High signal digest #12
Summing "the Power of Now" + things I read online this week
Est. reading time: 3 min
Today at a glance:
Raw notes from “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightment” by Eckhart Tolle. This book is about how we interact with life and with ourselves. The book was published in 1997 and sold >2M copies.
Things I read online this week that you may enjoy
Why did I read this book?
Someone recommended it. Around that time I read the Surrender Experiment and decided to check it out.
Raw notes from the book1
We are not our mind. Start watching the “thinker” to go to next level of consciousness. 3rd person. We are not the emotion, but the watcher
Accept the now and make the present the focus. First accept → then act
Pain feeds on pain. To heal: observe the pain→become aware of it→do not judge it or analyze it. To fight pain you must become aware of pain
Dissolving yourself from pain is dissolving yourself from a part of your identity which is scary. Am I deriving pleasure from being unhappy?
Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True power is within
Your ego is afraid to die. Fear of being wrong, fear of failure, fear of being hurt. Our mind and our ego love problems because they give ego an identity
Ego is a derived sense of self. It needs to be defended and fed constantly (possessions, social status, being right etc.)
We engage in dangerous activities (i.e. mountain climbing, car racing, surfing) because it forces us into the now (flow).
All negativity is caused by worrying about the future or the past. All of our lives are full of problems. Is there a problem this very moment?
Do not be concerned with the results of your actions. Focus on the action itself. Results will come
If unhappy - take action, speak up, or leave the situation. No other path
Growth is considered positive, but nothing grows forever. Forever growth is destructive so problems are a natural part of life. Embrace problems.
Let negativity pass through you
Select quotes that stuck with me:
Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.
Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.
Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally.
If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.
Things I read online this week that you may enjoy:
obligatory reminder that I am a biased man with a certain world view and that if any of this is remotely interesting - check out the book and draw your own conclusions
Great outcomes! I loved the last quote, it’s stuck with me now too...