A New Earth Review

Chapter One - The Flowering of Human Consciousness:

We started with Chapter One on Monday, The Flowering of Human Consciousness. This is the concept of which the book was written and also the hardest part of the book to not only read, but to understand.

It is basically about being in the moment; your inner stillness. It is your responsibility to bring consciousness into everyday life. It is a challenge to everybody who is awakening.

Observe that you are not your thought process. Be aware of what your mind is saying, and realise that is not who you are. It is conditioned thinking. Once you are aware, it begins to dissolve.

In the Old Testament; it is written "Be Still and know that I am God". It is always there, and remains untouched. One way that you can do this is to just be with nature. Stay with it for a time, sense the stillness, and recognize it in yourself. That is the essense of every human being.

It is then that your mind will no longer be operating. No matter how much madness is in your life, you are more alert when you are not thinking.

We tend to several small steps throughout our day. All of our small steps are a means to an end. We live from moment to moment and miss what is happening in our present. The power can only flow when you are present; being in the moment. By being present during your small steps is how you begin to retrain your mind.

You must make peace with the moment. If you are not friendly with the present moment you are not friendly with life. Therefore, life cannot please you. Ask yourself, "What is my relationship with the present moment?" Then you become alert. If you are in an uncomfortable position, make peace with the moment in order to get yourself out of it. Resistance will only cause more of it. First choose acceptance; then action happens.

How spiritual you are is how present you are;

Stillness is Spirit.


Chapter Two - Ego: The Current State of Humanity

Ego, otherwise referred to as the voice in the head, is defined as the false sense of self, based on mental concepts and our identification with forms.

Self Talk - Most of the time, the inner voice in your head immediately begins interpretting whatever it is you are experiencing. This decreases the sense of Aliveness. It is said that 98% of our thoughts are useless and repetative; not needed at all.

"Who we really are is the awareness that we identify ourselves with form, and the more that you become aware that you are identified with things, you create a space that seperates you from the things".

Practice being alert without too much mental interference. Learn to do this with nature first. Look at a plant without thinking about it. When you feel the essence and presence of things, it will then allow you to do it with people.

Depression - happens when you become identified with your sad story of who you think you are. When you become aware, that is your conscoius; your presence. Become aware of your identification with thoughts. "Thoughts are only thoughts, not who you are".

Consciousness - could be described as "the light that emanates from the unmanifested, the eternal source of all life". That light is the essence of who you are. Jesus already pointed to that when he said, "You are the light of the world." Spiritual awakening is being aware of the light of consciousness within you.

You can take attention away from yourself by focusing on your breathing. You discover a new dimension of consciousness that comes from a deeper level of yourself.

Quote from Tolle: "The Now is the foundation for the rest of your life."

And this moment is your life!!

Chapter Three - The Core of The Ego

Last week Oprah and Eckhart introduced us to the ego. This week, we delved into what the ego is really made of-and how to help you discover your inner truth.

Ego arose because we started to think. As humans went into more and more thinking, they went into thier mind. A thought mode entity which produced the Ego. You identify witht thought instead of your being.

We are the formless consciousness beyond all that.

We look at the Ego as an entity. Really it is just a form of unconsciousness. It is not threatening, or an enemy. To get rid of it, you only need to recognize it for what it is.

Ultimately, the Ego always produces some form of suffering:

Complaining - This is the Ego's favorite strategy in strenghening itself. For many, it happens only in the head, still it serves no real purpose except to strenghten the Ego.

Egoic Complaining - To make somebody wrong by personalizing your complaint. Name calling is another way the Ego defines itself. By labeling other human beings you descensitize yourself from the humanity of other human beings.

Resentmnet - The emotion that goes with complaining.

The moment you are aware of the Ego in you, it is no longer the Ego; just an old conditioned mind pattern.

Ego means you are not aware. Unconsciousness.

Grievances - Can carry on for years, they have no justifications other than to keep the Ego alive. Don't try to let go of the grievance; it won't work. You should only accept it. Forgiveness happens when you realize your geivance only builds the Ego.

Worry - Unconscious mind movement projecting itself into the future. Worry pretends to be necessary, but serves no useful purpose. It is part of the Ego to compulsively think. It does not bring about any change.

It is best to step out of your mind and into your body through meditation, and find awareness in the moment; find the peace within yourself. Then you become present.

Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist persist.

