Rising above the thought. In this podcast, Eckhart talks with a live audience. He says,

sometimes in our efforts to become present, we fall below thought. It happens when we're consumed by

negativity. We reach for something to take away the pain, perhaps alcohol or drugs or food.

We may feel relief for a short time, but eventually that discomfort always comes back.

What we need to do is resist the pull toward unconsciousness.

To awaken spiritually, we must rise above thought to reach a state of alert presence.

It's good to be back here after a few years, and surprisingly, it's still the present moment.

It's very strange. We are surrendered to the present moment. It's very strange.

We are surrendered to the present moment.

We are not complaining about anything.

And if we stop complaining mentally,

that's already the beginning of the end of the ego.

The ego thrives on complaining.

And as a spiritual practice, before we get into the talk,

while people are still looking for their seats,

as a spiritual practice, I highly recommend

catching yourself in the moment when your mind

is complaining about something.

And you may be surprised that it happens quite often.

It can complain about where you are,

or claim that you are not where you want to be,

who you are with, what people do or fail to do, or have done or should have done but didn't do,

...