The danger of deferring satisfaction.

In this podcast, Eckhart talks about setting goals and deferring satisfaction.

He says, for many people, the activities they're engaged in are just a means to an end.

He believes they're not present in what they're doing now because they're projecting where they want to be in the future.

Eckhart explains, this is a self-defeating way to live because while we may need to defer satisfaction to reach a goal,

there's also an inherent danger to it.

He says, after years, the pattern may become so ingrained, we no longer find satisfaction in anything we do because we're so used to deferring it.

Eckhart says, we must honor whatever we are doing in the present moment.

And if we give it our full attention, then it is possible to fill clarity and joy.

As we sit here, check in with yourself.

See, what is your consciousness as we sit here in silence?

What is your mind doing?

What is the voice in the head saying or doing if anything?

And perhaps there is stillness, which is wonderful.

As you might have guessed, when I sit here, I'm not thinking.

And the invitation is for you to share the space of presence, and as much as possible, be in that state of awareness,

instead of absorbed in thought, and thoughts may rise occasionally as we sit here.

But you don't have to follow them with your attention, just let them go past like a cloud.

The essence of all spirituality is this to realize that inner spaciousness or stillness.

In Hindu spiritual philosophy, there's a term called Turya, which means the fourth, first, second, third, fourth.

A state of consciousness, Turya, the fourth, it divides human consciousness into dreamless sleep, the dream state, the second, the wakeful state, the third.

And Turya is the fourth state of consciousness, which is this.

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