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Posts Tagged ‘spirituality’

With apologies to those who already know who Eckhart Tolle is, and for the sake of those who haven’t heard of Eckhart Tolle yet, here’s a brief summary: Eckhart Tolle is a motivational speaker of German origin who has lived most of his adult life in Canada. Now in his sixties, he is one of the Western world’s most respected spiritual teachers, and his association with Oprah Winfrey – and the hugely popular 10-week live ‘webinar’ that Oprah held with him – has propelled his notoriety throughout the general population immensely. 

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Eckhart Tolle has had 4 books published so far, of which The Power of Now became a New York Times bestseller and was translated into 33 languages. And his most recent book, A New Earth: Awakening to Life’s Purpose, is again at the top of the NYT bestsellers list. Additionally, Oprah has chosen A New Earth as part of Oprah’s Book Club, calling it one of her best reads.

The two most popular books have a basic theme. The Power of Now points to focus on the present moment. In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle delves deeper into the makings of the human ego and how it causes the loss of the present experience of the world. Eckhart Tolle says that the increasing affect of the human ego is what lies at the root of all our inner and outer problems. And so, it is only by watching and being aware of the ego that people will start to see past it and gain spiritual enlightening.

Changing life

A reason for the spectacular appeal of The Power of Now maybe be that it gives, not only advice but solutions. A tremendously accessible concept in the book is that of ‘being the watcher of your thoughts’. By doing this Eckhart Tolle leads the reader to be aware of his or her mind in order to analyze how negative thoughts from the past and fear of the future can dominate the present. However, Tolle doesn’t intend you to judge yourself, because he seeks to awake your hidden consciousness, and help you get rid of ‘emotional pain’. That includes eradicating pain that has more or less been ‘implanted’ in you by your family or social surroundings, but which is not born out of your own experiences. 

Books and beyond

Eckhart Tolle has been infuenced by books all his life and read the bible at a very early, he says, “First I picked up a copy of the New Testament almost by accident… and reading the words of Jesus and feeling the essence and power behind those words… So that was an incredible realization, just reading and understanding ‘beyond mind’ the deeper meaning of those words… Then came the Bhagavad Gita, I also had an immediate, deep understanding of and an incredible love for such a divine work. The Tao Te Ching: also an immediate understanding… I knew the translator had misunderstood, and knew what the real meaning was although I do not know any Chinese… Then I also started reading on Buddhism and immediately understood the essence of Buddhism… I have a great love for the teaching of the Buddha, a teaching of such power and sublime simplicity.” With such a profound knowledge of the keys of each religion, is it any wonder that Tolle can influence your life with his books?

Writing a spiritual story has so much value and can help you grow in spirit, but that is only half of their worth.You’ll find out that once you have the story in writing, you’ll want to share it with someone else.Share your stories through print or the internet, but the best way to get the message across is by simply sharing them casually with the people you love most.

It’s sad to note that we often spend time with those we love yet we never really know them at all.As you grow spiritually, you’ll find that many earthly ideas are insignificant and that the matters of the spirit are the key to happiness.If there’s one thing you must need to do, it’s to be sure that you share this discovery to others.Starting a spiritually charged conversations is a very useful tool to reach spiritual maturity – both for you and those around you.If ever you need to “break the ice”, feel free to share the spiritual stories you’ve written – it’ll be a great way to get everyone to talk about their personal siritual ideas.An open discussion following your sharing session will allow your audience to communicate their spiritual philosophies to others.And this action can yield immediate positive results for your listeners – it can fast track their own personal spiritual growth.It’s inevitable – once people see how good it is to share their spiritual beliefs, they will start doing the same!Doing this can start a spiritual revolution with others wanting to know how they too can express themselves through spiritual writing.

Sharing your spiritual writing with loved ones can also be an easy way to let them know how you truly feel.Communicating your spirituality can be a hard task but you can make things easier by saying you’d like to share a story you personally wrote.Other people may also want to share something of higher value but are afraid to do so for the fear that it may put others off.  By opening your own spiritual self up to them, you are in essence giving them permission to do the same.

Spiritual Growth Meditation

To have spiritual growth is to take a closer look within yourself toward your inner soul.

For us as human beings and to grow spiritually defined in a world by power, money, and outer influence is surely a daunting task. Modern conveniences such as electronic equipments, computers, and tools as well as entertainment through television, video games, and the internet have predisposed us to direct our attention mostly to our physical needs and wants. As a result, our ways of seeing our self-worth and self-meaning are muddled. How can we strike a balance between the spiritual and material aspects of our busy lives?

Challenges

Many different cross roads will come our way as we take this journey through our existence. There are some roads that lead to a life of single blessedness, marriage, and spiritual vocation. Some of these pathways could ultimately bring us happiness,fame and fortune on one hand, or despair, isolation and distress on the other. Some of these pathways lead to brilliant happiness as there are roads to deep despair, roads towards sweet victory and exultation, and roads leading to failure and disappointment.

Examine

When we look deep within ourselves we should go beyond the recalling of recent events that happened in a day, week, or month. You need to look closely and reflect on your inner thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. Take time out to examine your experiences, the decisions you can make, the relationships you have, and the things you engage in provide useful insights on your life goals, try to focus on the quality traits you must sustain and the negative traits you have to discard.

A healthy mental and spiritual cleansing is by all means necessary for the soul.Moreover, it gives you clues on how to act, react, and conduct yourself in the midst of any situation. Like any skill, introspection can be learned; all that it will take is the willingness and courage to seek the truths that lie within you. Here are a few good pointers when you introspect: be objective, be forgiving of yourself, and focus on your areas for improvement.

