How to Know Your True Self

PDF download Download Article
PDF download Download Article

By its very nature, the Mind (conditioned thoughts and emotions in this context) is limited, as it only knows to label, analyze, conceptualize and fragment things, people and events through the eyes of past (mental conditioning) and knowledge. Thus it misses their essence entirely. Only when you step out of your mind can you see things and events holistically, and be aware or conscious of the sacred and timeless "Life" underneath all forms, events and situations [1] . These words point to something that is beyond form; your true self . So don't just read with your mind, which only knows of content, the known, but pay attention to any feeling responses that arise from deep within. As reading with the mind (intellectually or via thinking) implies that you are seeking for the truth in words or content, where it cannot be found.

Method 1
Method 1 of 6:

Knowing the Space

PDF download Download Article
  1. Ask yourself "what doesn't change?". Your thoughts (which includes belief systems, interpretations and ideas) change, your emotions change, your body changes, people around you change, your surroundings change, weather changes, etc. Its very nature of forms, relationships or content to be unstable and fleeting, as they are bound to the law of impermanence [2] . So all forms arise, change and disappear, except for the ever-present timeless space where they come and go. You are that "space" of consciousness or no-thought, where every form (internal and external), like sensations, events, sounds, people, thoughts, reactions, emotions etc. come and go [3] .
    • "Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go" Tao Te Ching .
    • Take the analogy of a room: a room is made up of walls, but it's the inner space that we use. Where people and things come and go, events occur and end, etc.
    • "We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use." Tao Te Ching.
    • Here's another signpost: Who is aware or knows of the forms that arise and disappear in your space of consciousness? Who's looking or aware of the thoughts, emotions, reactions and sensations in your body? Who experiences the environment you are in through sense perceptions? It's the ever-present 'I Am' or "knowing" or experiencer, without which there will be no experience.
  2. Last year's vacation, family or friends gathering, events, meetups, pleasure of a delicious meal, possessions, short lived sexual or sensory pleasures, relationships, thoughts, emotions, sounds, tasks, physical or psychological conditions etc. Any form or experience that appears in your consciousness comes as if it's all-important but before you know it, it changes and/or disappears into the 'no-thingness' from where it came. Even if it's a chronic or permanent illness, it will disappear with your fleeting body.
    • No form or experience or event or condition lasts. Buddha made it a central part of his teaching. He called it anicca ; state of impermanence. Only the background, the ever-present awareness that is aware of the fleetingness of all forms, doesn't go through any change. You are that eternal awareness .
    • Once you truly see the transitory and unstable nature of all forms, relationships, events and experiences, you will not give them importance and significance that they don't have. Or put impossible demands on them to fulfill you, make you happy, feel safe or tell you who you are. World of forms, the drama or the play, cannot give you those things.
    • Suffering arises when you seek long lasting happiness, contentment and yourself in the world and mind.
    Advertisement
  3. You, the consciousness , are so lost in mind and content [4] that you perceive your "self" and others as no more than fragile name and form (psychological and physical) through limited view of thinking and sense perceptions. Unaware of the vital formless dimension within. Protecting and enhancing this "false self" by adding more content, labels, relationships, comparisons, stories and experiences to it becomes your primary motive. Which strengthens the sense of separation between you and others, when there is none. As a result, thinking becomes compulsive, world is overvalued and seems more rigid. Which ultimately causes suffering when forms, skills and conditions that you identify with disappear or change or taken away. Which they will. That's why Buddha said "whatever you do, wherever you go, you will encounter Dukkha (suffering)". It's because it’s the nature of forms. So as long as you are disconnected from the formless dimension within, that is to say lost in world of forms, which are ultimately thoughts in mind, suffering is inevitable.
    • "World is not there to make you happy but to make you conscious." Eckhart Tolle.
    • Do you think more stuff, content, knowledge, better titles or thinking is going to save the world and liberate you from suffering and dream of form? Isn't wisdom that humanity needs the most right now?
