Eckhart Tolle's Children's Book

Eckhart Tolle, a man who has already brought spiritual awakening to millions, is now coming out with a children's book. Due out on October 31, 2008, Milton's Secret is an illustrated book that will help young children understand the core of Eckhart Tolle's message.

Product Description:
"Eckhart Tolle has a simple message for everyone living in the Now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. With co-author Robert Friedman and illustrator Frank Riccio, Tolle now brings his message of the power of Now to children. Milton's Secret is the charming story of Milton, a bright, cheerful boy, who learns to overcome his fear of bullies and other scary things that sometimes frighten children. Children follow Milton's adventures as he learns to stop projecting his past fears into the future and live simply and happily in the moment."

After appearing on a 10 week online webinar with Oprah, Eckhart is doing an amazing job of further spreading his message. A children's book is a natural next step and I applaud this endeavor. My question is whether children will be ready for his message. Especially for kids 10-13, whose egos are just forming, it may be incredibly hard to separate themselves from the voices in their heads in order to recognize the stillness and power of the moment. There is an old saying, "You need to have an solid ego in order to lose your ego." Will Eckhart's message work on partially formed egos? We will see...

Now

There is nothing you need right now in order to be fulfilled, complete, and happy.

Your mind will disagree: "I need to finish this stupid project. I need to pay my bills. I need to have free time. I need to be with the girl of my dreams. I need to become successful. I need to be far away from here. I need to be free from my pain. I need to get home, sit back in my comfy chair and turn on the television. I need to move out of my parents house and find my own place. I need to be respected. I need the worrying to end...."

How can you realize that there is nothing you need changed or need to happen in the future in order to be fulfilled?

Place your attention in your body. Take a few deep breaths into your stomach. Let your stomach rise and fall with each breath. If there is tension or anxiety notice it and cherish it. It will help bring your attention away from your mind. While your thoughts are always moving, your body is always in the present moment. All you seek is right here now.

What is it like to let go, to drop your shoulders, to surrender to the moment? It feels as if a great burden has lifted. You are beginning to recognize a part of yourself that you had never known before. Previously, you thought you were just your mind created story. Now, you are touching the eternal within.

Girls

My mind is usually calm. My heart is usually content.

The one thing that throws me into chaos is when I meet a girl I really like. Thoughts arise: "I should be with her. Being without her sucks." My heart feels tight and achy.

I now know that someone else can never make you happy, but I believe someone else could make you happier --- in other words, you need to be content with who you are but there are certain people with which you can have a more enjoyable time.

Yet I am ever aware of how my desire to be with the girl is coming from an egoic place. A place of wanting, of possessing. It is so easy to see how the obsession could become love and then turn to hate. As of now, she is someone who makes me feel great. She would be easy to love. If she broke up with me, cheated on me, or no longer had that effect on me I could easily become jealous or angry.

Am I overthinking things? Maybe.

But I think it's good to aware of how after meeting this girl, there is a belief within me that things aren't good enough without her. I almost feel that I would be better off never having met her because now there is longing.

Clearly I am not in touch with the source. I am not aware of the bliss of being which has nothing to do with content.

At least this is spiritual practice: Observing the wanting, the anger, and the feeling of rejecting any moment in which I am not with her.

What about Good Memories and Planning for the Future?

"By the way, where does nostalgia/remembering beauty of the past and planning for the future fit into the philosophy of NOW? How does one plan a future job, or itinerary, if its necessary, for example?"


So, the teaching is as follows:

There is the world of the manifested (thoughts, material things) and the world of the unmanifested. We all seek fulfillment, satisfaction, safety in the world of the manifested. Either we remember back to times in the past or look towards the future for salvation. Maybe the next job, next relationship, or next award will satisfy us.

However, we can never become truly satisfied with the world of the manifested. Even if we had everything we desired, there would still be a feeling of lack. That is because who we really are is something that is not in the manifested realm.

So how do we find out this unmanifested part of ourselves when we are living in the manifest world? As thoughts are part of the manifested realm, we must go beyond thought. Thoughts about past and future will only lead us farther away. Even thoughts about the present lead us away. What we need is to still our mind, so there are no thoughts. As the manifest dies away, we can experience the unmanifested.

The only way the mind will become still is if we believe, truly believe, that salvation will not come in the future or can be found in past experiences. Otherwise, we will continue to live through those thought forms.

When we realize the unmanifested that is who we are, and that underlies everything in the universe, then we can begin to function appropriately in the world of the manifested. For, we are no longer trying to FIND ourselves through the manifested. We can remember past experiences, but one will find that there will be little need or desire to do so.

When we do have to plan for the future, we can do so without fear for we realize that nothing we do in the future will really affect who we are on the deepest level. The forms can change but we have found we are formless. This means that planning for the future will be practical and not consume our mind all the time.

Time

Our perception of time is directly related to our awareness of our physical body.

Time goes fastest when we are not aware of our body.
Examples:
Sleeping (we have no awareness of our body and hours pass by in an instant)
Watching a movie(we have minimal awareness of our body as most of our attention is absorbed by the movie and so time goes fast)

However, if that movie is boring, time will seem to go slowly because our attention is not absorbed in the film and we become aware of our bodies once again.

Time goes slowest when we are very aware of our body.
Examples:
When we have to go to the bathroom! Time goes so slow because we are constantly paying attention to our body.
When we have nothing to do and are bored. Time goes slowly because our mind isn't occupied with anything and so we can become aware of our body.

What can we learn from this:
1) Everyone wants to live longer. But longevity of life isn't what is important. Rather, it's our perception of time that matters. If you want to feel alive longer, become aware of your body. This is a central part of mindfulness. Notice the breath moving in and out of your chest or nostrils.
2) If we were completely aware of our bodies, time would seem to stop. For this to happen, our minds would need to be completely still and our attention would need to be on the present. In fact, spiritual masters tell us that when the mind is still and attention is on the present, it is as if time has no existence whatsoever!