Growth

To grow spiritually in within,is to develop your capabilities.
Each and every time that you do your best to improve the quality of your life and your being, be it to cleaning up your house, extending your hand and helping a stranger, to fail on board exams and getting up and trying again, maybe you have offered to take care of your neighbors sick dog,life has a way of giving you karma points for that.
Religion and science have alternate takes on these unknown matters of the human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily living on Earth, while science views the spirit as just one aspect of an individual. Mastery of the self is a recurring theme in both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern) teachings.

Beliefs

The needs of the human body are recognized but placed under the needs of the spirit. Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and hard work provide the blueprint to ensure the growth of the spiritual being. Psychology notes that the realizing of one’s potential is called self-actualization. The psychologist Maslow identified several human needs: physiological, security, acceptance, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, and self-transcendence.

Needs

James earlier categorized these needs into three: material, emotional, and spiritual. It seems that it is man’s nature that when you have fullfilled the basic physiological and emotional needs, spiritual or existential needs will follow. Achieving each need leads to the total development of the individual. Perhaps the biggestdifference between these two religions and psychology is the end of self-development: Islam and Christianity will believe that self-development is a means toward serving God, while modern psychology views that self-development is an end to the means by itself.

To grow spiritually is to search for a deeper meaning

Religions that believe in the existence of God such as Christianism, Judaism, and Islam suppose that the purpose of theirour existence is to serve the Creator of all life. There are several theories in psychology that propose we passionately give purpose to our lives. Whether or not we believe that life’s meaning is self-directed or pre-determined, to grow in spirit is to realize that we do not merely exist. We do not know the meaning of our lives at birth; but we gain this wisdom and knowledge from our interactions with people and from our actions and reactions to the situations we are in. As we uncover this meaning, there are certain beliefs and values that we turn down and accept.  Our lives have purpose. Thissense of belonging puts all our physical, emotional, and intellectual potentials into use; sustains us during tough times; and gives us something to be hopeful for—a goal to achieve, a destination to reach. One who is without meaning or purpose is like a floundering ship at sea.

Religions stress the concept of our relatedness to all of life, be it animate or and inanimate. Thus do we call other people “brothers and sisters” even if there are no direct blood relations. Moreover, deity-centered religions such as Islam and Christianity talk of a relationship between human beings and a higher entity. On the other hand, science expounds on our connection to other living things through the evolution theory.

Connection

This relatedness is very clear in the concept of ecology, the interaction between living and non-living things. In psychology, connectedness is a characteristic of self-transcendence, the highest human need according to Maslow. Recognizing your connection to all things makes you more humble and respectful of people, animals, plants, and things in nature. It makes you appreciate everything around you. It moves you to go beyond your comfort zone and reach out to other people, and become care-takers of all the things around you.

Growth

Growth is a process, thus to grow in spirit is a day-to-day encounter. The important thing is that we never stop learning, and from this knowledge, further spiritual growth is forever within our reach.

If your growth stops then you are dead.Never stop the learning of your soul. Growth is life.It is the bread and butter of our life and our earthly existence.

For many people who are reading and studying spiritual stories and spiritually based lessons, meditation after reading will work to help them gain a deeper understanding for the material. You can get the most benefit when you set aside a time for some quiet meditation, and let your mind focus on the information that has been presented.

By not allowing other distractions to enter, you can fully absorb what you have learned. If you rush off from a spiritual lesson to do grocery shopping or other errands, much of the lesson may get short shrift and be forgotten. By thoughtfully and quietly centering yourself and allowing the words and thoughts inspired by the lesson penetrate your deepest conscious levels, you can gain a more intuitive feel for what the lesson truly means.

If you need to center your being and sort your priorities in life, then meditate. Nothing separates the important from the trivial realities of life than a time devoted to quiet reflection. This type of concentration will give you a way to consider the larger meaning of the spiritual stories and lessons as they relate to your own life. It may seem difficult to grasp some of the ideas at first, but if you only allow your mind and spirit a quiet and meditative moment to contemplate, you’ll find that they are not that difficult to understand.

Meditation helps people to be more in touch with their inner spirit. In fact, more and more religious organizations are now incorporating many elements of meditation into their services. The consciousness can become more and more present in your daily life as you learn how to open yourself to enlightened thoughts and centered behavior through meditation. Some people find comfort in meditation. It helps them set aside all of their cares and frustrations, even for a short period of time, to concentrate on the matter at hand.

If you want to look at things in a different and far better perspective, you need to put total conscious thought and concentration on the lesson. Such meditative concentration also allows your subconscious mind to pick ideas that you otherwise wouldn’t have noticed.

When any of us listen to or read parables the lessons they contain are quite complex on many levels and these spiritual stories often cause us to reconsider the meaning of what we have heard long after the tale has been completed. Whenever we reread a story, new insights arise that help us paint a better overall picture of a story’s teachings.

A spiritual parable is rather like the 3D pictures that were popular many years ago. You may remember the pictures that were hidden within elaborate pages of artwork. Even when many people were prompted they could still not see the hidden drawings that the pictures contained. This is because they couldn’t see the hidden wisdom buried underneath the pretty pictures. It is much the same with spiritual stories. Sometimes the teachings within a story aren’t apparent the first time people read it.

The benefits to these spiritual parables are in the challenge to our thinking and also the growth that they bring to an individual’s spiritual and emotional being. There is never a right or a wrong lesson to be taken from any of these words. The experience is a completely unique and personal one. This may very well be the best gift that sharing spiritual stories can bring. Teaching others is not always required for them to receive new understanding and insights. These stories concisely point out lessons and obligations that all can gain from in some way.

Spiritual stories that have spiritual knowledge and lessons to share offer benefit to all who hear them and read them and this knowledge does not leave us. Although the specific words in a story may fade to the back of our memory over time, we still remember the lessons we learned. In this way it will always be present for us to draw upon when it is needed.