A Conversation with Barnet Bain and Eckhart Tolle
When the suggestion came to me that I could co-author the book, I remembered all the letters and emails that I had received in the last few years from parents asking for that kind of thing, but I never really felt up to it myself. Now I’m glad it happened that way. I never went out and said ‘I want to do this.’ I never do that, I wait for things to come to me either within, or without, and I go along with it, and that’s how it happened.
More and more teachers are also bringing that state of presence. In recent times I’ve received more and more emails from teachers that they are beginning to teach presence in their classroom without necessarily calling it that or calling it anything. They are doing that not as part of the official curriculum, it’s like an underground movement, not yet officially recognized by the educational authorities, at least not as far as I know!”
OMTimes: I understand the bullying is also a key theme of the movie?
Eckhart Tolle: Only in the last few years has there been an awareness that this is a big problem and a big source of suffering for many, many children. Of course bullying is not a new phenomenon but for a very long time nobody talked about it. I don’t know why, but suddenly, now, bullying is in the news. Perhaps it is time that there is an awareness of this, of certain unconscious patterns. These unconscious patterns become conscious and then they begin to change… so there is an awareness… quite often you read about bullying in the news and that’s why it’s in the movie… and of course the financial distress that many people are going through in this time. That is the reality of millions of people or the fear or the uncertainty about economic situation and the fear that goes with it if you are not present you can constantly be in that state of fearful anticipation. What might happen to your job… that you might lose your job or you might not be able to pay your mortgage anymore… and all kinds of dreadful things could happen. All of this reflected in the movie as that is the daily reality for all sorts of people. Of course that wasn’t in the book, but I’m glad that’s in the screenplay.
