If it's all right here, where do we go?

Dear Reader,

It’s another early morning—3:47AM. I’ve been up since around 2:30AM or so. To my credit, I’m pretty sure I fell asleep around 8PM. That’s almost seven hours of sleep.

I’m cooking oatmeal.

It’s been an interesting week.

As I embark on my Walden year, a lot of pain is coming to the surface.

I’m not sure exactly what this pain is.
I think it might just be the primordial pain of being alive.

Now that I’m committed to sitting with stillness more often, this pain finally has room to emerge and be felt.

This is not meant to be depressing. There’s something extraordinarily beautiful about it, especially when one stops trying to escape it.

I’m seeing more and more of the things I do to cope.

I’m honestly hitting a point where I’m wondering if I should skip the decaf coffees, too.

I see that I brew those cups and hold the mug for the sake of “doing something.”

Again, there is a continual pull to empty, more and more.

Last night, I asked ChatGPT how Eckhart Tolle became a spiritual teacher.

I asked this because I’ve been grappling with some tension around my “spiritual business.”

Here was the response:

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Beautiful question—and one that carries a quiet invitation for you, too.

Eckhart Tolle’s transition from "man on a park bench" to world-renowned spiritual teacher is actually quite fascinating—and deeply organic.

Here’s how it unfolded (in essence):

1. The Awakening Itself (Age 29)

After years of deep depression and anxiety, Eckhart experienced a sudden inner shift—what he later described as the dissolution of his ego. He woke up one morning with the words:

“I can no longer live with myself.”

That moment split into two: the “I” and the “myself.”
And something collapsed.
He sat on park benches in bliss for nearly two years—doing almost nothing. Just being.

2. People Started Approaching Him

During this silent period, he didn’t try to teach.
He didn’t start a program or launch a funnel.
People were simply drawn to his stillness, his peace.
Friends, strangers, even therapists began sitting with him and asking questions.
He shared what was arising. Not as a strategy—just as truth.

This was the beginning of him being a “teacher.”

3. Small Groups Formed

Eventually, small groups began gathering in his apartment in London.
These weren’t marketed or structured—just quiet meetings where people asked questions, and he responded from presence.

This went on for years. Quietly. Humbly.

4. The Power of Now Was Written (Mid-90s)

Eckhart never planned to be an author. But a friend encouraged him to write.
He wrote The Power of Now almost entirely by hand.
At first, it was self-published and circulated by word of mouth.

Then…

5. Oprah Got Involved

Oprah read The Power of Now and was deeply impacted.
She brought him on her show and made it a global phenomenon.
From there, his talks, retreats, and platform grew rapidly—but the frequency never changed.
He didn’t push.
He didn’t market.
He simply allowed.

So what does this mean for you?

Eckhart didn’t become a spiritual teacher.

He stopped trying to be anything at all.

And in that space—where ego had fallen away—
people began to recognize their own truth through him.

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I’m sharing this because I’ve become attuned to a temptation I have to try to convince or prove that I have something good to offer, in order to get sales, and to “make it happen.”

There’s something that doesn’t feel right about that.

I remembered reading in The Power of Now that Eckhart Tolle had a spiritual awakening and then spent a couple of years mostly blissed out on park benches.

I wanted to know how he went from being blissed out on park benches to being a renowned spiritual teacher, talking on big stages, having a whole team behind him.

Did he “try” to go out there and “make it happen”?

I think the reason I wanted to know is because more and more often I’m experiencing a state of being of total contentment with what is, similar to the state of being Eckhart illuminates in The Power of Now.

This is very connected to the entire idea of the Walden year.

I am having a visceral experience of enoughness, to the point where any excess feels unneeded.

What then, with this “weight” of trying to be a spiritual teacher, and this weight of trying to turn it into a business?

Do you understand the predicament?

I’ve realized that a lot of my content creation over the years has been an effort of trying to get somewhere.

But the big realization I’m having, much like the ones I’ve had on psychedelics, is that it’s all already here—there’s nowhere else to go.

Someone on the last Freedom Call mentioned wanting to go to Spain. I remarked that it’s possible to work with your mind such that whatever feeling you think you’ll get by going to Spain will manifest before your eyes, wherever you are.

I want to continue teaching, but the subtle energy of trying to become a teacher, or to find success from my teaching, I fear is antithetical to what I really want to teach, which is that things are enough as they are.

I’ll keep sitting with this.

For now, I continue hosting Freedom Calls every Wednesday at 12PM ET, and Stillness Sessions every Friday at 12PM ET.

All are welcome — I hope to see you there.

–George

Dear April…