Make peace, and the action comes out of presence. It is then more powerful and effective.

Nonreaction - When you recognize when another displays egoic behavior and can see that is not who he or she is. When you see it, you become aware.

Ego and awareness are incompatible.

Consciousness - Also known as the awareness, has no form and nothing to do with time.

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world". That light is conscoiusness.

In every human being there is that demension where timelessness and eternity dwells. It is the essence of who you are.

Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.

Awareness - The power that is concealed in the present moment (presence).

"The ultimate purpose of human existance, which is to say, your purpose, is to bring that power into the world".

Inner acceptance of this moment as it is. The primary thing in your life is the moment of now (the only moment there is). "If you don't have a good relationship with Now, you don't have a good relationship with life".

Spiritual Realization - To see clearly that what I think, see, feel, is not who I am. God is a feeling experience, not a belief. Realization is when you can feel you are one with God.

Humans were oneness with the source when they first arrived, then got lost in thier minds. As we awaken, we regain the oneness with the source at a deeper level because we are now conscious of it.

Chapter Four - Role-playing:
The Many Faces of the Ego

In Chapter 3, you learned about the ego's strategies of complaining and seeking drama. You practiced observing ego without judging. This week, discover how the roles you assume and the stories you tell about yourself and others can prevent you from being happy.

Human and Being are not seperate, but interwoven.

Role playing - These are labels we put on ourselves and others such as Mother, Wife, Teacher, etc.

The Ego plays these roles because there is unawareness, that within you there is the source of All Power. You feel a sense of lack when you are not in touch, because you are not in the present moment.

"How not to lose ourselves in the Human Demension is by being present in the Now".

Future planning - a concentrated event is more beneficial if preceded by stillness.

Stress - A negative energy.

Many people cannot imagine high energy in what you do without stress being involved. If you spent 5 years of stress to finally achieve what you wanted, is it worth it?

"Power comes from being present in the moment".

If the main focus is in the Doing Now, the passion is then there, deep enjoyment is there, and an intensity of energy.

Ego Self Esteem - Always a hidden fear underneath of not being good enough.

True Self Esteem - Finding that source of power and aliveness that is deep inside you. Realizing that presense is there.

When you are not attached to the roles that you play, you no longer get angry when criticized.

Mother's Guilt - Egoic structure, not content. One of the jobs of the Ego is to blame others. Another job is to make yourself feel guilty (a negative sense of identity).

Recognize those thoughts are not a real problem, but a created one from an old conditioned mind pattern.

"In recognition they begin to lose thier power over you".

Pets are more connected with being than humans are. Animals are not thinking, not judging you.

Suffering - Drives you deeper. It is inevitable and without it you would miss the whole point of being here.

Happiness - Life with Now.

"Life is the Dancer, and you are the Dance".

Everything that exist is the One Life, that permeates everything.

God - The totality of the essence behind all life form.

"You are the Universe expressing itself through you".

"Why write another book?" a friend of mine commented when I told him I had just started writing A New Earth. "What else can you possibly say that you haven't said already in The Power of Now?"

I could see his point. Countless people from all over the globe had been writing in to tell me that reading The Power of Now had been a life-changing experience for them. So why was I writing another book? The process began in the same way as it had with The Power of Now-a strong sense that there was a book that wanted to be written. It felt almost as if the book already existed in the unmanifested realm and wanted me to bring it into this world. Many times in my life, it has been my experience that the most powerful starting point for any endeavor is not the question, What do I want?, but What does Life (God, Consciousness) want from me? How do I serve the whole?

Already in the early stages of writing A New Earth, I realized that, although the same essential truth was being expressed (or rather pointed to) as in The Power of Now, this truth was being approached in a very different way. It was pointed to through narrative rather than dialogue, and although it was expressed powerfully, it was approached less forcefully, somewhat more gently. And the teaching had been evolving. Some of the new perspectives and helpful pointers that had spontaneously arisen in hundreds of talks and teaching sessions I had given all over the world during the seven years after The Power of Now was first published became incorporated into the new book. But there was also an added sense of urgency, a realization that what the planet and humanity need most is a shift in consciousness, a spiritual awakening. Without it, we perpetuate the insanity of the past (which we can see most clearly in the history of the 20th century) or, at best, we only treat the symptoms of the disease, not the underlying cause. The disease, of course, is the collective dysfunction of the egoic mind.

