End Suffering by Changing This One Thing | Eckhart Tolle

28:09Eckhart Tolle:Now, the egoic mind, as I call it, the egoic mind is not really interested in the present moment and it usually tries to obscure the present moment. It's interested in some other imagined moment, but not this.

28:26Lewis Howes:The past, the future, worry, doubt. Yes, it ignores the present moment, but the first realization is the absolute importance of the present moment in your life.

28:43Eckhart Tolle:It's a foundation for everything. And your relationship to the present moment determines how the future evolves, what we call future, which by the way never arrives, because when it arrives, it's again the present moment. So the realization that all you ever have, all that you can ever experience, is intrinsically linked with the present moment. It's inseparable from the present moment. your entire life unfolds in and as the present moment that all there ever is the the past when the past happened it was the present moment it couldn't happen anywhere else and when you remember

29:37Lewis Howes:the past you remember it in the present moment the future when the future comes when tomorrow comes

29:46Eckhart Tolle:it won't be tomorrow anymore it will be the now there was a a british pub in london that had i lived in london for many years they had a sign on the bar that says free beer tomorrow and of course tomorrow never comes so the sign is always true that's funny you go the next day say no tomorrow tomorrow wow that's funny yeah so tomorrow actually never comes of course we need to make plans on a practical level the future is indispensable we need we needed for us to get together here to talk particular day and time for connecting. So on a practical level, we cannot do without future. But on a deeper level, on a deeper satirotic level, it's important to realize that the future as such does not actually exist, because all you can ever experience or have is the present moment.

30:52Lewis Howes:Yes.

30:53Eckhart Tolle:So that's the starting point. It begins with the realization of the absolute primary importance of the present moment. This is all you ever have. So you might as well have a good relationship with the present moment because if your relationship with the present moment is dysfunctional, your entire life is dysfunctional.

31:15Lewis Howes:Right. So if someone watching or listening is saying, well, my present is really challenging right now. I've got a lot of debt. I feel I've got some sickness in my body and my health is not there my you know i'm going through a divorce or breakup the career is not as good as i want it to be there's some type of pain in the present yeah how can i actually enjoy the present when

31:39Eckhart Tolle:i'm in breakdown everywhere yeah let's let's leave aside for a moment physical pain that's a it's an another story but the the psychological pain that's there is again associated with certain situations, it's associated with your life situation, which may be problematic on some level, whether it's financial or relationship or work situation or living situation or health situation, it's very likely that at any given time, your life situation will be problematic problematically on at least one of these levels right and sometimes this is a lot of money it's two or three or four becomes really problematical you you lose your all your money you know you got you lose your job your wife leaves you you or use your home these things can do sometimes happen So you have that.

32:46Eckhart Tolle:And again, these life challenges, situational challenges, are usually perceived as being part of the present moment, but they're not really the present moment. They are what I call your life situation. But other than your life situation, you have something that I call your life. Life situation exists in time. Life is now. And never not now. And since your life is now, you have to ask yourself, yes, I have all these problems. I don't know how I'm going to pay the rent, maybe. Or my relationship is a problem. I'm in the middle of divorce proceedings. All these things that happen to people. Or I've just been let go.

33:35Eckhart Tolle:Or my company has collapsed or whatever. It might collapse. maybe it's doing well, but it may not do well next year. All kinds of things are perceived as problematic, which sometimes are real and sometimes are just imagination. Again, we need to differentiate between when people say they're having big problems, sometimes they are just in the mind because they think of things that might go wrong. At other times, there are actually real challenges happening around you. But here again, it's to single out the present moment and not to ignore action that you might take or have to take in order to change certain situations.

34:19Eckhart Tolle:Is there any action that I can take? That's a secondary question. It's important, but it's secondary. Primary question, I often ask people, what problem do you have at this moment? And then they usually start by saying, well, I'm running out of money, or I'm living in this unpleasant place. What do I say? No, no, running out of money is not just this moment, right here and now. What problem do you have here and now, in this moment? And then you look around. Maybe you become aware that you're breathing. and you look around, and then you reluctantly, sometimes, people have to admit, well, okay, I'm ready to admit that at just this moment, there isn't actually a problem.

35:18Eckhart Tolle:The next one there might be, but the next one is again this. Of course, at this moment, you may have a challenge that you immediately need to deal with. If you're going for a walk and you encounter a wild animal coming towards you, you don't say, I don't have any problems at this moment. That's a challenge that you need to deal with. But we wouldn't call that a problem. I mean, I sometimes go for walks in the forest. Usually there are bears here. So if you encounter a bear, that is not a problem. It's a challenge and you deal with it. Either you run away or you don't. Whatever you do, deal with it.

36:03The problem lives in the mind.

36:11Eckhart Tolle:So to get out of that is to give much more attention to the present moment and realize that in the present moment, the problem cannot survive. Say that one more time, in the present moment. The problem, any problem you have cannot survive in the present moment. Because problem is a burden that you carry in your mind, your mental, emotional field. That's what a problem is. The rest is situations and circumstances. Either you leave them alone if there's nothing you can do, or you take some action. but they're not a problem. Either you act or you don't act. And if you don't act, you take your attention into the present moment and see that it's actually okay.

