I may have bored readers with previous posts about my personal path to enlightenment, but after finally finishing A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, I just had to share a few more meaningful musings.
As I got deeper into the book, a number of messages emerged, and a few fun parables stuck a chord that should ring true with anyone who lives a life of adventure on the open road.
The first was this simple lesson about the importance of acceptance…
“Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at the moment. It is part of the is-ness of the Now. You can’t argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do you suffer.”
Anyone who has ever had trouble parking the rig, push-started a motorcycle in 124° heat, or struggled with some disgusting RV duty has much to learn from these words of wisdom. Later in the book, Tolle explains that you don’t have to enjoy what may be happening to you at any given moment, but you must accept it. Otherwise you are not taking responsibility for your own state of consciousness, and therefore your life is out of your hands.
Next time you feel things have gone awry, take responsibility for your life and accept that whatever is. You don’t have to enjoy it, but it does help to smile.
Re-frame Your Fear
All full-timers are intimately familiar with uncertainty. In fact, I would venture to say most of us relish it. Not knowing the unknown is why many of us enjoy this adventurous lifestyle so much. For anyone allowing the false security of their current situation to keep them from following their own road trip dream, I give you the words of a Roman philosopher…
“The Desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.”
— Tacitus
Tolle refers to this quote when describing the importance of being able to live with uncertainty, and yes, even enjoy it…
When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life. It means fear is no longer a dominant factor in what you do, and no longer prevents you from taking action to initiate change.
In other words, when you do not accept uncertainty, it turns into fear. Once you accept it, uncertainty will fill your life with alertness and creativity.
The journey is the destination.
Here’s another Tolle truth that applies to any adventurous lifestyle…
“…the end and the means are one. And if the means did not contribute to human happiness, neither will the end.”
In discussing how to find your “inner purpose” he describes the common misconception that success is a future event. But any outcome is inseparable from the actions that led to it. So enjoy the ride!
Wake up and do it.
Tolle describes “awakened doing” as the alignment of your outer purpose (what you do) with your inner purpose, which is to remain awake and present.
Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny.
How you do what you do is determined by your state of consciousness. See that bit about re-framing your fear above. So in any situation you face, or whatever it is you do, make your state of consciousness the primary factor. The situation is secondary. In other words, lighten up and roll right along with those bumps in the road.
So what is your purpose? I realize mine is to be happy, and to help others discover how they can live a happier, more rewarding life. Interested? Let’s talk!
Namaste amigo… Publishing “Zen and the Art of RV Maintenance” has just been added to our to do list!
All is well, all is well, all is well, say it with me Jimbo, all is well!
What would I’d give to have Oprah herself bless some aspect of my life, my songwriting, my travel stories, my business stories and so on, hmmm, come to think of it, I’m not campaigning for that to happen, I’m too busy living in the moment.
I hope Mr. Tolle’s book gives you a little pinch between cheek and neo-cortex Jim because if sparkling if not insightful reading is what you’re looking for then the supply is abundant. The difference between Mr. Tolle and these authors (I’ll offer a brief list) is you’ll have to work a little harder to extract the nuggets or seedlings, but smoothly coated and endorsed synthesis sells, who am I to argue with the Tollster’s wealth?
This is no knock on Herr Eckhart’s parlaying borrowed notions from Zen Koans, Buddhist texts, the Bible, Spinoza and others, but rather a plea that readers of all stripes will look to the roots of Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy’s postulates.
So here’s a very short reading list of books and authors: Shakespeare, Twain, Vonnegut, Robert Graves (especially his translations of the Greek myths), C.S. Lewis, The Diamond Cutter (old Buddhist text), anything by the historian Jacques Barzun, I’ll stop here because I suspect everyone reading your blog gets the idea and has a huge collection of works by thinkers and philosophers and so-called mystics who have pondered the unponderable and possibly near a golden pond. Jeeze, I can only imagine the reading you and Rene have done since casting lines?
Bottom line from me to you: If it puts a little pep in your step and a little pride in your stride then I’m all for it, just don’t send Herr Tolle your life savings, he doesn’t need it and doesn’t deserve it. Besides, you were always a fairly enlightened person (even by Oprah’s standards) and I suspect the Eck could learn a thing or two about hitchin’ a rig from team Nelson Agreda if he took the time to stop thinking about it and got to the business of doing about it.
Enrico strikes a match and lights the incense again…