The Two Worlds
A reader objected to my view that we have to do some projection into the future to function in this world. For instance, if you are crossing the street and see a truck headed your way it is wise to project into the future a few seconds, see the danger and then get out of the way.
The objection was that the truck coming at you is what is in the now, so you’d better get out of the way.
But I say that what is, is that the truck is coming. Getting out of the way is a planned future event that has not yet occurred. If you are living only in the Now the truck is no problem.
Tolle says: “Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is.”
JJ: The truck actually hitting you is a mind projection that produces anxiety. The only way to avoid the train is to project yourself into the future (contrary to Tolle’s advice) and then move out of the way to change the future.
The reader says he is just trying to show Tolle’s wisdom that being in the Now does not negate the use of common sense.
The problem with this is that a Now consciousness does not solve the problem of the approaching truck or other problems. They can only be solved by looking beyond the now to the probable future and then getting out of the way to safety.
In such cases the solution is in the future, but in the present you are not being harmed. The solution is not being in the Now, but projecting yourself in the future and then acting to change the projected future.
Tolle puts great emphasis on accepting the Now, but then backtracks and adds something to the effect that we still have to deal with the real (unreal) world. But the problem is that many students may not see the backtracks and get themselves so centered in the Now that they live a life of inaction or too much non resistance.
Remember the story Tolle told of the guru who was falsely accused of impregnating the neighbor girl? Even though it ruined his reputation he did not defend himself. Now if he applied Tolle’s teachings as to the oncoming truck he would have not resisted and gotten run over.
To understand the problem of Tolle’s presentation of the NOW we have to realize that there are two worlds. The first is the one we see ourselves in now which is the world of form, time and space. In this world everything has a beginning and end, a past and a future.
The second world is the formless where communication is with ideas, all things are eternal and the only aspect of time is the present. There is not a past or future as we know it, but there is an awareness of everything happening in the now so no past or future is necessary there. What we may call the past or future is seen and known as now.
A Course in Miracles from which Tolle seems to get a lot of his thoughts tells us this
“It is impossible to see two worlds which have no overlap of any kind. Seek for the one; the other disappears. But one remains.” W-pI.130.5
In this world we are not governed by the now, but by all three aspects of time, the past, present and future. If you see this world, you will not see the eternal world of NOW. You can be aware of it here, but you cannot function only in the present if a truck is coming at you.
In meditation or contemplation, you can take your attention off this world and embrace the eternal now, but during this time you will not function in this world for you cannot see the two worlds at one time. Your attention has to be in one or the other.
Tolle makes it sound like we can be in the present at all times, but even he has to deal with the past and future when he is seeing this world and functioning in it.
I think what caused such a defensive reaction to some of my comments is that the term Nothingness Philosophy sounds negative.
The nothingness experience itself is not negative but positive and indeed it did save Tolle from suicide as he describes:
“I could feel myself being sucked into a void. It felt as if the void was inside myself rather than outside. Suddenly, there was no more fear, and I let myself fall into that void. I have no recollection of what happened after that.
Entering this void of nothingness which he later calls The Unmanifest, The Stillness, the Now, etc., was a good thing for him. It delivered him from the grave mistake of suicide and brought him to a center of peace within himself. This was a good thing as it gave him a reason to live.
Removing oneself from identification with form and focusing on the center of peace within is a basic step that must be taken by disciples.
Of course, taking this step is a good and necessary thing to do.
The fact that anyone takes this step has nothing to do with the problem created by the Nothingness People of the past a s far as this group is concerned. My problem with many of them is what they do after they take this step.
DK tells us that each step forward releases latent energies from the various centers. He tells us that a problem often created is the seeker has more released than he can handle and it causes extreme behavior and sometimes even mental or emotional instability.
The seeker faces this danger when he discovers the stillness within and sometimes such an energy is released that the bliss feels so good that it seems to be the ultimate “end-all and be-all” of the purpose of all life.
They thus approach others with a missionary zeal to find this ultimate and if prospects do not get as excited as themselves, they often display odd behavior.
Not counting any present conversation, in the past we have had many difficulties with these people because when they have joined the group this is all they wanted to talk about and if the group became impatient, or we moved on, then they quit. If they couldn’t proselytize, they didn’t want to stay.
Now I’m not lumping any reader’s behavior with the Nothingness People of the past who have created problems. So far, they have only presented material to the group that we are willing to entertain and respond to. This is well and good as dialog is needed with such old friends.
There is nothing wrong with discussing a subject that I, as the teacher, make the topic of the class. Hopefully, when we move on, we can all move on and just put on the shelf the areas where we disagree. This may take some detachment that Tolle teaches we need to have.
Tolle definitely teaches the Nothingness Philosophy, but the problem is he places such emphasis on it that students are likely to go overboard in embracing it as the “end all and be all” of our purpose and become an annoying distraction to those who want to focus on other things.
“It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.” -Machiavelli
March 30, 2008
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