Although The Power of Now reached far more people than I ever thought possible, I realized, even as I was writing A New Earth, that the new book would make the teaching, without diluting it, accessible to an even wider audience, including the many people who perhaps would not have dreamt of reading a spiritual book but have within them an unrecognized longing for spiritual awakening. With Oprah's support and blessings, this wider audience is now being reached. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Oprah for her enormous contribution to the awakening of humanity and the arising of a new earth.

I invite you to join Oprah and myself in our weekly online sessions. We will be studying
A New Earth, but not as an academic subject or in order to acquire new theories or beliefs. Our aim is to explore through the teachings of the book the most important question you can ask: What is the purpose of my life and how do I fulfill that purpose? It will be a course in self-exploration and awakening. It will help you see what the dysfunctional patterns are within yourself that create unnecessary conflict and suffering and prevent you from finding true fulfillment. Hopefully, it will also help you access a dimension within yourself that perhaps you didn't know existed or only caught glimpses of on rare occasions. Don't be trapped for the rest of your life within the narrow confines of your personal history and your conditioned personality and allow your life to be transformed from within, through the power of consciousness itself.

- Eckhart Tolle

Chapter 5: The Pain-Body

In Chapter 4, you discovered how the roles you play and the stories you tell about yourself and others can cause unhappiness. This week, explore how negative emotions and old memories-if not faced and seen for what they are in the moment-become fuel for the pain-body.

You do not think; thinking happens to you. To say that you think is like saying you digest, circulate blood, or turn oxygen into energy.

We are the species that has lost its way". We have lost ourselves in thought; in the mind.

The human mind is hooked on "me and my story".
Realize this is just a story you told yourself about yourself. And that's all it is! It has no power over you.

Realize there is a voice in the head that never stops thinking.

Then you realize what the voice is saying, especially negative thoughts. This addiction to being these thoughts in your head is at the root of humanities problems.

The Awarenes is part of Being Present.

When you enter the Present Moment it is a Holy place , no matter where you are. There is a sacredness to life, if you become aware of it.

Pain Body - Emotional aspect of the Ego. A very unhappy entity.

Remnants of negative emotion accumulate in the body, and form the Pain Body

Pain bodies are basically all the same. Everybody has one. They feed on negative energy and unhappiness. You may not be aware of it all the time. Some of the time, it is dormant.

When the Pain Body awakens, it will want a reaction; emotion. It is very clever and knows exactly which buttons to push to create a negative reaction.

See that there is something in you that seeks unhappiness; negativity. (It feeds on those thoughts) Your addiction to negativity.

Recognize it as it arises, and you are no longer at the mercy of it.

Awareness disapates it.

Many people are so identified with the past, they carry it around with them as a heavy burden. They belive the past prevents them from being present, but it can't do that.

"Nothing has ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now".

Holidays are the best days for the Pain Body. Everyone is living that moment in their past.

Three Ways To Eliminate Negative Thought Patterns:

1.) Take 1 or 2 conscious breathes.
2.) Feel the aliveness within your body. Your hands, arms, etc.
3.) Look at something, anything natural and give it full attention.

Mourning is natural, however, it can turn into the pain body if you spend years of depression or anger when a loved one dies.

Most people get so caught up in the grief of losing a loved one, by resisting and wanting it to be the way it was.

It is best to accept it. Peace comes with acceptance He or she is gone. By allowing and accepting, mourning can be a beautiful thing. You may find a deeper peace.

The density of the body has allowed the spirit to be with you in a way you could never have appreciated or felt when they were alive.

"Where the form was, the formless can now shine through. That is the grace that is hiding behind death".

Collective Pain Body - Large number of people who are of the same race, nation, or religion that were brutally killed or beaten.

It is pronounced in Jewish people, Native Americans, and Black Americans.

Lot of Americans do not know it exist. They are in denial of truth.

"Recognition is the beginning of being able to change it".

Collective Female Pain Body - The male ego was responsible for the killing of over 3 to 5 million women by the "Holy Inquisition"

We would have come to a new earth sooner if not for the supression of the female.

Although women have egos of course, the female is less rigidly encapsulated than the male. It has more openness and sensitivity to all life forms.

"If the balance between men and women had not been destroyed on our planet, the Ego's growth would have been greatly curtailed".

The Ego was never as deeply rooted in women, it is quickly losing its hold on women more than in males.

