closer to that state of a baby that has a great energy, that's glorious and happy and joyful and blissful. So you can connect with children much better.





And what's interesting that I see happening -- because this is new for me too, but what I see happening that people who are around me in my presence, they are very sensitive to this state and it's contagious. People just feel happy for no reason.



And when people feel happier for no reason, they don't really want to argue. So arguments or hate or all these kind of emotions don't even come in the consciousness that much at all.









PARTICIPANT: One second. How about fears, insecurity or, you know, the fear of the future and the memories of the past and charges?





ALINA: You are asking such amazing questions. Thank you. They are questions in very high states of consciousness, I can tell. Yes. Because these are the questions that will come when the ego knows it's about to die.





So, yes, about worrying about the future or worrying about the past, see, the ego cannot survive. The way the ego survives is taking you either in the future, worrying about the future, or taking you in the past, taking you in fear and anger because of some events that happened in the past. The ego cannot survive in the present moment.





In the awakened state, it's living in the present moment. You do not live in the past and you do not live in the future. You live now. And that's why life is so beautiful, because you enjoy every single moment and every moment is just marvelous. It's so wonderful that you do not even consider going back to events that happened in the past and at the same time not even consider worrying about the future. There's no need to worry about the future because the future is not now.





So when you live in the now, a lot of that is gone. A lot of the worries are gone. A lot of the guilt is gone. A lot of the "not forgiving" is gone. It just happens. It's nothing you can do about it. It just happens when you live in the now, in the present moment.



And about insecurities, again, when we feel insecure, we only feel insecure because we think we are worried about what others will think about us. When there is no I, there is nobody there to worry about that.





Like, for example, right before I came to speak with you, I didn't worry for a second about what you will think about me or if you like me or not. I just be this. I just enjoy the interaction. I just enjoy the moment. I just love. I just love you. It sounds quirky, but it's true. It's just the love that's coming out, that's all.





SASHA: People are saying in the hall that they can feel it.





ALINA: Yes, good, good. Me too, yes. So that's all. There is no need to be feeling insecure. Why should you feel insecure?





But I think another point about that, it's important that before you get to this point where you just love and you don't feel fear, before that, you really have to again look inside and accept everything. You have to see everything that's happening inside. And the only reason we feel insecure is because there is something inside of us that we have not accepted.





SASHA: Insecurity arises when you don't accept something about yourself. ***?





ALINA: Yes. And the best way to see it is, let's say you have judgment towards somebody else. When you see somebody and you have judgment about that person, that is because you did not accept something about that person that's in you too.



I teach the Oneness Awakening courses, and I used this myself before awakening. When I used to see somebody and I judged them for whatever reason, I would say, oh, this person is so controlling, and then I would add, "just like me." So that way it really forces you to look inside and see what's happening inside you. And that leads to a very, very strong inner integrity.





And when you have that kind of inner integrity, you don't necessarily have to say it out loud. First you just -- you're just being very honest with yourself. And when you are so honest with yourself, like really, really honest, and you start to see everything that you don't like about yourself, everything that you hate about yourself, everything that you thought this is so ugly about me, and you see everybody else is the same, then the Divine really rushes in. That's when the shift starts to happen in a big way.



As you know, Sri Bhagavan was saying there are four stages for awakening. First is being one with yourself. Second is being one with others. Third is being one with nature and animals and trees and -- one with nature. And four is being one with God.



So the first *** is being one with yourself. And this is what you can. This is what people can do. This is what you can work on, being one with yourself, meaning not being divided in self, inside yourself.





And when you are one within yourself, when you accept all those things about yourself that you reject, usually reject, when you accept it, when you embrace them, then you become one with others automatically. It just happens, because you cannot judge others anymore when you see them. They are just like you.





Then you start to enjoy nature because it just happens automatically. There's nothing you can do about it. When you feel so connected with everybody and so at ease and so comfortable with yourself, then you start enjoying the moment to moment to moment, and you start enjoying life and enjoying nature.





Then you can look at a tree and you don't see a tree. You don't label it. You just feel it. You just see this beautiful creation that's movement of life and you become one with it automatically. There is nothing you can do. It just happens.





Then you start to have so much love for the Mother Earth, for the planet, because it sustains us, it's giving us life. You cannot not feel so much love towards the planet. So when you feel one within yourself, then you feel so connected with everybody around, one with others, then you feel one with nature, how can you not feel one with God?





You will see God in everything. You will see God in the sky, God in the tree, God in another person. Just a beautiful -- everything, it's a beautiful manifestation of the One, a beautiful manifestation of the One, the Divine.





But it all starts with being one with yourself, and that's all that you can do. There is **nothing you can do about that. The rest just happens.



I think was a very long answer.





SASHA: One more question: How did the actual shift happen? Was it instantaneous or was it gradual over a period of time? And if at all there were any efforts from your side, what were those efforts?





ALINA: Let me write it down because there are three questions in one. Let me start with the end.





Was there any effort? For the actual awakening moment, was no effort at all. It just happened out of the blue. And I just knew something happened because life looked very different. So there was no effort at all on my part. It was just all Divine. No effort for me. It was nothing I did, nothing I did.





So it did happen spontaneously, but I would not like to share with you how it happened, because if I do people will just make concepts that this is the way it has to happen. That's not true.





SASHA: Spontaneous, it happened to you, right?





ALINA: Yes. And like Sri Bhagavan says, there are 7 billion people on the planet and 7 billion ways to get awakened and be awakened. So the way it will happen to you, to each one of you, is very unique to you. And it's perfect for you.





I would say one of the questions was it spontaneous, and then was it gradual, and what was the process like. I would say before it was permanent I did have a period of time where I would go back and forth. A lot of "I got it, I lost it, I got it, I lost it." And it was very frustrating, but it was necessary for the process.





So, again, I don't know how it will happen to everybody. It can happen in the blink of an eye. It can happen in the next breath you take, or it will take, you know, a few more months of back and forth and a little frustration.





And it's just something is there for you to learn and something is there for you to see, but I have no doubt that it's happening. I see it in people around me. It's just beautiful to see. It's -- I think this is even a bigger gift than being awakened, to see it happening to other people.





So, yes.





SASHA: Also, of course you have this emotional bliss, state of bliss and you feel good, but maybe you had some physical changes as well? On a physical level something changed?





ALINA: On the physical level, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what happens changed on a physical level because I can't really -- you know, it's like a child that grows. You see it every day, so you don't see the difference much. But if you don't see a child for six months, then you say, "Wow, you've grown so much."







So I see myself in the mirror every day so I'm not sure what changes have occurred in a physical life, in a physical form.



SASHA: Maybe health or something?





ALINA: Yes, people have told me, "You have changed, something about you has changed. I see you six months ago and I see you now, I don't know what but something has changed."





As far as energy for the body, I think what's influenced the most is that there is no drain of energy because every time we worried or, you know, would blame others or we are in a state of suffering, the energy is being drained from the body.



