In the video below, Eckhart Tolle explores the powerful addiction to thinking, offering a handful of ways to put a stop to thoughts and choose presence instead. “Presence” is simply ‘gaps in thinking’ or ‘space of no thoughts.’ It could be alert awareness, spaciousness and mindfulness. This eastern premise of “no thinking” focuses on present moment in a unitary state. This is Zen.
In this video, Eckhart states the greatest addiction, which we never get to read about them papers, is addiction to thinking. He alludes thinking to a pseudo-sense of self and that there is a great reluctance on part of people to let go of thinking. He says his primary teaching is of ‘presence,’ and ‘space of no thought,’ which also could be a background presence to thinking.
He further says in this presence, thinking loses its ability to create havoc and confusion. He also states practicing present moment awareness slows down overactive minds and helps in accepting the ‘isness,’ simplicity of now as it is. A way to practice this awareness is to practice sense perception without a need to label or name. To see without intervention of mind and concepts.