Eckhart Tolle

“Thinking is only a small aspect of consciousness. Thought cannot exist without consciousness, but consciousness does not need thought”

“Let me say it again: the present moment is all you ever have.”

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

“Being an outsider to some extent, someone who does not "fit in" with others or is rejected by them for whatever reason, makes life difficult, but it also places you at an advantage as far as enlightenment is concerned. It takes you out of unconsciousness almost by force.”

“Su tarea no es buscar amor sino encontrar una puerta a través de la cual el amor pueda entrar”.”

“Consciousness is a vast ocean and thinking is the waves & ripples on the surface of the ocean. Every wave & ripple has a very short lived life - it is very fleeting Do not identify with your thoughts - continued indentification with the stream of thinking leads to a very serious dysfunction in ones sense of identity...”

“What a caterpillar calls the end of the world we call a butterfly.”

“Oír el silencio, dondequiera que esté, es una forma fácil y directa de hacerse presente. Incluso si hay ruido, hay siempre silencio bajo y entre los sonidos.”

“... there are two ways of being unhappy. Not getting what you want is one. Getting what you want is the other.”

“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.”

“I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.”

“Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now.Let it teach you Being.Let it teach you integrity — which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real.Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.”

“By a monstrous act of reductionism, the infinite depth of who you are is confused with a sound produced by the vocal cords." (p. 28)”

“Resistance is weakness and fear masquerading as strength. What the ego sees as weakness is your Being in its purity, innocence, and power. What it sees as strength is weakness.”

“Die to the past every moment. You don't need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present. Feel the power of this moment and the fullness of Being. Feel your presence.”

“The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life's challenges when they come. Through those challenges, an already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious, and a conscious person more intensely conscious. You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep. The dreamof ordinary unconsciousness then turns into a nightmare.”

“Ono što je stvarno nikada ne možeumrijeti; umiru samo imena, oblici i prividi.”

“Pažnja. Ovdje i sad. Probudi se.”

“»Probudi se. Ustani iz svoga uma. Budi prisutan.«”

“Nijedan drugi oblik života na ovoj planeti ne poznaje negativnost,samo ljudi, upravo kao što nijedan drugi životni oblik ne uništava ine truje Zemlju koja ga održava na životu. Jeste li ikada vidjeli nesretancvijet ili hrastovo drvo pod stresom? Jeste li susreli depresivnogdupina, žabu koja ima poteškoća sa samopoštovanjem, mačku koja sene može opustiti ili pticu koja u sebi nosi mržnju i negodovanje? Jedineživotinje koje povremeno mogu iskusiti nešto nalik na negativnostili pokazati znakove neurotičnog ponašanja su one koje žive ubliskom dodiru s ljudima i tako se povezuju s ljudskim umom i njegovomludošću.”

“Kad imate nekoliko minuta vremena, osobito neposredno prijespavanja i nakon buđenja, »preplavite« tijelo sviješću. Sklopite oči.Lezite na leda. Pažnju usmjerite na različite dijelove tijela, najprijenakratko: dlanovi, stopala, ruke, noge, trbuh, prsa, glava i tako dalje.Osjetite životnu energiju unutar tih dijelova što jače možete. Kodsvakog dijela tijela ostanite petnaestak sekundi. Tada dopustite pažnjida nekoliko puta prođe kroz tijelo kao val, od stopala do glave i natrag.Za to vam je potrebna otprilike jedna minuta. Nakon toga upotpunosti osjetite unutarnje tijelo kao jedinstveno polje energije.Taj osjećaj zadržite nekoliko minuta. Tijekom toga razdoblja buditesnažno prisutni u svakoj stanici svoga tijela. Ne brinite ako vam umpovremeno uspije odvući pažnju iz tijela te ako se izgubite u nekojmisli. Čim”

“Na trenutak morate odložiti osobnu prtljagu problema, prošlosti ibudućnosti, kao i sve svoje znanje; inače ćete vidjeti, ali nećete vidjeti,čut ćete, ali nećete čuti. Potrebna je vaša apsolutna prisutnost.”

