A Conscious Leadership evening with Eckhart Tolle
About Eckhart Tolle
Transcends discursive thinking and ego
111 Conscious Leadership Notes
The thing that makes you happy today, might make you very unhappy tomorrow
- Unspoken words are more important than the spoken;
- Words are just pointers;
- Becoming free of the exclusive sense of self is the key;
- The thing that makes you happy today, might make you very unhappy tomorrow (can be a job, or a relationship too);
- Unconscious means complete identification with ‘I’;
- Everyone’s favourite topic is ‘ME’, because ‘MY’ life is so important / problematic… ;
- The cause of unhappiness is on a deeper level, not in the circumstances you find yourself in (e.g. the job, the business);
- The scrip, the narrative of ‘I’ is just a play (like a theatre play);
- Happiness is not the ultimate goal of life;
- Life is not about longing for love, food, drugs, sugar, experiences, … because all of this is not lasting;
- After highs, there will be lows;
Don’t look for time, look for stillness
- Don’t look for time if you are searching for liberation;
- There is a disfunction in the mind, its ‘missing the mark’ when it is focusing on time;
- Liberation / awakening is only possible in the present moment;
- Future & past doesn’t exist;
- Time is a mental concept and doesn’t exist;
- Only in the absence of time you can discover deeper meaning;
- Don’t achieve → discover;
- Time is useless when you want to discover liberation;
- Who or what is identifying with the script;
Be(!), don’t think!
- How does one discover that dimension of liberation?
- Let go of the practice of thinking;
- Be(!), don’t think;
- Silence is the absence of external noise;
- Stillness is the absence of inner noise (= thought);
- In that moment, of letting go of thought, is when you leave that script / that narrative;
- Creating specious present;
- Allowing alert stillness;
The biggest addiction of professional people is overthinking
- Some people use substances to get away from self, to get away from the mind, to have a moment of no thought, a moment of no pain;
- The biggest addiction of professional people is over-thinking*
- Pure consciousness without thought is awareness;
- Looking around the room without labelling anything;
- Thought is an incredible tool for creation (manifestation), but if you use it for identity, it will not lead to fulfilment;
- Progress of spirituality is difficult to measure: ‘Who is the most spiritual teacher?’ comes from the egoic mind;
- Use thought and then step out of it, use it, and then step out of it;
The depth of the ocean
- The ripples of the ocean are thoughts;
- The ripple is always nervous thinking about the past and the future and what other ripples are doing or thinking;
- Ripples are people;
- One day the ripple realised that it is also the ocean, and that there is depth to it, and
- That every ripple, every person, is one with the ocean;
- When that happens, it changes its relationships with self and the other ripples;
Bringing the state of consciousness into the ordinary life is key
- People either fear other people, or want something from other people;
- Bringing the state of consciousness into the ordinary life is key;
- The key to an awakened life is being still in every day situation;
- Sensing the essence of oneness in every situation;
- Practising ‘being’ will automatically allow spiritual teaching;
- Heightened sensory acuity is the key to being present;
- Heightened sense of perception;
- Sensing without labelling heightens awareness;
- Labelling diminishes sensory perception;
- As soon you teach the child ‘this is a blue bird’, it will not have the opportunity to sense it beyond the word concept anymore;
- Without the burden of concept, you can experience life on many other levels;
- You can sense the being of a tree if you let go of labels;
- Thoughts & concept are helpful in this world, but not as the automatic / only way of experiencing this world;
- Concept will make your life feel dead eventually;
- Without concept, you can sense the world in its totality;
- It experiences itself through you;
Consciousness as a by-product of the brain or the essence of the Universe
- Knowing comes from gnosis;
- Gnosis means knowledge of spiritual mysteries;
- The content of this moment vs. the essence of this moment
- There are 2 dimensions: sensory & consciousness;
- It is the consciousness, which is perceiving;
- The essence of this room is the space, the nothingness, the consciousness;
- There is outer space & inner space;
- Object consciousness vs. space consciousness;
- The vertical & horizontal dimensions;
- Be in the world, but not off the world;
- The universe is conscious;
- Science thinks consciousness is a by-product of the brain;
- Is the brain producing consciousness or is it the receiver of consciousness?
- Consciousness is the essence of the universe;
- Consciousness is not of this world / dimension;
- Consciousness is of the source;
- The Universe is extending itself through becoming more conscious;
- You can learn nearly everything about the universe by looking at yourself;
- Consciousness is expanding;
- Consciousness is light;
- Become aware of the consciousness;
- Are you aware of being conscious in this moment?
- That alert stillness;
- Are you aware that you are aware?
- Awareness becomes aware of itself;
Is a falling tree making a sound if nobody hears it?
- If a tree falls in the forests and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?
- No, because for a sound to be created it needs (1) a receiver, an ear, and (2) consciousness to experience the sound;
- The falling tree creates frequency, not sound;
It is madness to argue with ‘It is’
- If you would have the opportunity to relive your life, would you? — Most people would say ‘No, thank you …’;
- Many people ask themselves: ‘How can I get to the end of reincarnation?’
- Every moment is a reincarnation of thought;
- Evolution only comes through obstacles; this is true on all levels – from the gym to COVID;
- Evolution needs more energy to become stronger – evolution happens outside of the comfort zone;
- There is nothing wrong with life when we get challenged;
- The world is not here to make it easy for you;
- We need the bad to evolve;
- Life will always bring you challenges; and it does that for free;
- Now the question: ‘How do you meet the challenge?’
- Meet challenges consciously means ‘responding’ not ‘reacting’’
- If you meet a challenge with reactivity, you’ll make it worse;
- It is madness to argue with ‘It is’;
- The question is ‘Is wisdom present?’
- Wisdom is part of the vertical dimension;
- Intelligence or being smart is not wisdom;
- Wisdom is needed for depth and is connected to consciousness;
- Real intelligence is not measured with an IQ test, it’s dropping into the ocean of nothingness, and therefore everything;
- There is a vast ocean of intelligence we can tap into;
- ‘Anima Mundi’ is the soul of this world;
Meet difficult situation (and people) with presence
- The mind is not you;
- By ‘practicing being present’ you ‘emulate presence’;
- Avoid labelling, naming, and the narrative, the story;
- Don’t suppress it, transcend it;
- Meet difficult situation (and people) with presence;
- Enjoy the issues!
* My own considerations
Be the Conscious Leader Of Your Life
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Meet the author
An Executive Coaching Point of View (ExCoVi)
As an Executive Master Coach and Trainer, I am very fortunate to work with various talented, high-achieving and wonderful people. Every time I coach, I learn something new about my client, our society and myself. The summary of thoughts is based on emerging themes across all kinds of interactions I have; be it one-on-one executive coaching, group coaching or coaching training. ExCoVis are meant to invite people to think differently based on scientifically or statistically proven understanding and lateral thinking. None of the content is meant to offend anyone in any way and is rather an invitation to discuss different executive points of view with respect and integrity. The content is shared to raise awareness and to inspire people to integrate their conscious and unconscious mind and therefore transform unconscious behaviour into conscious behaviour.
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