37:00Eckhart Tolle:And I've often get correspondence from people in prison. They're in prison and they, we have, through my foundation, we are sending thousands of thousands of books to prisons and for prisoners to read. I often get communication people realize that in their present cell, they realize that actually I have no problem. In other words, they come to a complete alignment with the present moment. There's no longer an entity that says this should not be happening because that's where the suffering arises. and of course prison is a situation where you can't probably can't take much action when you can try to escape but you probably won't succeed right right right you've got to accept and surrender yes so there's always the action may need to be taken but if no action is possible then you come to place of surrender but it's positive surrender not negative surrender positive surrender is an uncompromising yes to the present moment, an uncompromising yes to what is.

38:19Eckhart Tolle:That is a place of great inner power that arises with, yes, this is what is. That's the starting point. So you're not arguing with the isness of things, because that's insane. You cannot argue with what is. And this constant arguing with what is, this actually amplifies the ego, the egoic consciousness. The ego loves to argue with what is. It loves enemies, and the ego makes the present moment into an enemy. Can you see how insane that is? You make the present moment into your enemy because that's all you ever have. means you make your whole life into an enemy because your whole life is the present moment right so i sometimes it become make the present moment your friend not your enemy make the present moment your friend then your whole life begins to change because what we call future is just an extension of your state of consciousness in the present moment so if your state of consciousness is negative, it is very likely that you will experience much more negativity in the so-called future.

39:38Eckhart Tolle:If you're in the present moment, you're in a place of acceptance, of positive acceptance, then it's very likely that the so-called future, I always say so-called future because the future as such doesn't exist. It's always when it comes, it's a now.

40:00Lewis Howes:Yes.

40:00Eckhart Tolle:So the so-called future reflects your state of consciousness in the present moment. So that's really a very important realization. So that is how the absolute importance of your state of consciousness here and now. What is your state of consciousness now rather than thinking that something else is more important than my state of consciousness. So in any situation, you're faced with any situation, what is the state of consciousness with which you face the situation? Are you in a state of resistance or negativity towards the situation? Because in any endeavor that you undertake, inevitably obstacles will arise in anything.

40:49Eckhart Tolle:You want to create something new obstacles. But obstacles come in many forms, sometimes in the form of human beings who don't like you to do what you're doing, or it can come in the form of other structures that are in society, the rigid structures. So you get all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles, or whatever the obstacles are. So how do you face an obstacle? What is your state of consciousness when an obstacle arises? is do you immediately become angry? Do you become despondent? Or do you start complaining in your mind and talking about others, how awful this situation is and complaining? Or are you able to just immediately say, this is what is?

41:35Eckhart Tolle:So you face the obstacle, not in a state of resistance, come from a state of power. This is what is. And then when you are in that state of presence, very often a right action arises spontaneously. And you do, you find yourself doing the right thing because you're not making the situation into an enemy. And this is very important. If you want to achieve great things, a huge obstacle for people is to start complaining and building up stress when things go wrong. In other words, things shouldn't be happening. So they become negative. They become unpleasant. They become unpleasant to people, colleagues and people they work with.

42:28Eckhart Tolle:And a lot of negative energy can build up in a company and so on. And that is not some of the most effective people in this world. There are perhaps a few. they don't work with negativity. They work immediately with a positive attitude. They don't make the present moment into an enemy. They might never have heard any spiritual teaching, so perhaps that is some kind of innate wisdom that they have, or maybe they've learned this lesson in a vast lifetime, who knows? So, the important is always start with the present moment, and again, what problem do I have now? Is there a problem here and now, just this moment?

43:23Eckhart Tolle:Well, actually, no, not really. The problem isn't here. The problem is in the mind, but it's not here. That's a place of power. And then you become

43:36Lewis Howes:aligned with the power of now, the power of the present moment, which is the power of

43:44Eckhart Tolle:consciousness itself beyond the ego.

43:49The ego is only like the reflected light, like the moon

43:55Eckhart Tolle:reflects the light of the sun and the ego reflects the light of consciousness. There's no power in ego itself in the same way that there's no light in the moon. It's just reflective light.

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44:53Lewis Howes:In food banks and food pantries, neighbors pack fresh food and dignity into every box. moving food from farms to families through Feeding America's nationwide network. So when that box reaches a home, it carries more than food. It carries a promise that together we can end hunger. Feeding America, led by neighbors. Give now to end hunger at feedingamerica.org. This has been fascinating so far. I'm sure we could talk about, you know, consciousness and suffering for hours, but I want to get to a few other concepts here. One of them being about the law of attraction, because you mentioned kind of synchronicities and serendipities and kind of this idea of when we align ourselves to consciousness and to more harmony thoughts, to more peaceful thoughts, in my experience, things just come.

45:51Lewis Howes:The right things that I'm intending, they happen very quickly and unexpectedly. I would love to hear your thoughts on your definition of the law of attraction, but also maybe the three habits that you see people doing the most that hurt them from attracting effortlessly using the law of attraction right well the main mistake perhaps

46:19Eckhart Tolle:that people make is not coming from a place of fullness but coming from a place of neediness and uh and putting too much attention on on what is the undesirable conditions that they want to get rid of, but mentally, almost continuously focusing on the undesirable condition, like not enough money, for example, which is a problem for many people.

46:52Lewis Howes:So let's use money for the example then, the law of attraction with money. How could we attract more wealth or financial abundance in our life using the law of attraction? Yeah.

