Eckhart Tolle: Essential Teachings

Original Air Date: May 21, 2021Eckhart Tolle elaborates on the paradox of order and chaos that exists in our world. For many of us, especially this past year, living through the pandemic has wreaked havoc on our lives. We’ve experienced loss of socializing, income and perhaps the loss of someone we love.  While we might be tempted to despair, Eckhart says order and chaos are an essential part of a higher order. He says there are larger forces at work in the Universe and if we can surrender to that, life’s challenges have the potential to transform our consciousness.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast, Eckhart talks about the coming changes for humanity, including a shift to a different level of consciousness. He explains collectively, we are going through difficult times now, because real change only occurs when society is pushed to the brink. He says without adversity, there is no transformation. He believes we need not be afraid when hardship strikes because that too will be a catalyst for more spiritual growth. Eckhart says historically, humanity has gone through many regressions and collective disasters. He explains they are intrinsic to the process of awakening because every setback is part of the journey.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast Eckhart talks about the pitfalls of the ego and the need to feel superior. He explains we seek an identity through external distinction like wealth, fame, even our nationality, to dispel the anxiety that we’re not enough. He says the focus on image creates a false sense of self. He shares examples from his own life. Growing up Eckhart’s family struggled financially, which left him with low self-esteem. He asked why bad things always seemed to happen to him. To bolster his feelings of inadequacy, Eckhart says he pursued intellectual achievements which came easily. But his sense of superiority soon vanished in the wake of his negative thinking. Eckhart says for a time, he sought refuge in complaining and victimhood. But after he experienced an awakening, the old patterns gave way to something greater, and his self-hate evaporated. He explains he finally understood the meaning of Buddha’s teachings about suffering and the end of suffering and how liberation emerges when we release the ego’s grip.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart laughs with his audience. He exclaims there’s hope for humanity when such a big crowd seeks greater consciousness. He also explains that inspiration can quickly turn to perspiration when we encounter obstacles, especially with the people in our lives. He quotes existential philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre who famously said: Hell is other people. While Eckhart believes that is an ego-based perspective, many of us feel that life is full of experiences we shouldn’t have. We think something is wrong with us or that God has a grudge when misfortune strikes. Eckhart says the greatest part of unhappiness comes from our minds and the stories we tell ourselves. He says the answer to life’s struggles will never be found in our thinking. He believes we find freedom when we release our inner baggage, unencumbered, to discover the bare naked is-ness of the present moment.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPods   You can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast, Eckhart says it’s vitally important that we become familiar with the mystical aspect of our lives. However, he explains it is not something we can easily define, nor can we truly understand sacredness until we catch a glimpse of it. For that to happen, Eckhart says we must learn to stop the mind with its incessant thinking and labeling so we can become present. Eckhart reveals that on a deeper level, presence is actually the presence of God. Not the traditional idea of God, but a vast intelligence that permeates the entire universe. For many he says thinking and objectifying others, as well as ourselves is a barrier to this direct experience. He explains the concept is beautifully illustrated by the Greek myth of narcissus.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPods  You can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart explains to a live audience that a deeper movement has brought them together and the goal is to help them awaken. He says many ancient spiritual teachings point to this timeless idea of metamorphosis including the parables of Jesus and others. He explains the root of the word Buddha means to be awake in Sanskrit. Eckhart explains when we shift to higher consciousness, we have access to wisdom which is far deeper than intelligence. Ironically, he says more knowledge will not save us. In fact, intelligence often works in service of madness, technology, war and weapons of mass destruction. He believes only wisdom together with right action will help our ailing world and these can only spring from awakened consciousness.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPods   You can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast, Eckhart talks about the future of religion. He says the next step for the human race is to shift from worshiping God as a concept, to experiencing God as part of our own essence. He explains once we awaken to this realization, we no longer contribute to suffering in the world because the ego disappears and with it goes continuous judgment of others. He says when we don’t react to their personalities, we recognize the sacred depth of others as that in ourselves and the separation between us and them dissipates. Eckhart calls it the manifestation of the one consciousness. He also says this understanding of the other as oneself is love and it connects us to a vastness that we may also call God.