Week 4 -- A New Earth

“The Truth is inseparable from who you are.” – Eckhart Tolle

Affirmation:

                                        "I am."

Study Questions – A New Earth  (Review chapters 7 & 8, pp 185-256)

Chapter 7

“Your sense of who you are determines what you perceive as your needs and what matters to you in life – and whatever matters to you will have the power to upset and disturb you.” (p. 186) When we attempt to better understand ourselves, we are often blinded by our assumptions and beliefs. Today we have the opportunity to make use of the collective insight of the group. Identify those two or three things that have the most power to disturb you. What does this tell you about whom you think you are? Based upon those two or three things, what insight do others have about who you think you are? Take turns within the group discussing each other’s “things” (ok, let’s all chuckle together and get it over with).

“Who you are requires no belief. In fact, every belief is an obstacle.” (p. 189) What insights arise in considering this statement?

“Whatever people are withholding from you – praise, appreciation, assistance, loving care, and so on – give it to them…. You cannot receive what you don’t give.” (p. 191) Thoughts?

“Nothing you can find out about yourself is you. Nothing you can know about you is you.” (p. 192) Comments?

What obstacles arise when we label people, things, circumstances or situations as “good” or “bad”? (pp. 195-198) What effects do these obstacles have on the realization of who we are?

“The most important, the primordial relationship in your life is your relationship with the Now,…(with) what is or what happens.” Why do you think that is so?

“There are three ways the ego will treat the present moment: as a means to an end, as an obstacle, or as an enemy.” How has this idea shown up for you? What experiences have you had when the present moment has been 1) as a means to an end (“I gotta’ do this before I can do that”), 2) as an obstacle (“I’ll grit my teeth through this”), or 3) as an enemy (“why me?”)?

“The elimination of time from your consciousness is the elimination of the ego. I is the only true spiritual practice.” (p. 207) Elaborate upon why you agree or disagree with this statement.

“A powerful spiritual practice is consciously to allow the diminishment of ego when it happens without attempting to restore it.” (p. 215) How has this felt when you have tried to do this? How did it affect the circumstances in which you experienced the diminishment of the ego? Would you willingly do it again?

Chapter 8

“This, too, will pass.” (p. 224) What does this mean to you? How have you applied this idea in your life? What has been the tangible effect of its use? If you were seeking, as the king in the parable sought, an inner peace that could not be disturbed – and this was offered to you as a solution by a reknowned wise person – would you honor the gift by always applying the idea? Then why do you have episodes of lack of inner peace?

“Can you feel your own Presence?” (p. 228) How would you describe your experience of your own Presence? Was its experience intentional or unintentional? How would you regain that experience?

“Consciousness, the traditional word for which is spirit, cannot be known in the nromal sense of the word, and seeking it is futile.” How does Tolle explain this statement? What do you understand this statement to mean? If consciousness cannot be known, then what’s the point of our spiritual practice?

“In the first moment of seeing something or hearing a sound – and more so if it is unfamiliar – before the mind names or interprets what you see or hear, there is usually a gap of alert attention in which perception occurs. That is inner space.” (p. 253) Have you had that experience of inner space? How would you describe that gap that occurs before the “naming” or “interpreting”? How is the awareness of that gap relevant to your knowing who you are?

Next Week: Read chapters 9 & 10.