Eckhart Tolle on Dogs: A Life Beyond Ego

millions of humans still that's all they ever know all they ever identify with is the the personality conditioned by the past problematic problem making you perceive the world and judge it through the veil of your mental conditioning you don't see anything clearly um some people hate themselves I don't like my body I don't like who I am I don't like this I awful way to live I hate myself it's much better to love yourself so in New Age teachings you learn to let go of this dysfunctional relationship with yourself and then this is a good thing it's much better To Love Yourself than to hate yourself so but you have to achieve that transition not easy if if the hating yourself has been deeply ingrained you may have to put little stickers on your bathroom mirror I love myself oh yes and and everywhere you are lovable oh thank you thank you yes and again this is fine it's a transitional stage it's not the final stage sometimes in New Age thinks it's the final stage it's a it's a lovely transitional stage but really it's the stage of Awakening is that you be begin to let go of having a relationship with yourself so that you can just be yourself and you have to be in the present moment in order to be yourself and that is you can sometimes learn by looking at an animal who is the animal is at a pre-ic stage what we are moving towards or into is a post egoic stage now the Animal like your dog is pre egoic the dog has Consciousness but not conceptual Consciousness it not the dog does not operate through mental Concepts in other words the dog does not have an opinion about you isn't that that's why you love the dog so much and also the dog does not have a relationship with himself or herself humans have but I have not met a single dog that has a problem with self-esteem for example uh I have not met a single dog that has a problem with body image even the the the ugliest dog is okay because the split hasn't happened yet the split into me and myself so the the dog this is why the dog often is often joyful the slightest thing you sometimes you go you if the you have a dog you go away for 10 minutes and you come back home the dog acts if you had been away for 10 years he's so happy and the the H is contagious a little bit the happiness of that the wagging tail of the dog why is the dog so happy because the dog does not have a self the dog is him her itself the dog is and then the tail goes life is good if the dog could say something he would say life is good in the present moment just give me my frood and then it's even better so the humans they love to be with the animals because it gives them a little bit of a little glimpse of self Transcendence because when they look into the eyes of the dog they are not being judged and that feels good and you can sense by looking at the eyes you can sense the being of the dog W now the dog what you really love in it's just an example dog cat what you really love in the dog is not the outer surface of the dog although it's lovely to the touch and all that yes but you know there is something that you cannot see that you relate to when you look into the eyes of a dog that that is the the essence of the dog what you love is actually the consciousness of the dog which has no ego in it it exists at a pre- egoic state you love the consciousness of the dog and when you look in the eyes you feel a little bit you connect a little bit to that in yourself for a few seconds when you're not you don't need any defense mechanism or anything like that when you relate to a dog although there are some humans with huge egos I have observed a few who relate to their pet through their ego but that's another story and that's a sad story they have an ego relationship I knew a woman who would in the evenings you would put food out or her cat would go out the cat would be in the garden and she had the window open that was a neighbor of mine years ago and she would put the food out and this woman had a very accomplished person but gigantic Eagle she would she put the cat foot of her cat out and then if the cat didn't come um because cat have many things to do out in the garden and it was dinner time for the cat and she put the plate there and she was sitting there waiting for the cat to come and 15 minutes passed and then she said okay then she would close the window said if she doesn't want to see me I don't want to see her oh my God she has an ego relationship with her cat so a relationship with yourself that eventually is transcended so that you can simply be in the present moment not and let's go deeper now so that in the present moment uh which is a portal into the awakened state in this present moment let's see who or what are you in the present moment without reference to any thought without reference to any thought about who you are um that's an interesting pointer in other words what does it feel like to be yourself without remembering your past or thinking about the future just in this moment you don't need to remember your email address or anything it's not necessary now or what you ate yesterday without reference to past and future um what does it do you disappear or what is left of you without the memory The Narrative that usually do you describe as my life without that memory of that you need to revive continuously without that what does it feel like to be you and I cannot answer that I can only give it to you as a pointer and slow down a little bit as I talk so that you can perhaps inquire investigate internally what what it feels like what is the most essential thing about your identity is are are you still there when you you don't think about your life like now are you still there and what what is that I'm not going to answer it and I don't expect a conceptual answer uh um so the that's [Music] me there was a ancient a spiritual teacher in India who his favorite meditation was asking his disciples to ask themselves who am I you can also ask yourself what am I who or what what am I what am I but don't answer it verbally but feel or sense what it means to be alive or to be you what am I there's a there's a gap in the Stream of thinking then what what is there when there's a gap in the Stream of thinking like now and in that Gap there's a there's a still yes um there's also a sense of there's something there but it's hard to describe there's a sense of presence of [Music] beingness and in that sense of presence of beingness you know the that you are you know you can say I am you know that without adding any qualifiers to it without adding anything to the I am it's a pure sense of being which is I am it's very peaceful you need an alertness to sustain it just for a little bit without the alertness you will immediately fall back into the stream of thinking but it's not you don't use willpower to to stop your thinking mind that doesn't really work so you don't hold your breath in order to stop thinking that does it might work for a little while but then you t