47:06Eckhart Tolle:Well, first of all is the acknowledgement of abundance that is already here and now. And not focusing on the lack of abundance that is here now, which you could find by thinking about it, but to actually focus on where is the abundance that I can find here and now. and that is all around you. It is in nature. When you look at the abundance of nature, the multiplicity of life forms, the wonder of nature, the abundance of evil, or let's say you're in a city, you can look at, appreciate all the things that you see around you. You don't need to necessarily own it or buy it, just appreciate it. So this, the appreciation of the goodness of life that is always all around you, even if you have no money, there's still the goodness of life is all around you.

48:11Eckhart Tolle:You see it all around you. The sunshine, I mean, the sun is the ultimate symbol of abundance because it gives energy of itself almost eternal. I mean, eventually the sun will die, but as far as we are concerned, it's virtually eternal. It pours out energy continuously. And at some point, we will realize that even on the level of energy, the universe is infinitely abundant. So we will no longer need things that we're using now, fossil fuels and those things will have access to other forms of energy that are more helpful. But the abundance is all around you. Let's say you walk in the city, you're walking past a flower shop, and you look at, wow, such beauty, appreciation, even to seeing a beautiful man or woman or nice or or even a beautiful car all that i love it not why don't i have that car why does he have that car it's all egoic munch narratives that make you unhappy to appreciate no nature of course is very powerful and then you to appreciate the aliveness in your body that you're breathing and you can actually feel that your body, many people can't feel that.

49:42Eckhart Tolle:I call it the inner body awareness. You feel that every cell of your body is pervaded with a sense of aliveness, energy, and you can feel that. That is abundance. So there's abundance of life all around you. You can feel the life within you also. And so we could, some people call that gratitude. I call it more appreciation. The appreciation of the abundance of life that is always around you. That's a wonderful starting point. Okay. So you're not focusing on lack. You're focusing on abundance.

50:20Lewis Howes:Even when you don't have any, if you feel like you don't have anything, you can find abundance around you.

50:26Eckhart Tolle:Yes. Acknowledge it. The good things of life. acknowledge but even seemingly insignificant things like when i look out of the window i sometimes this tree is out here i right now i can look out this i can see there's a slight breeze and the branches are swaying slightly in the wind it's beautiful and there's the tree in all its majesty and stillness it's been there for a hundred years and that's wonderful i don't need to own that tree i mean owning in that sense is ultimately a bit meaningless anyway yes i own this house where i am right now but at some point i'll i'll be gone and so what does it mean the house with that somebody else will own the house only is a secondary i'm not saying to let go of ownership sometimes you can give stability to your life on the practical level but there's something more important so this appreciation or if you want to call it gratitude some people recommend um i think oprah said that she has had for many many years a notebook or journal where she punts writes down every day things that she's grateful for and um these are these are usually seemingly insignificant things, but it's important not to overlook that.

51:57Eckhart Tolle:And I don't think she's writing down, I'm grateful that I have a private jet, or I'm grateful that I have$2.5 billion in the bank. She writes down the small things. I'm grateful for my garden.

52:13Lewis Howes:I'm grateful I get to plant a flower today. I'm grateful that I get to go on a walk with my friends. I'm grateful that I woke up today. Yes, yes.

52:20Eckhart Tolle:The next thing is, the second thing, I would say, is giving. To give energy to other people. Appreciation itself is already a form of a certain outflow of energy. When you appreciate this tree beauty, there's an energy connection with the tree. The consciousness connects you with the tree. And kindness is part of giving. Kindness to another person, not because you want anything from that person, but because it feels so good to have this sense of, we could call it goodwill that flows out of you towards another person. Even if you just hold the door open for somebody, or it's a remark, or it's lovely, I love your dress, or whatever you say, if it's genuine, or to say an encouraging word to somebody, or to whatever it may be, a smile, a smile at somebody.

53:34Eckhart Tolle:Even that is a form of giving. This connection with another kindness is a very powerful thing. So you are giving. You're not... The more you give, it's in the law of attraction or nature. is as you give, it must come back to you in another form. But it doesn't work if you give out of an obligation that you feel you should be giving, or it needs to be a genuine sense of wanting to give and feeling how good it feels to give. Not because mentally you feel you always need to help people because otherwise you don't think of yourself as a good person or something that's all mind stuff, but to experience how good it feels to give.

54:33Eckhart Tolle:So we have, on the one hand, appreciation, gratitude and appreciation are kind of silly, giving every day in whatever form, And the next thing is that obviously Jesus already, in one sentence, one could say, told us the essence of manifesting and how it works. And he said, whenever you pray for something that you want, believe that you already have it and it will be given to you. There's the key. Now, the important thing is he did not say, believe that you will have it. He said, believe that you already have it. Now, this may not be immediately clear to people, how do I do that? How do I believe that I already have it when I know that I don't have it?

55:43Eckhart Tolle:Right, right, right. How do you get that belief of having it before knowing, feeling, tasting, smelling the thing that you want? Yes. So you feel the thing. It is already a mental reality in your mind. How do you feel now that you have it in your mind? How does it feel? And this feeling is really where the power of manifestation lies. But what is that feeling? Because that feeling of having it already, and feeling this deep sense of satisfaction, is really connecting with the deeper power within yourself, which is the power where all sense of aliveness originates there. it's a deeper sense of aliveness that comes from consciousness itself.

56:39So you might believe it might differ from person to person.

