In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle asserts that human consciousness is trapped in a state of dysfunction because we’re controlled by our ego, which drives us to seek fulfillment by owning things and feeling superior to others. This has led to the destruction of the planet and harm to our species because of consumerism, ideological wars, pollution, and more. Tolle argues that we must undergo an evolution of consciousness if humanity and the earth are to survive. A New Earth aims to teach people how to do this: how to elevate their consciousness by becoming aware of their ego-driven thought and behavior patterns, and how to overcome those patterns.
In this guide, we’ll examine Tolle’s ideas and compare them to similar ideas from psychologists, anthropologists, and religious leaders, looking at how they either correspond to or differ from other schools of thought.
Tolle is a renowned spiritual guide and best-selling author who teaches people how to achieve inner peace and an awakened state of consciousness by living in the present moment. Tolle was formerly a doctoral student at Cambridge University but left his program after he experienced an epiphanic spiritual awakening. His critically acclaimed first book, The Power of Now, asserts that the only way to find inner peace and fulfillment is to be mentally present in each moment—but that our ego prevents us from doing so. A New Earth adds to these philosophies by arguing that our ego-driven behaviors have reached a critical point—we must elevate our consciousness now for the survival of our species and planet.
In this guide, we’ll discuss:
Tolle asserts that humans are dysfunctional because our ego has an underlying fear of never being enough. To counter that fear, our ego drives us to inflate our self-image.
In this section, we’ll explore how our ego does this and how it leads to the social, environmental, and economic crises we’re currently facing.
(Shortform note: Psychologists define the ego as a kind of “mental organ” or “defense system” whose role is to create and maintain a satisfying self-image and social role in the world. In other words, we want to be seen as a “good” person and important in at least some contexts, and the ego helps us do this. Expert opinions seem to support Tolle’s assertion that the ego has a fear of being nothing—this would explain why they call the ego a “defense system” that helps us maintain our identity and social roles.)
The ego attempts to eliminate its fear of being nothing by collecting and identifying with material, thought, and emotional elements. The ego then compares these elements to others’, judging them as either better or worse—if it judges others’ elements to be worse, this enables the ego to feel superior to others.
(Shortform note: Research conducted by UC Berkeley supports Tolle’s claim that people naturally strive for superiority over others. Experts discovered that not only do people strive for high status, but they prefer to have a higher status than others and were more satisfied when others were lower than them rather than equal, indicating that people don’t just want to be good, they want to be better than others.)
Gaining elements alleviates the fear of being nothing because it gives the ego an identity—something to call “me,” “mine,” and “my story.” These elements and our social standing form the mental image most people conjure up when they think of the “self.”
(Shortform note: Experts believe that our self-image is formed by four components: our physical body, social roles, personal traits, and abstract existential beliefs. These components correspond to Tolle’s “elements.” Our physical body is a material element, our social roles and existential beliefs are thought elements, and our personal traits are emotional elements—these components are the things we call “me,” “mine,” and “my story.”)
Material elements are the physical things that we identify with—typically, our possessions and our physical body. For example, your clothing, hairstyle, and home tend to represent the image you see of yourself and how you want to be seen by others. We alter these physical elements based on the self-image we want to present.
Our ego constantly desires more and higher-quality material elements because of our need for superiority—there’ll always be someone with more than us, and this knowledge reignites our fear of being nothing. When we acquire “better” material elements, we lessen that fear. For example, this urge manifests itself as the need to dress in the newest trends or get rhinoplasty to fit the current beauty standard. You do these things to alter your image so your ego and other people see you as “good enough” or “better.”
Materials Create and Represent Our Identity
Psychological research on people’s attachment to material items backs up Tolle’s assertion that material items play a large role in forming our identity. Experts explain that we begin relying on material items for a sense of identity as early as toddlers—we often grow up with a favorite toy or blanket that we feel lost without. They explain that this is simply because the thing is “ours,” and this ownership seems to give the object a special essence.
