Book: 20191226 to 20200110，"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle

20191222，chapter 1. "You are not your mind"

All great theories are consistent with each other. No matter in "Sapiens", "Thinking, fast and slow", "Everything Is F*cked - A book about hope" or this "The Power of Now".

"应无所住，而生其心。"

Desire will never be all met. It's the source of pain, and it always rely on external resources.

To some extent, I think, maybe, brain is just an organ, like arms and legs. It's not "me". My mind is too busy, that I don't have chance to check what is there if I am not thinking about anything.

This book should be given another name. "How to become a God", or "How to become superhuman". It answers so many of my questions. Lucky that I got it.

No doubt that I will get some progress on the meditation on bus.

PS: At the moment, I am very suspicious about "disease". How can meditation cure disease?!

20191224，chapter 2. "Consciousness : the way out of pain"

There are three "self": rationality, emotion and soul.

Once we learned to disconnect our emotion from our soul, the pain disappears. To disconnect them, we only need to let our soul to watch our emotion.

Reality also bring pain to us. To resolve this kind of pain, we need to learn to accept the reality.

Rationality and emotion affects each other, but, can they affect soul? Or, can soul affect rationality and emotion?

People have different talent. Is talent related to their soul, or just related to their rationality?

Rationality is confined to limited scope. Only a very small group of people, such as Elon Musk can think about the faraway future, and then make plan based on it. But we can learn to extend and improve our rationality.

Same with emotion. We can learn to control our emotion, mainly through "habits".

But, is there any "talent" related to soul?

20191226，chapter 3. "Moving deeply into the now"

Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction.

Pain is associated with "past", fear is associated with "future". They are all illusions.

When living in Now, there is no pain or fear.

If no pain or fear, we can act as the wisest one of self, and not cheated by illusions. We can make long term plan, and act on it strictly (and change it whenever necessary)

As per Eckhart Tolle, there is always joy, ease, and lightness in what we are doing, when living in Now.

PS: To some extent, Elon Musk was born with the power of Now.

20191227，chapter 4. "Mind strategies for avoiding the now"

How to handle the problems in hand? Three options.

1. Avoid it;
2. Fix it;
3. Accept it.

If concentrating on Now, we can save a lot of "attention" (from wasting on past and future) to fix the current problems. Our mind will be much more sharp, and our memory will be better. Then it also helps to resolve the current problems.

What's the difference between life and life situation? Life is our Now, life situation is more about the physical environment (including our physical body). The change of life situation doesn't affect life. But the change of life will definitely affect life situation, eventually.

How to measure our capability of staying in Now status? It's not about how long we can stay in it per day, but about how much challenges we can handle while stay in Now status.

小隐隐于野，中隐隐于市，大隐隐于朝。

20191227，chapter 5. "The state of presence"

Stay in NOW is more like a habit. Once we learned how to stay in NOW, it may take 60 to 100 days to establish this habit firmly.

以一念代万念，以无念代一念 ---  this is wrong. The key is TIME, not MIND. Although the result is kind of similar, we cannot stay in NOW during daily life if follow this rule.

We need to control our mind, not be its slave.

"What is the next idea pop up in your mind?"

20191229，chapter 6. "The inner body"

"The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times."

To accept the reality, we have to forgive it. In my opinion, reality is reality, no matter we forgive it or not. So, there is nothing need our forgiveness.

"Slow down the aging process"

"Strengthing the immune system", include both physical and mental immune system.

If keep our mind still, then you can hear what other people's talking about. Same to reading. Our mind always try to interpret what we see and hear from its own perspective, that makes us can only see and hear illusion.

Animals don't have consciousness. Homo Sapiens strived because of imagination/consciousness. However, consciousness also stops people from seeing the true world. Eventually, this kind of illusion will leads to the extinction.

20191230，chapter 7. "Portals into the unmanifested"

Outside, it's infinity and eternity. Inside, it's stillness and presence. Stillness + Presence = Now

Anything we can perceive, is projection of external objects. It's illusion, and not real. This includes our emotion.

