Asleep within the grave

Asleep within the grave
The soldiers dream, and overhead
The summer grasses wave.

Nearing my journey’s end,
In dreams I trudge the wild waste moor,
And seek a kindly friend.

A hundred years and more,
Each year has cast its withered leaves
My little garden o’er.

- Matsuo Basho
Tr. William Porter

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This Present Moment

After many days of having my mind spin and race over various problems, I realized what was happening and decided to stop the “noise machine in my head,” as Eckhart Tolle describes it.  What a welcome change!

Almost nine years ago, I first read The Power of Now by E.T. and realized it was more than an ordinary self-help book.  I could tell it was a profound spiritual teaching for the modern reader.  E.T. did not really share such new concepts as much as he conveyed them through the words in a way that a modern Westerner could find transformative through the reading or listening process.

I have heard of several instances where people have practiced yoga, Zen or whatever for 10 to 20 years but did not have a serious breakthrough until encountering Tolle’s work.  Why is this?  I believe that it is because E.T. is writing first hand from his own personal enlightenment experience.  There have been many “gurus” and “masters” though…  So what’s different?  Listening to his speak is probably the best way to find out.  If you don’t “get it,” he may seem meaningless.  Some, however, are ready to hear what he has to say.  More importantly, they are ready for a new state of consciousness.

Our troubles tend to activate our minds and amplify our suffering.  I think Zen speaks directly to this, but even with Zen people often get carried away with the process or religion.  There is no need for a Buddha, special posture, incense, roshi or any of that.  We don’t need to learn special Buddhist terms.  Even as Zen says, terms are just “the finger pointing at the moon” but not the moon.

One of the biggest challenges of staying “in the now” is our interaction with “unconscious” people.  These are not those who’ve lost ordinary consciousness, but who are among the vast majority of people living unaware though life disconnected with the now and their inner being.  Their minds run constantly or their “pain body” is perpetually activated.  It is as if these individuals suck you in to their world of non-presence like a whirlwind.  I won’t deal with how to handle these situations here, maybe in a future post.

To sum up E.T. for me, he is really like Western zen, not formal Zen, but just zen.  Check out an audio or DVD of him, it’s the best way to find out…

“THE KEY IS TO BE IN A

STATE OF PERMANENT

CONNECTEDNESS

with you inner body –

to feel it at all times.

This will rapidly deepen and

transform your life.

The more consciousness you

direct into the inner body,

the higher its vibrational

frequency becomes.”

- Eckhart Tolle

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