It’s November 15th. Seven days after the American presidency was hijacked by an ‘anus-mouthed leathery tangerine‘ and things are already hitting the fan. Those of you familiar with Eckhart Tolle you will understand the term ‘pain-body.’
The pain-body is a negative energetic component of the human psyche. It has its active times and dormant times. Basically, whatever gets you riled up will stir up the pain-body.
It’s a brilliant term and one that can and should be more deeply embedded within our collective consciousness, not to mention the psychology profession.
After all, it describes perfectly what self-help books and talk show hosts have been spewing ad nauseam over the last twenty years.
Enter Donald Trump
America’s collective pain body, combined with effective marketing, has created an environment whereby half the voters in this country elected a wealthy, trash talking, political novice to the highest office in the land. Ugh.
Rest assured, my vote did NOT go to the leathery tangerine.
However, there’s no denying that President-elect Donald J. Trump is a brilliant marketer and representative of our collective pain-body.
We know it was mostly white working class men, as well as some white working class women who turned the electoral blue belt red.
We also know that the working middle class has shrunk in the last fifteen years, yet they are working just as hard if not harder than ever before.
That’s a lot of daily pain being created by millions of people in this country.
Explaining the Pain-Body
Author Eckhart Tolle explains the unresolved pain this way,
“The pain-body wants to survive, just like every other entity in existence, and it can only survive if it gets you to unconsciously identify with it. It can then rise up, take you over, ‘become you,’ and live through you. It needs to get its ‘food’ through you. It will feed on any experience that resonates with its own kind of energy, anything that creates further pain in whatever form: anger, destructiveness, hatred, grief, emotional drama, violence, and even illness. So the pain-body, when it has taken you over, will create a situation in your life that reflects back its own energy frequency for it to feed on. Pain can only feed on pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible.”
However, Tolle goes on to say,
“If we don’t provide space for the pain-body, we identify ourselves with it and believe every negative thought that it is telling us. The pain-body will feed on every negative thought that arises, and get more energy.”
Doesn’t that pretty much sum up a Trump rally?
It also describes why people kept forgiving the unforgivable things that came out of Trump’s mouth.
The collective pain-body feeds on the pain of itself. External messages that do not feed the pain-body do not penetrate.
That’s why attacking Trump doesn’t work.
In fact, it seems to make him and his supporters fight harder, doesn’t it?
What To Do
Tolle suggests we become very present in the presence of someone else’s pain-body.
The space of non-judgment disables the pain-body and prevents it from feeding on negativity.
“You can simply observe it, and be the witness, be the space for it. Then gradually, its energy will decrease.”
Over time, the pain-body will burn itself out. It always does.
It may not be according to our schedule, but in the end healing is inevitable.
If that doesn’t sound inspiring during these turbulent political times I don’t blame you.
Here is a short list of things to take action on while still being the space for change:
- Peaceful non-violent protests
- Writing to our senators urging them to be vigilant
- Polite political conversations with friends and acquaintances
- Take to social media and post respectful and insightful observations on today’s politics
- Create a website and post your political views from a place of compassion
- Watching/listening to news with a clear, open and spacious mind
- Watch the emotions that surface when listening or discussing the new Trump administration. Be that space for change.
Witnessing your feelings will help you glean information, guide you and help to dissolve this country’s collective pain-body.
Life Seeks Balance
No matter how terrible something is, it’s there as a countermeasure to the duality inherent in all of life.
Sometimes, it takes a wild swing in energy to find balance. The internal space of consciousness helps us find our center.
When enough of us find that space within, the pain-body dissolves. If we can concentrate long enough and consistently enough on the space between our thoughts, change happens.
At that point, we may find a Trump administration much shorter lived than anticipated.
In this video Tolle talks about the purpose of unconscious people in our lives.
https://youtu.be/lqr98O8QT3M
Featured Image by Amenclinics via Flickr under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license
