Eckhart Tolle Quotes

Life is consciousness.

The ego of man and woman is the soul. If the soul is independent, how then can it be isolated from the infinite whole?

I am me, whatever that means. I am conscious.

Also, where does your identity come from? Your memory, of course.

If the will did not exist, neither would there be that centre of the world, which we call the I.

For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.

We can conceive a thinking being to have either many or few perceptions. Suppose the mind to be reduced even below the life of anoyster. Suppose it to have only one perception, as of thirst or hunger. Consider it in that situation. Do you conceive any thing but merely that perception? Have you any notion of self or substance? If not, the addition of other perceptions can never give you that notion.

In my definition of consciousness, consciousness is the same thing as life. What wisdom traditions also call spirit.

As big as my ego may be, I'm really not of the belief that I can't be replaced. I didn't invent the wheel. There's someone else out there who can do what I do, maybe a little differently. I believe that Kiss is bigger than its individual members.

I suppose identity depends on memory. And if my memory is blotted out, then I wonder if I exist - I mean, if I am the same person. Of course, I don't have to solve that problem. It's up to God, if any.

I--this thought which is called I--is the mould into which the world is poured like melted wax.

Consciousness is a singular for which there is no plural.

Your lower self sees you as the center of the universe- your higher self sees you as a cell in the body of humanity.

The word 'self' is as great a mystery as the word 'other'. It's just a polarity between two mysteries.

I believe that it is made out of the same cloth of mind, but it is an add-on, it was something that was specialized to create what we call the self. And it exists for very special purposes and it has very special, and I think by and large good consequences, although not only good consequences.

The self is known to every one but not clearly. You always exist.

If I use the word consciousness, in our lab, in our institute, what we mean is the special quality of mind, the special features that exist in the mind, that permit us to know, for example, that we, ourselves, exist, and that things exist around us.

We're a feeling, an awareness encased here

It doesn't matter what you do. It matters who you are.

I don't have any choice any more. I am in a choiceless awareness. I don't have to be aware. I am simply aware. Now it is just like my heartbeat or like my breathing. Even if I try not to be aware, it is not possible; the very effort will make me more aware. Awareness is not a quality, a characteristic; it is your whole being. When you become aware, there is no choice left to be otherwise.

You are not a human being. You are not your body, you are not your mind, and you are not your soul. These are things that You have. The You that has these things - indeed, that has given your Self these things - is far bigger than any of them, and even all of them put together.

Most people have a time-bound awareness. And the reason is they have sacrificed their self for their self-image.

I know myself as mortal, but this raises the question: "What is I?" Am I an individual, or am I an evolving life stream composed of countless selves?

Once the current of awareness of the self is set afoot, it becomes everlasting and continuous by intensification.

One forgets that one is one. I must try to remember this.