Stillness Speaks. Eckhart Tolle

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      STILLNESS

      SPEAKS

       Also by Eckhart Tolle

       The Power of Now

       Practicing the Power of Now

       STILLNESS

      SPEAKS

      ECKHART TOLLE

      New World Library

      14 Pamaron Way

      Novato, California 94949

       and

      NamastePublishing

       P.O. Box 62084

      Vancouver, Canada V6J 1Z1

      Copyright © 2003 Eckhart Tolle

      All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

      Cover design by Mary Ann Casler

      Text design and typography by Tona Pearce Myers

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Tolle, Eckhart, 1948 –

      Stillness speaks / by Eckhart Tolle.

      p. cm.

      ISBN 1-57731-400-x (hardcover : alk. paper)

      1. Spiritual life. I. Title.

      BL624.T647 2003

      291.4'4—dc21 2003007916

      First printing, September 2003

      ISBN 1-57731-400-x

      Printed in Canada on acid-free, 100% post-consumer waste, recycled paper

      Distributed to the trade by Publishers Group West

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1

Silence & Stillness

Chapter 2

Beyond the Thinking Mind

       Chapter 3

       The Egoic Self

       Chapter 4

       The Now

       Chapter 5

       Who You Truly Are

       Chapter 6

       Acceptance & Surrender

       Chapter 7

       Nature

       Chapter 8

       Relationships

       Chapter 9

       Death & the Eternal

       Chapter 10

       Suffering & the End of Suffering

       About the Author

INTRODUCTION

      A true spiritual teacher does not have anything to teach in the conventional sense of the word, does not have anything to give or add to you, such as new information, beliefs, or rules of conduct. The only function of such a teacher is to help you remove that which separates you from the truth of who you already are and what you already know in the depth of your being. The spiritual teacher is there to uncover and reveal to you that dimension of inner depth that is also peace.

      If you come to a spiritual teacher — or this book — looking for stimulating ideas, theories, beliefs, intellectual discussions, then you will be disappointed. In other words, if you are looking for food for thought, you won’t find it, and you will miss the very essence of the teaching, the essence of this book, which is not in the words but within yourself. It is good to remember that, to feel that, as you read. The words are no more than signposts. That to which they point is not to be found within the realm of thought, but a dimension within yourself that is deeper and infinitely vaster than thought. A vibrantly alive peace is one of the characteristics of that dimension, so whenever you feel inner peace arising as you read, the book is doing its work and fulfilling its function as your teacher: it is reminding you of who you are and pointing the way back home.

      This is not a book to be read from cover to cover and then put away. Live with it, pick it up frequently, and, more importantly, put it down frequently, or spend more time holding it than reading it. Many readers will feel naturally inclined to stop reading after each entry, to pause, reflect, become still. It is always more helpful and more important to stop reading than to continue reading. Allow the book to do its work, to awaken you from the old grooves of your repetitive and conditioned thinking.

      The form of this book can be seen as a revival for the present age of the oldest form of recorded spiritual teachings: the sutras of ancient India. Sutras are powerful pointers to the truth in the form of aphorisms or short sayings, with little conceptual elaboration. The Vedas and Upanishads are the early sacred teachings recorded in the form of sutras, as are the words of the Buddha. The sayings and parables of Jesus, too, when taken out of their narrative context, could be regarded as sutras, as well as the profound teachings contained in the Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese book of wisdom. The advantage of the sutra form lies in its brevity. It does not engage the thinking mind more than is necessary. What it doesn’t say — but only points to — is more important than what it says. The sutra-like character of the writings in this book is particularly marked in chapter 1 (“Silence &Stillness”), which contains only the briefest of entries. This chapter contains the essence of the entire book and may be all that some readers require. The other chapters are there for those who need a few more signposts.

      Just like the ancient sutras, the writings contained within this book are sacred and have come out of a state of consciousness we may call stillness. Unlike those ancient sutras, however, they don’t belong to any one religion or spiritual tradition, but are immediately accessible to the whole of humanity. There is also an added sense of urgency here. The transformation of human consciousness