Author: Dennis Taraporewala

Quite often people are terrified of their feelings. Of course accepting our feelings and acting on them are two very different things and we do not need to act on every feeling. Feelings can come and go, but accepting them, sometimes going deep into a feeling, is a luxury we often do not allow ourselves. Over time I have learnt that we do not need to control everything inside and can relax and accept our feelings, and the glimpses they give us, of our own soul.

“What you feel, it’s never wrong, that you feel that way. It may not be the right guide to what you should do…but it is right that you should have the feeling” says Alan Watts in this video. He concludes the video by saying, “…that the expression, the recognition, the acceptance of what is honestly felt, is the moral equivalent of the vision, that whatever exists, is a manifestation of the divine.”

How do I see these videos?

Can we see these videos with one pointed attention? Most of them are just 10 minutes. Can we hold our focus for just 10 minutes to each word said? Without any internal chatter, nor any mental dialogue. More than the video or what is being said, how we listen to it, with what inner attitude we come to it, will make all the difference.

As a child I would spend several moments, just looking at my ceiling (mum would always ask me what was I looking at?) or if I was lying down in the rear seat of the car, I would look at the sky from the rear glass and imagine there was nothing, absolutely nothing and that there never was or is anything. This kind of blew my mind and I later realised, these were unconscious practices on the spiritual  path itself. Now I can see these were lovely moments of “no thought”. Not “no thought” as in some dull non thinking way, but somehow an expansion and “completely filled” moments, often beyond what I could absorb. 

Today’s video addresses our addiction to thoughts. And suggests ways in which we can break this excessive habit of “thinking”. Thinking and our thoughts, according to Eckhart Tolle, give us our pseudo sense of self and thus most are unwilling to let it go. One suggestion is to bring in “presence”. Thoughts can come and go, but our awareness, our presence, can be anchored in the present moment, mindfully. He demonstrates this to the questioner beautifully in the talk. Continually become more aware of the present moment.