But I don't believe "reincarnation". Maybe someday I can find a way to prove it.

Another question is, how do I know "Now" is NOT illusion? I need to see the difference when I pay 100% attention to do something. Or if I pay 90% of attention to do something, and at the same time, keep 10% of attention to observe the whole environment, including myself.

If it really works well, then "Now" is not illusion. I should be able to notice more details of the world, deeper meaning of the perceived information.

20191231，chapter 8. "Enlightened relationships"

Just curious: what the society look like if everyone is in "Now" state?

To live at present, we need to observe our physical body, thoughts and emotions, or observe our environment, all the time. If we can stay in that state, we can focus on the job at hand, and at the same time, knowing what's happening around us, all the time.

But this is extremely hard. I am so used to my mind. How long it will take to get used to observe myself? What is the best way to get that habit? Observing my breath? Treat it as a game?

Spouse can help with enlighten, or make it worse. Which one is more likely?

财侣法地

This is not right. With proper perception, it's not too hard to make money and set up good relationship with other people, and choose proper place to live.

So, perception decides everything.

20200102，chapter 9. "Beyond happiness and unhappiness there is peace"

To reach peace, we have to "break" time.

External environment brings us different emotion. But everything goes cycle. They rise and then fall.

To jump out from this cycle, we have to break time and focus on the presence.

There are a lot of annoying people. Sometimes people do bad things. All evil come from unconsciouseness. Only consciouseness can go against unconsciouseness.

We can help other people. But we cannot change them by one night. We need to get consciouseness first, then eventually affect other people.

20200107，chapter 10. "The meaning of surrender"

"You are walking along a path at night, surrounded by a thick fog. But you have a powerful flashlight that cuts through the fog and creates a narrow, clear space in front of you. The fog is your life situation, which includes past and future; the flashlight is your conscious presence; the clear space is the Now."

This is exactly what our life situation looks like. No matter where we are, we are always surrounds by thick fog. If we keep going forward without this flashlight, we are actually trying our luck. If we are smart and cautious, we will get less hurt, but sooner or later, we will be out of luck.

The only way is to learn from Warren Buffett. Invest through "correct" way, make long term plan, stick to it, and ignore all distractions.

Another book explained the same approach: <Who Moved My Cheese?> It doesn't matter who moved your cheese, or whether it's fair, what we need to do is to handle it calmly.

This is what Elon Musk did. I also need to learn how to pay attention to EVERYTHING during everyday life.

Why use the word "surrender"? I think "acceptance" is much better.

Mind is scared of "unknown". "Now" has infinite possibility, which belongs to "unknown" realm. So our mind trying to avoid "Now". But, all power come from "Now". We have to stay in "Now" to get hold of our potential power.

To surrender, we need to stop thinking (too much) about the past and the future, because they don't matter.

20241101，read again.

Maybe we should give our ego another name? It's not real "I".

When I pay full attention to the present, is it really me or my ego paying the attention? How do I tell which one is in charge?

How to stop creating time? Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. p27

We can stop mental pain by stay in the present. Can we get rid of the effect of dopamin/pleasure the same way? (p29)

It is scary to let go of my identity. Without identity, who am I?

• chapter 2. "Consciousness : the way out of pain"

The mind in itself is not dysfunctional. It is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are. p35

End the delusion of time. Time and mind are inseparable. Remove time from the mind and it stops - unless you choose to use it. p36

Most of people end the delusion of time right before their death. All past and future, all their identities become meaningless at that point of time.

Past doesn't exist. They are just memory clips. Those memory clip is incomplete and even delusional.

Future is our imagination. It doesn't exist either.

Our identities and personalities are decided by our memory and our imagination of the future. It is formed by our mind. Desire and lazyness come from our mind.

Knowing by being, I think, means knowing the unknown. That's the difference from knowing by mind. (p38)

Is it possible the relationship between being and mind, similar to the relationship between host and Venom? Venom is very powerful, but the host should be controlled by it all the time.