As teenagers, we commonly associate our identity with certain styles of clothing, using them to both express and affirm our identity. For example, teens who identify as “goth” or “emo” tend to wear dark colors and piercings while preppy teens stick to particular brands, lighter colors, and accessories like blazers or collared shirts. And when teens share clothing with their friends, it’s an acknowledgment of their shared or group identity.
However, while Tolle argues that our obsession with materials is due to an underlying need for superiority, experts explain that it has more to do with figuring out who we are—the less we feel we know ourselves, the more we rely on materials to construct an image of self.
This obsession with materials has led our consumer society and economy to a place where the only measure of success is having more, which has resulted in greed, pollution, and depletion of resources—one aspect of human dysfunction.
(Shortform note: Scientists explain that human consumerism is severely undermining natural systems and making it increasingly difficult for the poor to meet basic needs. Our incessant desire for highly processed foods, bigger houses, nicer cars, and the accumulation of non-essential goods is depleting the planet's water supply, natural resources, and diverse ecosystems. They add that roughly 37% of the planet's species could become extinct as a result.)
Tolle explains that thought elements are the recurring thought patterns we identify with, such as the roles we play (like mother, customer, or employee) and the ideologies we believe in (like morals, values, and religions).
Our thought elements shape how we interact with the world and lead to two forms of human dysfunction:
1. Inauthentic relationships: Tolle argues that when we adhere to societal roles, we act based on what we think that role calls for rather than how we really feel. When that happens, our relationships can become artificial. For example, when we’re playing a parent role, we might act superior because we’re “the knowledgeable adult,” and we therefore might end up missing a more authentic emotional connection that our child needs. In extreme forms, role-based relationships can lead to human mistreatment like slave versus master, or in everyday forms, like an abusive boss and submissive employee. Ultimately, when we see another person as a label—a child, slave, employee, and so on—rather than a human being, our relationship with them is formed according to this label rather than how we feel toward them.
Power Structures and Social Roles Dictate Behavior
Tolle’s claim that adhering to social roles alters how we would otherwise behave and form relationships has been a common hypothesis among psychologists for many years. This hypothesis was proven in the 1970s through the controversial Stanford Prison Experiment. The experiment sought to uncover whether guard brutality in American prisons was due to the guards' and prisoners' dispositions or the rigid power structures and social roles created by the prison system itself. The experiment concluded that the guard’s brutality towards prisoners was due to the power structures and roles involved.
In the experiment, participants were given the role of either a prisoner or guard and instructed to enact these roles in a simulated prison setting for one to two weeks. However, within days, violence began to break out between prisoners and guards.
Guards began to develop a brutal superiority complex while fulfilling their role, which was to “do whatever is necessary to maintain order, except for the use of violence.” Their treatment and punishment of the prisoners became extreme and unusual. Consequently, prisoners began to resist this treatment, which escalated the guards’ use of punishment until they became violent. By day six, the experiment was canceled, as the role-playing had become so intense that it closely imitated the actual violence and brutality that occurs in real prisons.
Ultimately, the researchers concluded that the violence in prisons is not due to the natural disposition of prisoners and guards, but instead is a result of the rigid power structures and hierarchical roles in prisons that dictate people’s behavior. These results support Tolle’s assertion that people’s behavior and relationships are impacted by societal roles.
2. Polarization and violence: When we attach our self-image to ideologies like religious beliefs, we want to feel these beliefs are “right” (superior) for our ego to feel “enough.” Consequently, we insist that others who contradict our beliefs are “wrong” and will often resort to violence to assert this truth. For example, during the Crusades, Christians raped, tortured, and killed those of different spiritual beliefs to assert Christianity as “right.” Ultimately, when others fail to share our beliefs, morals, or values, we experience negative emotions like anger, frustration, and resentment—the underlying causes of human polarization and violence.
(Shortform note: Experts agree that religious identity can cause polarization and violence because the underlying psychological function of religion is to provide us with a sense of certainty and identity. The human need to have an identity, and for that identity to be “right,” can grow so strong that the individual becomes more concerned with maintaining their truth than upholding the religion’s teachings. Ultimately, experts explain that the more reliant people are on religion as a form of certainty and identity, the less compassionate and understanding they are of others, and the more likely they are to grow distant from and even violent towards people who contradict their beliefs.)
