The Power of Now – Journal

Feature Image Fynbos in The Western Cape – Upsplash.com

Journey With Eckhart Tolle

“The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought.” Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now Journal.

I cannot say that I consciously remember having an experience of this higher level beyond watching the thinker. At this moment, I can’t imagine going beyond thought. Once I move beyond my thought, my mind appears completely blank.

But I am reaching this place gradually, trying to achieve it each day. Like so many other mysteries, I cannot visualize what it must be like ‘watching the thinker.’

My approach up to this point has been to watch the thinker by observing my thoughts at any moment and move on to going beyond the thought. At that stage, as I move away from the thought, another takes its place. And the process starts all over. However, there are times when I succeed in moving away from the recurring thoughts. It is here that I experience the blanking-out state. I have sometimes worked to sense a different sensation, which results in me thinking I have reached a place beyond the thinker, and it could be that this is the place I am looking for; and perseverance in remaining in this space will open the mystery. The mystery is the process of discovering the treasure of being awakened.

“You also realize that all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise beyond the mind.

You begin to awaken.” Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now Journal.

I wonder if this space is the authentic self. I believe that only the authentic self is capable of beauty, love, creativity, joy, and peace. These qualities are all pure and, in the perfect sense, cannot be tainted by anything. Is being awakened something that happens progressively? When one crosses a bridge into a new space and from there, you grow deeper by entering the new area? My answer to myself is yes to both questions.

In a sense, I crossed a bridge when I walked from a place covered with ice and snow and entered a biodiversity dome. I walked straight into a tropical garden. Gone was the snow; gone was the ice and bitter cold. A warm, humid, dense green growth invited me to experience a jungle feel. I crossed that dome and walked into another. In this savannah grassland was a warm climate and scattered trees. The grasses were tall and golden, swaying gently in the breeze. I stepped into another dome. This time shrubs and small trees dominated the landscape, and a few more giant trees scattered throughout. The colors of the Western Cape fynbos were muted greens and browns, with occasional splashes of bright pink or yellow from the flowers. The sweet scent of the fynbos plants filled the air. A deja vous of another time in another place moved me to goosebumps.

Maybe crossing the bridge from my present state into a state of watching the thinker creates a similar sensation of shifting between the biodiversity domes. Reaching the state of awakeness and raising me to that place of a higher level of consciousness is a mystery, even if the concept is not, but I shall keep working on it, as understanding the idea has sharpened my hunger for more.