So when that energy is not drained anymore because you are not in the mind, you are not going around and around to the same subject and all that chatter is gone, then you have energy for your body so your immune system is stronger, gets stronger. Your organs have more energy to process the food, to sleep better. So I think that that's changed a lot.





And that's why I really feel that in a case of ailment that's caused by an emotional charge, those ailments really -- I don't have any, but I really think that they can be gone if they are caused by an emotional -- emotional turmoil.



Did that answer?





SASHA: Okay. So you don't want to tell how it happened to you, it's okay. But maybe you want to tell us what you felt when it just happened. Maybe some feelings, just sensations, something.





ALINA: Yes, that's fair. Fair enough. Fair enough. Yes.



When it happened, I -- I remember walking, and all of a sudden I was enjoy- -- it was at night. It was in India and it was a full moon. And I was walking on this path. They had trees around the path. And all of a sudden, I enjoyed the darkness.





I never knew you can enjoy the darkness. It was just -- I enjoyed the air around me, the sound of my flip-flops, the sound of a dog barking in the distance. Everything became so enhanced. It was just such a bliss to just enjoy what was around. It was just incredible without the mind interfering. The mind was quiet. There was no comments from the mind.







So it was just this overwhelming -- overwhelming feeling of joy for what it is. And I didn't understand how in the world I could miss this all before. Because I was so trapped in the mind, my mind was very, very busy all the time talking, talking, talking, I didn't have time to enjoy what was around me at all. For the first time, I enjoyed that.





And in moments like that, what I used to do -- because I had moments where I felt very thankful and very grateful to the Divine for a special moment. So I went inside my heart and I tried to connect with God. And before I was connected -- this is me, this is me, and this is God, and I have a relationship with God. Right?



Yes. And for the first time I could not connect with God that way because there was no I. I tried to find myself and I could not. I was looking inside to find myself and I couldn't find anybody. It was just gone. Also, I could not find God outside either. It was not something that was outside. It was just everywhere. So it was very disorienting. I didn't know how to function in that very much. So that grew and changed and went deeper and in very -- in many ways got much more beautiful as the time passed.





And all those teachings that Sri Bhagavan is giving us for the past month or so, when he says the awakened one, this, this, this, for the webcast, those -- every single one, it's an experience. It's a life experience. It's not the concept. It's something I live. And I'm so grateful that he gives it because I wouldn't have the words to say it. And that's that.





PARTICIPANT: One last question, my last attempt, actually. Because you are refusing to say straightforward, I'm trying to paraphrase the question.









ALINA: The answer will still be the same.



PARTICIPANT: Let's try it. Actually, you're saying that the actual moment of the shift, there was no -- there were no efforts from your side. But there must be some efforts before it happens -- before it happened. So we just can't stop putting efforts before it happens. We can see it from our side. So maybe you can share and maybe you can suggest something. We heard a few things that you mentioned already, that we have to face whatever is there inside and -- but maybe you can just point it out once again. What would you suggest us to -- how to put our efforts?





ALINA: So the question was: We know you said it doesn't take efforts, but could you please tell us what effort should I put in. So I'll answer. I will answer.







A long time ago I heard Doug from the Oneness University say something that stuck with me for a long time. He said this, he said if you bring all the awakened people in one room and you put them sitting on the floor, and you ask them -- you ask them a few questions. You say, Okay, how many of you got awakened because of a Sadhana that you did? Nobody would raise their hands.





If you ask them, how many did you get awakened because of some meditation technique that you learned, nobody would raise their hands. How many got -- how many of you got awakened because of some teaching that you learned and you put in application? Nobody would raise their hands.





But if you ask them, how many of you got awakened because it was pure grace and it just happened, everybody would raise their hands. So it does happen automatically. And that's the way it will happen to you, because the energy of the earth are right and because a lot of people are getting into this awakened state, which will influence everybody around.





As far as effort, I want to address effort. Sri Bhagavan talks about effortless effort. So how much effort is needed? I did say you have to put effort before awakening, not for awakening itself, but for awakening, how did we get prepared?



You put in application the teachings from Oneness, stay with your suffering until it turns into joy. See the suffering. It's coming for the perception of the fact, not the fact itself.





I didn't do anything else except the teachings from the Oneness and the meditation that I learned in Oneness, nothing else. But the truth is that I really had the passion, really a burning desire to apply the teachings. It wasn't just the teachings mentally, but I applied them and I put myself on the line applying the teachings. And I really stayed with the suffering wherever it came up. Really put in application the fact that everything, when fully experienced, turns into joy. I really applied everything.



And also sometimes -- sometimes about effort, sometimes we put too much effort and sometimes we put too little effort. And how much is too much and how much is too little, only you know.





If you are really honest with yourself, you will know that you are not putting enough effort. And if you are totally honest with yourself, you will know when you are putting too much effort. And when you know you are putting too much effort, then you know that effort is not what's needed. What's needed is surrender.





And that will bring you to that place where you completely surrender to the Divine, and that's when the Divine can do the work. It will be a point in your spiritual path where you completely have to surrender, complete surrender, because it will be very clear that there is nothing you can do about it. That's that.



SASHA: Thank you very much, Alina. Thank you.



ALINA: Maybe we'll go into a three-minute -- two-minute meditation.



Last updated by Maria Bernett 17 hours ago.

:: THE STATE OF PRESENCE :: The Power of Now

CH.5. ::THE STATE OF PRESENCE::
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment / Eckhart Tolle

It's Not What You Think It Is.

Q:

You keep talking about  the  state of  Presence  as the key.
I think I understand it intellectually,
but I don't know if I have ever truly experienced it.
I wonder - is it what I think it is,
or is it something entirely different?


A:It's not what you think it is !

You can't  think about presence, and the mind can't understand it.

Understanding presence is

Being Present.


Try a little experiment.
Close your eyes and say to yourself:
"I wonder what my next thought is going to be."

Then become very alert and wait for the next thought.
Be like a cat watching a mouse hole.
What thought is going to come out of the mouse hole?

Try it now.











Well?


Q:I had to wait for quite a long time before a thought came in.



A:Exactly. As long as you are
in a state of intense presence, you are free of thought.
You are still, yet highly alert.

The instant your conscious attention sinks below a certain level,
thought rushes in. The mental noise returns;
the stillness is lost. You are back in time.

To test their degree of presence,
some Zen masters have been known to creep up on their students
from behind and suddenly hit them with a stick.
Quite a shock!
If the student had been fully present and in a state of alertness,
if he had "kept his loin girded and his lamp burning,"
which is one of the analogies that Jesus uses for presence,
he would have noticed the master coming up from behind
and stopped him or stepped aside.

But if he were hit, that would mean he was immersed in thought,
which is to say absent, unconscious.

To stay present in everyday life,
it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself,
otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum,
will drag you along like a wild river.