      • Wisdom is not a product of thought but arises from the formless dimension within. You will only lose yourself in content, world, endless doing and thinking (or analysis).
      • So doesn't matter how sharp and cultivated our minds are, how much knowledge we have, it’s ultimately going to be limited and wont save you from suffering.
      • "If growth of knowledge is not counterbalanced by growth of consciousness, the potential for disaster is great." Eckhart Tolle.
  4. On a macroscopic level of the universe, even before the Big Bang, once it was emptiness. It is life in its undifferentiated state prior to its fragmentation into multiplicity. With the passage of time, [5] different forms like stars, galaxies, planets, nebulas and so on appeared, grew, changed and then disappeared into the "no-thingness" from where they came. Suddenly space seems to be there. It's the timeless nothingness or emptiness of space where everything comes and goes that remains unchanged. Just like the 'formless awareness' that you are in essence undergoes no change.
    • The Still depth that holds the infinite number of planets, stars, galaxies, etc. is also in you . As you are not some meaningless fragment in an alien, uncaring universe, briefly suspended between birth and death then ultimate annihilation [6] . Underneath your name and form, you are one with the infinity of God or 'One Consciousness' or Being . To get a glimpse of the 'space of awareness' or stillness within yourself, become aware of awareness and/or feel the inner body. Read Inhabit Your Inner Body More Deeply for a deeper insight on this.
    • "There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene, empty, solitary, unchanging, infinite, eternally present... It is the mother of the universe." Tao Te Ching.
  5. It has been hypothesized that if mass of the universe became greater than the critical density, it will begin to collapse and would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state similar to in which it started [7] . Since you are a microcosmic reflection of the universe, can you see this on the level of your own form's (physical and psychological) birth, growth, decline and death?
    • Consider the miracle of birth; it's the consciousness or the life that first appears in the womb and then human form begins to develop. Your body grows stronger with time and as it grows old, it becomes weak, frail, dies, turns to dust, and then nothing at all. You go back to where you came from, just a few years ago. Does it seem similar to universe and the objects in it?
    • Can you also see the same pattern in breathing? Inhaling (expansion) and exhaling (contraction).
    • All "things" and phenomena intrinsically follow the same pattern, expansion (growth) and contraction (decay), because they are bound to the law of impermanence. [8] . So why seek yourself in mind (thoughts and emotions), events, relationships and transient forms, and give them importance or significance that they don't have?
  6. Know your essence . It is a fact that atoms consist of 99.999999 percent empty space. [9] Consecutively molecules are more than 99.99 percent empty space. Scientists have confirmed that on a molecular level it is a pulsating energy frequency. Like a musical note. [10] Consecutively all forms, things, earth and so on, are more than 99.99 percent empty space.
    • It's the illusion created by limited view of our sense perceptions and thinking that makes the things, people and events (dance of different frequencies) seem rigid, serious and separate. [11] . With fear and desire being inevitable consequences of this ethereal illusion.
    • Space consciousness. Most people pay attention to the forms and objects in the space , but who pays attention to the space itself? The infinite and eternal Emptiness that is the essence of all there is and the life that contains and enables all forms to be. [12] Perhaps space is not interesting and the mind, which only knows of content, the known, looks for interesting 'things'. Even when it looks for space, it makes the endless nothingness into an object or something filled with matter because idea or concept of forms(which are ultimately thoughts) is all it knows [13] .
    • Analogy: if everything around you was green, then there would be no green. There needs to be another color so that 'green' can stand out. Similarly, if there were no objects in space then there would be no space. It would be emptiness or nothingness . There need to be at least two reference points in space to measure distance, so an object can stand out. [14] . Hence, there must be something 'unfleeting' or unchanging in order to recognize the fleetingness of all forms. Otherwise it would not be [15] .
    • “Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.” Tao Te Ching.