Tolle explains that our emotions—our bodies’ responses to our thought elements—also form our self-image. When we experience a recurring thought and consequent emotional reaction, it becomes part of our identity. In other words, our emotions aren’t caused by situations, but by the thoughts we have about the situation. And, the more strongly we identify with our thought elements (morals, values, and beliefs), the stronger our emotional reactions will be when things don’t meet our expectations.
Furthermore, each time we have a negative emotional reaction to a situation, it affirms the thought that caused the emotion. When the thought pattern is affirmed, we’re rewarded with a feeling of superiority for being “right,” and we will be more likely to experience the same thought and emotion in similar situations in the future.
For example, if we operate on the underlying thought element that no one’s trustworthy, we’re likely to interpret honest mistakes as deceit. If someone mistakenly takes our jacket thinking it’s theirs, we’re going to assume they were trying to steal it from us. Then, we will have an emotional reaction that affirms this belief—“they tried to steal my jacket and play it off as a mistake. I knew it, no one is trustworthy.” This will make us feel superior for being “right” and we will now be more likely to experience the same misinterpretation in the future.
Emotions Are “Constructs” of the Brain
In How Emotions Are Made, Lisa Feldman Barrett argues that, contrary to popular belief, emotions are not an instinctive response to outside events, but instead are concepts constructed by the brain about how to react and cope in different situations based on our past experiences. This very closely aligns with Tolle’s assertion that emotions are our body’s responses to our subconscious, underlying thoughts about a situation—Barrett just refers to these “thoughts” as “concepts that are constructed by the brain.” Barrett calls this the theory of constructed emotions.
Barrett elaborates that whenever we experience external stimuli, the brain needs to process what it’s seeing to formulate an appropriate response. It does this by comparing these stimuli to past similar experiences and forming a “concept” of what the stimuli are and how to respond. For example, through life experience, our brains have learned that drops of water randomly falling from the sky are called “rain,” and are not a threat. We then store this concept of “rain” so we can appropriately explain and respond to the phenomenon in the future.
Barrett argues that emotions are concepts of the brain just like rain is. When we witness an external event, we experience certain bodily sensations and then form a “concept” of what the bodily response is and when it’s appropriate. Just like water falling from the sky is “rain,” an intense feeling in our gut after a loss is “sadness.” In the future, our brains will tell us that the correct response to a loss or tragic situation is to be sad.
Further, Barrett explains that emotions function as self-fulfilling prophecies—our brain makes a prediction about how we should feel in a certain situation based on a concept, and when we react in this way, the concept is confirmed. Thus, the emotional reaction is more likely to occur when we face similar stimuli in the future. Tolle makes the same assertion—emotional reactions are affirmations of our underlying thoughts, and when the emotions affirm the thought, we’re more likely to react the same way again.
Tolle explains that our emotional identity is housed in an energy form called the pain-body—the part of our mind that collects and stores all the negative emotional experiences we’ve had in our life. The pain-body collects these emotional experiences, and the next time a similar situation occurs, it reminds us of our previous negative thoughts and emotions and prompts us to react in the same way. This suffering ultimately strengthens the ego because it feeds on negativity.
(Shortform note: The “pain-body” is a term created by Tolle and heavily used throughout his works. Since the publication of his previous book, The Power of Now, the term has come to be widely used in the spiritual community as well.)
The pain-body not only stores these emotions but also feeds off them. So, the more we experience negative emotions, the denser and more reactive the pain-body gets, and the bleaker our emotional identity and perception of the world become. Additionally, the denser the pain-body becomes, the more it craves further negativity to sustain itself, and thus the more it seeks out, recognizes, and creates negative thoughts and emotions.
Therefore, our pain-body causes dysfunction by trapping us in an endless cycle of suffering that affects us and those closest to us.
