With Eckhart Tolle, philosopher and writer
I started following Eckhart Tolle in my efforts to become more spiritual in my life. I was really inspired by his insights on the Power of Now even though I never really managed to go deep into it. Unfortunately Eckhart has never been to Russia so I didn’t manage to attend any of his events.
In the past couple of years my wife Katya and I made some big steps in our lives towards the spiritual side of life. And maybe by coincidence or maybe by luck we got a phone call from a friend who told us that he was planning to invite Eckhart Tolle to Norway. He said that he would be very happy to see me and Katya joining that event not just as guests but as a part of Eckhart’s team.
Even though it was our busiest time of the year and it was extremely difficult for us to go away, both Katya and I accepted this offer very quickly to join this 5-day retreat. So we took a week off and went to this retreat understanding that it was an absolute detachment from our existing business lives. There was no internet connection and no computers or phones were really promoted to be used at this event. But it was really special to spend 5 days with Eckhart and 600 other people doing our best to be helpful and supporting his staff in every possible way.
At the end of the event one of the organizers came up to us and said: “Only a few of us are staying after the retreat with Eckhart and his wife Kim. And we would like for you and Katya to stay as well”. And this was a massive honor because it was really less than a handful of people who stayed behind for 2 more days with Eckhart. So we stayed sharing fruitful conversations and meals with Eckhart.
“I understood very quickly that he loves food very much and that he is a “flesh and blood” person like everyone else even though he’s so enlightened and awakened”.
I understood very quickly that he loves food very much and that he is a “flesh and blood” person like everyone else even though he’s so enlightened and awakened. On the second day we were spending time with him and we all went for a little walk in the forest. And at one point Katya and I decided to pick some mushrooms in the forest. Very carefully we picked the ones that were healthy and then we went into the kitchen and cooked them.
We decided to serve them in a very gourmeish manner with dinner that evening. For us, it was such a gentle surprise that both Eckhart and his wife Kim were very pleased to take some of the mushrooms that we picked in the forest and cooked in a hotel’s kitchen. Even though Katya used to pick mushrooms as a child together with her grandma, we both are not really experts in this. But Eckhart and Kim trusted us enough to eat it. And one of the best things about it was that Eckhart came back for seconds because he said these mushrooms were so delicious. To me it was a really great honor to cook for Eckhart Tolle.
Read Eckhart Tolle’s most fundamental work, his book «The Power of Now: a Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment» about the key role of the present moment in your life.
Here’s a motivating video where Eckhart Tolle speaks about the importance of being yourself: