“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Accept—then act. Always work with it, not against it. Make the present your friend and ally, not your opponent. This will miraculously transform your whole life.” Eckhart Tolle (from A New Earth)
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One of my favorite Tolle quotes in my Tolle Tool Box. The cause of suffering, says the Buddha is Dukkha, which means separation from the present moment. And we separate ourselves from Now by not choosing it. “I don’t like NOW. I want a better NOW. I want a NOW that is comfortable and has no pain in it. I don’t like NOW.”
When I choose something, I welcome it. When I choose something, I’m actually choosing myself. I welcome myself, my choice, because that choice creates me. instead of going that way I go this way, and my whole future life will be changed by this simple choice. Every choices creates the world I live in.
The GPS Navigator is a great metaphor for understanding Tolle Teaching. Your destination is UNITY. The Map offers instructions but you can choose any turn you want, and no matter what choice you make, the world adjusts so you are always going towards your destination of UNITY.
When your heartfelt intention is UNITY, the present moment IS unity, so when you choose the Present Moment, then which ever way you go you are always going home to Unity. You are always working with Unity to get to Unity.
Staying with the GPS metaphor, always at the center of the map, no matter what direction you choose, you are always at the center and at the same time going towards the center (center is Unity).
When I have lost my center, however, I’m always trying to choose my lost unity by not accepting the present moment (which is Unity). I work against the very Unity that I already am, creating more Dukkha instead of ending it.
Tolle Teaching invites us to see the world as if on a GPS Navigator; you are always at home while you are going home. Choose the moment as it were home.
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