The man in the chair

    I sat in the audience with about 200 people last week during 12 hours of talks by Eckhart Tolle over a four day period.  I never once felt that Eckhart had the slightest intention to alter me or anyone in the audience in any way, and yet now, as each day goes by, I feel somehow altered in a deep, indefinable way.  What is going on?

    I feel reluctant to even call Eckhart Eckhart.  It seems more accurate to refer to him as the man sitting in the chair.  The man sitting in the chair on the stage was utterly at ease.  He had no desire to entertain the audience.  The person next to me drifted to sleep and began snoring softly.  Several times I felt my eyelids become heavy as I was on the verge of sleep.  To the mind, the man sitting on the stage was quite boring.  Why then, days later, are waves of transformation continuing to move through this space that I am?

    After a long space of silence Eckhart smiled and said, "Sitting on a stage and not knowing what to say could be a nightmare."  We laugh.  Eckhart smiles and sits in silence for a few moments.  "It's only a nightmare if you think you should know what to say."  There is another pause.  "If you enjoy not knowing, if you are comfortable with not knowing, it's actually quite pleasant to sit up here."  He smiles contentedly and there is more silence.  The man on the stage is clearly quite happy.  He is not at all worried about what he should say. The three television cameras pointed at him do not faze him at all.  He is in no hurry and he feels no need to entertain anyone.

    It's strange to be in the presence of this complete lack of anxiety.

    The man in the chair does not need to change anything.  He is comfortable with what is as it is.  That is all.

    A woman in the audience is called on to come to the microphone to ask her question.  She rushes up to the microphone and gushes out effusively, "I love you!"  The man on the stage looks directly at her and says with quiet firmness, "You love yourself."  The woman agrees, and then proceeds to ask her question.  When people admire Eckhart, when people are drawn to him, he realizes they are really attracted to their own reality.  What we crave is direct experience of our own truth or essence.

    The man in the chair on the stage oozes a sense of complete ease and fulfillment.

    Why is this?

    He is completely at one with his deeper being.  From this connection with source there is a perpetual overflow of peace.

    Even now, days later, after going through many of the usual small daily dramas at work and at home, I have this strange sense of being on the verge of remembering something long forgotten.  The man on the stage reminded me that I too am connected to source, it cannot be otherwise.

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Hearth

Have you ever sat by a gentle fire and enjoyed the warm glow touching your hands and face?

I have many times. After tending to tasks today, I paused to rest in open non-doing. Everytime this is like magic, life whispers a new word through the space that I am in a language that remains forever unspoken. Today as I enter into the sacrament of rest, there is a sense of settling down towards an inward warmth. The life force within is a fire of sorts, and I draw near to this fire, basking in its warmth.

At first there is enjoyment of this subtle thrill of being; it is a sensation that is barely detectable but becomes more pronounced as it is attuned to.

Then a small leap occurs: From enjoying the warm rays of being that emanate from within, there is suddenly a sense of being "a beam unseparated from its Source." I am a ray of the fire of life, and I am that fire. There is no separation.

I sense this is always true for me and for all of us, even when we are looking the other way and forget the life-fire that we are. I'm going to return to working on the next task of this day, revitalized by this warm fire of being that is who we all are in essence. I know I can return at any time to this hearth of feeling the life within.

Oneness with life is not achieved or earned or deciphered...it is enjoyed. It is enjoyed whenever we care to rest in the truth that we are.

(Note: the quote "a beam unseparated from its Source" is from Fred Lamotte, blogspot yourradiance, posted 3/15/10. Thank you.)

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