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart talks about how we define success. He asks: Do we look to the world to determine that for us? If yes, we may be heading down the wrong path, because to a large extent Eckhart says the world is insane. He explains money, property, prestige and power do not signify we’ve reached the pinnacle. He says for the people who strive to attain these things, many report after the initial high, comes a very emotional low. Eckhart reveals the greatest source of riches is within and the real indicator of success is our state of consciousness. He asks: Do we bring light to this world? In the Bible, Jesus described it as the Kingdom of Heaven, in current day terms, Eckhart explains, the Kingdom of Heaven is a state of consciousness.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart continues his talk with an audience in Budapest, explaining that if we are waiting for the world to make us happy in the form of the right person, place, job or situation. We will probably wait for a very long time. He says our expectations for the perfect life usually lead to deep disappointment.  He explains life is fragile and cannot possibly meet all of our demands. He says we ask ourselves “what is the world here for if it's not to make us happy?” Eckhart explains every person is like a seed of awakening consciousness.  Life’s challenges push the seed to sprout. Eckhart implores that we must learn to drop the demand that life should be perfect.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart talks to an audience in Budapest, Hungary. The crowd erupts with laughter and applause when he speaks a few words in Hungarian, especially the word for Now which is Most. Eckhart then explains that the next step in the evolution of humanity is to awaken. He says there is the potential in every person for a deeper dimension of consciousness, which is the light of God.  He says many people look for themselves in their thoughts. They compare themselves to others: their childhoods, bodies, jobs, possessions. He explains these thoughts become a sad story and an identity which we call My Life. We keep it alive by overthinking, but it is a delusion. Eckhart says we will find liberation when we drop the narrative of the unhappy me.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast Eckhart, reminds us that the world is not here to make us happy, it’s here to make us conscious. He says if we don’t embrace that, then we will be irritated or even outraged when life pushes us to deal with difficulties which he describes as a pitfall of the ego. He says we don’t have to work hard to awaken, rather we can let the awareness shine through us. Eckhart says it takes no time to be who you are and that remains true whether we are eighteen or eighty. He believes we do not need time to realize our true essence.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast Eckhart talks to an audience in Chicago. He recalls fond memories of traveling to the Windy City to Harpo Studios back in 2008. For 10 weeks Eckhart and I hosted a webinar based on his New York Times bestselling book A New Earth. The book had a profound impact on me, and I wanted to share it with a larger audience. Those sessions were groundbreaking. Since then, millions of people have downloaded that webcast and listened to our conversations. If you haven't already, you really should. I believe rolling back the ego and focusing on being rather than doing opened the door to awakening for me and for many. Today, Eckhart continues his work ever reminding us that our experience of life is not determined by what happens to us it’s defined by how we respond.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast, Eckhart talks with an audience in Paris. He contemplates the mysteries of space and the subatomic world. He says the greatest mystery is that the universe is conscious.  He remarks that science has not yet been able to examine consciousness, because it’s not an object and it is not generated by the brain. He says science has not yet discovered its source. However, Eckhart says there may come a time when science and spirituality merge. He explains there is only one consciousness which is beyond space and time. He compares it to the sun which shines rays of light into this dimension. He says we are those rays, emanating from the one transcendent source of all light.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast, Eckhart talks about how many of us react when the world doesn’t go our way. He says we either surrender and accept the situation or more often than not, we go into victim mode: victim of circumstance, victim of other people or even God. He goes on to explain if loss is involved then bitterness and anger set in, and the ego becomes more entrenched. Eckhart mentions the ancient wisdom of Buddha who talked about suffering and the end of suffering. And Jesus who said, “You will have tribulation. But take heart, for I have overcome the world.”  