The whole activity of nature is to make the soul know that it is entirely separate from nature. When the soul knows this, nature has no more attractions for it. But the whole of nature vanishes only for the man who has become free.
Vivekananda, Complete Works page 132
Huh? I thought you were going to talk about what you learned from Eckhart Tolle. Why are you opening with a quote from some yogi dude?
What I realize more and more, as I farther realized today upon listening to Eckhart Tolle, is that all great teachings are pointing to the same truth. What Eckhart Tolle is saying in these videos, and what he teaches in general, is pointing to the very same truths Vivekananda taught in his life time. I connect all the teachings I share here to that truth.
Freedom from nature is everything, the ultimate goal.
Nature according to yogic tradition is simply form, everything of the material world, matter. It is temporal, ever changing, limited, perishable, subject to time and space, birth and death. The human body and mind fall into that realm of nature. The soul, on the other hand is eternal, never changing. unlimited, all powerful, everywhere, not bound by time or space or by this idea of birth and death. It is free. It has always been free but when we use our powerful consciousness to focus down onto nature: the body, the mind and all its drama, and the events of the world etc ...the soul which is that awareness gets absorbed into identifying with nature and forgets what it is. Yet nature is only here to help us learn that we are not it. We need to realize we are not it, at the deeper level.
Huh?
The events of nature we encounter everyday, that we focus on and get lost in, that we judge as good or bad, are here to guide us and teach us who we really are so we can be free. We need to find that transactional point between the horizontal plane ( physicality...which includes the mind) with all its limits and the vertical plane ( the non physical) with its infinite freedom. The mind is bound in nature, the soul isn't. The world as it unfolds in front of us is meant to free us but we do have a choice. We can stay bound in mind or become free by realizing we are soul/Self. We can be free to experience the unfolding of nature/life just as it is or we can get all tangled up and bound in what the mind does with it. There is a big difference between circumstances, Tolle reminds us, and what the mind does with those circumstances, the commentary it creates. Do we want to get all tangled up in the mess of commentary and mind stuff, or do we want to embrace the isness of life through soul, so we can be free?
As long as we are searching and seeking out there in the material world for our joy, we will never find it. We will remain caught up in nature and therefore suffering. We will be bound. If we depend on the outside world, with its conditions, we will never be free. Any pleasure and pain it offers the body ( the biggest part of this 'nature' we identify as) is limited and temporary. The real lasting joy is what the soul is. Yet, if we are so busy looking to nature to give us joy...and to avoid pain...we will never be free. As long as we are caught up in the commentary, the story, we build around the circumstances that unfold in front of us, we will never accept and truly "be" in the present moment, embracing the "isness" of it all. We will, therefore, never experience freedom.
That is what the great teachers teach.
Hmm! Something to thing about.
All is well.
Eckhart Tolle ( December, 2023) How Do you use your mind to cultivate joy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQfn2GjWE-g
Eckhart Tolle ( March 28, 2023) How to Live...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOSG_X-gRsg
Sri Swami Vivekananda (n.d.) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Kindle Edition
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