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Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle Quotes

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Famous Eckhart Tolle Quotes

“[The ego] cannot tell the difference between an event and its reaction to that event. Every ego is a matter of selective perception and distorted interpretation. Only through awareness—not through thinking—can you differentiate between fact and opinion. Only through awareness are you able to see: There is the situation and here is the anger I feel about it, and then realize there are other ways of approaching the situation, other ways of seeing it and dealing with it.”

EmotionAwarenessEgo
Book:A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
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“When you are seemingly diminished in some way and remain in absolute nonreaction, not just externally but also internally, you realize that nothing real has been diminished, that through becoming "less," you become more. When you no longer defend or attempt to strengthen the form of yourself, you step out of identification with form, with mental self-image.”

AcceptanceEgoNonreaction
Book:A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
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“Another aspect of the emotional pain that is an intrinsic part of the egoic mind is a deep-seated sense of lack or incompleteness—of not being whole. In some people this is conscious; in others, unconscious. If it is conscious, it manifests as the unsettling and constant feeling of not being worthy or good enough. If it is unconscious, it will only be felt indirectly as an intense craving, wanting, and needing. In either case, people will often enter into a compulsive pursuit of ego gratification and things to identify with in order to fill this hole they feel within. So they strive after possessions, money, success, power, recognition, or a special relationship, basically so they can feel better about themselves—feel more complete. But even when they obtain all these things, they soon find that the hole is still there, that it is bottomless.”

SpiritualityEgo
Book:The Power of Now A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, The Art of Happiness 10th Anniversary Edition, You Are a Badass, Life Leverage 4 Books Collection Set
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“Somebody becomes an enemy if you personalize the unconsciousness that is the ego. Non-reaction is not weakness but strength. Another word for non-reaction is forgiveness. To forgive is to overlook, or rather to look through. You look through the ego to the sanity that is in every human being as his or her essence.”

EnemyStrengthEgoForgivenessWeaknessPersonalizationNon Reaction
Book:A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
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“Many people who are going through the early stages of the awakening process are no longer certain what their outer purpose is. What drives the world no longer drives them. Seeing the madness of our civilization so clearly, they feel somewhat alienated from the culture around them. Some feel that they inhabit a no-man's-land between two worlds. They are no longer run by the ego, yet the arising awareness has not yet become fully integrated into their lives. Inner and outer purpose have not merged.”

PeopleMenWorldFeelsTwoRunningPurposeCertainCultureProcessSeeingLandStageAwarenessCivilizationEgoMadnessAwakeningIntegratedTwo Worlds
Book:A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
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“Fear seems to have many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on, but ultimately all fear is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego, death is always just around the corner. In this mind-identified state, fear of death affects every aspect of your life.”

MindStatesSeemsCausesHurtLossEgoAspectCornersFear Of DeathFear Of FailureAnnihilationAround The CornerBeing Hurt
Book:The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
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“With the egoic consciousness having become so dysfunctional, and now having at our disposal all these enormous technologies and scientific advances, if nothing changes the ego will use those things - as it already has been doing - and will amplify the technology that we now have. The scientific advances, to a large extent, will be used in the service of the ego, and they will become more and more destructive.”

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Author:Eckhart Tolle
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“There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. Being right is identification with a mental position - a perspective, an opinion, a judgement, a story. For you to be right, of course, you need someone else to be wrong, as so the ego loves to make wrong in order to be right.”

NeedsStoriesOrderCoursesOpinionPositionPerspectiveEgoJudgementIdentification
Book:A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
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“Different ages have certain approaches, which may be more effective for one age and no longer effective in another age. The world that we live in now has much greater density to it; it is much more all-pervasive. And when I say "world," I include the human mind in it. The human mind has grown even since the time of the Buddha, 2,500 years ago. The human mind is more noisy and more all-pervasive, and the egos are bigger.”

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Author:Eckhart Tolle
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“By far the greater part of violence that humans inflicted on each other is not the work of criminals or mentally deranged, but of normal, respectable citizens service of the collective ego. One can go so far as to say that on this planet "normal" equals insane. What is it that lies at the root of this insanity? Complete identification with thought and emotion, that is to say, ego.”

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Author:Eckhart Tolle
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“The great arises out of small things that are honored and cared for. Everybody's life really consists of small things. Greatness is a mental abstraction and a favorite fantasy of the ego. The paradox is that the foundation for greatness is the honoring of small things of the present moment instead of pursuing the idea of greatness.”

IdeasMomentsFantasyGreatnessEgoFoundationArisePresent MomentParadoxHonoredAbstractionSmall Things
Book:A New Earth: Create a Better Life
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“Because of its phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.”

IfsWayCasesEgoThreatDefenseDespiteVulnerableMechanismInsecurePhantomsDefense Mechanisms
Book:Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now
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“If you identify with a mental position, then if you are wrong, your mind-based sense of self is seriously threatened with annihilation. So you as the ego cannot afford to be wrong. To be wrong is to die. Wars have been fought over this, and countless relationships have broken down.”

IfsMindHas BeensWarSelfSpiritualDiesPositionBrokenEgoThreatenedSense Of SelfAnnihilationBroken Down
Book:The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
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“It is precisely through the onset of old age, through loss or personal tragedy, that the spiritual dimension would traditionally come into people's lives. This is to say, their inner purpose would emerge only as their outer purpose collapsed and the shell of the ego would begin to crack open. The emphasis shifts from doing to Being, and our civilization, which is lost in doing, knows nothing of Being. It asks: being? What do you do with it?”

PeopleKnowsAgeSpiritualPurposeAsksLostLossCivilizationEgoTragedyOld AgeDimensionsCracksShellsEmphasisSpiritual DimensionsPersonal Tragedy
Author:Eckhart Tolle
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