Wow! What a wonderful second discussion we had last evening! I so wish the rest of you had been there to share. Personally, I felt growth in myself as a result of last night's sharing of the truths in A New Earth. Below are just a few of the truths covered last night.*I am -- not I am teacher or guilty or a good/bad parent -- simply, I am.
*Awareness leads to acceptance, acceptance leads to action.
*We are one with ALL in the universe.
*Those of us who are ready for awareness and apply it, are helped when challenges are present; therefore, strong presence works.
*Ego is present in the shy as well as the arrogant; it is inferior as well as superior.
*The main focus must be in doing NOW; that's where the passion and deep joy is.
There was a question about one of Tolle's statements:
After a while, you lose the joy of life. If you spend five years of stress and finally you achieve what you wanted, is that worth it?
So I am going to make this our next blog discussion question. Please post your comments here.
4 comments:
I think this is a harder question than just yes or no.
One way of looking at it is that is doesn't matter if it was worth it, because the suffering is in the past and what we have now is now.
What is the force behind the accomplishment? The accomplishment may have only fed your ego. If you've accomplished something at great cost, you've brought that strong desire into reality in the present. Now you must make peace with whatever the consequences, whether good or bad. If you have hurt others along the way, you can't take it back, only treat them better now, or if that is not possible, make peace with that fact. And accomplishment that has fed the ego will only make you happy for a short time, because the accomplishment belongs to you and not to Life. It may have changed your life, but it has not changed Life. It is a 'my' thing.
It boils down to, you must find happiness now, in this moment, not in accomplishments (though they are necessary). If you have accomplished something at great cost in stress and relationships and time, was it for the greater Good, or was it for the ego? And so what? It is done and it is what it is.
Not sure that is any kind of conclusion. Maybe an accomplishment that does not hurt people along the way, that allowed living while it was being made would have been a better choice...but then again, that is dwelling on the past.
Does anyone else find it hard to get a handle on this kind of thinking?! I can understand the awareness and acceptance part to some extent, but feel confused as to the action.
Ellen, I'm reading Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult's newest novel, and one of the characters is dealing with what you said: "If you have hurt others along the way, you can't take it back, only treat them better now, or if that is not possible, make peace with that fact." Michael was on the jury that sentenced a man to death, and now he is a priest trying to deal with what he sees as "letting the man down" when he let others sway his thinking about the death penalty during deliberations. It's interesting to me to make this comparison between the two books I'm reading.
My "workbook" is online so I can share the things I'm learning with you and the others in the Coexist Club:
http://notesquotesandquestions.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-earth-by-eckhart-tolle.html
Donna, do you want us to comment here on other things we are learning? Or just this one question?
Bonnie and other bloggers,
Certainly feel free to comment on any of what you are reading. The point is communication.
Ellen, thank you for your insights. Especially meaningful for me was:
"Now you must make peace with whatever the consequences, whether good or bad. If you have hurt others along the way, you can't take it back, only treat them better now, or if that is not possible, make peace with that fact."
I am definitely for peace in whatever form(less) it takes.
Bonnie, you know how much I like Jodi Picoult's books; how do you rate this latest one?
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