Eckhart Tolle is one of the most influential spiritual teachers of our time. In the last several years, he has risen to prominence not only for his books, which include The Power of Now and A New Earth, but also for his television spiritual retreats. Although he has great wisdom to share about our essential nature, he’s also skilled at teaching us the art of deliberate thinking.

Many persons may wonder if deliberate thinking is, indeed, possible; but that’s likely because they’ve never attempted it. For most people, thoughts just occur; most often in a random and repetitive manner. As a consequence, their lives often that lack of deliberate intention.

Some experts believe that it’s impossible to know what our next thoughts will bewe cannot possibly know what our next thoughts will be; that we are not, in fact, capable of producing them. This may or may not be true; but through deliberate effort, we can at least attune ourselves to the nature of thoughts we receive. In one presentation, Eckhart likened the process to the following:

Imagine that you’re sitting on a park bench, with no agenda in mind except to enjoy time in nature. A few minutes pass by, but then a dog runs into our field of vision. It sniffs the ground in one location; paws the earth at a second; stops to urinate at a third. The dog moves on and on. In this example, the dog, of course, is analogous to our thinking process. Must we follow that dog and focus on it exclusively, merely because it entered our awareness? If we answered “yes,” we’re training ourselves to be the slave–not the master–of every other dog (thought) that enters our mind. Negative “dogs” lead to more thoughts of a similar nature, as though connected by an invisible leash. Fortunately, the same is true of positive thoughts.

What does this mean in practical terms? That we can choose not to follow painful thoughts related to our ex spouse, business deals that failed, or financial worries. That we can choose not to focus on relationship thoughts that cause stress, worry, or concern. We’re not being negligent when we choose not to do so; we’re actually nurturing a better state of mind. And we may remind ourselves just who gives importance, relevance, and meaning to all of our thoughts and experiences. We hold the scepter of opinion–not the thoughts.

With practice, we may train ourselves to follow only thoughts that we wish to entertain. There are also times when we will choose not to think; to remain in the bliss of present awareness without engaging the thinking process. We may also liken thinking to our arms or legs: Just because we have them, must they always be in motion? No, they may be at rest; and the same is true of our mind. If we have nothing good to think, we may choose not to engage negative thinking just to fill time. Such, in fact, will benefit us greatly.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2020 – R. Arthur Russell

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