56:44Eckhart Tolle:One person might think, okay, what I want is a big house overlooking the ocean or whatever, and then you feel yourself, you're already there experiencing that. And another person might think, well, what I want is to have this great company that does good things in this world. And how does that feel? But you might find that the feeling is actually basically always the same. Whether your mind says, but the house overlooking the ocean, now why? or the other person says, well, this is the company that I'm the head of that's doing great things in this world. The feeling is basically the same feeling.

57:37Eckhart Tolle:And the feeling is a feeling of fullness of life. Yes. Of completeness. That is power. So when you feel this feeling of fullness and then you associate it with a mental image, that is the power of manifestation there. But the feeling itself is beyond the mental image and is beyond whatever form you are able to manifest in this world, because that is the feeling of the inherent sense of aliveness that comes when you go deeper into yourself and experience the presence that you are. And to know yourself as the presence is inherently joyful and powerful. to know yourself as so. And that is, you manifest from a place of fullness, not from a place of lack.

58:31Eckhart Tolle:The fullness is already there. And that also means if for some reason it doesn't manifest, because not everybody's desires manifest. I mean, I don't know if it's still happening. L.A., for example, if you go to any good restaurant in L.A., it's more than likely that the waiter or waitress will be actors waiting for their big breakthrough. It's just not possible for so many people to have the big breakthrough in LA as actors. Some may do, a few may do, but most probably won't. But they probably have other breakthroughs that perhaps are much more important than what their ego tells them is important.

59:18Lewis Howes:And to add to that, I love this, what you're sharing here, because I want people to really feel this and understand this and embrace it because when we try to manifest from lack, it's going to be this needy energy, which was your first point that kind of kills the dream of the law of attraction. And when we manifest from a place of fullness, like you spoke of, like feeling a feeling of fullness, wholeness, excitement, abundance, joy inside of us. And if it doesn't happen, if that dream doesn't come to us in the next year or five or 10 years, then we've lived a full, rich life every moment. Till that moment, like we've lived a full year of feeling excited and passionate and good about ourselves.

1:00:05Lewis Howes:And that energy is magnetic. You will draw in great people, partners, relationships, opportunities that maybe you couldn't have dreamed of because the energy you gave into the world like you talked about. And I think that's the big point for me is the dream and the idea that you have, maybe your ego wants, maybe you won't have it. But man, you'll live a great, beautiful, rich life in the process of pursuing it.

1:00:35Eckhart Tolle:Very good point. In other words, the journey is what matters. The arriving at some destination is the end point, but it's secondary. It's a journey. It's always the journey. It's always now. That's what matters. and so sometimes what you wanted to manifest uh does not happen but something else manifests that could be even better in fact in many cases it's much better than what you are

1:01:02Lewis Howes:absolutely yeah i was i always wanted to be a professional athlete and i played professional football for about a year and a half before i got injured in the injury i broke my wrist and i was wearing a cast and I had a surgery and I had a cast on for six months and it took about a year and a half for me to use my my wrists again from the injury and during that time I was in a state of extreme sadness and a loss and a grief of this identity that I once had and this dream that I once had that I was working so hard for my whole life to manifest to create and then all of a sudden and this injury broke my abilities to do that.

1:01:42Lewis Howes:And I remember thinking, what am I going to do with my life? Like, what's the point? 23, 24 years old, I'm like, what am I supposed to do now? And it led me to this journey that I'm on now, doing this interview series and podcast for the last 10 years, that I'd much rather have this life than the life of a professional athlete now. And sometimes, like you said, going back to the beginning of this, if we can accept and surrender in the positive way to see what good can come. It may be challenging in the moment, but it's been a blessing since then.

1:02:18Eckhart Tolle:Yes, that's a lovely story. That's how it actually works. And another thing to mention is, let's say you do manifest what it is you wanted to manifest. when you come from this place of fullness, you do not have, yes, you have an appreciation of what you have achieved, but you don't have an excessive attachment to what you have achieved. So let's say you are able to manifest that you have a house overlooking the ocean and you manifest it, there you have it. And one day, when you get home, you find your house is falling into the ocean, it's gone. Right, right. So the whole thing that you worked so hard for to achieve is suddenly gone.

1:03:13Eckhart Tolle:But this place of fullness that enabled you to manifest that is still there. It's beyond outer forms.

1:03:26Lewis Howes:Yeah, and you feel full in life. Maybe there's a moment of sadness during that, but if you're not attached to the physical things you've manifested, I'm sure if I lost my home, I feel like it's a sanctuary. It's a beautiful, peaceful space. But I've lived in two-bedroom apartments for most of my life, and I felt like those were peaceful places for me. I'm sure I'd be sad for a minute, but then I could also create the sense of fullness in the next space. Exactly.

1:03:57Eckhart Tolle:And I have this, let's see, for a long time, until my 32nd year, my main form of transportation was, except other than public transport, was a bicycle.

1:04:15Lewis Howes:That's beautiful.

1:04:17Eckhart Tolle:So I got my driver's license when I was 30, in my first car when I was 32. And that was a very old -

1:04:24Lewis Howes:What city were you in? What country or city?

1:04:27Eckhart Tolle:London and Cambridge I lived at that time.