What do you mean by " rooted within yourself " ?



It means to inhabit your body fully.
To always have some of your attention in the inner energy field of your body.
To feel the body from within, so to speak.
Body awareness keeps you present.
It anchors you in the Now (see Chapter 6).





The Esoteric Meaning Of "Waiting"


In a sense, the state of presence could be compared to waiting.

Jesus used the analogy of waiting in some of his parables.
This is not the usual bored or restless kind of waiting
that is a denial of the present and that I spoke about already.
It is not a waiting in which your attention is focused on
some point in the future and the present is perceived
as an undesirable obstacle that prevents you from having what you want.

There is a qualitatively different kind of waiting,
one that requires your total alertness.

Something could happen at any moment,
and if you are not absolutely awake, absolutely still, you will miss it.
This is the kind of waiting Jesus talks about.

In that state, all your attention is in the Now.
There is none left for daydreaming, thinking, remembering, anticipating.

There is no tension in it, no fear, just alert presence.
You are present with your whole Being, with every cell of your body.
In that state, the "you' that has a past and a future,
the personality if you like, is hardly there anymore.
And yet nothing of value is lost. You are still essentially yourself.
In fact, you are more fully yourself than you ever were before,
or rather it is only now that you are truly yourself.

"Be like a servant waiting for the return of the master," says Jesus.

The servant does not know at what hour the master is going to come.
So he stays awake, alert, poised, still, lest he miss the master's arrival.

In another parable, Jesus speaks of the five careless (unconscious) women
who do not have enough oil (consciousness)
to keep their lamps burning (stay present)
and so miss the bridegroom (the Now)
and don't get to the wedding feast (enlightenment).
These five stand in contrast to the five wise women
who have enough oil (stay conscious).

Even the men who wrote the Gospels
did not understand the meaning of these parables,
so the first misinterpretations and distortions crept in
as they were written down.
With subsequent erroneous interpretations,
the real meaning was completely lost.
These are parables not about the end of the world
but about the end of psychological time.
They point to the transcendence of the egoic mind
and the possibility of living in an entirely new state of consciousness.




Beauty Arises
In The Stillness Of Your Presence.



What you have just described is something that I occasionally experience for brief moments
when I am alone and surrounded by nature.

Yes. Zen masters use the word satori to describe a flash of insight,
a moment of no-mind and total presence.

Although satori is not a lasting transformation,
be grateful when it comes, for it gives you a taste of enlightenment.
You may, indeed, have experienced it many times without knowing what.
it is and realizing its importance.

Presence is needed to become aware of
the beauty, the majesty, the sacredness of nature.

Have you ever gazed up into the infinity of space on a clear night, awestruck by the absolute stillness and inconceivable vastness of it? Have you listened, truly listened, to the sound of a mountain stream in the forest? Or to the song of a blackbird at dusk on a quiet summer evening?
To become aware of such things, the mind needs to be still. You have to put down for a moment your personal baggage of problems, of past and future, as well as all your knowledge; otherwise, you will see but not see, hear but not hear. Your total presence is required.
Beyond the beauty of the external forms, there is more here: something that cannot be named, something ineffable, some deep, inner, holy essence. Whenever and wherever there is beauty, this inner essence shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are present. Could it be that this nameless essence and your presence are one and the same? Would it be there without your presence? Go deeply into it. Find out for yourself.
?
When you experienced those moments of presence, you 101 likely didn't realize that you were briefly in a state of no- mind. This is because the gap between that state and the influx of thought was too narrow. Your satori may only have lasted for a few seconds before the mind came in, but it was there; otherwise, you would not have experienced the beauty. Mind can neither recognize nor create beauty. Only for a few seconds, while you were completely present, was that beauty or that sacredness there. Because of the narrowness of that gap and a lack of vigilance and alertness on your part, you were probably unable to see the fundamental difference between the perception, the thought-less awareness of beauty,
and the naming and interpreting of it as thought: The time gap was so small that it seemed to be a single process. The truth is, however, that the moment thought came in, all you had was a memory of it.
The wider the time gap between perception and thought, the more depth there is to you as a human being, which is to say the more conscious you are.
Many people are so imprisoned in their minds that the beauty of nature does not really exist for them. They might say, “What a pretty flower,” but thats just a mechanical mental labeling. Because they are not still, not present, they don't truly see the flower, don't feel its essence, its holiness just as they don't know themselves, don't feel their own essence, their own holiness.
Because we live in such a mind-dominated culture, most modem art, architecture, music, and literature are devoid of beauty, of inner essence, with very few exceptions. The reason is that the people who create those things cannot even for a moment free themselves from their mind. So they are never in touch with that place within where tree creativity and beauty arise. The mind left to itself creates monstrosities, and not only in art galleries. Look at our urban landscapes and industrial wastelands. No civilization has ever produced so much ugliness.

