Living the Liberated Life and Dealing with the Pain Body by Eckhart Tolle

For the most part, I guess, all Eckhart Tolle is the same. His only message is "Be Here Now." Somehow he makes that message inspirational: when I'm listening to him, I suddenly have the feeling that it is really possible for me to be aware, here, in the present, and that it is the most important thing I could possibly do. When I'm not listening to him, I sort of remember that I used to understand that, although it gets dimmer. So I have to come back and keep listening to him, which is why, for me personally, it's worth it to keep getting everything new he comes out with.

But Tolle's "pain body" is something I ignored for a long time. It seemed peripheral to his message, and I had a hard time relating to it. "Your real essence is awareness, right here in the present moment": that sounded important and profound. "Inside you is an entity, almost another living being, that rises up and causes you pain and then feeds on it": that sounded like an amusing science fiction story, or a new colorful metaphor for suffering, and just not as interesting.

But Tolle's message is to be aware, constantly and objectively, of what's going on inside you. And as you focus your awareness, you start to notice something disconcerting. There are, indeed, times when you're just itching for a fight. You're looking for someone to say the wrong thing...you're anxious and tense with no real reason...you're ready to be depressed or angry or both. You can call it the pain body or you can call it something else, but I'm convinced now that it really does happen, to me and to everyone else. And I'm convinced that if it catches you unaware, it traps you into a reactive, unconscious pattern which completely hides you from yourself.

So what do you do about it? Tolle's recipe is incredibly simple and surprisingly difficult. You don't fight it. You don't indulge it. You just watch it, intensely, vigilantly, whenever it comes up. "OK, I'm starting to feel tense now." The world is starting to close in, or everyone around me is annoying, or I have far too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it in...No one has pissed me off in the last few hours, but if someone does, watch out. My heart is beating faster than it needs to, my eyes are a bit wide, my stomach feels tight. Don't look for a reason. Don't wait it out. Just watch it, as the interesting phenomenon that it is. When you watch it, it loses much of its power over you. When you don't notice it, that's when it can take control.

So I have finally come to understand that the "pain body" is not peripheral at all: it is one of the key practical sides of Tolle's teaching. It is what you notice when you become deeply aware; and it is what steals away your awareness when you aren't looking; and thus, the more you know about it, the more aware you can stay.

And right now, that seems more important than anything in the world to me. Because I've been listening to my Eckhart Tolle :-)


Living the Liberated Life and Dealing with the Pain Body by Eckhart Tolle For the most part, I guess, all Eckhart Tolle is the same. His only message is "Be Here Now." Somehow he makes that message inspirational: when I'm listening to him, I suddenly have the feeling that it is really possible for me to be aware, here, in the present, and that it is the most important thing I could possibly do. When I'm not listening to him, I sort of remember that I used to understand that, although it gets dimmer. So I have to come back and keep listening to him, which is why, for me personally, it's worth it to keep getting everything new he comes out with. But Tolle's "pain body" is something I ignored for a long time. It seemed peripheral to his message, and I had a hard time relating to it. "Your real essence is awareness, right here in the present moment": that sounded important and profound. "Inside you is an entity, almost another living being, that rises up and causes you pain and then feeds on it": that sounded like an amusing science fiction story, or a new colorful metaphor for suffering, and just not as interesting. But Tolle's message is to be aware, constantly and objectively, of what's going on inside you. And as you focus your awareness, you start to notice something disconcerting. There are, indeed, times when you're just itching for a fight. You're looking for someone to say the wrong thing...you're anxious and tense with no real reason...you're ready to be depressed or angry or both. You can call it the pain body or you can call it something else, but I'm convinced now that it really does happen, to me and to everyone else. And I'm convinced that if it catches you unaware, it traps you into a reactive, unconscious pattern which completely hides you from yourself. So what do you do about it? Tolle's recipe is incredibly simple and surprisingly difficult. You don't fight it. You don't indulge it. You just watch it, intensely, vigilantly, whenever it comes up. "OK, I'm starting to feel tense now." The world is starting to close in, or everyone around me is annoying, or I have far too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it in...No one has pissed me off in the last few hours, but if someone does, watch out. My heart is beating faster than it needs to, my eyes are a bit wide, my stomach feels tight. Don't look for a reason. Don't wait it out. Just watch it, as the interesting phenomenon that it is. When you watch it, it loses much of its power over you. When you don't notice it, that's when it can take control. So I have finally come to understand that the "pain body" is not peripheral at all: it is one of the key practical sides of Tolle's teaching. It is what you notice when you become deeply aware; and it is what steals away your awareness when you aren't looking; and thus, the more you know about it, the more aware you can stay. And right now, that seems more important than anything in the world to me. Because I've been listening to my Eckhart Tolle :-)
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