1:04:33Eckhart Tolle:And I loved my bicycle. I just wanted to, I appreciated it. I loved it. Sometimes I just looked at it, was standing there. And then somebody gave me, I was poor at the time, somebody gave me an older car. And I loved that. And then I was able to, I got a little bit of money. i was able to buy the cheapest car i could find it was called lada it's a russian lake and they still make them but they're a bit better now than they used to be and people would laugh at these cars because they were notorious for breaking down but it was very very cheap and i bought this and it never broke down i loved that car it never broke down it i must admit very embarrassing on hills because you couldn't you were holding everybody you had to get out and push it yeah yeah i loved that car and um the and then i i eventually left england and i sold it a friend of mine was interested i sold it to him and two or three weeks after he bought it it broke down and and couldn't get repaired anymore it was incredible it's almost at least because i i I have this kind of relationship even with so-called inanimate objects.

1:05:53Eckhart Tolle:I think that even there, there is a glimmer of consciousness in everything. Really? That's how I sense things. There's a glimmer of consciousness.

1:06:03Lewis Howes:And when you have an intention and an appreciation for the thing that you're with, the bike, the cheap car, it tends to take care of you when you take care of it with your energy, right? Sometimes greatness feels far ahead of you, but in reality, it's right in front of you. That's why Buick is here to help you make the most of this moment, to show up at your best today, and to remember that now is exceptional. Whether you're making a statement in the Buick and Vista, with its sleek style that sets you apart on the road, or you're announcing your arrival in the Buick Enclave, where purposeful technology and sophisticated spaciousness keeps you present and in command, Buick delivers a lineup of premium vehicles that enrich the life you're leading right now.

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1:07:27Lewis Howes:Give now to end hunger at feedingamerica.org. I had a similar experience when I moved to LA 11, 12 years ago. I didn't have a car in my 20s. I had like a$500 car that broke down after six months. And so I walked everywhere in Columbus, Ohio for about a year. And then I moved to New York City. I didn't need a car. And then I moved to LA and I bought a$4 ,000 car. It was like a 1997-year-old car. And probably one of the oldest cars on the road. I drove it every day. It was a$4 ,000 car. And for being in LA, you know this world. That's kind of like looked down upon. it's like oh you don't have this nice new car i drove for five or six years i loved it it was like it got me from place to place it was comfortable it was reliable and i was happy with it so yeah it took care of me and uh i took care of it yes and that's uh that's uh i i feel

1:08:26Eckhart Tolle:the same and then later then finally i had the money i bought a uh an expensive car which i still have what it's 16 years ago it's now kind of classic and and i i love that as much as i loved the bicycle many years ago yeah that's so it's the same and and it's not it's many people of course have an egoic identification with their car but what we are talking about is very different It's not that. It's not an egoic. If I had had an egoic identification with my cheap Russell car, my ego would have felt diminished because often people laughed at it. It's all not this car. But I didn't mind. It was fine.

1:09:12Eckhart Tolle:I didn't have egoic identification. And I don't have an egoic identification with this more expensive classic car that I have now that's 16 years old. But I still love it. I have a kind of relationship with it. if something happened to it, I would let go. It's fine.

1:09:31Lewis Howes:Right, right.

1:09:32Eckhart Tolle:Everything eventually leaves you, and unless you leave it, it leaves you.

1:09:37Lewis Howes:Yeah, that's interesting. That's beautiful. Was there anything else that you think hurts people from the law of attraction and manifesting what they want? We talked about the neediness and coming from a place of lack. Yeah, well, maybe one other thing.

1:09:58Eckhart Tolle:sometimes whatever people want to manifest comes from an egoic place. The ego wants to, by achieving this or that, the ego wants to feel more powerful than before. It wants to have an enhanced sense of identity through it by showing to other people that you have more than others. It wants to show its superiority. The ego always looks for superiority. And so that could be... You may still get what you want, but your power will be greatly diminished if it's an egoic endeavor. But even with an egoic endeavor, sometimes even that it could still work, hard work and determination, you might get it, but it won't make you happy.

1:10:54Eckhart Tolle:When you get it, very quickly, you will feel needy again.

1:11:01Lewis Howes:Interesting. Why is that? Why do you think, why do you, and I'm sure you know a lot of very famous rich billionaires and people with lots of money who are still suffering and aren't happy inside once they got the thing they wanted. Why is it that people suffer and struggle when they have lots of money and have the big homes?

1:11:22Eckhart Tolle:why this is still not enough yes well to the ego is never enough to the ego nothing because the ego is a sense of lack sense of not good enough no not not enough yet so it's never enough for for the ego and if you have everything that the world tells you you really should be happy now because you've got, and I've met people like that, they've got money, huge amounts of money, they've got fame and recognition and the private jet. They've got, can you do anything, go anywhere at any moment? And that can be particularly bad, counterproductive, productive because you cannot fool yourself the ego cannot fool itself by saying when i get this i'll be happy because then you can you can still postpone the ego can say once i achieve that i'll be happy but the person already has everything he or she cannot say that anymore because so you have no way there there's no excuse anymore and because you have everything and you're not happy so then And this is what very often people then start taking drugs or engage in other kinds of seeking sensory satisfaction through substances or going from one relationship into another, having sex or whatever they do because they can buy anything they want and they get pretty more and more unhappy because the ego was there and the ego will never be satisfied.

1:13:08Eckhart Tolle:no matter what you achieve. In the Course in Miracles, it says, I don't know if you've seen that, it says you will always know whether the ego was at work when once you achieved it, it hasn't satisfied you. That was the ego. So there's another saying that goes, there are two ways of being unhappy. One is not getting what you want and the other one is getting what you want. Wow. That refers to the ego. So some people are unhappy because they don't get what they want and the others are unhappy because they get everything they want. But it's still ego.