Through self-observation, more presence comes into your life automatically. The moment you realize you are not present, you are present. p38

• chapter 3. "Moving deeply into the now"

Ask yourself: Is there joy, ease, and lightness in what I am doing? If there isn't, then time is covering up the present moment, and life is perceived as a burden or a struggle. p46

If I can keep this question in mind, then I am in the moment. :-)

So do not be concerned with the fruit of your action - just give attention to the action itself. p47

This sounds like the book "The score takes care of itself", however, it conflicts with the idea that score make actions more fun.Maybe we should only pay attention to the score while reviewing our action, not during our action.

• chapter 4. "Mind strategies for avoiding the now"

So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness. p56

Most of our thoughts are meaningless, including all complains. The consequence is that we have only maybe 1% of mind power can be used on useful tasks. If we can silent our mind, isolate all distractions, we may use 100% of our mind power as we want. To some extent, that prolongs our life many times.

And, if our mind is at rest most of the time, it's sharper and stronger when we use them. Just like our other muscle.

• chapter 5. "The state of presence"

What we see is actually our imagination and memory. But we can minimize the illusion and see the true reality by staying in the moment.

To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even if there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in between the sounds. p68

• chapter 6. "The inner body"

Do not give all your attention away to the mind and the external world. By all means focus on what you are doing, but feel the inner body at the same time whenever possible. p76

Is it possible to always feel the inner body?

In any thought activity, make it a habit to go back and forth every few minutes or so between thinking and an inner kind of listening, an inner stillness. We could say: don't just think with your head, think with your whole body. p81

• chapter 7. "Portals into the unmanifested"

As you go about your life, don't give 100 percent of your attention to the external world and to your mind. Keep some within. p84

Some people recommend to do at least 20 minutes meditation per day. How about 10 times per day, but 2 minutes each time?

Can I stop doing anything? First, stop moving body; then, stop looking and listening; in the end, stop thinking.

Minimalism is not mainly about external material stuff, but more about internal mind. We should not think and do unnecessary activities. Most of our thoughts and actions are meaningless.

Are life and death just illusion?(p92) From entropy point of view, NO.

From "meaning" point of view, maybe yes.

• chapter 8. "Enlightened relationships"

Salvation is not elsewhere in place or time. It is here and now. p93

In the state of enlightenment, you are yourself - "you' and "yourself" merge into one. You do not judge yourself, you do not feel sorry for yourself, you are not proud of yourself, you do not love yourself, you do not hate yourself, and so on. p110

This feels so weird.

• chapter 9. "Beyond happiness and unhappiness there is peace"

......you become like a deep lake. The outer situation of your life and whatever happens there, is the surface of the lake. p123

Everything we see is the reflection in our mind. Our mind decides what they look like. They are the images reflected in the mirror.

We paid too much attention to the surface of this lake, and unaware of the lake itself.

• chapter 10. "The meaning of surrender"

Such action I call positive action. It is far more effective than negative action, which arises out of anger, despair, or frustration. p130

This reminds me of the book "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson. Accept what happened, and then work on solution (happily).

I wish there were more examples in this book. What would we say or do in difficult situations if we stay in the present?

Nonresistance doesn't necessarily mean doing nothing. All it means is that any "doing" becomes nonreactive. p135

What does surrender mean? Admitting the existence of Monkey and Elephant. Admitting that my mind is not me. If my mind is not me, surely I will not do that much web surfing.

If we stop our mind, would that make us vulnerable? Not really. We are still there, just don't let the Monkey or the Elephant decide what we do or say.

It's different between pain and suffering. Pain means physical discomfort, and suffering is psychlogical discomfort. Suffering could be voided if we live in the present, it's reflection of external context.

Full attention is full acceptance, is surrender. p140

The (unconscious) mind always adheres to the known. The unknown is dangerous because it has no control over it. p142

Not exactly. The unknown means much more risk. Our living environment is pretty dangerous until around 70 years ago. Our gene want to survive, so it has to minimize risk. Any gene that dared to try unfamilar stuff again and again are more likely went extincted.

As long as your mind with its conditioned patterns runs your life, as long as you are your mind, what choice do you have? None. p143