Eckhart asks participants to ponder what it actually means to overcome the world. He explains it has nothing to do with external power because it’s an internal realization. He says the turbulent times that we live in provide ample opportunity to reach the eternal, boundless part of ourselves. Eckhart believes we overcome the world when we don’t derive our sense of identity from the world.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart discusses excessive thinking as the source of incredible unhappiness for millions of people. He goes on to explain that it’s not the circumstances of one’s life that makes people miserable. It’s the overthinking that causes their suffering. Eckhart shares a story from his own life just after he experienced his awakening. He was homeless and spent many days on a park bench. He admits he would have been justified if he were filled with anger and resentment, but he wasn’t. Instead, he was deeply aware of the aliveness and beauty everywhere. He says it’s possible to awaken even in the midst of extreme difficulties. He says what illuminates the world, without which there would be no world, is consciousness.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart sits down with an audience in Paris. He encourages participants to explore the experience of his talk, beyond the words, because it holds the seeds to awakening. He also talks about the obstacles presented by the ego which he illustrates with the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus. The story goes that Narcissus was a beautiful young man who drowned in a pool of water gazing at his own reflection. Eckhart explains there is a deep truth to this story which is still relevant today. He says we risk a similar fate if we identify too closely with the ego and its insatiable demands. He ponders the possibility of resisting the pull to turn life’s difficulties into suffering. He explains that challenges will continue, but we don’t have to turn every problem into unhappiness. Eckhart asks the audience to consider: is it possible to go through life without creating unnecessary suffering for ourselves and others?Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast, Eckhart talks about our connection to the source of universal consciousness, which he compares to the vastness of the ocean. He says each person with individual awareness is like a small ripple on the surface of that ocean. However, he believes if we only ever know ourselves as a ripple then we won’t recognize our true depth.  Eckhart asks participants to consider who they are beyond the surface, as a person with a personality to the fathomless, invisible self, deep below. Eckhart believes all ancient spiritual traditions point toward this journey of transformation. And he says it’s not only a possibility but is a necessity for human evolution. He says we must ask ourselves: can the ripple realize its true identity as the ocean?Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart talks with an audience explaining the primary reason for this gathering is to become more aware of our transcendent consciousness, the part of us that is beyond the limits of our personality. He says we can do that through stillness because when we practice stillness, we counteract what Eckhart calls ‘possession by the mind.’ He explains most of us are completely absorbed by thinking, without realizing it. The good news, he says, is we can change that. Eckhart believes we should resist the thought: I am angry and instead say anger is in me. With this, we don’t become the emotion. It’s a subtle shift. Eckhart says eventually these small steps lead to greater awakening.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this episode, Eckhart talks about suffering consciously and how to deal with difficult emotions  including fear, anxiety and regret. Eckhart also discusses Nihilism - the belief that life is pointless and devoid of meaning. He explains the idea dates back to Darwin and his idea that evolution is a random chain of events involving molecules and atoms aimlessly coming together over millions of years. Eckhart says this very limited, negative view still affects millions of people today. He says Nihilism in its extreme form can lead to despair and even death as many seek to medicate themselves with drugs, alcohol or other substances to escape suffering, alienation and emptiness in their lives. Eckhart explains that we all have a deeper purpose which is connected to the purpose of the universe. He says if we align with that, then we become a bringer of light. Eckhart says the world is in dire need of awakening and we must ask ourselves, “Am I aligned with the light of consciousness?”Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN

In this podcast, Eckhart explains that humanity is at a pivotal point. He says the most urgent task of our lives is to connect more deeply with the transcendent part of ourselves. Eckhart explains the possibility is always there, just waiting to be discovered. He uses an ancient Greek term called “Metanoia” which means a profound spiritual awakening brought about by a dramatic shift in consciousness. In certain mystical traditions, it’s called Buddha nature or Christ consciousness. Eckhart says once we realize we are indeed the light of the world, we do not have to be a part of the craziness anymore. He says we can stop the madness. And we do that when we learn to dissolve it in ourselves first.Want more podcasts from OWN? Visit https://bit.ly/OWNPodsYou can also watch Oprah’s Super Soul, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more of your favorite OWN shows on your TV! Visit https://bit.ly/find_OWN