July/August 2004 Spirituality
Living Now - The story of Karen McPhee, Eckhart Tolle’s disciple

by John C. Conley

After years of unhappiness, the desire to find a lasting happiness and a sense of ease arose inside Canadian born Karen McPhee. This passion to find inner peace drove her to read many books, and to seek out many teachers. Over a period of years, there was growth, of course, and new insights. But after years of seeking, she was still a seeker.

"Some teachers and teachings came along that were very helpful, but there was no lasting peace, no sense of being able to be truly at ease in myself or in this world," explains Karen. Then she read a book called the "Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. She knew she had to meet this man and learn from him.

"Truth radiated from his book. It was like nothing I had ever read," she recalls. For the next several years, as the "Power of Now" became a bestseller and its author became better and better known, Karen studied with him, attended his intensives, and most importantly, spent time just being with him. She surprised even herself when she quit her job and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where Eckhart lived.

Karen recalls that on the day she met Eckhart, as she sat quietly with him, "He reached over and lightly touched my hand. In that moment, it was as if the entire universe revealed itself. Not as something outside of myself, but as my own self. There was a dropping away of boundaries, of all sense of separateness, and an expansion into indescribable joy and lightness. Without any words, concepts, or theories, I knew myself to be the freedom I had always been looking for."

As The Power of Now grew in popularity there was an increasing demand for the teaching. Karen found herself meeting that need. "Teaching just sort of unfolded organically; it wasn’t planned or intended. I never saw myself as teacher; all I really wanted to do was serve Eckhart, and serve the teaching."

As she taught, people sensed in her the same thing she sensed in Eckhart – a Stillness that is at once gentle and powerful. Jim Thompson of Tigard attended Karen’s retreat last year in Oregon, and said, "Somehow, she brought the "Power of Now" alive for me."

"It’s just about relaxing into what is already present within us," Karen explains. "There really are no secrets, nothing new. As Eckhart said in The Power of Now, ‘in essence there is and always has been only one spiritual teaching, although it comes in many forms.’"

"Some people," Karen continues, "have what I would say is a misunderstanding about this and other teachings. The concept arises that thinking is wrong. What I suggest is that this concept is a 'problem' in itself. It leads to fighting what is. Whenever the mind is thinking, which, after all is what minds do, the tendency arises to fight against or try to stop the thoughts. This is not only a losing battle, but also the source of a lot of frustration and angst.

"The message truly is – say yes to what is. It’s that simple. So, if in this moment thinking is happening, or any other internal state that you don’t want, you can either struggle against it, which leads to unhappiness, or you can accept the fact that it’s there. What do you chose? There is present an awareness that itself is standing outside of thinking. It is, so to speak, watching.

"Who is it that’s aware that those thoughts are moving? What does that feel like? What happens inside me when I pay attention to that? Do thoughts (or any other state) really take away from that awareness, or does it remain undisturbed, peaceful even in the presence of thoughts and emotions? Find out for yourself – that’s the only way. You have to know it for yourself rather than reading or listening to someone’s experience. Yes, use the teachings and teachers to guide you but then make it your own.

"Freedom is the end of the concept that thoughts (or anything else) take us out of our inherent peace, joy and aliveness. We are the awareness before thoughts, in the midst of thoughts, or in between thoughts. There is something that’s aware. That something is the freedom that's alive in us, the freedom that we are."

Perhaps Karen’s greatest contribution is in an area where she has taken what Eckhart taught, made it her own, and shared it with others in a new way. Her focus is more on the practical aspects of the Power of Now, including the practice of Inner Body Awareness.

To practice it, one simply takes his or her attention from the mind and focuses it on the body. "This can become an incredibly powerful practice," Karen says. "The more you practice it, the more you become aware of the ever-present field of energy that manifests itself as peace, joy and a sense of aliveness inside."

"Inner Body Awareness," Karen continues, "is a way to directly experience and come to abide in the peace that is present and alive is us now, which means always.

This is the only secret, and it’s not a secret. Go into yourself and see what is already present there. What we’ve been looking for – happiness, peace, joy aliveness – it’s already here inside. What a miracle."

Karen McPhee will lecture at Unity World Healing Center, Lake Oswego, Oregon September 17, 18, & 19, 2004, and at New Renaissance Bookshop, NW Portland on Thursday evening, September 16th.. Contact John Conley at conleyreynders@yahoo.com or 503-723-8335.