Eckhart Tolle citations

Page 2

“Teachings that pointed the way beyond the dysfunction of the human mind, the way out of the collective insanity, were distorted and became themselves part of the insanity.
And so religions, to a large extent, became divisive rather than unifying forces. Instead of bringing about an ending of violence and hatred through a realization of the fundamental oneness of all life, they brought more violence and hatred, more divisions between people as well as between different religions and even within the same religion.”

“You say, “I want to know myself.” You are the I. You are the knowing. You are the consciousness through which everything is known and that cannot know itself. It is itself. There is nothing to know beyond that. And yet all knowing arises out of it. The “I” cannot make itself into an object of knowledge, of consciousness.
So you cannot become an object to yourself. That is the very reason the illusion of egoic identity arose because mentally you made yourself into an object. “That's me,” you say, and then you begin to have a relationship with yourself and tell others and yourself your story.”

“You cannot be both unhappy and fully present in the Now.”

“Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.”

“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”

“Life is the dancer and you are the dance.”

“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”

“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”

“Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose”

“Being spiritual has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness.”

“Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.”

“Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.”

“If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without.”

“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.”

“Living up to an image that you have of yourself or that other people have of you is inauthentic living.”

“The past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation. … Both are illusions.”

“What a liberation to realize that the "voice in my head" is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.”

“Don't let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment.”

“Don't Seek Happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness”

“All problems are illusions of the mind.”

“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”

“All the things that truly matter - beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace - arise from beyond the mind.”

“When you don't cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life.”

“Can you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?”

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.”

“Being must be felt. It can't be thought.”

“This is my secret," he said. "I don't mind what happens.”

“If not now, when?”