REALIZING PURE CONSCIOUSNESS
Is presence the same as Being?
When you become conscious of Being, what is really happening is that Being becomes conscious of itself. When Being becomes conscious of itself thats presence. Since Being, consciousness, and life are synonymous, we could say that presence means consciousness becoming conscious of itself, or life attaining self-consciousness. But don't get attached to the words, and don't make an effort to understand this. There is nothing that you need to understand before you can become present.
I do understand what you just said, but it seems to imply that Being, the ultimate transcendental reality, is not yet complete, that it is undergoing a process of development. Does God need time for personal growth?
Yes, but only as seen from the limited perspective of the manifested universe. In the Bible, God declares: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, and I am the living One.” In the timeless realm where God dwells, which is also your home, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, are one,
and the essence of everything that ever has been and ever will be is eternally present in an unmanifested state of oneness and perfection totally beyond anything the human mind can ever imagine or comprehend. In our world of seemingly separate forms, however, timeless perfection is an inconceivable concept. Here even consciousness, which is the light emanating from the eternal Source, seems to be subject to a process of development, but this is due to our limited perception. It is not so in absolute terms. Nevertheless, let me continue to speak for a moment about the evolution of consciousness in this world. Everything that exists has Being, has God-essence, has some degree of consciousness. Even a stone has rudimentary consciousness; otherwise, it would not be, and its atoms and molecules would disperse. Everything is alive. The sun, the earth, plants, animals, humans all are expressions of consciousness in varying degrees, consciousness manifesting as form.
The world arises when consciousness takes on shapes and forms, thought forms and material forms. Look at the millions of life forms on this planet alone. In the sea, on land,
in the air and then each life form is replicated millions of times. To what end? Is someone or something playing a game, a game with form? This is what the ancient seers of India asked themselves. They saw the world as lila, a kind of divine game that God is playing. The individual life forms are obviously not very important in this game. In the sea, most life forms don't survive for more than a few minutes after being born. The human form turns to dust pretty quickly too, and when it is gone it is as if it had never been. Is that tragic or cruel? Only if you create a separate identity for each form, if you forget that its consciousness is God- essence expressing itself in form. But you don't truly know that until you realize your own God-essence as pure consciousness.
If a fish is born in your aquarium and you call it John, write out a birth certificate, tell him about his family history, and two minutes later he gets eaten by another fish thats tragic. But ifs only tragic because you projected a separate self where there was none. You got hold of a fraction of a dynamic process, a molecular dance, and made a separate entity out of it.
Consciousness takes on the disguise of forms until they reach such complexity that it completely loses itself in them. In present-day humans, consciousness is completely identified with its disguise. It only knows itself as form and therefore lives in fear of the annihilation of its physical or psychological form. This is the egoic mind, and this is where considerable dysfunction sets in. It now looks as if something had gone very wrong somewhere along the line of evolution. But even this is part of lila, the divine game. Finally, the pressure of suffering created by this apparent dysfunction forces consciousness to disidentify from form and awakens it from its dream of form: It regains self- consciousness, but it is at a far deeper level than when it lost it.
This process is explained by Jesus in his parable of the lost son, who leaves his father's home, squanders his wealth, becomes destitute, and is then forced by his suffering to return home. When he does, his father loves him more than before. The son's state is the same as it was before, yet not the same. It has an added dimension of depth. The parable describes a journey from unconscious perfection, through apparent imperfection and “evil” to conscious perfection.
Can you now see the deeper and wider significance of becoming present as the watcher of your mind? Whenever you watch the mind, you withdraw consciousness from mind forms, which then becomes what we call the watcher or the witness. Consequently, the watcher pure consciousness beyond form becomes stronger, and the mental formations become weaker. When we talk about watching the mind we are personalizing an event that is truly of cosmic significance: through you, consciousness is awakening out of its dream of identification with form and withdrawing from form. This foreshadows, but is already part of, an event that is probably still in the distant future as far as chronological time is concerned. The event is called the end of the world.
? When consciousness frees itself from its identification with physical and mental forms, it becomes what we may call pure or enlightened consciousness, or presence. This has already happened in a few individuals, and it seems destined to happen soon on a much larger scale, although there is no absolute guarantee that it will happen. Most humans are still in the grip of the egoic mode of consciousness: identified with their mind and run by their mind. If they do not free themselves from their mind in time, they will be destroyed by it. They will experience increasing confusion, conflict, violence, illness, despair, madness. Egoic mind has become like a sinking ship. If you dont get off, you will go down with it. The collective egoic mind is the most dangerously insane and destructive entity ever to inhabit this planet. What do you think will happen on this planet if human consciousness remains unchanged?
Already for most humans, the only respite they find from their own minds is to occasionally revert to a level of consciousness below thought. Everyone does that every night during sleep. But this also happens to some extent through sex, alcohol, and other drugs that suppress excessive mind activity. If it weren't for alcohol, tranquilizers, antidepressants, as well as the illegal drugs, which are all consumed in vast quantities, the insanity of the human mind would become even more glaringly obvious than it is already.
I believe that, if deprived of their drugs, a large part of the population would become a danger to themselves and others. These drugs, of course, simply keep you stuck in dysfunction.
Their widespread use only delays the breakdown of the old mind structures and the emergence of higher consciousness. While individual users may get some relief from the daily torture inflicted on them by their minds, they are prevented from generating enough conscious presence to rise above thought and so find true liberation.
Falling back to a level of consciousness below mind, which is the pre-thinking level of our distant ancestors and of animals and plants, is not an option for us. There is no way back. If the human race is to survive, it will have to go on to the next stage. Consciousness is evolving throughout the universe in billions of forms. So even if we didn't make it, this wouldn't matter on a cosmic scale. No gain in consciousness is ever lost, so it would simply express itself through some other form. But the very fact that I am speaking here and you are listening or reading this is a clear sign that the new consciousness is gaining a foothold on the planet.
There is nothing personal in this: I am not teaching you. You are consciousness, and you are listening to yourself. There is an Eastern saying: “The teacher and the taught together create the teaching.” In any case, the words in themselves are not important. They are not the Truth; they only point to it. I speak from presence, and as I speak, you may be able to join me in that state. Although every word that I use has a history, of course, and comes from the past, as all language does, the words that I speak to you now are carriers of the high-energy frequency of presence, quite apart from the meaning they convey as words.
Silence is an even more potent carrier of presence, so when you read this or listen to me speak, be aware of the silence between and underneath the words. Be aware of the gaps. To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even if there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in between the sounds. Listening to the silence immediately creates stillness inside you. Only the stillness in you can perceive the silence outside. And what is stillness other than presence, consciousness freed from thought forms? Here is the living realization of what we have been talking about.
?

CHRIST: THE REALITY OF YOUR DIVINE PRESENCE
Don't get attached to any one word. You can substitute “Christ” for presence, if that is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence.
Many misunderstandings and false beliefs about Christ will clear if you realize that there is no past or future in Christ. To say that Christ was or will be is a contradiction in terms. Jesus was. He was a man who lived two thousand years ago and realized divine presence, his true nature. And so he said: “Before Abraham was, I am.” He did not say. “I already existed before Abraham was born.” That would have meant that he was still within the dimension of time and form identity. The words I am used in a sentence that starts in the past tense indicate a radical shift, a discontinuity in the temporal dimension. It is a Zen-like statement of great profundity. Jesus attempted to convey directly, not through discursive thought, the meaning of presence, of self- realization. He had gone beyond the consciousness dimension governed by time, into the realm of the timeless. The dimension of eternity had come into this world. Eternity, of course, does not mean endless time, but no time. Thus, the man Jesus became Christ, a vehicle for pure consciousness. And what is God's self-definition in the Bible? Did God say “I have always been, and I always will be?” Of course not. That would have given reality to past and future. God said: “ I AM THAT I AM .” No time here, just presence.
The “second coming” of Christ is a transformation of human consciousness, a shift from time to presence, from thinking to pure consciousness, not the arrival of some man or woman. If “Christ” were to return tomorrow in some externalized form, what could he or she possibly say to you other than this: “I am the Truth. I am divine presence. I am eternal life. I am within you. I am here. I am Now.”
?
Never personalize Christ. Don't make Christ into a form identity. Avatars, divine mothers, enlightened masters, the very few that are real, are not special as persons. Without a false self to uphold, defend, and feed, they are more simple, more ordinary than the ordinary man or woman. Anyone with a strong ego would regard them as insignificant or, more likely, not see them at all.
If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is already enough presence in you to recognize presence in another. There were many people who did not recognize Jesus or the Buddha, as there are and always have been many people who are drawn to false teachers. Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot recognize light. Only light can recognize light. So don't believe that the light is outside you or that it can only come through one particular form. If only your master is an incarnation of God, then who are you? Any kind of exclusivity is identification with form, and identification with form means ego, no matter how well disguised.
Use the master's presence to reflect your own identity beyond name and form back to you and to become more intensely present yourself. You will soon realize that there is no “mine” or “yours” in presence. Presence is one.
Group work can also be helpful for intensifying the light of your presence. A group of people coming together in a state of presence generates a collective energy field of great intensity. It not only raises the degree of presence of each member of the group but also helps to free the collective human consciousness from its current state of mind dominance. This will make the state of presence increasingly more accessible to individuals. However, unless at least one member of the group is already firmly established in it and thus can hold the energy frequency of that state, the egoic mind can easily reassert itself and sabotage the group's endeavors. Although group work is invaluable, it is not enough, and you must not come to depend on it. Nor must you come to depend on a teacher or a master, except during the transitional period, when you are learning the meaning and practice of presence.



Spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of twenty-nine a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating, and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Later, he began to work in London with individuals and small groups as a counselor and spiritual teacher. Since 1995 he has lived in Vancouver, Canada.
Eckhart Tolle is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages) and A New Earth, which are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of our time. In 2008, A New Earth became the first spiritual book to be selected for Oprah's Book Club as well as the subject of a ten-week online workshop co-taught by Eckhart and Oprah.
Eckhart's profound yet simple teachings have helped countless people throughout the world find inner peace and greater fulfillment in their lives. At the core of the teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet.
 

:: 臨在狀態 :: 修練當下的力量 艾克哈特．托勒

第五章    臨在狀態

 
不是你想的那回事
 
Q:
你一再地說 臨在 狀態 才是關鍵。

在知性上我瞭解，可是我不知道自己是不是真的經驗過它。

我納悶的是它是我想的那回事嗎？還是完全兩碼事？
 
A:
它不是你想的那回事！

你既 不能 思考 臨在，心智(頭腦)也無法瞭解它。

瞭解 臨在 就是 處於 臨在。


 
你可以做個小實驗。閉上眼睛 對自己說：

「我想知道我的下一個念頭是什麼？」

然後就戒慎戒懼地等著下一個念頭。

要像一隻守著老鼠洞的貓一樣。

看看什麼念頭會從鼠洞裡邊竄出來？

現在就試。


 











怎麼樣？
 


我等了好久才竄出一個念頭。
 


完全正確。當你處於 深刻的 臨在狀態 時，你就 從思想裡解脫 了。

你萬念俱息，然而卻處於 高度的警覺中。
你有意識的專注——沉落到某一個層面的那一刻，念頭便蜂擁而入。
心智 (頭腦)的雜音 又回來了；你便失去了寧靜。你又 回到了時間 裡。
 

據聞一些禪師為了測試門徒的 臨在度，經常出其不備地賞以當頭棒喝。相當震撼！
如果門徒能像耶穌對臨在所做的比喻一樣：「把他的腰腹束緊，把他的燈點亮。」

也就是全然臨在，處於警覺 狀態的話。
他就會察覺到師父溜過來，而及時地阻擋他或者閃開。

萬一他挨了棒子，那就表示他 沉溺在思想 裡。
也就是 不臨在，無意識 的意思。
 
日常生活中 保持 臨在，有助於你 往內在紮根；

否則你就會被擁有大量動能(能量)的(頭腦)心智，像湍急的河水一樣，把你拖進激流裡了。
 


你說「往內在紮根」是什麼意思？
 
就是 全然地進駐在身體裡 的意思。

始終把你一部分的注意力，擺在你 體內的能場上。

換言之，就是 從裡面 感覺你的身體。

身體的覺知使你臨在。它把你 錨定 在當下。（參見第六章）
 

 「等待」的奧秘
 
就某一意義來說，等待 可以比喻做 臨在 狀態。

耶穌在他一些寓言裡，常用等待做比喻。
這不是我提過的否定當下的無聊，或坐立不安的等待。
也不是把注意力集中在未來的某一個點上，
而把當下感知為 阻止你得到所欲，把它當成障礙的那種等待。
這是一種不同品質的等待，一種 要求你 全然警覺 的等待。

狀況隨時都會發生，
如果你不是絕對地清醒、絕對地寧靜，你就會錯失掉它。
這就是耶穌所說的等待。

在這種狀態下，你全副的注意力都在當下。
沒有做白日夢、思考、回憶和期盼的餘地。

裡面沒有 張力、恐懼，只有 警覺的臨在。

你 與 整個本體，與 每一個細胞 臨在。

在這種狀態之下，
那有一個 過去和一個未來的「你」，你喜歡說 人格 也可以，幾乎不存在了。
可是，任何有價值的都不會減損。本質上你還是你自己。
事實上，你比之前更是十足的你自己，或者說，只有當下的你才是你真正的自己。
 
「要像僕從等待主人回來一樣，」耶穌說。
僕人並不知道主人幾時回來。
所以他保持著 清醒、警覺、鎮定、寧靜，以免錯過了主人的到來。

耶穌還在另一個比喻裡，提到五個粗心大意（無意識）的女人。
由於她們沒有足夠的油（意識），點亮她們的燈（保持臨在），
因此錯過了她們的新郎（當下），而不能參加婚禮（開悟）。
他用這五個女人，來對比另外五個有足夠燈油（保有意識）的女智者。
 
即使寫福音書的作者，都不懂這些寓言的意義。
因此在他們下筆的那一刻，便埋下了第一個誤解和扭曲。
以訛傳訛的結果，它的真義便蕩然無存了。
這些寓言指的不是 世界末日，而是 心理時間 的 終結。
它們指出了 我執 (頭腦)心智 的超越，和 徹底地活在一個新意識狀態裡的可能性。


 

美 發生在你臨在的寧靜裡
 
你剛才描述的情形，在我 獨處 或 置身大自然的時候，偶而有過短暫的經驗。
 
是的。禪師都用三摩地（samadhih) 來描述 無心 和 全然臨在時 的靈光乍現。

三摩地雖然不是 持續性 的轉化，不過 它發生的時候你要感恩。
因為它讓你體會到開悟的滋味。

你也許經驗過許多次，卻不知所以然，也體會不到它的重要性。

想要覺知於大自然的美、壯觀、和 神性 ，臨在 是需要的。


你可曾在明朗的夜晚，凝視無垠的天空，而驚懼於它絕對的寧靜和浩瀚？
你可曾聽過，真正的聆聽過森林裡的山溪？或是夏日薄暮時分，一隻鳥秋的啼叫？

心智(頭腦)寧靜的時候，你才能覺察到這一類的事物。
你得暫時放下 問題的包袱，過去和未來的包袱，和 知識的包袱；
否則你只是視而不見、聽而不聞。(有看卻沒看到，有聽卻聽不見)

