In Part 1, I talked about Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now, the basic concepts of his philosophy and how it relates to homœopathy. In Part 2, I will focus more on how his work provides a wonderful insight into what creates, sustains and can cure dis-ease in the physical body. He defines Chi as the energy that connects Being with the body. In homœopathy, we call the energy that animates the physical body ‘vital force’. Tolle’s work is so fascinating for me because it is talking about the power of the energetic body in relation to health and relationships and life itself, which is in alignment with homeopathic philosophy.
Let’s start with the body. Tolle states:
“What you perceive as a dense physical structure called the body, which is subject to disease, old age, and death...is not you...Underneath it lies the invisible inner body, (which is the real you) the doorway into Being, into Life Unmanifested. Through your inner body, you are inseparably connected to this unmanifested One Life.”
Tolle teaches that the key is to aim to be in a state of permanent connection with your inner body. He believes that the more consciousness directed into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes. At this higher frequency, negativity can no longer affect you and you attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency.
This is transformational in that you may still experience thoughts, fears and emotions but they won’t take over. The idea is to stay present, by inhabiting your body so that you are no longer run by your mind. When strong thoughts and feelings come up, it is important to give these attention. Not to start thinking about them, but to acknowledge their presence and accept them and to allow forgiveness and no resistance.
“Presence is pure consciousness.; Awareness of the inner body is consciousness remembering its origin and returning to the source.” P121
Tolle teaches that when we inhabit the body and are no longer trapped in our mind, your physical body will feel lighter, clearer and more alive. “...as there is more consciousness in the body, its molecular structure actually becomes less dense.”
Health
This is where the important connection to health comes in. This quote captures it all:
“Most illnesses creep in when you are not present in the body. If the master is not present in the house, all kinds of shady characters will take up residence there. When you inhabit your body, it will be hard for unwanted guests to enter.” P124
Tolle believes that when you are present in your body, the physical immune system becomes stronger and also the psychic immune system.
“This protects you from the negative mental-emotional force fields of others. Inhabiting the body protects you – not by putting up a force shield, but by raising the frequency of vibration of your total energy field, so that anything vibrating at a lower frequency, such as anger, fear, etc, is on a different plane. It doesn’t enter your consciousness and if it does, it passes right through you.”
Further, many illnesses are caused by the ego’s continuous resistance, which creates restrictions and blockages in the flow of energy through the body.
Further, our physical energy is also subject to cycles. It cannot always be at a peak. This is so important and something I have seen in practice time and again. I teach in the Homœopathy in the Home course, that acute sickness is a good thing and is often our body trying to communicate with us that we need to stop, take a break, address dietary issues etc; that when we don’t listen to our bodies and stop when we need to, it will create something bigger to force us to do so. Tolle is saying the same thing here.
“Many illnesses are created through fighting against the cycles of low energy, which are vital for regeneration...the intelligence of the organism may take over as a self-protective measure and create an illness in order to force you to stop, so that the necessary regeneration can take place.” P 184
Tolle instructs that resistance is experienced as negativity and that all negativity is resistance. Resistance triggers the emotional pain-body, which can trigger intense negativity such as anger, depression and deep grief. However, the trick is to become aware of this negativity and use it as a reminder to get out of your mind and be more present. If you can’t drop it, then accept that it’s there and take your attention to the feeling of it and away from thinking about it or let it go through you.
This is another point that is important in the context of health. It’s to do with addiction. Tolle states that:
“Every addiction arises from an unconscious refusal to face and move through your own pain. Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain. Whatever substance or person you are addicted to...you are using something or somebody to cover up your pain...(addictions) do not cause pain and unhappiness. They bring out the pain and unhappiness that is already within you.” P 152
This reminds me of a young person I came in contact with years ago. He had been kicked out of home and felt forsaken. I remember him saying to me “Who can love me if my own mother can’t love me?” and “I don’t belong anywhere.” The way he coped was by smoking marijuana. Any life crisis, he would knock himself out to numb the pain. The problem was, that over the years he was never learning to process his feelings because he just anaesthetized himself. He wasn’t developing skills of resilience and his emotional maturity lagged behind. He went to rehab and did a few other things that made him face his fears head on. Today he likes his life and the person he has become. These challenges created the opportunity for huge personal development and he has blossomed through the learning.
Relationships
Tolle states that most human relationships consist of minds interacting with each other, not of human beings communicating. But what really matters is the Being of the other person underneath the words and mind. When you are in touch with your inner body, it creates the space of no-mind, where relationships can flourish.
Many years ago, I did a ‘reconnection’ weekend with my partner. After years of being together and the challenges that raising a family bring to your relationship, we felt it necessary. It was profound to me that we could reconnect at this level without having to ‘talk ourselves to death’ via counseling. After reading Tolle’s work, I understand now that the ‘reconnection’ work was a no-mind space and we were able to connect to the source rather than just the mind.
Here are some other great insights from Tolle:
“For love to flourish, the light of your presence needs to be strong enough so that you no longer get taken over by the thinker or the pain-body and mistake them for who you are.”
“...The moment that judgment stops through acceptance of what is, you are free of the mind. You have made room for love, for joy, for peace. First you stop judging yourself; then you stop judging your partner. The greatest catalyst for change in a relationship is complete acceptance of your partner as he or she is, without needing to change or judge them in any way.”
“This is also the end of co-dependency, of being drawn into somebody else’s unconscious pattern and thereby enabling it to continue.”
“Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you.”
“If you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness...”
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed my sharing of these powerful thoughts from the Power of Now. Tolle’s work has been an inspiration to me and has triggered contemplation on many aspects of my life, concepts of health and disease and existence. There is such an affinity with his philosophy and the energy medicine of homœopathy and it is refreshing to look at it from a different perspective. My deeper awareness will continue to grow and evolve and flow to the quality of my practice and on to you.
Warm regards, Michelle