(Shortform note: Tolle argues that the pain-body makes us prone to negativity. Experts call this phenomenon the negativity bias. Like Tolle, they explain that humans tend to be more prone to negative thoughts than positive ones, and that negativity has a cyclical function—when we experience negative events, we tend to dwell on them and remember them more easily, ultimately making us respond more strongly to negative stimuli in the future. However, rather than attributing this effect to the pain-body, they say that it’s because of human evolution—early humans were more likely to survive if they paid more attention to bad or dangerous things over good and harmless things.)
Tolle argues that humanity currently exists in a state he calls object consciousness—when our reality and priorities are entirely centered around enhancing our self-image. We’ll call this state mindlessness.
Unfortunately, despite the ego’s hard work, identifying with elements and becoming superior to others won’t eliminate the fear of being nothing. This is because there will always be someone who has more or better elements than us. Therefore, the ego will always crave more elements to gain superiority, resulting in what Tolle calls the endless cycle of wanting—no matter what we have, we will always want more.
(Shortform note: The Tao Te Ching, one of the foundational texts of Taoism, explains that success is often defined by wealth and status. Consequently, people become obsessed with gaining “more.” Taoism teaches that this endless striving leaves people perpetually dissatisfied because the external structures they seek can’t provide them with true fulfillment. The Tao Te Ching ultimately describes this chase for success as a cycle that functions on the same premise as Tolle’s endless cycle of wanting—people look for fulfillment through external structures that can’t provide it and end up trapped in a cycle of unhappiness.)
Tolle explains that because of this cycle, humans are only able to experience the present moment in one of three dysfunctional ways:
Doing Is Preventing Us From Being in the Present
Psychologists explain that being mindful in the present moment is the key to relieving dissatisfaction and anxiety, but that our thinking mind (what Tolle calls the voice of the ego) prevents us from being mindful. They suggest that some reasons we see the present moment as either a bridge, a barrier, or an antagonist are:
We’re distracted by other things we can be doing. For example, we’re responding to a text, drinking alcohol to reach a state of intoxication, watching a movie to keep busy, and so on. We therefore see the present as a bridge to something else we can do in the future and also as a barrier to a more pleasurable activity.
We’re narrating and explaining the present moment in our mind. We do this by either thinking about past experiences and comparing them to the present or thinking about how we’ll explain what’s going on right now to someone in the future. When we’re preparing to explain ourselves to someone in the future, we’re essentially viewing the present as a bridge—the future explanation is more important than what’s happening now.
We’re obsessed with finding meaning. Instead of simply absorbing what’s happening, we’re focused on three questions: why is this happening, what does this say about me or my life, and what do I need to do about this. Ultimately, experts explain, this happens because we don’t trust the present moment and fear what will happen if we’re not in control. In this state, we may be seeing the present as either a bridge, a barrier, an antagonist, or even all three at once. We may be finding meaning in the present because we’re telling ourselves it’s necessary to get somewhere else in the future (a bridge or barrier), or we’re trying to prepare because we’re afraid that something bad will happen and the moment will turn against us (an antagonist).
When we’re unable to be mentally present because we’re consumed with wanting, our ego can control our thinking and behavior, trapping us in a dysfunctional state of mindlessness. Tolle argues that the only way to escape this state is to evolve our consciousness to a higher level—one where we are present in each moment rather than constantly wanting.He calls this state being or presence, but we’ll refer to it as mindfulness.
(Shortform note: The Tao Te Ching also asserts that the state of wanting is contrary to how we should live, explaining that earthly desires and “success” are distractions that prevent us from living as one with the Tao, or the natural order of the universe. Living as one with the Tao ultimately means breaking free from the constraints our humanity puts on our minds, like labeling things as good and evil, right and wrong, fact and fiction, and being concerned with the past, future, and what we should and shouldn’t do. These constraints are what Tolle would label as manifestations of the ego, and the Taoist solution to break free from these constraints corresponds to Tolle’s idea of presence—mindfulness.)
Tolle asserts that the key to achieving a state of perpetual mindfulness is to connect with our inner self, rather than the false self-image created by our ego. When we’re connected with our inner self, we’re always in a state of mindfulness.
