Many stressful emotional patterns repeat themselves again and again.
This is the invisible threat of Self-Sabotage. And it is invisible simply because it is an unconscious pattern that repeats itself.
Who doesn’t know a couple for instance, who love each other deeply, and yet have regular conflicts, often about the same meaningless things that they argued about decades ago? Who hasn’t had the thought during very happy times: “This is too good to last!” Who hasn’t noticed repetitive patterns of self-inflicted suffering?
Who is not touched by the impact of recurring times of sadness, anxiety, anger, or self-defeating behaviors?
There is an unseen force that causes us to unconsciously seek pain over and over again. Of course no one would do this consciously. No one likes to suffer. And yet we unconsciously create repetitive and unnecessary conflicts.
These self-destructive habit patterns are known as the Pain Body. It is a powerful unconscious force with great momentum. It’s purpose is to continue the pattern – to bring us pain.
In his book “A New Earth” Eckhart Tolle describes the pain body as a ‘psychic parasite’ that possesses you and causes you suffering. Everyone, but the truly enlightened, is infected to some extent.
In most people the Pain Body is dormant for some time and then awakens to assert itself and replenish its energies. And it derives its energy from pain. Pain is its food.
Here is an example of how you can notice the pain body:
It can happen sometimes in the beginning of an argument with someone. You catch yourself saying some unkind words and you think, “Why am I saying this? I know where this will lead. It will lead to a conflict and I don’t want a conflict.” But then those words come out of your mouth anyway and the conflict takes its course.
At first, before the Pain Body took over, there was still enough of you awake to have this awareness, but not enough to stop the words. Then, after the conflict, the Pain Body has fed itself and goes back to sleep again.
Maybe you thought, “My God what possessed me to say the things I said?” Well now you know.
The Pain Body is the shadow aspect of our being, the emotional part of the ego. If we want to live in harmony with ourselves and the world, we need to dissolve it.
We create our own reality through our thinking and our emotional patterns. Until we change them, the same problems are likely to happen again and again, including our tendency to self-sabotage to keep the patterns in place. This is how we can stay stuck for a long time.
Some interesting self-sabotage events are completely unforeseeable events that interfere with your life. Most people would not ever suspect that such events can have anything to do with their own subconscious mind – until such events repeat themselves at similar junctions in life. Another form of self-sabotage are what we might call ‘metaphysical delusions,’ the conviction that grace will take care of you, that all is really fine, or that no action on your part is necessary. The truth however is that grace comes to us in exact proportion to self-effort. While grace is free and abundant, we have to make the effort to become able vessels of that grace.
The resolution of this challenge comes when our yearning to experience the true freedom of liberation from suffering has become stronger than the old habits of interference.
How does that happen? This inner maturing can be accomplished by two forces:
- by suffering and
- by a decision to do what is necessary to reach this freedom, aided by a deep yearning or desire for it.
Yes, we have a choice here: if we are able to make the decision to free ourselves proactively from the inner obstructions, we can avoid the necessity for suffering to give us this motivation. In this way we can prevent unknown suffering in the future!
~ You do this by becoming increasingly aware of the way you create suffering for yourself through your reactions to people and situations. Sometimes you may be able to feel the subtle onset of internal pain. Shedding light into these situations will dissolve the pain body. It can only exist in the darkness of unconscious motivation.
Let me summarize the process. Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain body. Accept that it is there. Don't think about it - don't let the feeling turn into thinking. Don't judge or analyze. Don't make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware not only of the emotional pain but also of "the one who observes," the silent watcher.
Replies
Stick, I´ve noticed that this is a fractal problem. One wrong emotion or mental confusion causes a whole fractal array of mis-perceptions, wrong actions, pain and suffering. It also means we can remove this fractally...which is quick. It also means that our weaknesses and confusion cannot stay hidden. In one way this virus really helps to clear ways we are out of alignment with our True Self....by making things worse and worse until we wake up and do something about it. What a fast way to learn about free will; by having our mistakes multiplied. How better to learn to use free will than to experience the misuse of it. At the end of the day, it is the increase of darkness that brings us to the light. The imperfection of the universe is very much perfection and wisdom.
I see the emotional pain bod as repressed emotional energy that has been programmed to seek pain. Some people see it like a virus because it is always changing and spreads easily from one person to another....just notice how when one person starts drama , a fight or promotes a fear based idea how everyone joins in. This makes it easy to control people....see how the government and media are always promoting a new virus or a new enemy. I read that 85% of our decisions are made based on the sub-conscious, it is what causes all our mis-perceptions and fractal wrongness. The thing is that once we dissolve our own pain body then it is no longer possible to control us or trick us out. The best way to defeat those enemies we see as external, the cabal or neg entities, etc is to clear or own emotional pain body. This works for several reasons,,,,,because the universe is a hologram, if we change a part then it is reflected in the whole.. Another reason is because if we clear our sub-conscious then we also clear our mis-perceptions so we cannot be fooled...., and also because when stop the action-reaction response, then we break the whole cycle and cut of the food/energy for this process.