你需要 全副的臨在。
 
這些外相之美，只是其一而已：
還有那個 不可名、不可狀、在深處、在內在、神聖的本質。

凡美之所在，內在的本質之光便由內外爍。

它只是 在你臨在的時候 把 自己 顯示給 你 而已。

會不會這個無以名狀的本質，和你的 臨在 是合而為一的？

沒有了你的臨在，它是不是還在呢？深入它。自己找答案。

 
§

當你經驗到 臨在 的那一刻時，你可能不會體會到你正處在 短暫的無心 狀態。
這是因為 此一狀態，和 念頭的升起之間 只有很短的 間隙。
你的 三摩地 可能只 維持了幾秒鐘 的時間，心智(頭腦)就進入了。

不過，它確實存在；否則你不會體驗到美。
美的認知和創造，(頭腦)心智都無能為力。

只有當你 完全地臨在 的 短短幾秒鐘，那一份 美 或 神性 就在那裡了。

因為 間隙的短促，和你的缺乏 戒備 與 警覺，
你可能無法區別在 沒有思想之下 對美的感知，和 用思想把美落入言詮 的差異：
其中的 間隙 小得就像是一個單一的過程一樣。

真實的情況是，當思想進入的那一刻，你所有的只不過是這個美的記憶罷了。
 
感知 和 思想 之間的 時間 間隙 越大，
你身為一個人的 縱深 就越大，也就是說，你就越 有意識。
 
許多人由於深困在(頭腦)心智的牢籠裡，大自然的美便不曾真正地為他們存在過。
他們也許會說出「好漂亮的花。」這樣的話來，可是這只是機械化的心理標籤罷了。
因為他們不寧靜、不臨在，所以沒有真正地看見花，
沒有感覺到花的本質和神性——就像他們不認識自己，
沒有感覺自己的本質和神性一樣。
 
正因為我們活在如此一個以心智(頭腦)為主導的文化裡，
大多數的現代藝術、建築、音樂、和文學，除了極少數的例外，都缺乏了美和內在的本質。

理由是創造這一切的人無法——即便是短暫的一刻——擺脫他們的(頭腦)心智。
所以他們一直沒有觸及 內在那個 真 創造 和 真美 的源頭。
放縱下的心智(頭腦)，創造了龐然巨獸，這不只限於藝廊裡的那些。
你只要看一下郊區的景觀和工業廢地就知道了。
人類歷史上任何一個時期的文明，都不曾製造出這麼大量的醜陋。

 
體認純意識
 
臨在 和本體 一樣嗎？
 
當你對 本體 有意識 的時候，真正的情況就是：本體 會對自己有意識。

本體 意識到自己 的時候——就是臨在。

由於本體、意識、和生命是同義詞。


所以我們可以說，臨在是 意識 意識到它自己，或者說，生命達成了它的自我意識。


不過你不要執著在文字上，也不要費心思去瞭解它。
在你 能夠 臨在 之前，你不需要瞭解任何事。
 
我真的瞭解你的意思。
可是你的話好像暗示了本體——終極的、超驗的實相還不完整。
它仍然處於發展的階段。
神 需要 時間 做 人格 的成長 嗎？
 
是的。不過只是從外顯宇宙的有限視角來看。
神在聖經裡宣稱：
「我是阿爾發（Alpha)，也是奧米加（Omega)。我是存在的至一。」
在神所住的無時間的境域——也是你的家——那最初的和最終的，
那個阿爾發和奧米加就是一。

那 曾經存在 和 將要存在 的萬向的本質，
永恆地臨在於一個合一和完美的隱含狀態中——完全超越了人類心智所能想像或理解的範疇。
在我們這個似乎是孤(分)離形態的世界裡，無時間的完美 是匪夷所思的一個概念。

然而即使是意識——來自永恆的源頭之光——似乎也受制於一個發展的過程。
不過這歸因於我們有限的感知。就絕對的意義而言，卻並非如此。
還是讓我繼續談談意識在這個世界的進化吧。
 
凡存在的都有本體，都有神性和不同程度的意識。
即使一塊石頭，都有它初級的意識；否則它就不會存在，它的原子和分子早就離散了。
萬有都有生命——太陽、地球、星體、植物、動物、人類
——全都是意識不同程度的示現，都是以形相彰顯於外的意識。
 
當意識以形狀、以形態、以思想和物質形相顯示的時候，便產生了世界。
看一下，僅只地球上就有好幾百萬種生命形態。
分別存在於海洋、陸地、和空中還有每一種生命形態所複製的生命，也有幾百萬之譜。
目的何在？

是不是有一個人或一個物在玩遊戲，在玩一場形相的遊戲？

古印度的先知，常捫心自問這個問題。
他們說世界是一個大遊戲（lila)。是一場神玩的大遊戲。
顯然在這一場遊戲裡，個別的生命形相併非吃重的角色。
海裡的生物，泰半活不過幾分鐘。
而人類這個形態，也不過幾十寒暑，就會化為塵土。

當形體消失的時候，就好像夢幻泡影一樣不曾存在。你說這是悲劇還是殘酷？

如果你為每一個形相創造出孤(分)離的身份，
如果你忘了每一個意識都是神性藉由每一個形相的展現，它就是悲劇和殘酷。
不過除非你以純意識的形式，體會到你自己的神性之後，你才會真正地知道。
 
如果你的魚缸裡新生了一條魚，你給它取名叫約翰，給它開了出生證明，
又把它的家族史告訴它。兩分鐘之後，它就被另外一條魚給吃掉了——這才是悲劇。

不過，它之所以是悲劇，是因為你把一個根本不存在的、孤(分)離的自我，投射在上面的緣故。
你抓住了整個動態過程中的一個片段，一個微分子的舞蹈，卻把它製造成一個孤離的實體。
 
意識 以 形態 的 樣貌 呈現，直到它達到一個在形態中 完全失去自己 的複雜度 為止。
以當前的人類而言，意識 完全 與它的 樣貌 認同。
它只以形相來認識自己。
它也因此活在 生理 或 心理 形相 的虛無感所產生的 恐懼 之中。
這就是 我執的心智(頭腦)，也是嚴重失能的起源。
看起來好像是在進化線上的什麼地方出了差錯。
可是即便如此，它也是大遊戲的一部分。到頭來，這種顯然的失能所創造出來的受苦，
便轉而逼迫意識 撤離 它與形相的認同，也從形相的夢幻中把它 喚醒 了：
意識找回了自我意識。不過現在的層面，比當初失去的時候深不知凡幾。
 
這個過程在耶穌的寓言裡闡釋過。
他用離家的浪子做比喻：浪子在外揮霍無度，最後窮困潦倒，在痛苦的驅使下返家。
當他回家的時候，父親愛他甚於從前。
這個兒子的狀態雖然和從前一樣，卻不同了。它增加了一個 縱深。
這個寓言描述的是從 無意識的完全，穿越顯然的不完美和「惡」，而達到 意識的完美之旅。
 