1:13:52Lewis Howes:What do you think? How does someone be happy while they're on the path of trying to manifest more in their life, a better relationship or better qualities that they have in their current relationship, more career success, money, things like this, how can they be happy no matter what happens? It comes to you or it doesn't? Happiness starts with alignment with the present moment.

1:14:18Eckhart Tolle:It can only arise if you're aligned with the present moment. I sometimes call that the vertical dimension of life, which is now. And then there's a horizontal dimension of life is where it's past and future and you have a goal you're working towards, that's fine. You have the horizontal dimension and the vertical dimension is the present moment. The horizontal dimension is the dimension of becoming. You become good at something or you acquire something, you become something. There's an evolutionary process at work and that obviously has its place. It's there. but if you are exclusively focused on becoming and achieving entertaining and acquiring you are trapped on the horizontal and you can never really enjoy the present moment because the present moment is the vertical dimension here now inseparable from the now the cross the symbol of the cross one could interpret as which is an ancient and it even predates Christianity, the symbol of a cross can be interpreted as pointing to the intersection between the horizontal and vertical dimension of life.

1:15:39Eckhart Tolle:That is, the importance then is to discover the dimension, the vertical dimension, which is the power of the now, the present moment, And then the horizontal dimension actually works better. And you're not dependent on it for your ultimate satisfaction. You're not dependent on any kind of achievement, attainment, or whatever it is that in the horizontal dimension, it may give you some kind of satisfaction, but not the deepest satisfaction. The deepest satisfaction is inseparable from going more deeply into the present moment and discover the essence of who or what you are as consciousness itself, presence, here and now.

1:16:35Eckhart Tolle:In other words, you could say you sense the beings of you. You sense that you are. And there is an enormous power there that has no form. You can't interpret it. It's the power of aliveness itself here and now. It goes far beyond who or what you are as a person. The person exists on the horizontal dimension. but there is a deeper dimension to who you are that is only discovered in the vertical dimension in the vertical dimension you are already complete there is there's nothing to achieve there you're there you're already full and complete on the horizontal for people to that's

1:17:20Lewis Howes:so hard for people to comprehend where they don't feel complete on the horizontal you're not complete

1:17:25Eckhart Tolle:and you'll never be complete. Because no matter what you achieve, if you become good at one thing, you'll lose something. There's always a world of polarities on the horizontal dimension. I find that still. You achieve great things. I've been teaching spiritual awakening for many, many, many years. In the past, I had intimate groups of 10, 20 people. Now there's hundreds or thousands of people often come. I don't have the close relationship with individuals anymore. I'm reaching many more people, but I've lost this closer connection with the people that I'm teaching, there's always a price to pay.

1:18:20Eckhart Tolle:On the other hand, I'm reaching far more people than before, but there's always a price to pay. Even privacy. I'm not a great celebrity, but I do. Wherever I go, people say, oh, my God. And the moment it happens, it's wonderful. I love the connection that I feel, but I do lose privacy because sometimes I feel, watch, what's he eating? What's he doing? Why is he drinking coffee? Whatever. I thought he was spiritual, yeah. Yeah. Well, you lose, obviously, the horizontal, there's always gain and loss, the world of polarities, and the becoming dimension. You become, again, as a positive and a negative side.

1:19:04Eckhart Tolle:On the one hand, you can become stronger as you grow up. You can become more knowledgeable. You become wealthier. but eventually the becoming becomes positive negative because then your body becomes weaker because you get old. And maybe you lose something and then you become. So the becoming, the polarities operate on the horizontal dimension, but it's without access to the vertical dimension, nothing can satisfy you truly, purely on the horizontal dimension. So the particle I mention is the present moment. To realize that the power of the present moment is inseparable from who or what you are in your essence.

1:19:53Eckhart Tolle:The power of you. And that is not an egoic thing, because this you far transcends who or what you are as a person. It connects you with the identity of the universe itself. the, this is in the, it's the I am without adding anything to it. I am, in the Old Testament, prophet asks, meets God and asks God, what is your name? And God says, I am the I am. That is a very deep statement. That is the beingness itself, beingness itself. And you can feel that, you can sense that here and now. For a moment, your mind subsides. You're not thinking anymore without making an effort. You're not thinking anymore.

1:20:45Eckhart Tolle:And are you without any thought? You can't explain what it is, but you can sense that there is a light of consciousness. There is a presence. Right. an inherent sense of aliveness. Sometimes people can feel it with their entire body. The entire body is pervaded by a sense of aliveness. You are.

1:21:12That's the ancient Greeks

1:21:14Eckhart Tolle:already said, know thyself as the most important thing in life. Know thyself. And that refers to the deepest knowing, knowing yourself as consciousness. And then the person still operates for a while, and it operates actually much better when you're connected to that which transcends the person.

1:21:38Lewis Howes:Right. For those people who are comfortable with theistic language, you could say that connects you to God. That is a deeper connection to the source of all life.

