For millenia, people have wrestled with the question ‘Who Am I?’ In this post, I offer some hints that may help you find the answer to the question of the ages…
Excerpts from Eckhart Tolle on the power of now…
The past no longer exists and thoughts of the past should not govern your thinking in the present moment. Memories of the partner that cheated you, the boss who mistreated you, the loss of a loved one, the unfortunate series of events that perhaps led to financial ruin, are destructive thoughts that do not serve you and, if you dwell upon these kinds of thoughts, they can become your masters. Now that does not mean that you shouldn’t ever think about memories from the past; happy life events; victories; celebrations. But even those kinds of thoughts are, if you will, illusions and should not keep you from your focus on the present moment.
Similarly, we should not let worries about what might happen tomorrow, next week, next month or next year dominate our thought patterns. If you let thoughts of ‘what if I lose my job?’ or ‘what if I get cancer?’ or ‘what if I never find someone?’ Negative thought patterns, if they become chronic, can lead to anxiety disorder or depression or other forms of emotional instability.
Biblical Wisdom
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34
I am an admirer of the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza. Dr. Joe often refers to “now” as “the generous present moment”. In very simple terms, he means that if our thoughts are not mired in memories of the past or paralyzed by worry about what the future might hold, we are then free to create our own destiny in the “now”.
“A man becomes what he thinks about all day long.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
With all of that in mind, we come to the topic of this post. Please understand that all I can hope to do in this post is to plant a seed. That seed, if you water and nourish it, will lead you on a journey of self-discovery. It is the path to what some refer to as enlightenment. In the discovery of your true ‘self’ you become aware of your true power; you become ‘the awakened one’.
Eckhart Tolle wrote an entire book which he called “The Power of Now” and, in this post, we will cover some excerpts from Tolle’s book which, hopefully, will illustrate why the only real moment is “now” and how the realization of that truth leads to knowledge of who we truly are, the extent of our power and the critical importance of living life fully conscious of the present moment.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12
“It wasn’t through the mind, through thinking, that the miracle that is life on earth or your body was created and is being sustained. There is clearly an intelligence at work that is far greater than the mind. How can a single human cell measuring 1/1,000 of an inch in diameter contain instructions within it’s DNA that would fill 1,000 books of 600 pages each? The more we learn about the workings of the body, the more we realize just how vast is the intelligence at work within it and how little we know. When the mind reconnects with that, it becomes a most wonderful tool. It then serves something greater than itself.” *
Modern science is beginning to understand what mystics, metaphysicians and philosophers have understood for centuries. In fact, I would venture to say that the language used by some who call themselves scientists in today’s world is starting to sound very much like the language employed by ‘truth’ teachers throughout the centuries. Dr. Bruce Lipton, for example, is an eminent cellular biologist who tells us that there are three trillion cells in the human body and that each of those cells undergoes one hundred thousand chemical reactions per second. Those are numbers the human mind cannot comprehend.
Dr. Lipton goes further and tells us that, as a scientist, his work was based on the scientific method. Any thought of God or the power of God were notions that did not align with the scientific method and could not be discovered or demonstrated through the tools science provided. Perhaps not surprisingly, Dr. Lipton now says that his work led him to a belief in God. His study of the processes of the human body at the cellular level led him to the conclusion that the creation and sustainability of these processes could not be properly understood without reference to the creator of all life.
“Being is the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to life and death. However, Being is not only beyond but also deep within every form as it’s innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don’t seek to grasp it with your mind. Don’t try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensively in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of “feeling-realization” is enlightenment.” **
To Your Limitless Success,
Grant Edward Rayner B.Comm., LL.B.
*Eckhart Tolle, “The Power of Now“, Namaste Publishing, P.O. Box 62084, Vancouver, B.C. Canada, pp.24-25
** Ibid, p.19