Pain bodies don't like to hear they are the pain body: they will defy you. You cannot win an argument with the pain body.

Be compassionate. Stand still and allow it to be. Don't feed it; if not fed it will have to seek some place it will get fed.

Chapter 6: Breaking Free

Last week, you realized you have a pain-body. This week, learn how to break free from the pain-body by staying present and alert enough when it becomes active.

"Breaking free of the pain body lies in realizing that you have a pain body".

Acceptance brings awareness into the emotion.

Learn to be with discomfort or emotional pain by accepting whatever emotion arises within you, rather than trying to eliminate it.

Acceptance - Allowing yourself to feel whatever it is feeling at that moment. "You become whole; One With God".

"You are not the emotion, you are the awareness of the emotion".

Wanting something to be different than what it is causes stress.

"Our purpose is to evolve into conscious beings".

The more closed we are to this, the more we suffer. Karmically you will suffer the consequences of your unconsciousness.

The more open we are to this (new state of consciousness), the impulse awakens.

"We have arrived at this critical point. If humanity does not embrace this new form of consciousness, them humanity is not going to make it".

There is only one consciousness in the Universe, amd that consciousness is awakening.

Right now, here in these classes, "The awakening is happening".

Thoughts that arise in your mind may be very far from the truth. Ask yourself, "Do I believe these thoughts or do I believe in first hand evidence"?

Quality of Life becomes enhanced by being fully conscious.

Quality of work will improve because the energy is "in this moment".

The Pain Body is easier to see in other people.

Catch it as it first arises. Then you can see what triggers it, and use these triggers to bring awareness to it. Be in touch with your emotions.

Remain the Awareness (the pain body cannot control your thinking through consciousness); Presence contains it.

"Your inner state of consciousness is more important than the external situation".

The Pain Body loves suffering while the Ego tries to avoid it.

Instead of trying to avoid suffering, you only need to accept it.

"Not my will, but Thy will be done".

Every Human Being has their own cross to bear; will experience some form of suffering. Instead of wanting to avoid it, bring a complete YES to it.

"When in deep suffering, there is always the possibility of awareness".

Conscious Suffering - The inner resistance is not there anymore.

When you surrender to it, the Ego dies and there is an opening that allows the energy of the Divine to come through.

"There is grace behind every form of suffering. It does not reveal itself until you surrender.

Your Pain body is partly personal, but goes back much further; you inherit the Pain Body. It is passed on by generation to generation. It is very old and collective. You could also inherit it from your Nation.

When you argue in front of children, you not only activate the Pain Body, but reinforce it.

It takes only one moment of awareness to break the unconsciousness of thousands of years.

When you stop identifying with the Pain Body, you are Breaking Free of it.

It does not happen instantly. Every time you are the Awareness, the Pain Body diminishes.

Be the awareness; the space for it. All it requires is for you to "be in the moment".

All Power arises from the "Present" moment which is "Life Itself".

"Break Free of the pain body by losing identification with it".

This is the poem Oprah read during the Chapter 5 webcast. David Wagoner is an award-winning poet and novelist.

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

"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."

"If someone takes your shirt, give them your coat as well."

"The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grivance? The baggage of old thought and emotion."

Be aware that what you think, to a large extent, creates the emotions that you feel. See the link between your thinking and your emotions. Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awreness behind them.

Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?

In the stillness of Presence, you can sense the formless essence in yourself and in the other as one. Knwing the oneness of yourself and the other is true love, true care, true compassion.

You don't need to own anything to feel abundant, although if you feel abundant consistently things will almost certainly come to you. Abundance comes only to those who already have it. It sounds almost unfair, but of course it isn't. It is a universal law. Both abundance and scarcity are inner states that manifest as your reality. Jesus put it like this: "For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

Nonresitance, nonjudgement, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.

When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life. It means fear is no longer a dominant factor in what you do and no longer prevents you from taking action to initiate change.

Consciouness is the intelligence, the organizing principal behind the arising of form. Consciousness has been preparing forms for millions of years so that it can epress itself through them in the manifested.

Chapter Seven: Finding Who You Truly Are

Look in the mirror-do you know who's looking back? Brace yourself for a life-changing concept: You are not who you think you are. So, who are you really?

"Know Thyself" - Implies before you ask any other questions, ask first, "Who am I"? Start with who you are not, then the greatest obstacle is removed.

