Finding Stillness in the Noise: Guided Meditation | Eckhart Tolle

this is not a conventional meditation I may be speaking most of the time but there also gaps in between the word Words which of course are always more important than the words and if you're aware of the gaps as much as you're aware of the words then you're already entering the state of meditation without having to go through any preliminary technique not that there's anything wrong with techniques so it's actually quite lovely to be aware not only of the words but also the Stillness that's [Music] there the space one could say between the words even underneath the words and the miraculous thing is when you're aware of that for a brief moment whenever you wear of the space you're not thinking so the more you're aware of the space of the spaces the less absorbed you are in the Stream of thinking and not being absorbed in the Stream of thinking not identifying with the stream of thinking is meditation and of course the aim of meditation is that eventually it becomes your normal State of Consciousness in which case you may still want to practice so-called formal meditation because you like it or you may not now usually in your daily life things constantly arise in your field of awareness demanding attention situations people things that need to be done and sometimes things are pulling at you from various directions demanding your attention at the same time and when you you no longer know where to put your attention you're beginning to experience so-called stress because stress means one thing is pulling this way another thing is pulling that way and so you get stress and as long as you're unaware unconscious spiritually [Music] speaking the world around you determines where your attention goes people situation events your electronic devices that go ping when the next text message comes in or whatever sound it is or go pong when the next email arrives and immediately your attention goes there and then somebody else somebody so I call that losing oneself in the world and then of course there's your thinking every thought that arises seems to say give me more of your attention follow me to where I want you to go and so when you're unaware then whatever thought comes into your head has this enormous pulling power and so you identify with the thought and you're completely in it and it takes you this way and that way and leads to a whole succession of thoughts and so on the most primordial level it's thinking really that absorbs your attention your mind because even external things have to be transformed into mind stuff before you can experience it so that you can experience it all external objects before you can be aware of them have to they be taken in through sensory perception then transformed into nerve impulses and then reassembled somewhere to make up this picture of external reality but it's ultimately all you ever experience is your mind so that's really what we need to look at so most people are continuously aware of something and they are at the mercy of whatever arises in their mind that has this power to pull in their attention one thing you learn in meditation is you can you have a choice you can direct your attention to one thing and then you can see if you can keep your attention on one particular mind object which could be becoming aware of your breathing or it could be a mantra that you repeat in your mind one mind object or an external object the candle flame so you begin to realize that you can actually direct attention you don't have to be at the mercy of whatever comes into your mind so as we sit here for example you can direct your attention to your attention is of course in auditory perception and visual perception but in addition you can also have some of your attention uh on your breathing for example you're aware even as you listen and as you watch if your eyes are open you can be aware also that at the same time you're breathing you're choosing to have some attention there too that's a very calm thing and you you become aware that your body is alive on the inside you can become aware that there's a sense of aliveness inside your hands another ancient meditation method to do it more methodically you become aware that your feet are alive on the inside your legs your entire body there's a field of aliveness you become aware of that that you can then choose to put your attention on that rather than on something else where it would habitually go so gradually be you become aware of your own power you're not at the mercy of events and things your thoughts ultimately there's a deeper dimension in you deeper than thinking and getting in touch with that accessing that realizing that that is the essence of who you are that's why we're here the purpose of this is to get in touch with that deeper Dimension within yourself deeper than thinking and what is that we could describe it as the feeling or the sense of being you at the most fundamental level what does it feel like to be you now usually when you speak in terms of I let's use the first person what does it feel like what's it like to be me what is that sense of identity the sense of self usually you refer then to certain things in your mind your history your conditioned mind the history of me the story of me me and my problems me and my situation me and this and this and this so there's always on that level when you your feeling of being yourself is really to be identified with certain things that arise in your mind but here we are attempting to go deeper to a more foundational a more more real sense of what is it that underlies all that what is it that makes the story of you that most most people tend to be who they are what is it that makes the story of you possible what is the space the light in which it appears there's something deeper without which there could be no story and yet it's not separate from it and that's always the same there's a there's a deep sense of beingness or presence in you that is prior and deeper than anything that happens in your life or in your mind so I'd like you to get in touch with that sense of being you at the deepest level what does that feel like and it's a very strange question so I'm usually then your attention is directed to certain things objects in your mind what we're attempting to do here is to ultimately becoming aware of that attention itself which is awareness so when I ask you what's it like to be you I'm really asking you to become aware of your own awareness and that it's not an object you can't say ah that is I've got it now you cannot have it because you are it it's the essence of who you are you cannot describe it because it has no [Music] form you cannot talk about it in terms of past or future because there's no time to it it is a Timeless Dimension and this bare sense of beingness that if that becomes the foundation for your life so to speak if you could not lose touch with that other in other words not lose lose touch with the most essential Dimension