CLASS I: TOLLE ONLINE CLASS

“Science and Technology amplifies the egoic dysfunction in our society.”
I do not entirely agree with this statement. The ego is the amplification of the self. If science and technology is not used to enhance society, it can eat away at the human mind, and alienate humans, making direct physical contact between humans scarce. This time spent alone, can enhance the ego.However, if used in a positive manner, we can use technology and science to learn more about ourselves, the planet we live in and the universe.

EGO AS A DYSFUNCTION“Keep your own ego in check.” Tolle spoke of looking within yourself and finding the voice within, and separating the true inner voice from the voice of the ego. The ego is the dysfunction built into our thought processes. He says that by putting positive energy into the universe, we can affect everyone else’s energy fields. As positive energy contributes, so does negative energy such as individual fears, doubts, and angers all contribute to the collective.
BE A WITNESS TO YOUR EGO.In order to keep the ego in check, we need to just observe our voices and not react to them. Our voices in our heads or the ego, tells us things like, “You should go to church.” This voice controls our actions. Tolle says to just be “a witness” to your thought processes. Do not try to control them or push them away. The guilt you may feel when your voice says “You should go to church.” Is the conflict in the mind or whether you should follow the egoic mind or follow the way of the conscious mind. Once you have realized this and just observe the voice without allowing it to affect you, then you have surpassed the ego.

“EMBRACING SILENCE”“Embracing Silence” is a group that was created to share the consciousness. When a community of people join together to attain consciousness, ther is an increase in the energy field that is generated throughout the planet. It is helpful to join together with others, but only helpful to enhance your own consciousness. You should not be dependent on the group. If you become dependent on the group, then you will always need to go back to the group to get the energy, and you will not be able to generate it on your own.

“THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS”You don’t become good by trying to become good. You must find the goodness that is already within, and allow it to emerge. It can emerge only if the ego allows it to emerge. If you try too hard to be good, you are not being truly good.

“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD”Tolle says that this is the entire wisdom of religion. To be still is to tap into your inner self. The inner self is the essence of who you are and it remains untouched.
If something that you get does not satisfy you even when you get it, then it is coming from the EGO. Trying to make things satisfy you does not do a thing and will not utimately satisfy you. True satisfaction is not attained by things. Things can be lost or they can age. Then what happens to you? True satisfaction comes from within.

ACCEPTANCE IS THE CATALYST FOR CHANGEAccept life for what it is. The basis for life is the present moment. If you resist things in your life, they will only persist. Resisting will only cause more of it. There must be acceptance of what is there at the present moment, first. Then, action comes out of acceptance, not out of resisting what is there at the present moment.

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“DENY THYSELF”

Our ego is our self-expression. It is a conglomeration of all our past experiences, our culture, our upbringing, and our values. This Tolle says is our ego. Our ego wants to be the “I”. It wants to be distinguished from the other egos around it, or the other people in its life.

One way that the ego does this is by finding fault with other people, and by complaining about others. In the Bible, Jesus asked , “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” The answer is that the ego feels superior to the one it condemns, and it is blinded of its own faults.

Complaining about people or situations can become habitual, and some egos can survive only on complaining all the time. When we complain, this essentially tells our ego that we are right by default because the other person has done us wrong. Being right is what makes the ego even stronger. This constant complaining will eventually lead to resentment of that person to whom the complaint is directed, or a resentment of a situation the ego is in. This feeling of resentment adds even more power behind the ego. Instead of forgiving others, the ego will try and enhance the negative in others, creating the faults of others into their identity. The ego will start believing and amplifying all the negative in others. This in essence creates a rift between the ego and the person whom the ego is targetting. This rift gives the ego more and more power.

Eventually, resentment can lead to a stronger emotion, like anger. Anger is a highly charged negative energy that can become permanent. When this happens, it is called a grievance. A grievance is a negative emotion that is connected to an event. If a negative event that occurred in the distant past, it is kept alive by continuously thinking about it and retelling it over and over again. This can affect a great portion of your life. It can change the way you deal with people on a daily basis, and it can change how you react to people in your life.

HOW DO YOU WEAKEN AN EGO?
In order to weaken the ego and to see the true sane essence of a person, we must look beyond the ego. We must understand that the ego which is being resentful and finding fault with others is only superficial. There is a real person under that ego. This person is true, beautiful, forgiving and sane. The only way to deal with an ego is to have no reaction to an ego. However, there are egos that do not want to change or are too afraid to change and they will be the ones tha t will go on complaining.

If you notice that you do have ego, or a grievance, acknowledge it. Accept it. What we find truly upsetting in a person, Tolle says, is also the one fault of negative that is also in you. It is the correction that we must make in this life. Kaballah, a form of Jewish mysticism teaches this. In Kaballah, we notice the particular faults we have by noticing our intense reaction to a given situation or a person. The reason we have such a strong reaction, is because we ourselves have this same fault. Tolle says that you must not try to forcefully forgive another for doing you wrong. You must just realize that there is no purpose in holding a grudge, or a grievance. The only purpose that a grudge has is to feed the ego, and by doing this, you are allowing the past to infiltrate into the present, and you are unable to live truly and completely in the present.

Tolle says that when Christ says, “Deny thyself”, what he meant was deny the illusion of yourself, or of your ego. In other words, let your ego go and tap into your true self, your true essence.

THOUGHTS ON A NEW EARTH

THE INHERITED DYSFUNCTION

Mr. Tolle speaks of an “inherited dysfunction”. This he says is an underlying madness of the human spirit. In Hinduism, it is called “maya” or a veil of delusion. In Buddhism, the human mind has “dukkha” or suffering, and misery. In Christianity, it is called “sin”. Sin is actually Greek which mean to miss the mark, or to miss the point to human existence.Again we see a connection here…. A thread that binds the purpose of all religions; and that purpose is to overcome that innate human dysfunction.

The basis of all dysfunction he says is “ego”. We as a human population have an attachment to things. We tend to consider the things that we have as an expression of who we are. The more we have, the more we stand out and are “better” than everyone else.

When we as humans have something good, we want more and more. This need for wanting more feeds our ego. Wanting something is the drive, which is much greater than having something. We can never have enough. We are always in search of something more. He illustrates this by giving the example of teenagers and how they have an intense wanting of something, but they don’t know what they want. They are in a “permanent state of negativity and dissatisfaction”. Another example he gives are the corporations, where the only aim is profit.

Tolle tells us to think about not having something very important to us, and then asking ourselves the question, “Has who I am become diminished” by not having the thing that is most important to me? Once you realize that the person you are is not changed by having or not having “things”, then you will feel your “AM-NESS” as Tolle says.

He says that the way to let go of our attachment to things is when “you no longer seek to find yourself in them.” He says to be aware when you do get upset when you loose something. This awareness of your feeling of attachment is the first step in the “transformation of consciousness”.