My mum has been banging on about Ekhart Tolle for ages. I remember staying at my mum’s house and listening to one of his CDs as I went to sleep, and because of his accent and my sleepy brain, it sounded like he was talking about “The Eagle” instead of “The Ego”, so to me Ekhart was bashing the eagle and telling me how much the eagle gets in the way.
So I’ve been reading A New Earth by Ekhart Tolle.
And, I know this is cheesy, but it actually changed how I look at the world.
He talks a lot about the Ego, and how all our turbulent personality is just a cover-up of our true inner self and, although we identify with it, it’s not us at all.
He talks about one-ness, the deep peace that comes when the voice in our head shuts up and how the ego has a vested interest in making sure there are enemies and drama to distract us from this one-ness.
He talks about how the Ego is addicted to drama, conflict, misery and tripping us up at every opportunity, and once we recognise it, we don’t have to listen to it.
He talks about how the Ego is obsessed with the future and the past and has no interest in the now, which is of course the only moment that matters as it is the only moment that exists.
(It begins to make you question why we are all inbuilt with this crazy-violent inner voice that just seems so hell-bent on messing us up.)
But what I really took away from my Ekhart Tolle reading is summed up here:
- I am the Experiencer, not the Experience. Whatever is happening to me right now, I am not that Experience – I am beyond it. I am the person inside, watching, participating with the experience, but not identifying with the experience. And that is so so freeing, especially when life is outwardly acting shitty.
and
- There is always the option to enjoy yourself Right Now, no matter what, by realising that you are the Experiencer, not the Experience.