當你以 心智(頭腦)的 觀察者 來看 臨在 的時候，你能看到它更深、更廣的意義嗎？

每當你觀察(頭腦)心智的時候，你 把意識從心智(頭腦)的形相裡撤離了。

撤離的意識，就變成了我們所謂的 觀察者 或 見證者。

結果就是，觀察者——超越形相的純意識——轉弱為強，
而心智(頭腦)的造形結構，轉強為弱。 (觀察思想，頭腦就變弱)

當我們在談論觀察(頭腦)心智的時候，我們把一個 深具宇宙意義的事件擬人化了。

這個意義就是：意識透過你，而從 形相 的 認同 之夢裡 覺醒 了，意識撤離了形相。

這個覺醒預兆了——不過也已經是它的一部分——在紀史上
一個或許仍然遙不可及的未來事件。這個事件就叫——世界末日。
 
§

當 意識 從 生理 和 心理的認同 解脫 之後，

它就變成我們說的 純意識、或 開悟的意識、或 臨在。

這種情況已經發生在極少數的個人身上。而且注定即將在一個更廣大的層面上發生。
不過卻沒有絕對的保證它必然發生。

大多數人類仍然被箝制在 我執 的 意識 模式裡：與心智(頭腦)認同，受心智(頭腦)的驅使。

如果他們再不及時由心智中解脫出來的話，就會被它毀滅。
他們將會經驗到有增無已的混亂、衝突、暴力、疾病、絕望、和瘋狂。
我執的(頭腦)心智 越來越像一艘沉船。你再不跳船，就要跟它一起滅頂了。
人類 集體的我執心智，是地球上破天荒以來最喪心病狂，且最具摧毀力的實體。
如果人類的意識依然維持不變的話，你認為這個地球會有什麼樣的下場？
 
大多數人在(頭腦)心智的肆虐下，已經找到了一條生路。
他們偶而訴諸思想之下的一個意識層面休養生息。 每個人晚上的睡眠就是。

但是也有人以訴諸性、酒精、和其他藥物的方式，來抑制過度活躍的(頭腦)心智。
如果沒有以龐大數量消耗的酒精、鎮定劑、抗抑鬱劑、和非法藥物的話，
人類心智(頭腦)的狂亂恐怕更加肆無忌憚了。
我相信，如果剝奪了毒品，世界人口中有大部分，會構成自己和他人的威脅。
而毒品的作用，當然是讓你卡在失能的狀態裡了。
這樣大層面的濫用，只會延宕了舊心智架構的崩潰和更高意識的萌生。
個人固然得以從(頭腦)心智日復一日的折磨中，獲致一時的緩解。
可是卻也阻擋著他們，因而無從產生足夠的臨在，以超越思想並且找到真正的解脫。
倒退至心智(頭腦)之下的一個意識層，也就是我們的老祖先未進化時的前思考期，
和動、植物的意識狀態，並不是我們的選項。
進化是沒有退路的。
如果人類要生存，那麼它勢必要走上下一個階段。

意識 正透過 數十億 的形相，在整個宇宙的層面進化。
所以即使人類錯失了機會，就整個宇宙的層面來說也無關緊要。
意識進化上的所得從未喪失過，那麼，它只好透過其他的形相展現自己。
可是我在這裡要指出的一個事實是：
你在讀這本書的同時，就明顯地象徵著一個新的意識，正在地球上找到了立足點。
 
我不對人，我對事：我不是在教訓你。你有意識，你正在傾聽自己。
東方有句老話說，「教學相長。」不管怎麼說，文字本身並不重要。
文字不是真理；它只是指月的手。
我從我的臨在裡說話，當我說話的同時，你也可以從你的臨在裡與我共鳴。
雖然我使用的文字都有歷史，正如語言一樣來自過去。
我跟你說的話裡，承載著 臨在 的高能量 波動。這與文字所傳遞的意義，是截然不同的。
 
靜默 是 臨在 更具威力的載具。
所以當你在閱讀或聆聽我話語的時候，務必留心字裡行間，和話語背後的 靜默。
留心那些 間隙。無論你置身何地， 傾聽 靜默 是進入 臨在 最容易、最直接的方法。
即使有噪音，但是在噪音的底下、在 噪音之間，靜默始終都在那裡。

你 傾聽 的本身，立刻在你內在創造了寧靜。
只有你裡面的寧靜，才能感知到外界的寧靜。

除了臨在，除了擺脫了思想形式(從思想形式解脫)的意識之外，還有其他的寧靜嗎？
這就是我們所說的 一切在生活中的(領悟)體現。


 
   基督：你神性臨在的實相
 
切勿執著任何一個文字。如果「臨在」對你更有意義的話，你可以用它取代「基督」。
基督就是你的神的本質，或東方所稱的「大我」。
基督和臨在之間唯一的差別在於，基督指的是 你內在常駐的神性，
而無關乎你意識到它的存在與否。臨在 意謂著 你覺醒了的神性，或神的本質。
 
如果你明白了 在基督裡 沒有過去或未來的話，許多有關基督的誤解和錯誤的信念都會釐清。用過去是或未來是來陳述基督，是犯了用法上的矛盾。

耶穌過去是。他是一個活在兩千年前的人，他體現了神性的臨在，他的真性。
所以他說，「在亞伯拉罕過去是之前，我是。」
他沒有說，「在亞伯拉罕誕生之前，我已經存在了。」這句話。
如果這樣說的話，就意謂著地仍然在時間和形相身份的向度裡。
在一個以過去式開頭的句子裡，使用現在式的我是，指出了一個激進的轉變：
一個 在時間向度中的不延續 。
這句話像禪修的話頭一樣，含有深刻的意義。
耶穌的用意在於以直接的方式，而不是迂迴的思想，傳遞臨在和自我(領悟)體現的意義。

他超越了受制於時間的意識向度，進入了無時間性的境域。

永恆的向度 從此進入世界。永恆當然不是無止境的時間，而是指沒有時間。
這一來，耶穌這個人就變成了基督，變成了一個純意識的載具。

那麼神在聖經裡的自我定義又是什麼？
神說過，「我曾經是，未來也永遠是。」這句話嗎？當然沒有。
這樣說無異把實相交給了過去和未來。
神說，「我是即我是。」這裡沒有時間，只有臨在。
 
基督「再臨」是人類意識的轉化，是從時間轉換至臨在，從思考轉換至純意識。
不是一個男人或女人要來的意思。

萬一「基督」真的在明天以一個人身回來的話，
他或她除了對你說：「我就是真理。我就是神性的臨在。
我就是永生。我就在你裡面。我就在這裡。我就在當下。」此外還能說什麼？

 §

千萬不要把基督人格化。不要把基督變成。個有形相的身份。
梵天、聖母、悟道的大師、和那些為數極少的真實的人，並不因人格而與眾不同。
反之，缺少了一個可以攀緣、可以護衛、可以豢養的虛假自我，
他們比之於一般的凡夫俗子更單純、更平凡。
在一個我執冥頑不靈(自我很強)的人眼裡，
他們根本不足為道，甚或(看不見他們) 對他們視若無睹。
 
