...does not imply that everything will constantly come up roses (Jesus on the cross is testimony to that!). It simply means that the mind's usual shenanigans are not dominant, and there is no imaginative reinforcement of the usual illusions.
If you are fully washing the dishes, for example, "you" are not there because there is no reflective process occuring. "You," as you think yourself to be, appear and disappear throughout the day as discursive reflection starts and stops. If the mind is momentarily quiescent, as happens while washing dishes with full attention, there is pure awareness without any idea of personhood. Personhood only returns when ideation returns.
ATA, shikan taza, and most other meditative techniques (other than mindfulness) simply take attention away from thoughts so that they are more likely to be seen through. Mindfulness will also do this, but because thoughts are "sticky" this approach has an obvious limitation.
Everyone on the path of non-duality is aware that there are no guarantees (which is something that enormously irritated Question), but a better way of thinking about the issue is probabilistically. People who meditate or regularly shift attention to what is happening in the present moment (and thereby become people of action) have a higher probability of seeing through thought-created illusions than people who spend most of their time reflecting, fantasizing, analyzing, calculating, evaluating, etc. Tolle's essential message is to leave head-trips behind and spend more time attending what is here and now.
In a similar vein, people who stop thinking in terms of "shoulds" and "oughts" and accept reality as it is will generally be happier than people who constantly compare what is happening to their ideas about what they THINK should be happening.
The happiest and most peaceful people rarely waste any time thinking about happiness, peace, their own state of mind, themselves, ideals, or what other people think about them. They are not blissfully unaware; they are blissfully BEING THIS in full awareness rather than THINKING ABOUT THIS.
If you are fully washing the dishes, for example, "you" are not there because there is no reflective process occuring. "You," as you think yourself to be, appear and disappear throughout the day as discursive reflection starts and stops. If the mind is momentarily quiescent, as happens while washing dishes with full attention, there is pure awareness without any idea of personhood. Personhood only returns when ideation returns.
ATA, shikan taza, and most other meditative techniques (other than mindfulness) simply take attention away from thoughts so that they are more likely to be seen through. Mindfulness will also do this, but because thoughts are "sticky" this approach has an obvious limitation.
Everyone on the path of non-duality is aware that there are no guarantees (which is something that enormously irritated Question), but a better way of thinking about the issue is probabilistically. People who meditate or regularly shift attention to what is happening in the present moment (and thereby become people of action) have a higher probability of seeing through thought-created illusions than people who spend most of their time reflecting, fantasizing, analyzing, calculating, evaluating, etc. Tolle's essential message is to leave head-trips behind and spend more time attending what is here and now.
In a similar vein, people who stop thinking in terms of "shoulds" and "oughts" and accept reality as it is will generally be happier than people who constantly compare what is happening to their ideas about what they THINK should be happening.
The happiest and most peaceful people rarely waste any time thinking about happiness, peace, their own state of mind, themselves, ideals, or what other people think about them. They are not blissfully unaware; they are blissfully BEING THIS in full awareness rather than THINKING ABOUT THIS.
