Eckhart Tolle Quotes

Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle (/ˈɛkɑːrt ˈtɒlə/ EK-art TOL-ə; German pronunciation: [ˈɛkhaʁt ˈtɔlə], born Ulrich Leonard Tölle, February 16, 1948) is a spiritual teacher. He is a German-born resident of Canada[1][2] best known as the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.

In 2008 Tolle said he was depressed for much of his life until age 29 when he underwent an “inner transformation”. He then spent several years wandering “in a state of deep bliss” before becoming a spiritual teacher. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1995[6] and currently divides his time between Canada and California. He began writing his first book, The Power of Now, in 1997

  Information source: Wikipedia

 

Eckhart Tolle

1. “The power is in you. The answer is in you. And you are the answer to all your searches: you are the goal. You are the answer. It’s never outside.”

2. “The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.”

3. “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”

4. “When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation or accept it, all else is madness.”

5. “Stop looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love – you have a treasure within that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.”

6. “You are not separate from the whole. You are one with the sun, the earth, the air. You don’t have a life. You are life.”

7. “Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.”

8. “The future does not exist, because nobody has ever experienced it. You can only ever experience a present moment.”

9. “In today’s rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.”

10. “Do not pollute your beautiful, radiant being nor the Earth with negativity. Do not give unhappiness in any form whatsoever a dwelling place inside you.”

11. “Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing.”

12. “Ultimately what you do is secondary. But how you do it is primary.”

13. “Always work with the present moment, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.”

14. “You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.

15. “The sun never sets. It is only an appearance due to the observer’s limited perspective. And yet, what a sublime illusion it is.”

16. “Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to “die before you die” — and find that there is no death.”

17. “The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist.”

18. “Pain can only feed on pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible.”

19. “The more you are focused on time-past and future-the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”

20. “The past has no power over the present moment.”

Eckhart Tolle

Living Now

21. “You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You can find yourself by coming into the present.”

22. “All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence.”

23. “When you live in complete acceptance of what is, that is the end of all drama in your life.”

24. “To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be. The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.”

25. “Give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting…snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be and enjoy being.”

26. “It may look as if the situation is creating the suffering, but ultimately this is not so – your resistance is.”

27. “True Power is within, and it is available now.”

28. “The mind is essentially a survival machine. Attack and defense against other minds, gathering, storing, and analyzing information – this is what it is good at, but it is not at all creative. All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”

29. “Stressful energy arises when you think some future moment is more important than the present moment, and the doing becomes only a means to an end.

30. “When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. You do not need it anymore. Presence is the key. Now is the key.”

31. “The present moment is all you ever have.”

32. “Don’t think of yourself as having a past, don’t think of yourself as having a future. What’s left?”

33. “The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being.”

34. “Be aware that what you think, to a large extent, creates the emotions that you feel. See the link between your thinking and your emotions. Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.”

35. “When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.”

36. “If you don’t mind being unhappy, what happens to the unhappiness?”

37. “As you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life. It means fear is no longer a dominant factor in what you do and no longer prevents you from taking action to initiate change.”

38. “Many people who are going through the early stages of the awakening process are no longer certain what their outer purpose is. What drives the world no longer drives them. Seeing the madness of our civilization so clearly, they feel somewhat alienated from the culture around them. Some feel that they inhabit a no-man’s-land between two worlds. They are no longer run by the ego, yet the arising awareness has not yet become fully integrated into their lives. Inner and outer purpose have not merged.”

39. The joy of Being, which is the only true happiness, cannot come to you through any form, possession, achievement, person, or event – through anything that happens. That joy cannot come to you – ever. It emanates from the formless dimension within you, from consciousness itself and thus is one with who you are.”

40. “Give up defining yourself – to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”

41. “When you want to arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you are doing, you become stressed.”

42. “Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”

43. “A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.”

44. “Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time.”

45. “Observe your thoughts, don’t believe them.”

46. “The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not “the thinker.” The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.”

47. “Once you have identified with some form of negativity, you do not want to let it go, and on a deeply unconscious level, you do not want positive change. It would threaten your identity as a depressed, angry or hard-done-by person. You will then ignore, deny or sabotage the positive in your life. This is a common phenomenon. It is also insane.”

48. “Gratefulness for what is there is one of the most powerful tools for creating what is not yet there. What does gratefulness mean? It means you appreciate what is. You value, you give attention to, you honor whatever is here at this moment.”

49.“Even if you achieve your outer purpose, it will never satisfy you if you haven’t found your inner purpose, which is awakening, being present, being in alignment with life. True power comes out of the presence; it is the presence.”

50. “Nothing that is of real value can be lost, only the false dissolves.”

51. “Facing facts is always empowering.”

52. “You get there by realizing you are already there.”

53. “To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness.”

54. “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.”

55. “If you don’t have a good relationship with the now, you don’t have a good relationship with life.”

56. “Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.”

57. “All you really need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.”