“Sto se više usredotočitena vrijeme - na prošlost i budućnost - to više propuštateSadašnji trenutak, najdragocjenije što postoji.”

“Tajna života jest »umrijeti prije smrti« - i otkriti kako smrt ne postoji.”

“Što god obuhvaćao sadašnji trenutak,prihvatite to kao da ste sami izabrali. Uvijek surađujte sa sadašnjimtrenutkom, a ne suprotstavljajte mu se. Neka vam postane prijatelj isaveznik, a ne neprijatelj. To će na čudesan način preobraziti cijeli vašživot.”

“Ako više ne želite stvarati bol sebi i drugima, ako više ne želitepovećavati ostatke bolova iz prošlosti koji još žive u vama, tada višene stvarajte vrijeme ili ga barem ne stvarajte više nego što je potrebnodok se bavite praktičnim vidovima vlastita života. Kako prestatistvarati vrijeme? Duboko u sebi shvatite kako uvijek imate samosadašnji trenutak. Neka Sada postane prvobitna žarišna točka vašegaživota. Dok ste prije boravili u vremenu i tek nakratko posjećivaliSadašnji trenutak, sada prebivajte u njemu, a tek nakratko posjećujteprošlost i budućnost kad se morate pozabaviti praktičnim vidovimasvoje životne situacije. Sadašnjem trenutku uvijek recite: »Da«. Što bimoglo biti jalovije i lude nego stvarati unutarnji otpor nečemu štoveć postoji! Sto bi moglo biti lude nego se suprotstavljati samom životu,koji jest sada i uvijek samo sada? Predajte se onome što jest. Recite»da« životu - i vidjet ćete kako život iznenada počinje raditi zavas, umjesto da vam se suprotstavlja.”

“Čak i kad je nebo prekriveno teškim oblacima, nije riječ o tomeda je Sunce nestalo. Sunce je još uvijek ondje, iza oblaka.”

“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, andnot enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all formsof nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”

“Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body. Accept that it is there. Don't think about it - don't let the feeling turn into thinking. Don't judge or analyze. Don't make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware not only of the emotional pain but also of "the one who observes," the silent watcher. This is the power of the Now, the power of your own conscious presence. Then see what happens.”

“The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgment. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity. The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment, and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified with your mind. The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it. In other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer. Or you may put it like this: the more you are able to honor and accept the Now, the more you are free of pain, of suffering - and free of the egoic mind. Why does the mind habitually deny or resist the Now? Because it cannot function and remain in control without time, which is past and future, so it perceives the timeless Now as threatening. Time and mind are in fact inseparable.”

“How do you let go of attachment to things? Don’t even try. It’s impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them.”

“Negativity is totally unnatural. It is a psychic pollutant, and there is a deep link between the poisoning and destruction of nature and the vast negativity that has accumulated in the collective human psyche. No other life-form on the planet knows negativity, only humans, just as no other life-form violates and poisons the Earth that sustains it. Have you ever seen an unhappy flower or a stressed oak tree? Have you some across a depressed dolphin, a frog that has a problem with self-esteem, a cat that cannot relax, or a bird that carries hatred and resentment? The only animals that may occasionally experience something akin to negativity or show signs of neurotic behavior are those that live in close contact with humans and so link into the humans mind and its insanity.”

“You are not your mind”

“There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet: human unconsciousness. That realization is true forgiveness. With forgiveness, your victim identity dissolves, and your true power emerges--the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light.”

“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.”

“If your mind carries a heavy burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future.”

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

“In essence, you are neither inferior nor superior to anyone. True self-esteem and true humility arise out of that realization. In the eyes of the ego, self-esteem and humility are contradictory. In truth, they are one and the same.”

“Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.”

“The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be...”

“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing. The same no-thing. They are externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.”

“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form" states the Heart Sutra, one of the best known ancient Buddhist texts. The essence of all things is emptiness.”

“If there isn't an emanation of love and joy, complete presence and openness toward all beings, then it is not enlightenment.”