1:21:53Eckhart Tolle:You're connected to that. I see the consciousness that you share with every human being. When you look at another human being, you interact with another human being. On the one level, you have the personality, horizontal dimension, the conditioning, mental, emotional, conditioning. You're interacting with a person. But you're also interacting with consciousness, which is beyond the person. And when you can sense the consciousness that you are is also the consciousness that the other person is, you can sense the oneness of that consciousness. And that sensing of oneness is ultimately what did Ziva meaning of love.

1:22:35Eckhart Tolle:Love is to recognize the other as ultimately one with what you are. One, the recognition. I would say love is the recognition of oneness. It's not the egoic love that says, I need you, don't you dare leave me, because if you do, I'll hate you. Right. That's the egoic so-called love. But the real love is to recognize yourself in the other. but in order to do that you need to first recognize yourself in yourself beyond the person so and and that that connects you with other humans in a very different way this sense of connectedness that you then yes it's a one the word for it what could you this been there's a a good will flows out from you towards others even others that you might only meet casually for a few seconds.

1:23:32Eckhart Tolle:You can sense an outflow of goodwill and connectedness and feel so good to recognize there is a human being. Oh, my interpretation of human being is the English language doesn't have a word that refers to both men and women, so you have to say human being. In German you have a word mensch, which is a human being, could be either man or woman. But in English you have to say human being. And I love that because the human dimension is the person that lives on the horizontal dimension. The being is the essence of who you are. And it's our destiny to recognize our being, which is far beyond the person.

1:24:22Eckhart Tolle:And then you become, this is the human and this is the being. And then you are a true your own being when you realize the being of yourself because then you cleanse it in others too. And then you can love others. That's the beauty of it.

1:24:40Lewis Howes:You mentioned love just now. I'm curious about you. When do you feel the most loved? When you're going about your day, when do you feel the most loved personally?

1:24:54Eckhart Tolle:I don't differentiate between loving and being loved. It's all one. So I feel that the connection is there the moment I interact with somebody. There is that connectedness. And sometimes people respond, something within them responds back, and then you get the same energy back. They may not know why. let's say you're in a restaurant and I'm in a restaurant and I'm ordering the waiter, waitress comes and so you have on the one hand on the human level you are the guest or the client in the restaurant and this person is the server that's on the human level you have your identity but is that all there is no there is the server is for this is only a temporary function it's not the real identity of of this human being and i'm not my identity is not to be a client or guest of this restaurant it's a temporary thing so am i able to recognize the being in this human the human is a server, but behind that is a being.

1:26:16Eckhart Tolle:And when I look at this person, and I'm, there's a, really, let's see if I can describe it, how I experience it. There's a, while the person talks to me, there's a still presence. I listen through the still presence. In that still presence, I can sense beyond the human the beingness of the other also i can sense their beingness and that is the connection and then it sometimes happens that they can feel something that they feel acknowledged in their beingness they may not be able to interpret that in it or they may misinterpret you saying anything without you saying anything there's nothing to say uh um and so usually it means that they often it means that they they like you they feel attracted to you they love you as a person and they have it they like to be in your presence they there's a positive response and that is one could say that is love coming back at you so it you send it out and you don't always get it back sometimes the person may be so deeply trapped in their ego that that nothing much gets through and that's fine that's where they're at at the moment but it still feels good to to feel this emanation but very often when the emanation is reflected and then comes back and then you feel loved to the of course usually the other person doesn't understand it at deeper level doesn't understand that what they love in you is not the person it's something right and that connects both of you.

1:28:05Eckhart Tolle:So, I feel it's always, the process is always mutual. I feel even when you love a flower, even the flower, there's a certain, this might sound a little mystical, but there's a certain response that you get. So, what I should do is sometimes when I recognize and appreciate at the beauty of a tree or a flower, this is similar because even the flower or the tree is a manifestation of consciousness at a different vibrational frequency from a human. So everything is a vibration of consciousness that is taken temporary form. So the flower, the tree are also a manifestation of consciousness. When I recognize and appreciate that the beauty of the flower or the tree, there is a sense of oneness, and at that moment the tree can sense that it is being recognized, and it becomes aware of its own beauty through you.

1:29:15Eckhart Tolle:So you redeem nature, you add something to nature by recognizing the sacredness and beauty of nature, you add something to nature.

1:29:27Lewis Howes:Wow.

1:29:27Eckhart Tolle:And then we can say nature loves you back too. You can sense that.

1:29:31Lewis Howes:Wow, that's beautiful.

1:29:31Eckhart Tolle:Yeah. So I sometimes recommend people should go to a tree and allow the tree to teach you stillness because the tree is there. It's deeply rooted in the earth and its branches and it's very still. It might have been there for 100 years, 200 years. It's very still. You approach it. And nature can teach you, anything in nature can teach you that the stillness connect you with the dimension that's beyond egoic consciousness.

1:30:07Lewis Howes:Wow. This is beautiful, Eckhart. Is there anything that you struggle with these days personally? You've done this work and practiced it and taught it for so long. Is there anything you struggle or suffer with in your own life that is still a challenge?

1:30:24Eckhart Tolle:Oh, there are challenges. I'm not good at dealing with practical things so much anymore of life.

1:30:37Eckhart Tolle:Financial things and so on can feel as a bit of a burden sometimes. Yeah. The humans are, but otherwise there's no suffering. I don't have periods of suffering at all that's gone. The humans have just being and doing, is another way of putting it. The being dimension is the vertical, the doing dimension is the horizontal. the two are important. Some humans are more drawn towards doing, creating, manifesting. Others are more drawn towards being, appreciating what is, and may not have many goals to achieve. They might be happy doing their gardening or whatever, their field. And every human has to find a kind of balance between being and doing.