When you realize who you are not, then suddenly who you are becomes revealed to you.

You are not the Ego (identification with form) inside you.

"Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being instead of lost in your mind".

Knowing who you are requires no beliefs. In fact, every belief is an obstacle.

Knowing yourself and knowing about yourself are not the same.

Knowing about yourself - is the content of your life and the content of your mind.

Knowing who you are - is a deeper knowing. It has nothing to do with conceptual knowing at all. Being who you are, is being in touch with that deeper level of which, you can only access in the "present moment".

You can sense there is a deep place where you and God merge.

How you know this is by your reactions to daily life.

Reacting is always some form of resistance.

There are 3 levels to our sensitivity:

Level One - Whatever disturbs you.

Level Two - Your reaction to what disturbs you.

Level Three - You are the awareness of those two (usually overlooked).

Recognize yourself not as the reacting entity, but the awareness. You are observing (not judging), your Ego's behavior.

Then you can let go of this concept of who you think you are, and changes happen on the other two levels. This is where freedom lies.

"Nonresistance to the moment is the most important lesson you can learn".

Use little things that happen throughout the day as spiritual practice. If peace is what you really want...

Recognize yourself as the awareness (complete acceptance). You can either be reactive or become more alert when a challenging situation happens.

If action needs to be taken, intuitively, you will do the right thing through that level of consciousness. It will be born out of a sense of being.

"Give and it wll be given to you". Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put in your lap."

Whatever you think the world is with holding from you, you are with holding from it.

"Give what you most want".

Whatever you think people are with holding from you (praise, appreciation, assistance, etc.) give it to them.

Abundance - Comes from within you. The energy that flows out of your being into this world.

Initiate this process by recognizing the abundance that surrounds you.

"The act of recognition of external abundance already brings out an essential part of your very being".

See the abundance, the aliveness that is there. It can be in the form of water during a rain shower, the joy in a dog being walked, the sun, your breathe...It is always there, around you, but you need to recognize; acknowledge it. Another word for that is gratitude.

Gratitude - Gratitude is it's own energy field. An energy frequency that draws more to you.

"When you can see all that you already have to be grateful for, more will be drawn to you".

The entire Universe is miraculous.

Start being able to be grateful no matter where you by acceptance.

"When you accept what is, you become grateful for any situation that arises".

Jesus says: "I want you to have the fullness of life". Means having as many things as possible. He was talking about the fullness within you.

"To the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, more will be taken away.

Knowing yourself is being yourself fully. By being the oneness with yourself. The right relationship with the present moment.

Chapter 8: The Discovery of Inner Space

Now that you know who you really are, it's time to get a new perspective on life. Find out how to clear the clutter from your consciousness and reclaim your inner space.

"Life has no opposite".

Opposites only exist in the world of form. Death is the opposite of birth; not life.

"You are life that is eternal".

You are basically life experiencing itself temporarily, as this person. Underlying, is life that is eternal.

Whenever you go into stillness, it's easy to sense that underneath the personality, there is an aliveness, there's a presence, there is a consciousness that is timeless.

"That's the life behind the form of life".

Absense of Space - When your mind is full of thoughts. One thought after another. External life is full of things that need doing. Constantly doing, or thinking one thing after another. Thsi keeps you from being present now.

Inner Space - The space in you where gaps arise between thoughts. Without this you haven't yet touched the Spiritual Dimension.

Space Consciousness - Conscious of being conscious. To look at an object fully, and can sense yourself as the presence that is looking. Conscious of what you're looking at, and conscious of your being conscious.

So there are actually two dimensions:

Dimension one - Personality acting out of sense perceptions, forms, experiences, etc.

Dimension Two - The observer of that; a timeless dimension.

"If you know you are out of control, you are not out of control.

You are bringing a timeless dimension into this time. Your sanity can observe your insanity...

Addictions - Old thought paterns.

Most common addictions are alchohol, drugs, food, smoking, sex, internet, and television.

Awareness can dissolve "old thought paterns". Try taking three deep breathes. Be with the craving, "What does it feel like"? Feel the feelings, watch the thoughts. Repeat with each craving. Eventually, something will happen to the pattern. The cravings begin to lessen; weaken.

"Awareness and old patterns cannot co exist for too long".

Feel the urge, and bring awareness to that. Very rare to have instant success, but it can happen.