“Akomožete uživati u onome što već sada radite, umjesto da čekate da senešto promijeni kako biste mogli početi uživati u radu, mnogo je većavjerojatnost da će vam se život početi širiti i mijenjati nabolje.Ne tražite od uma dopuštenje da uživate u onome što radite. Dobitćete samo mnoštvo razloga zbog kojih u tome ne možete uživati. »Nesada«, reći će um. »Zar ne vidiš da sam zauzet? Nemam vremena.Možda bih sutra mogao početi uživati.« No, ako ne počnete uživati uonome što sada radite, »sutra« nikada ne stiže.”

“Prema drevnoj sufističkoj pripovijesti, nekoć je u jednoj od bliskoistočnihzemalja živio kralj neprestano rastrzan između sreće i potištenosti. Inajmanja sitnica mogla ga je jako uzrujati ili izazvati intenzivnu reakciju,a sreća bi mu se brzo okretala u razočaranje i očaj. Došao je trenutakkad se kralj naposljetku umorio od samoga sebe i od života te počeotražiti izlaz. Poslao je po mudraca koji je živio u njegovu kraljevstvu iza koga se govorilo da je prosvijetljen. Kad je mudrac stigao, kralj muse obrati: »Želim biti nalik tebi. Možeš li mi dati nešto što bi u moj životunijelo ravnotežu, vedrinu i mudrost? Platit ću ti koliko zatražiš«.Mudrac odgovori: »Možda bih ti mogao pomoći. No, cijena je takovelika da ni čitavo tvoje kraljevstvo ne bi bilo dovoljno. Stoga će to bitidar ako ga budeš znao cijeniti«. Kralj ga uvjeri i mudrac ode.Nekoliko tjedana poslije vrati se i preda kralju ukrašenu kutiju odžada. Kralj otvori kutiju i u njoj pronađe jednostavan zlatni prsten. Naprstenu su bila urezana slova. Pisalo je I to će proći. »Što to znači?«,upita kralj. Mudrac odvrati: »Uvijek nosi taj prsten. Što god se dogodi,prije nego stigneš reći je li dobro i l i loše, dodirni prsten i pročitaj natpis.Tako ćeš uvijek biti smiren«.”

“U prošlosti se nikada nije dogodilo ništa što bi vas moglo spriječitida sada ne budete prisutni. A ako vas prošlost ne može spriječiti dasada budete prisutni, kakvu onda moć uopće posjeduje?”

“Prošlost u vama živi u obliku uspomena, ali uspomene same po sebinisu problem. Zapravo kroz uspomene možemo učiti iz prošlosti i prošlih pogrešaka. Tek kad uspomene, odnosno misli o prošlosti, potpunoovladaju vama, pretvaraju se u teret, postanu problematične i postanudio vašega osjećaja vlastitog identiteta. Vaša osobnost, uvjetovana prošlošću,tada postaje zatvor. Uspomene su vam prožete osjećajem vlastiteosobnosti, a kroz priču opisujete sebe onakvim kakvim se smatrate.To »malo ja« je privid koji prikriva vaš istinski identitet bezvremene ibezoblične Prisutnosti.”

“Everything is honored, but nothing matters.”

“Ne tražite sreću. Ako je tražite, nećete je naći, jer je traženje suprotnostsreći. Sreća uvijek vješto izmiče, ali slobodu od nesreće možetepostići ovoga trenutka suočavajući se sa stvarnošću, umjesto da onjoj izmišljate priče.”

“Riječi stvarnost svode na nešto što ljudski um može shvatiti, a to nijeosobito mnogo. Jezik se sastoji od pet temeljnih zvukova koje stvarajuglasnice. To su samoglasnici a, e, i, o, u. Drugi zvuci su suglasnici kojise stvaraju pritiskom zraka: s, f, g i ostali. Vjerujete li da bi kombinacijatakvih temeljnih zvukova ikada mogla objasniti tko ste vi, krajnju svrhusvemira i l i čak ono što su stablo i l i kamen u svojoj biti?”