Surrendered Action
Eckhart Tolle, Touching the Eternal, Rishikesh, India 2002, Tape 1, Side
B.
In the following excerpt, Eckhart is talking about surrendering to ‘what is.’ In this case he clearly connects contractions in the body, with emotions, with judgments. One point is that by 'accepting' the contractions in the body, this is a direct way to work with emotions and judgments because they are all three directly linked.
Pamela (Pamela Wilson, Satsang with Pamela) would go further in working with contractions, instead of just ‘accepting’ them she would say to ‘welcome' them in! She explained that the contractions are simple, often very subtle, muscle contractions in the body (head, heart, chest, legs, etc.) that are easy to identify, and are usually the first indicator that something is happening that the mind-body thinks is wrong or not acceptable. [This is good to play with. Just think of something you don’t like, something you just can’t accept, think about it over and over, and notice where in your body you get tightness.] Pamela said to notice the contraction and then 'invite it in.' Say to yourself three times, “Come sit with me” in a soft and gentle voice. Notice that when you do this the contraction eases – this is acceptance; and it allows the emotions to calm, and the judgments to dissipate.
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Excerpt, Tolle: Surrendered action is never a means to an end. So, your practice is to be watchful of this moment. It’s always this moment.
A limited way of putting it would be to say, “What is your relationship with this moment?
”In ultimate terms, you don’t have a relationship with this moment, you are this moment but in a limited perspective, you could ask yourself, “What is my relationship to this moment, or the form this moment takes?” Surrendered or resistant?
And you watch, and many times you can watch non-surrender arising.
And then you watch non-surrender as a physical contraction, as an emotional movement, or as mental judgments. Often the three go together. Physical contraction, the emotion, or some mental judgment that says something about Now, or a total projection away from now.
If you observe yourself in a non-surrendered state, that’s all that’s necessary. And allow that to be. Physical contraction. “Oh, look at that!” Nothing personal in it. It’s the human state, allow it.
Whenever a “No” arises in you, a “No” to ‘what is’, and you suddenly see it, accept it. So, the “Yes”, you bring the “Yes” into the “No”, always.
You cannot fight non-surrender through more non-surrender, or trying to achieve a surrendered state. It’s enough to know you’re not surrendered, that is the arising of Presence, that is the arising of the unconditioned consciousness. And there you can allow it.. And then, something happens to the non-surrendered state, because it is not compatible with surrender.
You can only surrender to God by surrendering to the form this moment takes.
In the following excerpt, Eckhart is talking about surrendering to ‘what is.’ In this case he clearly connects contractions in the body, with emotions, with judgments. One point is that by 'accepting' the contractions in the body, this is a direct way to work with emotions and judgments because they are all three directly linked.
Pamela (Pamela Wilson, Satsang with Pamela) would go further in working with contractions, instead of just ‘accepting’ them she would say to ‘welcome' them in! She explained that the contractions are simple, often very subtle, muscle contractions in the body (head, heart, chest, legs, etc.) that are easy to identify, and are usually the first indicator that something is happening that the mind-body thinks is wrong or not acceptable. [This is good to play with. Just think of something you don’t like, something you just can’t accept, think about it over and over, and notice where in your body you get tightness.] Pamela said to notice the contraction and then 'invite it in.' Say to yourself three times, “Come sit with me” in a soft and gentle voice. Notice that when you do this the contraction eases – this is acceptance; and it allows the emotions to calm, and the judgments to dissipate.
###
Excerpt, Tolle: Surrendered action is never a means to an end. So, your practice is to be watchful of this moment. It’s always this moment.
A limited way of putting it would be to say, “What is your relationship with this moment?
”In ultimate terms, you don’t have a relationship with this moment, you are this moment but in a limited perspective, you could ask yourself, “What is my relationship to this moment, or the form this moment takes?” Surrendered or resistant?
And you watch, and many times you can watch non-surrender arising.
And then you watch non-surrender as a physical contraction, as an emotional movement, or as mental judgments. Often the three go together. Physical contraction, the emotion, or some mental judgment that says something about Now, or a total projection away from now.
If you observe yourself in a non-surrendered state, that’s all that’s necessary. And allow that to be. Physical contraction. “Oh, look at that!” Nothing personal in it. It’s the human state, allow it.
Whenever a “No” arises in you, a “No” to ‘what is’, and you suddenly see it, accept it. So, the “Yes”, you bring the “Yes” into the “No”, always.
You cannot fight non-surrender through more non-surrender, or trying to achieve a surrendered state. It’s enough to know you’re not surrendered, that is the arising of Presence, that is the arising of the unconditioned consciousness. And there you can allow it.. And then, something happens to the non-surrendered state, because it is not compatible with surrender.
You can only surrender to God by surrendering to the form this moment takes.