Spacial Awareness...Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle spoke Saturday at a conference in San Francisco called Wisdom 2.0.  I was able to watch it through livestreaming- another paradox of technology and self awareness.  I recall buying Eckhart's book, A New Earth, four or five years ago and wanting so badly to grasp the knowledge that I knew was contained in the pages. At that time I was unable to finish the book, but I recall learning to pay more attention to sound in nature when I walked my dog and (silly as it sounds) stopped listening to my ipod when I ran.  Within the last few years I devoured A New Earth, but not before Eckhart's book, The Power of Now, had a considerable impact on my worldview.

I wanted to share a really cool analogy that Eckhart spoke of Saturday at the conference.  Here's a summary:

Imagine that you are this room and you want to know yourself.  Your physical body represents the floor, walls, and ceiling.  The contents of your mind represents the contents of the room.  Is there more to you than the 'stuff' in the room?  The essence (space) of the room is what enables the 'stuff' to be in it.  Awakening is recognizing the essence (space) of the room is what allows for all else.  

Eckhart quoted Jesus saying 'the kingdom of heaven does not come with signs to be perceived.'  Eckhart also mentioned that he does not talk of this spacial awareness as God.  He maintains that we all have a concept that our mind grasps on to when we use the word 'God' and that concept tends to separate us rather than connect us.

When we see ourselves as part of this energy or awareness as opposed to God as an object and ourself as a subject, does it change the way we see our own role on the planet?  As a mental health provider in schools, suicide completion and suicidal ideation is overwhelming.  It's exposure to this particular dread that expands my own desire to teach skills that help young people return to a place of stillness and tap into a deeper connection to 'something more.'  Teaching the skill of self awareness or mindfulness seems to help all person's realign with their own nature.  As I teach the skill of self awareness, I do so with a belief that once a person returns to their nature, what happens next becomes their own journey.

'The space within is where the stuff of your mind is transcended.'