DW's Blog

Become Aware of Yourself

by DW Green — March 25, 2020

Only if you don’t know yourself, fear arises.

Eckhart Tolle is one of my favorite writers. He is a spiritual teacher. A German-born resident of Canada best known as the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. In 2008, The New York Times called Tolle “the most popular spiritual author in the United States”. High praise!

I read the following the other day, written by Eckhart Tolle. It seems most appropriate now, given our shared experience with COVID-19.

“You will inevitably encounter adversity in life, whether it’s on a personal level or – as we’re experiencing now – on a collective level. If you haven’t gone deep enough, if you haven’t found anything beyond the conceptual thinking mind, then the adversity, whatever it may be (in this case we know what it is), will devastate you. And even if you do not fall ill or contract the virus, the fear will consume you, as it’s consuming millions of humans at the present time. If you would know who/what you are, you would realize that there is nothing to fear. Only if you don’t know yourself, fear arises. Become aware of yourself, not the conceptual self, not your personal history, but become aware of yourself as the conscious presence.

Thinking does not help you there. Thinking is an obstacle. So, go deeper than thinking and be completely awake and present, with no mind activity. That is the beginning of the realization of your timeless, eternal essence. It is a deeper dimension of consciousness than the one that you ordinarily identify with. Find that unshakeable foundation that is deep within you, within everyone. Adversity is a wonderful opportunity because it forces you to go deeper. Life becomes almost unbearable when you live only on the surface of sense perceptions and your conceptual mind, and then you listen to the news and read all kinds of things, and everybody is in a state of fear – due to a house build on sand. And this is an invitation to awaken to who you are, because if you don’t, you suffer unnecessarily.

Millions are in a state of anxiety. But use this as a chance to awaken. It’s an opportunity to come to this realization that you are much deeper than you had known before. You should pay more attention to your own consciousness than to the newscasts and whatever it is that you listen to and watch. Use this precious time, it is part of the awakening of humanity. Humans don’t awaken in their comfort zone, they awaken when they are taken out of their comfort zone, when they can’t stand the suffering or unhappiness anymore. Feel the aliveness, become aware of that presence that is inseparable from who you are.

That’s an amazing realization! There’s more to you than the person! That presence is deeper than the person. You needed the adversity either to find it or to deepen the realization. There’s a saying that goes, ‘When the ego weeps for what it has lost, the spirit rejoices for what it has found.’ What looks bad and very negative on the surface, like an obstacle to the well-being of humanity from the conventional point of view, has an essential function. So, this is a time of great opportunity. Use it. Don’t waste it. Don’t lose yourself in the mind. Don’t lose yourself in fear. Be rooted in this rock that is your essence identity.”~ Eckhart Tolle