Tolle goes on to notice that most neurotic behavior seen in animals seems to afflict only those animals that live in close contact with humans and so link into the human mind and this insanity. Be careful who you hang with!
The simple fact is and if you are screaming "simple my ass!", that’s the ego making every effort to defend and preserve itself. Acceptance of what is provides the way out of pain. All resistance is some kind of non acceptance and that is a bottom line reality in how life really works. Is it easy? Yes .just accept what is. Stay present and not needing the pain of the past to define you or the fear of the future to justify you. Or No it is not easy and it won’t be if one is left with only the false ego self running the show. The ego knows only one tune "I will survive" even if you don’t.
We have ALL had quite an experience with religion and religious types whether sincere or supremely manipulative. All churches contain all types, from Pastors to members, from founders to administrators. If you know where to look, you’ll find both Old and New Testament accounts full of drama queens, liars and my-way-or-the-highway leadership. Even as a kid I wondered why the personalities of the Bible were so full of bluster and threats. Why were individual lives so cheap and power over others so evident. Even God, by his own admission was jealous, angry and insecure to the point of needing absolute control over people and worship. Come on, only human ego could get a rip out of twenty four of your best friends singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" to you day and night forever! And then not for very long I would suspect before we had to at least change the tune. Ego is also easily bored. Needing to be worshipped makes me nervous.
The Power of Now IS the peace that passes all understanding. Ego will argue this to it’s last breath because ego can’t live in the present. That’s too real and genuine. It has to derive it’s power from the painful past or the fearful future. The Lion lying down with the Lamb is another way of saying there is another reality here that can work.
Being enlightened or being conscious and present, is not some new age doubletalk. Jesus was enlightened by any standard. It simply means to be to be made lighter. At risk of angering the ego, lighten up. When you understand the terms, a mind, or that spinning thought factory for pain, anger, and resentment is a terrible thing... waste it. If it is filled with negativity and drama... waste it. Get out of the unchangeable past and the unknowable future. Buddhism says that sometimes there is nothing left in life to do but have a good laugh. If you just said in your mind "that’s stupid" , it was your ego defending and wanting to justify itself.
"Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place where you can experience the flow of life is the Now, so to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation... It is to relinquish inner resistance to what is. It is precisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced if you want to eliminate pain and sorrow from your life. Acceptance of what is immediately frees you from mind identification and thus reconnects you with Being. Resistance is the mind .Surrender is the most important thing you can do to bring out positive change. Any action you take is secondary. No truly positive action can arrive out of an un-surrendered state of consciousness."
The Power of Now.
Surrender, acceptance and staying present are the keys to good mental and spritual well being.
Resource: The Power of Now: A Guide To Spiritual Enlightenment
Author:Eckhart Tolle
- ~Contributor Article Dateline: May 23 2006