"This to shall pass" - A pointer to consciousness. Before you judge anything to be good or bad, repeat this phrase to yourself. It brings a state of detachment of what's happening.

Most people find this comforting during hard times, but no need of this reminder during good times. You then cling to the happiness, which means fear is setting in. You can't enjoy it as much when there is fear of losing it.

Problems lie when you expect things to be the way it was. By accepting "nothing is going to last", you enjoy the world more deeply.

One can cling to a relationship that has already shown itself as passsing, through fear of not wanting the change.

"Fear keeps you stuck where you are". Your inability to let go will eventually bring suffering.

Appraoch the situation without fear, and it may bring a deepening into the relationship, or the relationship may dissolve.

Allow change to happen and be comfortable with the change.

There is never a need to worry. You only need to take action. Present effective, powerful action. You do this be becoming one with the situation. Don't react to a situation. You merge with it. The solution then arises out of the situation itself.

Respond to it through acceptance.

Complaining is useless energy. The world does not necessarily do what you want it to do. You burn up a huge amount of energy by complaing either in the head or to others.

"Your primary concern needs to be your inner state".

"By acting out of inner space you are in alignment with the higher consciousness".

You are not giving up your passion, but feeling it more deeply, and being in alignment with that.

Your state of consciousness transmits itself into everything you do.

The real purpose of this book and spirituality is to get us to align our personalities with our higher consciousness, so that the work you do in the world comes from that peaceful place, and you use your ego or personality to serve that.

You allow your personality to serve the calling of consciousness that put you here in the first place.

When you do that, everythinmg has a flow to it. You're in the right job, that gives you the right amount of money for you at any given time.

"Aligning yourself with the higher consciousness, you operate from a place of Being. Your inner space is directing your life, not outer space".

Inner surrender is not negative. It is complete acceptance that this is as it is right now. Accept it because it is. This brings you to a place of power.

To accept the unacceptable, will take you to a very deep point in your life.

Don't deny that it is happening, the energy then goes into the complaining and the resistance.

You cannot make change by fighting against anything. Very powerful action comes out of inner peace.

The war against anything cannot win". It is happening, getting angry or upset about it doesn't change it.

"I don't mind" doesen't mean "I don't care". It means there is a space of freedom inside you. That is a peaceful place, and unless you are rooted in that peaceful place within, you cannot be an agent for true positive change in this world.

"Your state of consciousness is primary. If you come from a state of peace, everything you do in the world will bring peace in the world".

Invite a state of presence into your everyday activities.

"When you put this into practice, everything around you takes on a magical quality".

I have seen many, many posts by concerned Christians wondering whether this book is a threat to their faith. As a Christian, I don't think it is, and here is why.

Most Christians understand the concepts from the Bible of surrendering their lives to God, of living a loving life, and living in the peace that passes understanding. Christians can quote Jesus' sayings, such as "be perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect," or "judge (condemn) not, that you be not judged (condemned)," or "you must die to live," or "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me."

Unfortunately, not all Christians have succeeded in following up the talk with the walk. This is because these quotes point to an internal transformation, which some Christians have not yet fully experienced.

That is why I strongly recommend this book. It provides very powerful tools for being able to successfully follow Jesus' teachings, rather than just quoting them. The book doesn't ask anyone to change their religion of choice, but it does help tremendously in successfully applying faith.

In a nutshell the book shows how to apply forgiveness to every person, and every situation. It shows how to shine the light of awareness on our unconscious hatred of this moment, and thereby "overcome the cares of this world." If you want to go deeper than knowing about God, at the level of thoughts, and experience God at the level of knowing, I welcome you to join us in reading A New Earth.

Blessings, Student99

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MASTER The Secret(s) of The Law of Attraction
RELEASE Negative Feelings & Limiting Beliefs
LEARN How to Be "Happy for No Reason"
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TAP the Power of Your Imagination & Intuition
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Exercises Chapter 9: Your Inner Purpose

Last week, you gained a higher vantage point from which to view your life. This week, use what you learned from Chapter 8 to discover your inner purpose.

There is no substitute for finding your true purpose.

Outer Purpose - thinking of purpose in terms of future.

Inner Purpose - aligning your life fully with the present moment. Whatever you're doing now, giving it your fullest attention.

Each step is primary. Do your best in every given moment. Experience the future as Now. There is only ever this one step. This step is primary and the destination secondary. Dissatisfaction with this moment, is how you will experience the future.