  7. Die before you die . Death is stripping away of who you are not [16] . While in the forest or park, have you noticed broken trees, fallen leaves, dead insects and animals, etc. facilitating the birth of new plants, grass and other organisms? What can you learn from this? Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. Death is the most natural thing there is [17] . As natural as birth. The secret of life is to die before you die .
    • Realizing yourself as the formless awareness behind the content of your mind and abiding in that state is 'dying before you die' or death or 'end of suffering' or enlightenment. It's because awareness is timeless and unchanging. Your essential nature. So even if all forms around you (including your body, relationships, things you have etc.) grow weak or change or disappear, your conscious presence remains unchanged. Once you see this truth, you realize that there is no death, but just a form dissolving. Why do people who have been through ‘near-death experience’ lose the fear of death? It's the journey home. Meditate upon this.
    • "There's something in you that remains unchanging despite the transient circumstances in your life. That's the life that you are." Eckhart Tolle.
    • Tao Te Ching pointed the same in different words, "The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings. He knows that he is going to die, and he has nothing left to hold on to: no illusions in his mind, no resistances in his body."
    • Your body and forms (psychological, personality, relationships, titles, objects, skills, knowledge, stories, things etc.) that you identify with, can dissolve and/or change at any time. This is a deep and humbling realization that leaves little room for the ego. [18] . Death will be painful as long as you cling to the illusion. That is to say, as long as you identify with forms and seek yourself in them. This doesn't mean to not have things, not use mind and body, look for relationships, enjoy experiences and pleasures of this world etc. We need to honor and appreciate the world of forms and not despise it. Realizing at the same time that no possession, thing, pleasure, relationship or experience of this world can give you long lasting fulfillment or happiness.
    • Relinquishing identification or attachment with forms means to deeply realize that seeking fulfillment, happiness and yourself in the mind and world of forms lies at the root of suffering. Also, seeking is the antithesis of happiness.
  8. Have you noticed that when your inner-self is cluttered with thoughts and emotions, your external reality also becomes cluttered with forms (tasks, noise, jobs, unclean and untidy place etc.) and vice versa. Similarly, have you noticed that when you are unhappy, you attract more negative situations, conditions and people in your life. Plus, you see only negative in others, it’s because world is a reflection of your inner-state.
    • The inner equivalent of external noise and pollution is the incessant, compulsive and often negative activity of thoughts, reactions and emotions in you.
    • Once you see this with clarity, you start taking responsibility of your inner self. That is to say, you don't pollute your inner space with negativity. That's when external reality naturally transforms without any doing on your part because world is just a reflection of collective humanity's inner state. This is the miracle of |surrender .
    • Eckhart Tolle — "If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without."
  9. Here are some practices to become aware or abide in inner space or silence:
    • Can you feel the inner energy field or alive 'spaciousness' of your body? Energy field of your hands, legs, hips, pelvis region, abdomen, throat, shoulders, neck, face, head and so on. That's the formless life you are that animates, runs and sustains your incredibly complex body.
    • Can you be aware of awareness that enables the content in the foreground to be?
    • Can you be aware of the silence or stillness underneath that enables the sounds to be?
    • Can you be aware of your breath as it happens?
      • These questions and practices help create gaps between incessant Egoic thinking , thus making way for sacred and formless presence to shine through.
    • When you are in touch with inner space, that is essentially you, you are connected with something so vast, joyous, immeasurable and sacred that world, mind and events become insignificant in comparison to it. [19] . A playfulness arises. And it's not a selfish but selfless state.
    • "If you don't realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king." Tao Te Ching .
    • So be aware of the inner space as much as you can. In other words, be aware of your inner body and awareness because that’s who you are in essence. It is highly recommended that you read Stay Rooted in Being for more depth on this.
    10. Advertisement
Method 2
Method 2 of 6:

Dissolving the Ego

PDF download Download Article
  1. Ego is the false sense of 'self' based on identification with fleeting things, physical body, personality, status, people, beliefs and conditions in our life, which are all ultimately bundle of thought forms, as a substitute for simple joy of being within. This is the impersonal condition that most of humanity is suffering from, to a varying degrees. Plus, it is so common that it's seen as normal. That is to say, most people are so lost in forms (mental, emotional, material) and hypnotized by the world that they are unaware of their essence; the life that they are. [20] . This disconnect from the source makes you perceive yourself as an isolated fragment, with suffering (loneliness, anger, frustration, sorrow, fear, boredom, anxiety, depression and so on) and desire being inevitable consequences.
    • To know who you are in essence, Ego needs to be dissolved i.e. you need to dis-identify from your mind. Which is not a doing but an alert seeing . As seeing is freeing yourself from the dysfunction of mind. It’s because seeing is a new dimension of consciousness that is not part of thinking. It is highly recommended that you read Dissolve the Ego (According to Eckhart Tolle's Teachings) for more depth.
    • "When you recognize illusion as illusion, it dissolves" Eckhart Tolle.
Method 3
Method 3 of 6:

Recognize the illusion

PDF download Download Article
  1. Have you ever asked yourself that you could be in a dream right now? You, consciousness , have been in the grip of ego or mind and identified with forms (body, background, personality, title and so on) for so long that you think this is your reality [21] [22] . In other words, you see yourself no more than name and form, and experience this world only through limited view of sense perceptions and thinking. Confusing?
    • Try this: recall something that you did or experienced in reality. Now recall something you did or experienced in a dream. When you recalled both of the scenarios, did you notice any difference in the way the images and/or sounds from the memory appeared? Most probably not. Contextually they were both the same. Some images and sounds, which are thoughts [23] [24] . Were they ever real?
    • Similarly, for a dying person, their whole life seems as if it was a dream. Just like images and objects in a dream disappear, similarly in reality, objects, people and experiences disappear as if they had never been. All you are left with is a memory of them. And even memory, which arises as a thought form, fades and disappears. Even if you have pictures and videos of the memories, you likely may not remember if you really took the pictures or were really in them.
    • Again, suffering arises when you seek yourself and/or long-lasting fulfillment in fleeting things, thoughts, memories, relationships, experiences and circumstances, which they can't provide. If you didn't realize this, you will be condemned to chase after transient things, sensory or sexual pleasures, titles, relationships, and experiences, one after another, with an unconscious expectation that they will provide you long lasting fulfillment.
    • Have you noticed that normal ups and downs in a dream do not impact you that much and keep you asleep? However, it's the nightmare that has the potential to wake you up. Similarly in 'reality', it's the normal ups and downs that keep you in the grip of ego (dream of form) but when you face a limit situation or deep loss such as disability, death of a loved one or your own impending death, major illness, failure or rejection, meaninglessness etc. and the world doesn't make sense anymore, you go through a living nightmare or intense suffering. That's when one has a stronger motivation to wake up or get out of it [25] . That's why suffering has a noble purpose, as it has potential to crack open the shell of the ego by forcing you to surrender or disidentify with the unhappy self and wake up from the 'dream of matter' i.e dream of mind. This is also one of the reasons why most enlightened people on our planet once had a dense and heavy pain body .
    • Space of awareness. What you are experiencing right now through sense perceptions is the projection of the subjective external world, the dance of atoms and molecules, in your space of consciousness . [26] . It's an illusion that what you are experiencing is 'outside' or separate from you. Doesn't make sense? While you are dreaming your mind populates the 'space of consciousness', the substratum, with content, smell, touch, sounds, people, environment, etc. Like a screen that gets populated by a projector. This projection is a reflection of your inner state. Similarly, 'in reality', it's the projection of the subjective external world through limited view of sense perceptions that populates your space of consciousness . In unenlightened state, you see and act on the reality through conditioned mind , voice of the past, which has a compulsive need to react, conceptualize, fragment, resist, analyze and label 'what is'. Plus, content is all you know as formless dimension becomes completely obscured by the Egoic mind.
    • There's a unity between the observer (you) and the observed (world) [27] . Your 'state of consciousness' determines how you perceive and act on the world, and what kind of situations, things and people you attract. For example: If you believe that the world is a cold-hearted place, then that belief or paradigm, based on mental conditioning, will be reflected all around you and you will attract more situations and people like that. In addition, you will have a very selective perception i.e you will see only those parts, events and people that will confirm your belief. Like when you see through a green lens, things around seem green.
    • This is also one of the most important scientific breakthroughs from 20th century which says that the observing consciousness is not separate from observed phenomenon. A different way of looking makes the same phenomenon to behave differently. [28]
  2. Despite being quite powerful, the human mind is limited [29] . Doesn't matter how cultivated or sharp it is. It's because mind can at most show you the relative truth or aspects of the truth via thinking. For example: the sun sets and rises every day. It's true, but relatively. As an absolute truth, the sun is shining all the time, it never sets or rises [30] . There is only one absolute truth and all other truths emanate from it. However, as long as you are in mind-identified or ego driven state, you will keep conceptualizing and fragmenting things and events through thinking, instead of seeing them holistically or as 'part of the whole'.
    • How can you realize the totality then? Or how to see things holistically? By stepping out of your mind. That is to say, by perceiving through inner space or knowing or awareness . That's when you realize that you are one with the totality. Read Inhabit Your Inner Body More Deeply for more.
    • This is the feeling of inner space that Einstein pointed to when he said "The scientist's religious 'feeling' takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural laws, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that in comparison with it all systematic thinking of human being is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of my work".
    • When the world is not perceived through inner-space, it is seen as a threatening place. People in particular.
    3. Advertisement
Method 4
Method 4 of 6:

Inhabiting the Present Moment

PDF download Download Article
  1. Before the time was conceptualized in seconds, minutes, hours, days and so on, the time was always seen as now.
    • Research has proven that 2-to-3-year old children can identify the time as 'now' or 'not now' [31] but as their Ego grows in this ego-driven world, that is to say as their ego identifies with their growing form, more things, people and stories("good" or "bad" or "neutral"), knowledge etc., they become more lost in the world, the “known”, and psychological time i.e useless, negative, worrisome, repetitive and compulsive thoughts about things, people, events, situation, world, past and future. Thus get farther from their true self that is always here and Now.
    • Have you heard people or yourself say something like "the day I achieve that I will be at peace and my future will be secure"? That day usually never comes. It's a mind-made delusion which says happiness and/or peace lie in the future, but of course, future comes as present moment and whatever happened in the past, happened in the present moment. [32] Consider this, even if you are thinking about past or future, they are no more than thoughts and emotions that you, the experiencer, are experiencing in the Now .
    • “Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.” Eckhart Tolle.
    • Even if you achieved what you intended to, it will not give you a long-lasting fulfillment or satisfaction, and there will still be a void because dissatisfaction, desire, resistance etc. are in the very structure of ego.
    • "Ego wants to want more than it wants to have." Eckhart Tolle.
    • So no possessions, achievements, pleasures, experiences or relationship can satisfy it, except temporarily. We spoke about this earlier. Then you would be really in trouble as you won't be able to delude yourself that achieving goals, pleasures, relationships, possessions and so on will fulfill you. Even if you could, it will become harder and harder. [33]
    • "I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." ‎Ecclesiastes 1:14.
    • However, even feeling frustration after repetitive cycles of achievement and failure, pain and pleasure, high and low etc. is part of divine game, the leela . As it has the potential to force you to surrender and realize that no experience, relationship, pleasure or possession can satisfy you, except temporarily. So you don't blindly chase after them with an unconscious expectation that they will fulfill you or relieve you of the background unease and pain that is part of collective human condition.
    • "If you want to get rid of something, allow it to flourish." Tao Te Ching
  2. You, timeless awareness , are inseparable from the present moment [34] . So only in the Now can you realize or recognize yourself as the background awareness that enables thoughts, reactions, emotions and world in the foreground to be. So you don't need time, better thinking, effort, achieve something great or understand a great deal of spiritual truth to realize who you truly are beyond your name and form. This simple truth is diametrically opposite to the values of our contemporary culture which says all good things take time and effort (or doing). While, this may be true on the level of form, but when it comes to awakening, time is the greatest obstacle. You will need time and effort until you realize that you don't need them to realize who you are in essence. Now is the key.
    • "Enter the Now, from there" Eckhart Tolle.
    • That's why it is said that you cannot make spiritual awakening or 'end of suffering' a future goal or all you will get is further suffering and frustration. As it will always seem that you never are there. This truth is realized first hand i.e through your experience or not at all. No one can realize it for you.
  3. If your sense perceptions (smell, sight, touch, taste, hearing) and mind (thoughts and emotions) were turned off, what would you be left with? Timeless and vibrantly alive space of present moment.
    • Meditate upon this by closing your eyes. Can you feel that your body is alive and spacious?
    • Can you realize that fleeting events, world, people, sense perceptions, physical sensations, thoughts and emotions are no more than the dance of energy arising and disappearing in your space of consciousness ? [35] Just like infinite number of fleeting planets, stars, galaxies etc. arising, floating and disappearing into the vast emptiness of space.
    • Can you realize that body is an incredible misperception of your true reality [36] and all that there is vibrantly alive and peaceful space ?
    4. Advertisement
Method 5
Method 5 of 6:

Taking the next step into the evolution of consciousness

PDF download Download Article
  1. So far our evolution has been unconscious as we have been ego or mind driven. We have learned enough from the ego. Now it’s imperative to take the next step to ensure our survival, as considering the current state of humanity there is a sense of urgency. Its because excessive dependence on thinking and identification with dysfunctional conditioned mind has become extremely dangerous.
    • We are talking about a quantum leap of consciousness; from thinking to awareness. [37] As once you truly see the madness and resistive nature of human mind that treats the present moment as an enemy or obstacle, which is the primary cause of suffering, and surrender to what is, then a higher intelligence emerges through you. Far more intelligent than the human mind. Along the intelligence comes joy and peace of One consciousness . Jesus's saying "And the peace of God that bypasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds." points to this truth.
    • However, you will not surrender or accept unless you truly had enough of suffering and/or see the dysfunctional nature of mind and/or realize that you are not your mind and/or have complete faith in the Life within and/or realize that world is not here to provide you long lasting happiness or fulfillment but to make you conscious.
    • Voluntary surrender or conscious choice to step out of the egoic mind is like a shortcut that saves time, as you wouldn't have to go through the phase of pain and suffering, to become conscious [38] . Which is also called as 'way of the cross' in Christianity. However, do not doubt its efficacy; it still works. [39] . Suffering is necessary until you realize that it is not necessary.
    • Spiritual dimension has traditionally arisen in one's life not when something was added to them but when something was taken away in form of deep loss (like loss of job, privilege, status, skill, ability, assets, looks, wealth, relationship etc.), stagnation, suffering, old age, rejection, accident, death, failure, illness, etc.
    • However, there's growing number of people today who no longer need pain, loss and suffering to awaken, as they are embracing the new state of consciousness, Being , voluntarily.
Method 6
Method 6 of 6:

Knowing Your Primary Purpose

PDF download Download Article
  1. You may have this notion that your primary purpose is to get a good job, start a business, become a musician, travel places, find a partner, start a family, build or buy a house etc. No, these are all secondary, external and bound to the 'law of impermanence'. Your primary and inner purpose is to awaken i.e reconnect with your true self; the formless consciousness within that wants to manifest itself through you. When you are unaware of this dimension, every other purpose or action, even if it is to create heaven on earth or help others, is of the ego. As it arises out of desire and/or fear, which are the primary motivating forces of Ego and bound to karmic cycle and dissatisfaction (sooner or later) [40] .
    • How to reconnect with your true self? By realizing your formless essence, disguised as a person. You don't have to look outside but look within. This is how close you are to the infinite and eternal presence of God or One Consciousness . And now is the only point of access to it. You access it now , or not at all. Read Dissolve the Ego (According to Eckhart Tolle's Teachings) for more depth. It is only at this point can you feel true oneness and make a real contribution to the world at the level of cause. It's because only those who have transcended the world can bring about a better world. [41]
    • "For the creation (universe) waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." Romans 8:19. What does 'children of God to be revealed' mean? Consciousness becoming conscious of itself. That is to say, you becoming aware of your own essence or holiness or divinity. Whatever you want to call it, it still cannot be named and is infinitely more than these words (content), which are only pointers.
    • Tao Te Ching pointed to the same truth "The Tao (consciousness) that can be told is not the eternal Tao . The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The unnameable is eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things".
    • Once you realize your primary purpose, external purpose becomes just a game that you may continue to play and honor because you enjoy it. That is to say, you no longer have the delusional expectation that achieving goals, higher titles, success, acquiring possessions, experiences, pleasures, relationships etc. will provide you long lasting fulfillment or make you feel complete. We spoke about this before.
  2. These words are pointing to the absolute truth that you, in essence, are formless consciousness or stillness [42] . The moment you tried to interpret these pointers into something or conceptualize them or seek for the truth in them, you will get lost. There's nothing to understand or interpret. So spiritual pointers or meditation methods are no more than signposts and means to an end. Buddha's saying "Finger pointing to the moon is not the moon" points to this. So be very aware that you don't get trapped in spiritual sounding concepts, ideas or words. No set of words, thoughts, content, mathematical formulas or symbols, which by their very nature are limited and rooted in form, can express or define the formless Infinite One life underneath all forms.
    • You can talk/discuss about these pointers, teach others, write about being spiritual, believe in them or not etc., it would make no difference in your life unless you realize or 'live' the reality of formless and timeless consciousness or “Now” to which they point. Discovering and abiding in the state of Being is your primary purpose. As the spiritual dimension is meant to be lived. Missing this purpose of human existence is sin . Which is the original meaning of the word sin i.e to miss the mark.
    3. Advertisement

How Can You Get To Know Yourself Better?


