【家Home】he went homeless after spiritual awakening

心存善念
楼主 (文学城)

Ulrich Leonard Tölle was born in Lünen (February 16, 1948), a small town north of Dortmund in the Ruhr region of Germany. He felt afraid and anxious growing up in post-war Germany, where he played in bombed-out buildings. He later stated that pain "was in the energy field of the country."

 

At the age of 13, he moved to Spain to live with his father, who did not insist that he attend high school, so Tolle elected to study literature, astronomy, and languages at home. At 15, he was "heavily influenced" by a gift of the five spiritual books by the German mystic Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken.

 

When he was 19, Tolle moved to England and taught German and Spanish for three years at a London language school.

 

Spiritual awakening

One night in 1977, at the age of 29, after long periods of depression, Tolle says he experienced an "inner transformation".

 

“I couldn't live with myself any longer. And in this a question arose without an answer: who is the ‘I' that cannot live with the self? What is the self? I felt drawn into a void! I didn't know at the time that what really happened was the mind-made self, with its heaviness, its problems, that lives between the unsatisfying past and the fearful future, collapsed. It dissolved. “

 

“The next morning I woke up and everything was so peaceful. The peace was there because there was no self. Just a sense of presence or "beingness," just observing and watching.”

 

He began to feel an underlying sense of peace in any situation. He stopped studying for his doctorate, and for a period of about two years, he spent much of his time sitting, in a state of deep bliss, on park benches in Russell Square, Central London, watching the world go by. He stayed with friends, in a Buddhist monastery, or slept rough on Hampstead Heath, which is a grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London. His family thought him "irresponsible, even insane". He changed his first name from Ulrich to Eckhart; by some reports this was in homage to the German philosopher and mystic Meister Eckhart.

 

(credit wikipedia)

妖妖灵
在曼哈顿边喝Jumba Juice边看往来行人是我曾非常喜欢的一种感觉:)

前缀里把家和home之间那个space去掉吧,

否则做合辑容易被漏掉~
 

心存善念
前面的帖也要改吧?
心存善念
找到了,是从疏影那偷来的:))
盈盈一笑间
who is the ‘I' that cannot live with the self? That's a question
何仙姑
Well told story…. How’s his philosophy , passive a soul ? If we

We all follow that "beingness "

of his, the world will be ....full of philosophers  

or... doomed without productivity?

I am curious about his book now.... but must not be that convincing, look around , how many philosophers do I see?!

i
ibelieu
躺平帮的师祖。
c
chuntianle
好高产。 赞。 谢谢分享。
心存善念
见笑了,我在争灌水冠军呢 :))
盈盈一笑间
好久没有看到信兄了。问好!
天山晨
躺平帮的师祖。 -ibelieu- +1 跟,哈哈,有时我也一样在大街上看往来的人!
i
ibelieu
谢盈盈,忙搬家。:)
i
ibelieu
People watching can be very interesting. :)
妖妖灵
欢迎信大师回来。:)
甜虫虫
An interesting story. Thanks for sharing!

Somehow it reminds me of this paragraph in Charlie Chaplin's speech:

"As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But As I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this connection WISDOM OF THE HEART."

Sometims our mind could make us sick. Life itself alone has not much meaning. We create meanings for our own lifes by making connections with what surround us, people, animals, and nature. These connections make our lives meaningful and worthwhile. 

甜虫虫
好久不见:)问好!
甜虫虫
It's good to see you again :)
心存善念
well said!
i
ibelieu
谢斑竹!
i
ibelieu
虫虫好! 太忙,还是自找的忙。 :)
慢兔
I listened to some of the book before. Thought provoking.
L
LYJiang
I am humbled.