Tolle explains that our inner self is pure conscious energy, the same sophisticated energy that created the functional universe we live in. It’s the force that directs planets to rotate around stars and galaxies to rotate around a center mass—an order that allows for life to exist.
This energy lives inside all things and guides their survival—plants that photosynthesize to live; animals that survive by their instincts; and humans, who are conscious of their own consciousness. He argues that this sophisticated energy specifically created humans to have this heightened consciousness so that it can experience itself through the human form—so consciousness itself could experience consciousness. Becoming one with this consciousness, or our inner self, is the purpose of human life, Tolle argues.
The Purpose of Life is “Oneness”
Tolle’s philosophy about the inner self, the universal energy, and the purpose of human life very closely aligns with the teachings of the Advaita Vedanta, a branch of Hinduism. According to the Advaita Vedanta, the purpose of life is “oneness”—to realize that our consciousness is made of the same universal energy within all things and to become one with this energy rather than continue seeing ourselves as “other.”
The Advaita Vedanta calls this universal energy “Brahman,” and is similar to what many religions would refer to as “God.” The philosophy asserts, like Tolle, that the purpose of human life is to realize that the soul of all living things, called “Atman,” is one with Brahman and all creation. However, the Hindu philosophy splits from Tolle’s argument in A New Earth by explaining that until we reach this state of oneness, we will be reincarnated in a cycle of life, death, and rebirth, called the cycle of samsara.
Tolle explains that when we connect with our inner self and live in a state of mindfulness, we will live in a state of non-attachment, nonjudgment, and nonresistance, which will allow us to break free from the ego’s control.
When we no longer form attachments to material, thought, and emotional elements, we’ll no longer generate greed, consumerism, and pollution caused by the endless cycle of wanting.
When we no longer judge things as “right and wrong” or “good and bad,” we’ll no longer have unrealistic expectations that cause disappointment, anger, resentment, and other forms of suffering.
Consequently, we’ll cease resisting what simply is and cannot be changed. Tolle notes that nothing in the world is inherently good or bad, it’s only our judgments of them that make them so. We’ll no longer feel the stress, greed, envy, and negativity supplied by the ego because we no longer crave external validation. We will only feel peace.
If the bulk of humanity dedicates itself to achieving this state of mindfulness, Tolle asserts that the violence and destruction caused by the collective human ego will cease.
Presence: Cure for World Problems or Pseudoscience?
In 10% Happier, Dan Harris agrees that the solution to overcoming the ego is mindfulness—what Tolle calls presence—but claims that it’s not necessarily a cure-all for the world problems caused by human dysfunction, as Tolle promises.
A lot of the issues Harris has with Tolle’s philosophy center around the details of what mindfulness entails. While Harris and Tolle both define the term similarly and agree that mindfulness entails detaching from your emotions—what Tolle refers to as living with non-attachment—Harris disagrees with Tolle’s assertion that humans should never feel emotions like anger and should be entirely passive about events that happen in their lives.
Ultimately, Harris says that it’s unrealistic to expect people to live with total nonjudgment and nonresistance all the time. While Harris agrees that we shouldn’t let our sensations, feelings, and emotions control our mood and behavior, he says it’s still acceptable to feel emotions like anger sometimes and to have some attachments to thoughts based in reality, like judging certain things as morally wrong. For example, if someone harms a child, it’s understandable to judge that person as wrong and be angry about it. Consequently, he struggles to reconcile Tolle’s assertions about mindfulness with his claims that it can transform the human race and our state of consciousness.
Luckily, Tolle explains that a human evolution to this evolved state of consciousness is possible and has been underway for thousands of years. He argues that the first sparks of the consciousness evolution were the ancient spiritual teachers like Buddha, Jesus, and Lao Tzu.
These teachers and their respective religions all preached the same two-fold fundamental truth that is the basis of Tolle’s argument: (1) The normal state of the human mind is inherently dysfunctional, and (2) a radical transformation of human consciousness to overcome this dysfunction is possible and necessary, and it’s the purpose of human life.
Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism refer to inherent human dysfunction, respectively, as maya, original sin, and dukkha. They all view the transformation of consciousness as the solution to this innate dysfunction, and they refer to it, respectively, as enlightenment, salvation, and the end of suffering.
The teachers who founded these religions embodied the evolved state of consciousness that the rest of humanity needs to achieve, and they encouraged others to evolve through their teachings.
Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism: Dualistic Religions
Tolle explains that the spiritual leaders who sparked the consciousness evolution all preached that humans are dysfunctional and must reach an enlightened state—this two-fold truth is referred to as religious dualism.
Religious Dualism is the belief that there are essentially two contrasting components of life—humanity and something “divine,” often humanity and God. Ultimately, dualistic religions all assert that something is inherently wrong with humanity and that there is some higher level of being we’re meant to attain. Until we reach this higher level, whether it’s becoming enlightened (Hinduism), or reaching heaven (Christianity), we will finally be happy and escape our suffering. Ultimately, dualistic religions are founded on the basis of good versus evil. The purpose of human life is to battle our evil instincts to reach the ultimate “good.”
Similar to religious dualism is philosophical dualism, which asserts that human consciousness, or the spirit, is separate from our physical body. In other words, our consciousness will continue on once our body has died. Tolle’s philosophy would be considered dualistic.
On the other side is monism, which asserts that consciousness is simply the result of evolution and our highly developed brains. While dualism and monism are opposing beliefs, there are multiple branches of each philosophy that interpret the dualistic or monistic approach differently, some even overlapping certain beliefs with the opposing philosophy.
Tolle explains that evolutions happen over time—they start with minor changes, or “sparks” like the ones described above, and they eventually reach a critical point where mass change is necessary for the survival of the species. Tolle argues that now is the critical point in the evolution of human consciousness—mass change is necessary today for the survival of humankind and the planet.
This is because our destructive ability (caused by our ego) is intensifying at an unsustainable rate due to advances in technology. Tolle explains that while wars have always happened, we’re now able to kill and destroy with alarming efficiency due to advanced weapons. Furthermore, the development of technologies has allowed us to destroy most of our forests and the habitats of innumerable plants and animals. We torture animals in factory farms and poison rivers, oceans, and the air.
If we’re unable to evolve out of the mindless ego-driven state of consciousness that causes this destruction, we’ll end up killing our species and destroying the planet.
Should We Remain Optimistic About the Future?
Scientists around the world argue that the biggest threat to our species and planet is anthropogenic climate change which is mainly caused by factory farms, consumerism, pollution, deforestation, and more—many of the issues Tolle discusses in A New Earth. And scientists agree that the critical point is now—experts say we must limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2029 to prevent irreversible damage. If we’re unable to do this, our immoral actions will make life on Earth unrecognizable—coral reefs will be extinct, destructive storms will be the norm, and coastal cities will be underwater.
However, in The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker argues that humanity is actually on a moral incline and that we should be optimistic about the future. He asserts that our era is less violent, less cruel, and more peaceful than any other period in human history. Fewer people are dying at the hands of others and there are fewer wars. Slavery, torture, and cruel punishment are almost universally rejected. Communities are raising their voices against animal cruelty, and minorities and previously “inferior” groups are increasingly gaining rights and fair treatment.
Pinker explains that our previous rotten behavior, and increasingly moral behavior, is due to our survival instincts: We do what we think is necessary to survive. In times where resources were scarce, people went to extreme lengths to ensure their survival and were rarely held accountable for the violence that ensued. Today, better governments, greater prosperity, health, education, and trade are decreasing our tendencies toward violence and immoral behavior.
Tolle explains that when humanity collectively reaches a perpetual state of mindfulness and breaks free from the ego’s control, enjoyment will become the motivating force behind people's actions rather than wanting. And if we don't particularly enjoy what’s happening, we can at least accept it without resistance and negative thoughts. Consequently, human dysfunction will end.
Tolle offers five suggestions for how to live with non-attachment, nonjudgment, and nonresistance and ultimately achieve a state of mindfulness.
