By Alberto D. Fraile Oliver
Eckhart Tolle's book "A New World, Now, " deserves special attention. It is not just any book, it is a true breath of wisdom. Its author has already published an earlier work entitled "Power of Now" (Ed. Gaia) that was a very important editorial phenomenon. Precisely that same phenomenon is eclipsing the appearance of its third title, "A new world, now" (Ed. Grijalbo). This book is a dissection of the ego and an explanation of the revolution of consciousness that humanity is experiencing in our extraordinary time, and therefore it is worth reading and from these pages we recommend it effusively. It is a book that was born with the taste of a classic since it translates spiritual teachings into the language of our time in a masterful, clear and simple way. Anyone who enters its pages will be able to realize that the person who has written this book, without a doubt, is one of the wise men of our time. Someone who has had a real awareness and shares it with transparency.
In its pages, Tolle, indicates the need for everyone to recognize that the "normal" state of most human beings contains a strong element of what we might call dysfunction, and even madness. The human mind is very intelligent. But that same intelligence is vitiated with madness and science and technology are magnified the destructive impact that this dysfunction of the human mind has on the planet, on other forms of life and on humans themselves. All this is causing a critical situation: the destruction of forests that produce oxygen and other animal and plant species; the mistreatment of animals on industrial farms; the poisoning of rivers, oceans and air. Driven by greed, ignorant of our connection to totality, humans persist in behavior that, if it continues uncontrollably, can only result in our own destruction. We can be victims of the greed of our ego.
Faced with this reality, Tolle has good news: there is the possibility of a radical transformation of human consciousness. For this, the first step is precisely to recognize the madness itself and that happens by unmasking the ego, because the dysfunction of the human mind centered on the ego is the one that is putting us in danger.
Eckhart Tolle with the Dalai Lama
This question is to which he masterfully answers "A new world, now." Most people are completely identified with the voice of their head - the relentless torrent of involuntary and compulsive thinking and the emotions that accompany it - that we could describe as possessed by their mind. “The voice inside the head has a life of its own. Most people are at the mercy of that voice, they are possessed by thought, by mind. “When you are completely unaware of this, you think the thinker is you. That is the egotic mind. We call it egotic because there is a sense of self (ego) in every thought, in every memory, interpretation, opinion, point of view, reaction, emotion. In spiritual terms, this is unconsciousness. Of course, your thinking, the content of your mind, is conditioned by the past: education, culture, family environment, etc. The core of all mind activity consists of certain repetitive and persistent thoughts and emotions, and reaction patterns with which we identify more strongly. That entity is the ego itself. ”
The ego feeds on the attention of others, which, after all, is a form of psychic energy. It needs constant recognition because the basic action that governs all its activity is the fear of being nobody, the fear of not existing, the fear of death. All his activities are ultimately conceived to eliminate this fear, but the most the ego can do is temporarily cover it with an intimate relationship, a new possession, a victory in this or that. “Fear arises because the ego is born from the identification with the form, and deep down it knows that no form is permanent, that all are ephemeral. The awareness of the impermanence of all forms makes us wake up to the dimension of the non-form that exists in us and get out of the prison of the ego that limits us and leads us to constantly fight and compete with nature and other human beings. . ”
Consumerism
The ego tends to equate having with Being, says Tolle. “The more I have more I am. The ego lives on the basis of comparisons. The way others see you becomes how you see yourself. In most cases, the sense of worth that the ego has is linked to what you are worth in the eyes of others. We need others to give us a sense of self. And if you live in a culture that greatly equals what you are worth with what you have and how much you have, if we cannot see through that collective deception, we will be condemned to pursue things for the rest of our lives, with the vain hope of discover what we are worth thus complete the sense of self. The ego identifies with having, but its satisfaction with having is relatively deep and short-lived. ” Hidden inside, there is still a deep sense of dissatisfaction. "I still don't have enough" that for the ego means "I'm still not enough".
What keeps the so-called "consumer society" going is the fact that trying to find yourself through things does not work. The satisfaction of the ego lasts little, and you keep looking for more, buying, consuming.
The identification of the ego with things creates attachment to things, obsession with things, which in turn creates our consumer society and its economic structures, where the only measure of progress is always more. The uncontrolled search for more, infinite growth, is a dysfunction and a disease. It is the same dysfunction presented by the cancer cell, whose sole objective is to multiply, unaware that it is causing its own destruction by destroying the organism of which it is a part.
There are people who have given up all their possessions but have a bigger ego than some millionaires. The spiritual ego also exists, some spiritual leaders believe to such an extent the role they are representing that this function takes hold of them and they become the role they represent. The content of the ego has changed, but the mental structure that keeps it alive did not change. No ego can last long without the need of me. So, wishing keeps the ego alive much more to have. Restlessness, insomnia, anguish, dissatisfaction are the result of unfulfilled desires.
Doing what is required of you in any situation, without it becoming a role with which you identify, is an essential lesson in the art of living, and we are all here to learn it. You become more powerful in everything you do if the action is done by itself, and not as a means to protect, enhance or shape your identity paper.
In a world of personalities that represent roles few people who do not project an image created by the mind, but who act from the deep core of their Being, those who do not try to appear more than they are, but they are simply them, stand out among the others and are the only ones that represent a real difference in this world. They are the ones who bring the new consciousness.
Caught in time
According to Eckart Tolle, the decision to make the present moment your friend represents the end of the ego. The ego lives on time. The stronger the ego is, the more time your life takes over. Life, which is now, looks like a problem, and you end up living in a world of problems that you have to solve in order to be happy, realize yourself The problem is that for every problem you solve arises other. As long as the present moment is seen as an obstacle, the problems cannot end.
Time that is, past and future - is what feeds the false self created by the mind, and time is in your mind. It is a mental structure necessary for sensory perception, indispensable for practical purposes, but it is the greatest impediment to knowing yourself. Time is the horizontal dimension of life, the superficial layer of reality. But there is also the vertical dimension of depth, which can only be accessed through the portal of the present moment.
Eliminate the time of consciousness - that is, live only the present moment - eliminate
Beyond thinking
A percentage of humanity still relatively small, but rapidly growing, is already experiencing inside the decomposition of the old mental patterns of the ego and the emergence of a new dimension of consciousness. According to this inspired writer: “What is emerging now is not a new belief system, a new religion, spiritual ideology or mythology. We are reaching the end, not only of mythologies, but also of ideologies and belief systems. The path goes beyond the content of your mind, beyond your thoughts. In fact, the essential part of the new consciousness is the transcendence of thought, the new ability to rise above thought, to realize a dimension within yourself infinitely more vast than thought. ”
Most people continue to identify with the incessant mental torrent of compulsive thinking, almost all repetitive and useless. There is no self apart from its thought processes and the emotions that accompany them. This is to be spiritually unconscious. The main problem of human existence is thinking without conscience.