Most people live their lives as if the end is more important than the means...

"If the means did not contribute to happiness, neither will the end".

The primary purpose of your life cannot be found in the outer level. It does not come from your head. It's not something you will ever think of...It's a feeling, that comes from that space of stillness. Knowing that "I am God".

By being true to now, Life will bring to you whatever is most appropriate; life will become helpful.

You determine your future by deciding to be totally aligned with the moment.

Inner Pupose is the same for all humanity. By being aligned with life; where you are right now. This is primary.

Outer Purpose varies from person to person and is subject to time. This is secondary.

"Finding alignment with your Inner Purpose is the foundation for fulfilling your Outer Purpose. It is the basis for future success".

There is a flow to life. If you are living in a state of negativity, dissatisfaction, inner denial, it is because you are going against the flow. When you align yourself with inner purpose, everything flows.

"When you use your personality to serve the inner purpose, then you are your most powerful".

Awareness takes over thinking. Then the mind serves something greater than itself; consciousness. The mind then becomes quite helpful when it no longer controls you.

"When you allow the light of consciousness to come through you, whatever it is you do, will be fueled with a spiritual power that will allow you to be the best at what you do".

Life is an adventure, not a package tour where everything is planned out for you. If everything was mapped out for you, there would be no evolution. "How boring would life be if you knew what was going to happen?"

"If you are able to accept the uncertainty, you will actually enjoy the adventure. If you cannot enjoy the uncertainty, you will live in a continuous state of negativity or fear".

When you're not afraid of the uncertainty, the Universe rises up to meet you. Coincidences happen. You have to be alert and paying attention, so when the opening shows itself to you, you are ready!

"When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life".

There is a Universal power or source of energy. When you tap into that part of you, that is connected to the source of all universal energy, your aims and intentions will be one with what all Universal energy is striving for. The Universe then supports you to finding your inner purpose.

As long as you are afraid, you cannot allow the energy to come into your life. Fear blocks that.

Life is a gift, live everyday as a "Thank You" note.

Live as if the present moment is more important than past or future.

What you put out is always going to come back to you. That is the Universal law.

Whatever people are looking for, they already are that. Bring acceptance to what you are doing Now; a state of clarity.

Consciousness brings a complete change of energy in what you do.

Let go of the resistance. "If you are truly incapable of accepting this moment, then perhaps, it is time for a change".

The Grand Finale

How has Oprah and Eckhart Tolle's class changed your life? Are you more aware of living in the present? Have you been able to let go of the past? This week, Oprah and Eckhart Tolle celebrated 10 weeks of awakenings in the two-hour finale of their landmark webcast series. Find out how you can start applying the lessons you've learned to make a difference in the world around you.

"Each person's life - each life form, in fact - represents a world, a unique way in which the Universe experiences itself".

The themes of chapter ten are truly the culmination to what all our work has been about. Bringing consciousness into every moment, every action of our lives, and in the process, learning that we are far greater than anything we could have imagined for ourselves.

"You are the Universe experiencing itself in form. You are not seperate, you are the Universe. You are LIFE!

Outward Movement - When you grow up it is not only your body that expands. You acquire material posessions as well as knowledge. You experience expansion in every aspect of your life.

Return Movement - When the form you identified with dissolves, you go back to the source from which it came. That is when the Spiritual Dimension can come into your life very strongly.

When the form in which you have been identified with becomes a little shaky. Perhaps through old age, illness, loss, or some form of suffering. When the solidity of outer form becomes diminished, that is a wonderful time to go back home for the "return movement". Into spirituality so that you become aware of your own consciousness, rather than what consciousness had identified with. (That was your life before).

"You could say that you go back to the source of which it all came, which is God, ultimately. The source within".

That's why some older people become luminescent.

Others have a resistance against the return movement. The Ego identifies with the weakening of the body, for example. That's when negative states set in. They then become, angry, bitter, complain, or talk about the past all the time. They cannot accept the reality of what is.

"The older you get, the more conscious you become. Being is of more value to you than doing".

In the "New earth", old age will be honored, rather than looked down upon. "Grandmother" is a tittle of extinction. The word Grandmother, use to embody wisdom, it was acknowledged as an opening into the realm of spirit. We lost touch with that, and now we will find it once again.