Did this virus originate off planet, perhaps....but this does not concern me . I am only concerned with what I can do to come out of this energy loop. Luckily the solution is as close as awareness. Observing things while resting gently in the witness consciousness is a simple solution to breaking this cycle and dissolving the patterns behind it.
Many different traditions have described this using many different terms and techniques for clearing this ´´pain body´´ but, it does seem to be an important part of every true spiritual tradition around the world.
AsAbove...SoBelow
~Beautifully laid out, Feather. The names we give the 'pain-body' are far less important than our willingness to 'reflect' on how the wounds in our own psyches... our own 'stories'... effectively help to perpetuate the very shadows we are attempting to eliminate in our daily affairs... in the world around us. A 'reality' that we are actually co-creating, or more accurately, co-dreaming. The spiritual cul-de-sac we currently find ourselves in is reinforced, by design, through the incessant, global MSN/fear-porn backbeat, that essentially amplifies the darker aspects of Humanities shared pain-body... or as Jung called it, 'the Collective Unconscious'. It's a carefully calculated game, with falsely imposed rules that have little to do with our natural state of being, & more to do with an agenda, the primary purpose of which is to maintain the structures of the prison walls of duality. As more of our fellow Brethren & Sistren awaken, they real'eyes' the mental bondage of duality is little more than illusion. Through the spiritual practice of 'active observation', the bars quickly begin to dissipate, revealing a clearer path toward Self-Realization & our authentic origins... Unity-Consciousness. ~InLight555
AsWithin... SoWithout
AsWithin... SoWithout
AsViewed... SoAppears
~A truly valuable post, dear Feather... as you know, I also resonate with Elkhart's work. From my perspective, he has touched the alchemical gold with his assessment of the 'pain body' ('A New Earth' is essential reading)... an aspect of human consciousness (or un-consciousness, depending on one's perspective) that has played a huge role in maintaining the shadows of duality. As biophysical extensions of the Gaian-Mind, it's important to process that our planet is also in the throes of purging aspects of her 'pain body' that no longer serve the higher dynamics of the 'Earth School'. The 'pain body' has been given many names & been discussed my many luminaries going back to the ancient world. For people looking to expand their awareness of this multidimensional subject, another key book that I would recommend is: Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil, by Paul Levy.
Thank you for being You, dear Feather. ~InLight
stick, The theosophical website has an excerpt from the book you mentioned, ´´Dispelling Wetiko.´´ I keep seeing the name of this book popping up a lot lately. I like to check this from several perspectives to get a clearer view...for it hides in the shadows and dissolves in the light of awareness. I think it is also important to see that all these traditions are speaking about the same thing but using different names, so we can get to what is important and not fight over the words that are used to describe it.
Here is a few lines from the book that I found interesting.
´´The Gnostics (“the ones who know”) also call this subversive parasite of the mind the “archons.” Every wisdom tradition has its own way of symbolizing wetiko; indeed illuminating wetiko is what makes a wisdom tradition worthy of the name. Such traditions include Buddhism, Kabbalah, Hawaiian huna, mystical Islam, shamanism, and alchemy. It is helpful to find other lineages and traditions that illumine the wetiko disease in their own fashion. In this way our multiperspectival vision can enable us to see what no one particular map or model by itself can reveal.
By whatever name we call it, wetiko is undoubtedly one of the most important discoveries in human history. Indicating the supreme importance of developing knowledge about how this predator of the mind operates, don Juan from the Carlos Castaneda books refers to it as “the topic of topics.” (He doesn’t use the name “wetiko,” however, but calls it “the flyer.”)
the full excerpt from the book is here... https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine?id=3472
A great example of the kind of wisdom that can be gleaned from Levy's valuable work, dear Feather.
Thanks for sharing that...
Thanks for your interest and endorsement, friend Mikael......Indeed I have contemplated the creation of an esoteric study group, on ACC, albeit, several others have already created such groups and I do not seek to overshadow any other here...Rather I prefer to "chip in," as it were, on salient discussions made by others, in which a fuller attention can be gleaned by all readers, more so than upon a small inclusive group.....So I post this here, because it may be noticed more, as a public forum.....That in itself may stir the embers of interest and curiosity for members in general and so, all readers, to investigate for themselves, what I describe...It is a kick start to the interest and fulfilment of some responsive readers, "out there," and as wide as possible to achieve...
A hot house group may have some value, but is not as inclusive and far reaching as I would prefer....In accord with the planetary activation of consciousness programme implementation, given me...
Moreover, my ability to access this site is not as technically smooth, as I would like...Some days I will be absent, as the site has technical glitches and faults, which mitigate against running a group well, here...Well, as far as I can...And if I did, I would be a perfectionist...
Thanks, Drekx
@Tally....Yes Indeed, friend..as follow....
I could recommend that readers view Share International videos, in which a highly accomplished ashramic brother of mine, offers much Ageless Wisdom truth...His name is Benjamin Creme, who is a valid spokesperson of the World Teacher, for this Aquarian age. I was unable to embed his interview vids here, though can provide links to a sample of them, it that's OK...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoHGRzKoHv8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpXEvA_bu8k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFP0XN7ha2Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmZIEU4PMxc
Peace & Blessings...
Please do id be so proud xoxo