What you do and what you experience is more or less exactly the same as what I do and experience. Your questions are also my questions. I’ve been at it for about 4 months now.

What I would answer to you, and myself, is that one must be careful not to mistake now for NOW. Enlightenment will not necessarily come NOW. But it will necessarily come now. When else could it come? If it came in the future, it would never come. The future is always in the future. The now is, as Tolle says, all there is. So if enlightenment is to happen, it must happen now. But not necessarily NOW. Does it make any sense…? Haha.

Also, this post is quite old… do you have any updates to your experiences?

@Sarah: Reading your post made me sad. In a way, that way I too feel your depression. As for the antidepressants, I don’t know. I really don’t. But I think they won’t matter, when it comes to following Tolle’s teachings: What will you do if they work? Practice presence? You don’t have to be “un-depressed” to do that. Perhaps depression, as in Tolle’s case, actually can even be better! So why not just practice presence anyways? Then it won’t matter if you take the pills or not – what matters is that you’re present. I too am depressed sometimes by the way, and at those times I too forget about the present, and I wallow a bit in self pity. So I understand your difficulty of course. And, that I’m a hypocrite. Hopefully, what I say will bring you some comfort. Although I think it won’t – Tolle’s way better at saying stuff that I am, and even his words don’t help. But whatever you think of my words, know that behind them lies only a wish that you will be happy. I really want you to be happy! Hehe, whoever and wherever you are…=)

@All: http://www.newrealitytransmission.com/ – let’s try it?

“The past is gone and the future yet to come; the eternal now is greatest gift there is. That’s why it’s called the present”

Why does this work, is the question. So, to be merely a witness to the “now”, is one thing, and this is only half of the equation. What you are doing here is combining the observing of the breath – an involuntary function, with the intentional blinking of the eyes, a voluntary function. As yoga masters point out, one of the best ways to “realize God” is in witnessing the breath. I will say that any involuntary function of the body, is in essence a function of God, in the same manner that the function of water flowing, a rock rolling down the hill, or the earth spinning on it’s axis is a function of God. For example I’ve read that some believe that it is the Prana that fills the lungs, that causes us to breathe [involuntarily] rather that the lungs necessarily knowing how to breathe. By simultaneously witnessing the conscious presence of self, while being conscientious of the workings of God, in a simple and recognizable form (breathing), you manage to join the two into one single conscious point of reference. This is a good method for awareness. You can also add to that – awareness of the beating of the heart, or visualizing the flow of blood through the body, or just sensing every physical sensation of the body and it’s place in the universe. If you can manage to combine a few of these simultaneously, you will find yourself in a deep state of awareness.

good luck WIlliam

Aside from that, have you ever tried to stop a sentence from your inner words-stream like snipping it with scissors, only to realize that you are already and instantly aware of the completion? Try shifting to becoming aware of the pre-sentence “immediate sentence”.

Okay, so here is someone who experienced bliss via personal trauma (or anxiety) and decided that the best method to try to capture or re-capture that state of awareness was to artificially challenge the conscious mind in to believing that it is always in a state of awareness.

This method of consciously telling oneself to always be present in the “Now” requires a lot of attention of the mind, and can cause a lot of anxiety and frustration to those who are willing to undertake the constant challenges that the mind must endure. This method also creates a paradox in the mind, whereby the one seeking to attain awareness, will never be able to maintain that awareness, because the method for attainment is so similar to the desired outcome, that the mind never knows when to turn off the process. The mind is constantly inquiring itself of the question, “are we there yet?”, and the best that can ever be realized is a brief glimpse of what awareness is.

I’ve experienced extended moments of Bliss, and it is truly enjoyable state to be in, especially when you can continue to consciously perform your daily job or function. I wouldn’t even call it the power of Now, when I consider that my mind is totally and completely aware of everything around me, even the words that are about to be spoke from my mouth before my conscious mind has even thought of what I’m about to say. Same goes for the mind, when your super-conscious mind is a half seconds ahead of your counscious mind, it is truly bizarre, and intoxicating. I guess you could call it the power of what’s about to become.

Next post I will explain a better method.

I have been depressed for years but recently got into eckharts teachings and experience being in the now most of the time now, my ego is successfully being watched nearly all the time and I take full responsibility for all of my actions, situations in my life without ever blaming others or my life situation however I have also noticed that since I now understand my meaning the physical aspects of my depression still appear (crying uncontrollably sometimes and feeling immense sadness throughout) and I cant seem to shift it completely yet and have finally came around to idea of anti depressants to help me along, but obviously had some questions regarding whether or not it was justifiable because surely if I am doing things right I should be able to just kick my pain body to the curb…

I personally believe, he’s taking a lot of decent Eastern notions and articulating them fairly well.

HOWEVER, he often cheats. He’s very black and white about things. For instance, he seems to suggest that one is either experiencing the now for stretches at a time, and doing well for themselves, or not, and worried about the past or future.

Now most seasoned meditators will admit that over-time one can have greater peace by being more present here and now. But even after years of experience, the mind will still drift into trying to mentally rewrite the past or script out the future (ie. “That’s what I should have said to that bloke.”). So, while I believe he’s right in saying we spend too much time in the worries of the past and future, I don’t believe one can, in a short time, be extremely proficient at being more in the now. It’s a process, a journey, that he neglects to own up to.

That’s what I posted. I would like to add, that you won’t get rid of your thoughts, you will just not travel with them. There’s a saying that thoughts are like buses trying to pick you up. It’s okay that they arrive at your stop, but just don’t get on them. Let them go. Your mind will not stop thinking. Relax a little more, you are more than likely very present.

Isn’t that interesting?