"You can become conscious at any age". That's what this whole book is about. An opening into the realm of spirit.

Who you are is primary, what you do is secondary.

"It's not what you do, but how you do what you do, that determines whether or not you are fulfilling your destiny".

"Our state of consciousness creates our world, and if there is no change on that outer level, then no amount of action will make any difference".

"Every step leads you to a direction. It's the means and not the end that counts".

The power of visualizing is to believe it already exist. It is a reality inside you. Then you externalize what is already there. You only need to be open to this energy movement from within, to manifest what is already there on a deeper level.

Jesus said, "Whenever you ask for anything, belive you have recieved it, then it will be yours".

You are then, alraedy coming from fullness, and you don't lose yourself. You are bringing out what is already inside you.

Whatever goal that you have, must come from a place of being, or consciousness. If it comes from within, and not as an external goal you have for yourself, then it comes through you, out into this world, instead of you saying "This is what I want for myself"...

Once it is a reality inside you, then you can take steps towards implementing that. It then comes from a place of fullness, not neediness.

Whatever you are doing, ask yourself, "are you doing it in presence, or as a means to an end toward some future moment"?

Everything has to be fueled by consciousness, or the spirit of God, to have any meaning in life.

Whenever you encounter obstacles in your life, it is because the Ego has returned to the fore front.

"The Ego feels threatened by the Spiritual Dimension within human beings".

It will do anything to sabotage "The Awakening".

There are three modalities in Awakened Doing:

1.) Acceptance - Do whatever needs doing without resistance. Most people live in a state of denial, contaminated with negativity. Either accept what you do or remove yourself.

2.) Enjoyment - A higher frequency; brings an enormous power into what you do. In the "New Earth", enjoyment will replace wanting. Acceptance can turn into enjoyment.

"Once you bring acceptance into what you do, you will find, you actually enjoy doing it".

Being addicted to pleasure is not true enjoyment.

3.) Enthusiasm - A creative energy field that is bigger than you are. A more powerful energy that is connected to the source.

"If you are not experiencing acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm in what you are doing, you should stop doing it because otherwise, you are in one way or another creating suffering. You not only make yourself unhappy, but you spread unhappiness to those around you".

By being less angry in your life, you diffuse it in the rest of the world. Anger connects and feeds with the collective anger.

"Accepting what is going on in the world, is not the same as condoning it".

We are out of room... so I would like to leave us all on this happy note:

"Old age can be beautiful"!

I arrived at the address where someone had requested a taxi. I honked but no one came out. I honked again, nothing. So I walked to the door and knocked. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets..

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, and then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated'..

'Oh, you're such a good boy', she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly.

'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice'.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued. 'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.
Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' she asked, reaching into her purse.
'Nothing,' I said

'You have to make a living,' she answered.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said.

'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

You might help make the world a little kinder and more compassionate by sending it on.

Thank you, my friend...

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

"....Dance then, wherever you may be. I am the Lord of the dance said He and I'll lead you all wherever you may be, and I'll lead you all in the dance said He!"

Posted on Apr 22, 2008 4:33 PM by button20

Oprah, Oprah, Oprah,

My Faith was strong, but now it is growing stronger and stronger every day. The words of the Bible are just jumping out at me, how could I have not seen them so clearly before? Like be still and know that I am... I will not leave you alone...I will always be with you...

This book has put into words what I have always felt from within. As a Catholic, I can describe my faith very simply, it is based on the Holy Trinity, which is..." In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit". That's it in a nutshell. The rest of the Bible is just the history lesson as to how all that came about.

To say it another way, God Created the World, saw what a mess we were making..... sent his Son down to teach us how to live...then Jesus said when he knew he was going to have to leave us, "I will ask my Father, and he will give you another Advocate (The Holy Spirit) to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it, because it remains in you, and will be in you" John 14:16

And here it is again, John 14:26-27 "The Holy Spirit, that the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."

And you know what Oprah? I got it this time when I read it. I really got it. People wouldn't be so afraid, if they only knew that the energy flowing through their very being, which I choose to call the "Holy Spirit" is the most fabulous "Wireless Connection" to the most powerful source in the Universe, the God that created us!!!!

May God Bless you and keep you safe in His Grace, you are truly one of his messengers of love.

Joanie ,Long Beach, CA. (Life is a Gift, Live Everyday as a Thank-you Note!)