Expert Q&A

Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
      Advertisement

      Tips

      • Even if it's noisy, you can still be aware of the underlying silence or stillness that enables the sounds in the foreground to be [43] .
        Thanks
        Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
      • You are Not your thoughts, reactions, sense perceptions, sensations(tension, physical reactions etc.) and emotions but the one who witnesses them. Read Dissolve the Ego (According to Eckhart Tolle's Teachings) for more depth. This revolutionary realization brings you out of habitual conditioned mental-emotional patterns and karmic wheel that have kept humans bondage to suffering for eons [44] . In other words, it's the awakening of consciousness from the dream of matter (form).
        Thanks
        Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
      • A mere belief that you are formless and timeless consciousness , which may be comforting, doesn't liberate you. You need to feel or know or realize it to be true. When every cell in your body is intensely alive and present, then it can be said you are free of psychological time (painful conditioned thoughts, resistance and emotions arising in the now).
        Thanks
        Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
      Show More Tips
      Submit a Tip
      All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
      Name
      Please provide your name and last initial
      Submit
      Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
      Advertisement

      You Might Also Like

      How to
      Reconnect With Your Higher Self
      How to
      Free Your Ego (According to Eckhart Tolle)
      Dark Feminine Energy Explained (Plus How to Tap into Yours)
      How to
      Find Yourself
      How to
      Get to Know Yourself: A Guide to Self-Discovery
      How to
      Be Authentic
      The Best Ways to Find Your Purpose at Any Age
      How to
      Be Who You Want to Be
      How to
      Be Yourself
      How to
      Define Yourself
      How to
      Know What You Want
      7 Reasons Why You Might Not Be Feeling Like Yourself
      How to
      Tell if You Are Self Absorbed
      How (and Why) to Self-Reflect
      Advertisement

      References

      1. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 134
      2. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 80,60
      3. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 227-239
      4. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 292,293, 243
      5. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 68
      6. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 104
      7. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150602-how-will-the-universe-end
      8. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 86
      9. ↑ http://education.jlab.org/qa/atomicstructure_10.html
      1. ↑ Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 83
      2. ↑ Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 79
      3. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 67
      4. ↑ Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 136
      5. ↑ Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 136
      6. ↑ Stillness Speaks, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 34
      7. ↑ Stillness Speaks, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 107-109
      8. ↑ Stillness Speaks, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 109
      9. ↑ Stillness Speaks, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 112
      10. ↑ A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 22
      11. ↑ A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 105
      12. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 292, 291
      13. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 61
      14. ↑ A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 292
      15. ↑ A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 113
      16. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 218,225
      17. ↑ A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 292
      18. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 166
      19. ↑ https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/observer-effect-quantum-mechanics.html
      20. ↑ Krishnamurti, Jiddu. Krishnamurti's Notebook. UK: Gollancz (UK) Harper & Row (US), 1982. Page 14,87
      21. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 105
      22. ↑ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.688165/full
      23. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 45,124
      24. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 46
      25. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 71,104
      26. ↑ Stillness Speaks, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 109
      27. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 241,276
      28. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 100
      29. ↑ A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 164
      30. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 105
      31. ↑ , Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver, BC: Penguin, 2005. Page 264, 265
      32. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing, 1999. Page 134
      33. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver, BC: Penguin, 2005. Page 251
      34. ↑ Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle, Pg 67
      35. ↑ Tolle, Eckhart. "A new Earth."Vancouver,BC:Penguin, 2005. Page 19

      About This Article

      Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 66,811 times.

      Reader Success Stories

      • Phill H.

        Oct 24, 2023

        "One of the most profound texts that I've found in my life. I actually started with Dissolving the Ego, and a ..." more
        Rated this article:
      More reader stories Hide reader stories
      Share your story

      Did this article help you?

      Advertisement