THE POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle

Just as no sound can exist without silence, nothing can exist without no-thing, without the empty space that enables it to be. Every physical object or body has come out of nothing, is surrounded by nothing and will eventually return to nothing. Not only that, but inside every physical body there is far more “nothing” than “something.”
Physicists tell us that the solidity of matter is an illusion. Even seemingly solid matter, including your physical body, is nearly 100 percent empty space – so vast are the distances between the atoms compared to their size. Even inside every atom there is mostly empty space. What is left is more like a vibrational frequency than particles of solid matter, more like a musical note. Buddhists have known that for over 2,500 years. “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,” states the Heart Sutra, one of the best known, ancient Buddhist texts. The essence of all things is emptiness.
The Unmanifested is not only present in this world as silence; it also pervades the entire physical universe as space, from within and without. This is just as easy to miss as silence. Everybody pays attention to the things in space, but who pays attention to space itself?
It cannot become an object of knowledge. You can’t do a PhD on “nothing.” When scientists study space, they usually make it into something and thereby miss its essence entirely. Not surprisingly, the latest theory is that space isn’t empty at all, that it is filled with some substance. Once you have a theory, it’s not too hard to find evidence to substantiate it, at least until some other theory comes along. “Nothing” can only become a portal into the Unmanifested for you if you don’t try to grasp or understand it.
Space has no existence. To exist literally means to stand out. You cannot understand space because it doesn’t stand out. Although, in itself, it has no existence, it enables everything else to exist. What is the essence of this room? The furniture, pictures and so on are in the room, but they are not the room. The floor, walls and ceiling define the boundary of the room, but they are not the room either.
So what is the essence of the room? Space, of course, empty space. There would be no “room” without it. So become aware of the space that is all around you. Don’t think about it. Feel it, as it were. Pay attention to “nothing.”
As you do that, a shift in consciousness takes place inside you. Here is why. The inner equivalent to objects in space, such as furniture, walls and so on, is your mind objects: thoughts, emotions and the objects of the senses. And the inner equivalent of space is the consciousness that enables your mind objects to be, just as space allows all things to be. So if you withdraw attention from things – objects in space – you automatically withdraw attention from your mind objects as well. By becoming aware of the empty space around you, you simultaneously become aware of the space of no-mind, of pure consciousness: the Unmanifested. This is how the contemplation of space can become a portal for you.
Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing, the same no-thing. They are an externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence. Most humans are completely unconscious of this dimension. There is no inner space, no stillness. They are out of balance. In other words, they know the world, or think they do, but they don’t know God. They identify exclusively with their own physical and psychological form, unconscious of essence. And because every form is highly unstable, they live in fear. This fear causes a deep misperception of themselves and of other humans, a distortion in their vision of the world.
If some cosmic convulsion brought about the end of our world, the Unmanifested would remain totally unaffected by this. A Course in Miracles expresses this truth poignantly: “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.”

Adapted from The Power of Now, copyright 1999 by Eckhart Tolle. Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA, 800-972-6657 (ext. 52). Visit www.eckharttolle.com.