Eckhart Tolles Pain body

[Zanoni]

Have seen many talks about the ego but few mention anything similair what Eckhart refers to as the pain body. 

The pain body as he described is the emotional side of the ego, the past trauma.

Usually a person pain body is displayed when triggering happens. Eckhart reffered to it as the super-ego once in his posts and it I think he associated it with guilt, not sure exactly. 

It seems similair to the concept of vasanas, deep inroted karmic behaviour. 

What is it he talks about and can it be found in other teachings? 

 

 

 

[RedLine]

Psychological trauma and repression = body pain. Read about bioenergetics, (Alexander Lowen for example). Also read The spectrum of consciusness - Ken Wilber chapter dedicated to centaur.

 

Elliot Hulse videos are also good (those dedicated to bioenergetics, not the masculinity stuff he does now).

Edited April 27, 2020 by RedLine

[mandyjw]

I've never heard anyone talk about it specifically like he did, but in my opinion Buddhism does deal with this but in different language.

The pain body is a particular kind of suffering and the stories behind it that are used to perpetuate it can seem very legitimate, and often like impossibly concrete limitations. Suffering of oppressed groups of people, the environmental devastation of the planet can be tapped into and felt as if it's the weight of the world. "Triggers" like world events, weather, drinking alcohol, physical pain, for women, natural hormonal changes, all can seem to trigger this "weight of the world" depression that may or may not revolve around direct thoughts of specific person. The story must be removed, or seen through and the pain fully accepted to be cleared or seen through. 

The pain body is just the separate sense of self, ego. In our society we like to think of a strong ego as someone who asserts themselves at the expense of others, but the ego who suffers so badly as a victim of the world that it wishes it were never born is the strongest ego of the two. In the case of the pain body, this type of ego does not take responsibility for its pain, it believes it is the victim of all the pain in the world. The sense of separation is immense, and not only is it thought, but it's felt as well. I think that's why Eckhart found it helpful to differentiate the pain body from ego, but it's the same idea, the same sense of felt separation but can show up and manifest itself very differently in different people. We all tell ourselves different stories about why and how we are separate. 

Edited April 27, 2020 by mandyjw

[Leo Gura]

 

[Commodent]

In my view the pain body is merely the cumulative energy of suppressed emotions, which you can become aware of through mindfulness. Triggering events simply open the gates.

This phenomenom is discussed in "The Tao of Fully Feeling" by Pete Walker, as well as "Letting Go" by David R. Hawkins.

[Zanoni]

@RedLine Have to put my curiosity on some bioenergetics some day. I watched a batgap interview with Ken Wilber a week ago, interesting guy.

 

6 hours ago, mandyjw said:

The pain body is just the separate sense of self, ego. In our society we like to think of a strong ego as someone who asserts themselves at the expense of others, but the ego who suffers so badly as a victim of the world that it wishes it were never born is the strongest ego of the two. In the case of the pain body, this type of ego does not take responsibility for its pain, it believes it is the victim of all the pain in the world. The sense of separation is immense, and not only is it thought, but it's felt as well. I think that's why Eckhart found it helpful to differentiate the pain body from ego, but it's the same idea, the same sense of felt separation but can show up and manifest itself very differently in different people. We all tell ourselves different stories about why and how we are separate. 

I like this part, it will take some time to digest this. You seem good at this as i am still missing these points.

(I think Eckhart did it right to explain it this way as to attract a greater audience.)

 

@Leo Gura A Shunyamurti video a day keeps the ego away!

 

@Commodent Remember that a triggers is a opportunity to heal trauma. Cannot remember where i heard it.

 

 

Guess this is more prevalent than i have thought as i need this to prepare for a short trauma healing course this week. Thanks for the output everyone!