WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE
OF STILLNESS
Excerpt from a 2003 Eckhart
Tolle Interview > Who or what is
it that is able to observe that you are identified with a mental position? Who
or what is it in you that is able to notice the emotional violence that comes
as you start to defend your own position? You can then ask, "Wow, what's
going on? What am I defending?" You are defending an illusory sense of
self---your sense of self and your mind structure.
That very
dysfunction, which looks relatively harmless on a small scale, is the very same
dysfunction that drives the terrorist. So it's only in yourself that you can
detect it. And if you see it, you see the root of human dysfunction and
madness; identification with thinking. But the moment you see it, you are
already one foot out of it. The seeing of it is not part of the dysfunction. So
in other words, when you see that you are mad, you are no longer mad.
That's the arising
of something new in humanity. I sometimes call it the unconditioned consciousness.
But it is also a field of stillness, where you see the torn roots of the human
mind. Once it emerges, it's a process that cannot be reversed. It emerges more
and more fully, and you become less and less identified with the structure of
thought. And then thought is no longer dysfunctional. It is actually beautiful.
It can be used for helpful purposes. It's wonderful---you are no longer looking
for an identity in the structure of thought because now you know that who you
are is deeper. You are the very awareness prior to thought. You are the
stillness that is deeper than thought, much vaster than thought. We call it
"stillness" but it's just a word. We've reduced it to something. It's
more than that. It's consciousness itself, unconditioned. Which is the essence
of each human being. It's that when you meet anybody in a state of open, aware
attention, without labeling them mentally or judging them, then that you are
already operating as a current or conscious awareness between human beings.
Yes, practicing stillness gets us deeper and deeper into
who we really are, beyond ego, beyond personality, beyond biography, beyond
senses, beyond thoughts, beyond feelings.
There is more there. It’s
definitely worth the effort to reach deep into this miraculous, mysterious and
marvelous realm day after day, even moment after moment, breath after breath.
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