The Dalai Lama Adds to Tolle’s Advice
In The Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama’s assertion on how to achieve peace and enjoyment in life closely aligns with Tolle’s: Stop resisting the things that happen to us in life. The Dalai Lama says we must accept that suffering is inherent to life. When we resist the unfavorable things that happen to us, we cause ourselves more suffering—for example, if you missed your train, it might be an inconvenience, but when you get angry about it, you’re simply adding unnecessary suffering to an already unfavorable situation. Ultimately, the Dalai Lama is making the same assertion as Tolle: To achieve peace and enjoyment in life, we need to live with mindfulness—non-attachment, nonjudgment, and nonresistance to the outside world.
To achieve this state of acceptance, the Dalai Lama and his co-author Howard C. Cutler make a number of recommendations, many of which closely align with Tolle’s suggestions:
Don’t take things personally. When we take offense to situations, we’re ultimately operating under the belief that everything is about us. Tolle’s philosophy would label these negative thoughts as compulsions of both your ego and your pain-body. To help resist these thoughts, the authors suggest that you objectively question why the situation happened—for example, maybe your friend was late because of traffic, not because she doesn’t care about you. This practice can help you weaken the pain-body by dismantling the belief that everything is about you.
Don’t indulge in guilt. Everyone makes mistakes. Obviously, we should never intentionally cause anyone suffering, but if we do so by accident, we must remember that suffering is inherent and we are only human—we can’t be perfect. Simply learn from the situation and move on. While this suggestion adds to Tolle’s list, it’s closely connected to his beliefs about how our thought elements dictate good and bad. When we follow the Dalai Lama’s suggestion to learn from the mistake without feeling guilty, we’re also detaching from these underlying thought beliefs that make us feel like we’re a “bad” person—guilt is ultimately a reaction and affirmation of these thought elements.
Contemplate your body. Because we possess a physical body that can experience sensations like pain, suffering is inherent and natural. Consequently, there’s no need to resist it. This adds to Tolle’s recommendations to focus on your body: Tolle’s advice seeks to help you use your body to find mindfulness, and the Dalai Lama’s advice seeks to do the same, but through suffering.
Stop resting change. Nothing is permanent—experiences, plans, and even life itself. When we attach ourselves to these things, we will end up suffering when they inevitably end or change. This encapsulates Tolle’s suggestion to live with non-attachment and enables us to do everything in a state of acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. If we aren’t attached to external things, we can do them with acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm because we won’t be concerned with them changing or ending.
Our pain-bodies feed on negativity and trap us in a cycle of suffering. However, if we identify the negative thoughts and emotions of our pain-body, we can recognize when the pain-body is being activated and detach from its compulsions.
Identify a painful experience from your past that has lodged itself in your pain-body. For example, were you bullied when you were younger, left out of activities with your friends, belittled by teachers, or something similarly traumatic?
Now, consider the underlying belief that this traumatic experience has formed in your pain-body. For example, do you think people are untrustworthy? Do you think success is impossible to achieve? Do you think others see you as unattractive?
When this negative thought is triggered by an outside situation, how does your body feel and what emotions do you experience? For example, do you feel a pit in your stomach, lump in your throat, burning sensation in your hands? And what would you call these sensations—anger, sadness, jealousy, embarrassment? When you feel these things, know that your pain-body is being activated.
When you experience these sensations in a similar situation in the future, what can you tell yourself to detach yourself from these emotional responses?
Our ego prevents us from being mindful by making us see the present moment as a bridge, barrier, or antagonist. However, if we’re able to simply accept the things we don’t enjoy without resistance and do more of the things we do enjoy, we can experience peace and enthusiasm in our lives.
What is something you do in your day-to-day life that you find boring or dreadful? For example, do you hate going to work or doing the laundry?
If the task you identified is unavoidable, is there anything you can do to help you stay present? For example, can you listen to music or complete other tasks that may be distracting you beforehand?
Now identify something that you enjoy doing. How often do you do this thing, and are you able to make more time to do this activity? The more time you spend doing the things you enjoy, the easier it will be for you to stay present.