1:31:40Eckhart Tolle:Nobody probably is completely in the middle, or it's very hard to be completely in the middle. You're totally balanced between being and doing. I'm always more inclined to, I'm in the being dimension. And for a few years, when I was younger, I experienced a kind of awakening. I was kind of so much in the being dimension that I lost interest in any kind of doing for a few years really it was so the present moment was so joyful and beautiful and i had no money nothing for a while i had no home but it was lovely big sitting on park benches present moment was so fulfilling and then gradually i was able to start doing again And now I am still, I love just to be, to contemplate nature, or even just to sit in a room and just be.

1:32:40Eckhart Tolle:But I'm able to do, because I wrote the books, I do teachings, I travel, so I give talks and retreats. treats so i'm i am doing i i'm able to function on that level but the irony is that all the all my doing is in the service of teaching being

1:33:06Lewis Howes:that's great so you'll do for a week and then you're like i'm gonna go be for a month yeah yeah that's amazing i want to be respectful of your time i have two final questions uh kind of quicker questions for you but before i ask those i want people to get your books again the power of now is one that i read many years ago that i highly recommend uh to everyone and also uh this book as well which is it's become you know more popular in the last few years i feel like it's got this resurgence even though i think it's 15 years 15 years ago you wrote it i think in fact uh oprah

1:33:40Eckhart Tolle:said oprah said uh if you only read one book in your life read read a new earth a new earth awakening

1:33:48Lewis Howes:to your life's purpose. So make sure you guys get both copies. Start in whichever one you want, but both of them are amazing. Also, if people want to connect with you, they can go to your website. We'll have everything linked up as well in here. And you're starting to get more content on social media. So make sure to follow Eckhart over on YouTube and all the different platforms that you're on. And I really want to acknowledge you before I ask these final two questions, Eckhart, for your level of service. Again, you could be 24-7 and sit in the woods and in the room and be a happy human being, just being.

1:34:23Lewis Howes:You've already done so much for humanity with your work, your message, workshops, and everything you've done. So I acknowledge you for continuing to be of service, continuing to serve when you choose to, when you show up, when you deliver, when you're coming on here and doing this. I know this is going to reach millions of people over time and impact them profoundly. So I'm very appreciative and grateful to you for being a messenger of love, of generosity, of kindness, and teaching those who are struggling and suffering how to get back into alignment of who they truly are so they can be peaceful and in harmony in the now.

1:35:04Lewis Howes:So I really want to acknowledge you and appreciate you for taking the time. these two final questions. First one is, is a hypothetical scenario a question? I call this the three truths. So I'd like for you to imagine, even though you never imagined the future that much because you're always in the now, but I'd like for you to go there for a moment and imagine you get to live as long as you want to in this realm, but for whatever reason, it's the last day. and for whatever reason in this hypothetical question all your message is gone it's got to go with you to the next place or it's just not in this world anymore so your books this interview any workshop you've done online it's we don't have access to it but you get to leave behind three lessons to the world three truths that you know are true for you and this is all we would have to be reminded of your messages what would be those three truths for you well um ultimately

1:36:04Eckhart Tolle:the the truth uh uh the ultimate choice is is one i and so you can that out of the one so you can extrapolate and several other truths may arise out of one the ultimate choice is uh realize who or what you are, realize that you are, in essence, not a person. You are consciousness, your manifestation of universal consciousness. You are the universe experiencing itself as a human. You are the consciousness of the universe experiencing itself briefly, but you are far beyond realize who or what you are beyond the person so that's the ultimate truth then realize that you you are not the ego that is discovering who or what you are not and realize the possibility of living without suffering the suffering that's created by the human mind the the possibility of being free of suffering, free of unhappiness.

1:37:22Eckhart Tolle:And the way towards that is radical acceptance of the isness of the present moment. Radical acceptance of the isness of now that will take you to a deep place of realization of who or what you are and you're not the ego. realizing who you are not is an important part of the kind of negative realization who you are not once you realize who or what you are ultimately not then who or what you are emerges naturally

1:38:00Lewis Howes:that's beautiful uh final question for you eckhart what is your definition of greatness

1:38:07Eckhart Tolle:Well, of course, as you know, one can give many, many definitions according to one's level of consciousness, but at the deepest level, greatness is, again, when you go to the deepest level, the answer is always the same, by the way. Greatness is to live consciously, to embody consciousness in this lifetime, to embody the unconditioned consciousness in this lifetime. That is greatness. And then other things arise out of that. You affect the world in many different ways by living as consciousness and consciously rather than as an egoic entity. so then you begin to change the world even if you don't say I am going to change the world it happens organically and naturally and the way in which you experience the world is always a reflection of your state of consciousness so you begin to experience a different world when you are aligned with what I call the unconditioned consciousness that is who or what you are in your essence.

1:39:28Eckhart Tolle:That is the greatness is to have fulfilled your purpose in this incarnation on this earth. And that is to be part of the evolving consciousness of the universe. That is greatness, to have fulfilled your purpose. and all the outer conditions are secondary. And you could theoretically, you could have fulfilled your purpose even in the prison cell when you come to this realization.

1:40:03Lewis Howes:I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward.

1:40:40Lewis Howes:And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

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