What if I Lose This?

(Click here to read comments on the earlier post, Multi-Tasking The Moment.)

I said I'd respond to a comment left by babenbelgium on Eckhart Tolle a week or so ago.

She said: Today I was driving to get gas and it just hit me, that right now, at this moment, I love where I'm living, I'm fortunate to have the friends I have, and I'm just loving life right now. I'm just wondering how I'm not going to loose these feelings.

Maybe there are answers in Eckhart's book and I just haven't gotten there yet.

Don't know if you'll read this, babenbelgium, but I think it's great that you really appreciate what you have in your life at the moment. A lot of people never do. They only focus on the things they don't have, not the things that they do. A lot of the time, I'm like that myself if I don't watch what I'm thinking.

As for losing those feelings, what is the root of that fear? Are you afraid of losing the feelings or are you afraid of losing those wonderful things in your life that you've mentioned? In other words, does feeling good depend on you having those things?

Looking at Chapter 8 of Tolle's Practising The Power of Now (which is the book of Tolle's I've read - kind of like The Power of Now Lite) Tolle points out that everything that you have will be gone eventually. This is simply the way of things. So if you depend on such things for your happiness, then all that separates you from unhappiness is a period of time.

Sounds brutal, doesn't it? But if we're honest with ourselves, we have to accept that what he says is true. So the only way to hang on to happiness is to no longer depend on such transient things.  Which sounds much easier said than done, does it not?

But what Tolle suggests is to practise living in the moment. That way, you will connect with something which is more powerful than any of the transient delights of the world. As he says: "A great stillness arises within you, an unfathomable sense of peace. And within that peace, there is a great joy, and within that joy there is love."

If this sounds too good to be true, it doesn't matter. This isn't about belief. This is about giving it a try and experiencing it for yourself.

And we're not just talking here about trying to stave off future unhappiness. There is also pain, here, now, while you are happy. Your comment, babenbelgium, makes clear that you are already worried about losing that happiness. In our present state of consciousness, this is how we humans tend to think. When we have something good, we start to worry we may lose it. This means that we can never be truly happy, even while we think we are. There is always that thought at the back of the mind: "What if I lose this?"

So how do we get rid of this fear? Once again, we have to practise what Tolle suggests: living in the moment. Only if we can break free from our dependancy on things, can we also break free from our fear of losing them.

I've saved the best bit till last. If we manage to change our consciousness in this way, Tolle suggests, then we are less likely to lose the good things we have and more of them are likely to come our way.

Tolle says: "It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependancy on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last."

Why should this be?

This post is already long enough, so I'll speculate about that next time. For now, I'll just say that the above has been my interpretation of some of Tolle's ideas, but if anyone is at all interested, then the best thing to do is obviously to read one of his books. Or try Living a Life of Inner Peace, a talk of his which is available on audio. I particularly like this one because it's funny, and as you know I like the idea of discussing spiritual matters in an entertaining way, as I (usually) try to do in this blog. Today I tried to focus on clarity instead. I hope it worked.

 

This may also be of interest:

How To Have It All

Comments

[Andy]

While babenbelgium's story is a good example of self help its not living in the now. Living in the now is "I'm driving in my car, I can feel my body and everything is good". At that moment where you live, your friends or indeed anything else is irrelevant.

Babenbelgium's referencing not wanting to loose this made me chuckle (its a common experience that I've learned to accept). The experience of been in the moment is timeless then the mind comes in and labels it as good followed by not wanting to lose it then the fear of losing it and before you know it you've lost the moment completely and for hours you've been lost in your head.

[Secret Simon]

Like taking delight in a butterfly in flight... and trying to reach out and grab it at the same time.

[Andy]

Or like observing a breathtaking scene in nature that stops you in your tracks....before thinking "get the camera.."

[Secret Simon]

Don't get me started on cameras. You can either *be* there or you can take photographs, that's what I think. You can't do both. If you've got a camera with you, you don't see the world any more. You just see a series of 35mm proportioned boxes all around you. Having said that, I have to admit that I've got into photography recently - exactly how is another story - but if we're on holiday, for instance, I don't take the camera out with me every day. I like to see the place first... and then take the photos later.