A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club)

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The ego could be defined simply in this way: a dysfunctional relationship with the present moment.“ Many people don’t realize until they are on their deathbed and everything external falls away that no thing ever had anything to do with who they are. In the proximity of death, the whole concept of ownership stands revealed as ultimately meaningless. In the last moments of their life, they then also realize that while they were looking throughout their lives for a more complete sense of self, what they were really looking for, their Being, had actually always already been there, but had been largely obscured by their identification with things, which ultimately means identification with their mind.” If the egoic earth drama has any purpose at all, it is an indirect one: It creates more and more suffering on the planet, and suffering, although largely ego-­created, is in the end also ego­-destructive. It is the fire in which the ego burns itself up.” Being present is always infinitely more powerful than anything one could say or do, although sometimes being present can give rise to words or actions.”

Until now, human intelligence, which is no more than a minute aspect of universal intelligence, has been distorted and misused by the ego. I call that ‘intelligence in the service of madness.’“ Paradoxically, what keeps the so-­called consumer society going is the fact that trying to find yourself through things doesn’t work: The ego satisfaction is short-­lived and so you keep looking for more, keep buying, keep consuming.” Unhappiness or negativity is a disease on our planet. What pollution is on the outer level is negativity on the inner. It is everywhere, not just in places where people don’t have enough, but even more so where they have more than enough. Is that surprising? No. The affluent world is even more deeply identified with form, more lost in content, more trapped in ego.“ She looked puzzled briefly, and after a minute or so of sitting silently, I suddenly noticed a significant shift in her energy field. She said, “This is weird. I 'm still unhappy, but now there is space around it. It seems to matter less.”

So instead of adding time to yourself, remove time. The elimination of time from your consciousness is the elimination of ego. It is the only true spiritual practice.“ When our session came to an end, it was fulfilling to know that I had just witnessed the arising of Presence in another human being. The very reason for our existence in human form is to bring that dimension of consciousness into this world. I had also witnessed a diminishment of the pain-body, not through fighting it but through bringing the light of consciousness to it.” When you are angry or frustrated with people because you believe they are withholding praise or appreciation from you--try giving love and appreciation to them. You cannot receive what you do not give. Outflow determines inflow. The joy of Being, which is the only true happiness, can not come to you through any form, possession, achievement, person, or event – through anything that happens. That joy cannot come to you – ever. It emanates form the formless dimension within you, from consciousness itself and thus is one with who you are.” Whenever you let go of one of these patterns, you de­emphasize who you are on the level of form and who you are beyond form emerges more fully. You become less, so you can be more.“

Before you were the thoughts, emotions and reactions; now you are the awareness, the conscious Presence that witnesses those states.“

Through complete acceptance of the form of Now, you become internally aligned with space, which is the essence of Now. Through acceptance, you become spacious inside. Aligned with space instead of form: That brings true perspective and balance into your life.“ Unlike stress, enthusiasm has a high energy frequency and so resonates with the creative power of the universe.“

The layout and the design of the book are simple and straightforward. The book is written very simply and to the point that it helps the reader understand the book on the first read. The illustrations in the book further help the reader to understand what the author wants to explain.To do whatever is required of you in any situation without it becoming a role that you identify with is an essential lesson in the art of living that each one of us is here to learn.“