58. “You are not ‘in the now;’ you are the now. That is your essential identity-the only thing that never changes. Life is always now. Now is consciousness. And consciousness is who you are. That’s the equation.”

59. “As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.”

60. “Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you. It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.”

61. “Life wants to support you. But first you need to be open to life.”

62. “Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be.”

63. “The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I Am.”

64. “There have been many people for whom limitations, failure, loss, or pain in whatever form turned out to be their greatest teacher. It taught them to let go of false self-images and superficial ego-dictated goals and desires. It gave them depth, humility and compassion. It made them more real.”

65. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

66. “Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it, although you may not see it at the time”

67. “Instead of asking, ‘what do I want from life?’ a more powerful question is, “what does life want from me?”

68. “Remember that your perception of the world is a reflection of your state of consciousness. You are not separate from it, and there is no objective world out there. Every moment, your consciousness creates the world that you inhabit.”

69. “Be aware of your breathing. Notice how this takes attention away from your thinking and creates space.”

70. “Whenever you step out of the noise of thinking, that is meditation, and a different state of consciousness arises.”

71. “If your relationship to the present moment is not right – nothing can ever be right in the future – because when the future comes – it’s the present moment.”

72. “If I find here and Now unacceptable, I have three choices: 1-Totally accept it. 2- Change it. 3 – Remove myself from the situation. That is taking responsibility for my life.”

73. “You all know the saying which is very true: What you resist persists. And I’m sure many of you have already found that out in your life. And then suddenly when you let go of resistance you let go of an attachment to something: I need this to happen in order to be happy; I don’t want what is, I want something else. To be okay with what is, which is the simplicity of this moment, is the beginning of true change.”

74. “If you are content with being nobody in particular, content not to stand out, you align yourself with the power of the universe. What looks like weakness to the ego is in fact the only true strength. This spiritual truth is diametrically opposed to the values of our contemporary culture and the way it conditions people to behave.”

75. “The most decisive event in your life is when you discover you are not your thoughts or emotions. Instead, you can be present as the awareness behind the thoughts and emotions.”

76. “Get the inside right, and the outside will take care of itself.”

77. “All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”

Stillness Speaks

78. “Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and listen. No more is needed.

79. “Spiritual Awakening is awakening from the dream of thought.”

80. “Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.”

81. “You are the sky. The clouds are what happens, what comes and goes.”

82. “When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking. When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice – the thinker – but the one who is aware of it.”

83. “Meditate or spend silent time in nature with your partner. When going for a walk or sitting in the car or at home, become comfortable with being in stillness together. Stillness cannot and need not be created. Just be receptive to the stillness that is already there, but is usually obscured by mental noise.”

84. “Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary.”

85. “Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not ‘yours,’ not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you.”

86. “Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. Life is eternal.”

87. “You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”

88. “You are the Universe expressing itself as a human for a little while.”

Eckhart Tolle

You and the Universe

89. “When you say “yes” to the “isness” of life, when you accept this moment as it is, you can feel a sense of spaciousness within you that is deeply peaceful.”

90. “You are not IN the universe, you ARE the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.”

91. “Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.”

92. “You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are!”

93. “You are the universe, you aren’t in the universe.”

94. “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”

95. “Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.”

Enlightenment

96. “To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.”

97. “What a liberation to realize that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am. ‘ Who am I, then?’ the one who sees that.”

98. “That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.”

99. “Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.”

100. “There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself.”

101. “Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not ‘yours,’ not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you.”

102. “People don’t realize that now is all there ever is; there is no past or future except as memory or anticipation in your mind.”

103. “Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.”

104. “Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.”

105. “Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.”

106. “People look to time in expectation that it will eventually make them happy, but you cannot find true happiness by looking toward the future.”

107. “I’m grateful for always this moment, the now, no matter what form it takes.”

108. “If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.”

109. “Thinking is a wonderful tool if it’s applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you’re dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.”

110. “Dogmas are collective conceptual prisons. And the strange thing is that people love their prison cells because they give them a sense of security and a false sense of ‘I know.’ Nothing has inflicted more suffering on humanity than its dogmas.”

111. “The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.”

112. “It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.”

113. “It is the stillness that will save and transform the world.”

114. “Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”

115. “Don’t wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.”

116. “When you get into your car, shut the door and be there for just half a minute. Breathe, feel the energy inside your body, look around at the sky, the trees. The mind might tell you, ‘I don’t have time.’ But that’s the mind talking to you. Even the busiest person has time for 30 seconds of space.”

117. “The answer is, who you are cannot be defined through thinking or mental labels or definitions, because it’s beyond that. It is the very sense of being, or presence, that is there when you become conscious of the present moment. In essence, you and what we call the present moment are, at the deepest level, one.”

118. “If there are people you haven’t forgiven, you’re not going to really awaken. You have to let go.”

119. “Many people in this world are still so identified with every thought that arises in their head. There is not the slightest space of awareness there.”