如果你被一位悟道的導師所吸引，
那是因為你內在已經有了足夠的臨在，才能識出另一個人的臨在。
不認得耶穌和佛陀的人不知凡幾，正如趨從假上師者如過江之鯽一樣的多。
小我執見大我執便趨之若驚。黑暗無能辨識光明，唯光能識光。
不要相信光在你的身外，或者相信它只能以一個特定的形相來臨。

如果只有你的師父才是神的化身，那麼你又是誰？任何一種排外都是形相認同。
形相認同意謂著我執，無論它掩飾得多麼天衣無縫。
 
利用師父的臨在，來反映你超越名相的身份。讓自己變得更深刻地臨在。
你很快就會體認到，在臨在裡沒有「我的」或「你的」之分。臨在就是一。
 
共修團體對於強化你的臨在之光，也會有所助益。
一個團體在臨在的狀態下凝聚在一起，會產生一個很強的集體磁場。
這麼做不僅會提升每一個成員的臨在度，
也幫助他們擺脫了集體人類意識以心智為主導的現況。
這麼做也使得個人更容易進入臨在的狀態裡。

然而，除非有一個以上的成員，已經 如實地安住在那個狀態 裡，並且 穩住磁場的波動，
我執的心智(頭腦)便會輕而易舉地故態復發，因而破壞了小組努力的成效。
共修團體固然極具價值，不過它並不足以成事。你千萬不能依賴它。
此外，除了在你學習臨在的意義和做練習的過渡階段，也不要對導師或師父產生依賴之情。

________________________________

艾克哈特．托勒（Eckhart Tolle）



艾克哈特．托勒 Eckhart Tolle

當代偉大的心靈導師，不傾向任何一種宗教或傳統。
他的教法與古代的心靈導師一脈相承，
都是使用清晰明暸的語言來傳達一個簡單而深刻的信息：
人可以在當下擺脫痛苦，進入自在平安的境界。

生於德國，人生頭十三年在那裡渡過。
倫敦大學畢業，他在劍橋大學擔任過研究學者和導師。

二十九歲那年，一次深邃的靈性轉化瓦解了他的舊我，讓他的生活道路徹底改變。
　　

接下來的幾年，他致力於解釋、整合和 深化 這種內在心靈的變化。

他的教導簡單卻深刻，傳遞出關於無時間性，以及古代靈性導師們意欲告知人們的真理：
走上開悟之路，痛苦消失了，你將進入永恆的內在和平。

　　
艾克哈特．托勒目前廣泛在世界各地旅遊講學，
努力把自己的領悟與意識力量帶給世界各地的人們。

目前定居於加拿大溫哥華卑斯省（British Columbia）。
他的其他作品包括《操練當下的力量》（Practicing The Power of Now）、
《無聲勝有聲》（Stillness Speaks）和《一個新世界》（A New Earth）。


想知道埃克哈特．托利的最新動態，或有什麼新書、講座錄音帶和綠影帶即將推出，
請光臨以下網址：www.EckhartTolle.com

_________________________________________
 [內容簡介]

艾克哈特．托勒是當代最偉大的心靈導師，他的洞見影響了千萬人的心靈，
他的著作讓歐普拉第一次有了「覺醒」的感受。
靈性作家張德芬說，這本書非常重要，它有可能改變你的命運。

在書中，托勒對他思想體系的核心做了簡明、清晰的說明和舉例。
透過這些可以具體實踐的練習方法，人們可以試著 不再加諸痛苦在自己和他人身上， 真正地活在當下，並獲得充滿光和喜悅的平安感。
　　

如果你尚未接觸過托勒的作品、托勒的主張，這本書你不可不讀；
而對於托勒的老讀者來說，這是一本可以隨時查詢、自我提醒的手頭書。

_______________________________________________________

第一章 你不等於你的心智

開悟最大的障礙 ? 從心智束縛中得到自我解脫 ?
開悟：超越思維之上 ? 情緒：身體對心智的反應
第二章　意識：擺脫痛苦的途徑

別在當下繼續製造痛苦 ? 過去的痛苦：瓦解痛苦之身 ?
小我對痛苦之身的認同 ?  恐懼的源頭 ? 小我對圓滿的追尋
第三章　深入當下

別在心智中追尋自我 ? 終結時間的假象 ? 當下之外 ? 無他物 ?
進入靈性向度的鑰匙 ? 汲取當下的力量 ? 擺脫心理時間 ? 心理時間引起的錯亂 ?
時間是負面情緒與痛苦的根源所在 ? 在人生處境下追尋生命 ?
所有煩惱都是心智虛構的假象 ? 意識進化的重大躍進 ? 本體的喜悅
第四章　心智用以逃避當下的策略

失去當下：假象的核心 ? 一般無意識與深度無意識 ? 他們在尋覓什麼 ?
瓦解一般無意識狀態 ? 從不快樂中解脫?何時何地，全然安住 ?
人生旅程的內在目標 ? 過去無法存活於你的臨在之中

第五章　臨在的狀態

它和你所想的截然不同 ?「等待」的奧義 ? 自臨在的定靜中升起的美 ?
純意識的實現 ? 基督：你神性臨在的本質
第六章　內在身體

本體是最深沉的自我 ? 超越語言文字 ? 尋找你那無形無狀而不可摧毀的本質 ?
與內在身體連結 ? 透過身體進行轉化 ? 關於身體的教誨 ? 在身體深處扎根 ?
進入身體前當先寬恕 ? 你與未顯化狀態的連結 ? 減緩老化的速度 ? 強化免疫系統 ?
讓呼吸牽引你進入身體 ? 有創意地使用心智 ? 傾聽的藝術
第七章　通往未顯化狀態的大門

深入你的身體 ? 氣的源頭 ? 無夢的熟睡階段 ? 其他的大門 ? 靜默 ? 空間 ?
空間與時間的真實本相 ? 有覺知的死亡
第八章　開悟的情感關係

從此地進入當下 ? 愛恨交加的關係 ? 上癮與追求完整性 ?
從上癮走向 開悟的情感關係 ? 在情感關係中修行 ?
為何女性比男性更容易邁向開悟 ? 瓦解女性的集體痛苦之身 ? 放下你與「你自己」的關係
第九章 超越快樂與不快樂－－永恆的內在和平

超越善惡的至福 ? 人生戲碼的終結 ? 生命的無常和興衰循環 ?
運用並擺脫負面情緒 ? 慈悲的本質 ? 邁向迥異於今日的世界

第十章 臣服的意義

接納當下 ? 從心智能量到靈性能量 ? 在人際關係中臣服 ?
將疾病轉化為開悟 ? 當災難來襲時 ? 將苦難轉化為平安 ? 苦路 ? 選擇的力量