While on LinkedIn, someone commented on a post about how Eckhart Tolle teaches Presence. He said, in The Power of Now, that presence is similar to observing a train go by on its tracks. You just observe without judgment, feelings, or stories (I am paraphrasing FYI). Now, if you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you know pretty well that I was a HUGE Eckhart fan. I read and listened to A New Earth five times (translation - chapter by chapter listened on Audible, read the chapter, and then listened to a chapter- -by-chapter podcast TIMES FIVE!). Big Fan! It also took me that long to understand what the heck he was talking about.
I want you to consider a couple of things when it comes to any self-help person (including me). Their advice is coming from the perspective of their Dominant Point. I believe that Eckhart is most likely a Dominant Point Five. This vantage point easily incorporates Buddhist principles because we tend to detach ourselves which is the ego’s version of non-attachment. So, when he tells us to watch the train go by, this is very easy from his Dominant Point perspective. Heck - I even wrote about this perspective in my book where the first chapter talks about becoming the Observer. That is easier said than done for all the other Points on the Enneagram. This is exactly why so many self-help books fall on deaf ears - they aren’t from the reader’s perspective - mine included! OK, so we’ve considered his perspective.
Next, we take this perspective Point and consider the Center of Intelligence where it resides. In the case of Dominant Point Five, that would be the head center. In every meditation practice I have done, it has been very easy for me to clear my mind (Five’s can do this). Seems simple enough right? Well, not for many of the other Points, PLUS six of the other points don’t even come from the head center. Those other points come from heart and body so their psychological “stuff” isn’t coming from their thoughts but from their feelings and their body’s reactions. Of course we all have thoughts but those thoughts are affected by the heart and body centers for those Points. This is important information and for the Head Center Points, we need to tap into those other two centers and visa versa.
So a practice that only includes the Observer in us, misses the mark. Your practice needs to include all Three Centers. This is why I’ve been hounding you to incorporate a Three-Centered-Practice. It has taken me many months to begin to feel what is going on in my body and heart during this practice. It is only 7 minutes long (intentionally that length) but it starts with physical embodiment, moves to heart expansion and awareness, moves to head center clarity and curiosity, and ends with all three centers connecting as one. It is only then that you can experience Presence. Because with Grace showing up in our centers, when we are grounded, open-hearted, and curious, the possibilities of the moment are infinite and no longer tied to our personality or story. We drop the Ego and let Presence show up.
Long story short, I’m not dissing Eckhart, I’m just musing on his practice and hoping you have learned that a mindfulness practice doesn’t work for everyone unless you are considering all three Centers of Intelligence.
(You can find my 7-minute habit tracker practice in Messy to Magical - my free Enneagram community- JOIN HERE. This practice is life-changing because when you are aware of what the rest of your centers are telling you, you can choose to respond instead of react).