DISSOLVING THE COLLECTIVE FEMALE PAIN-BODY - раздел Образование, Acclaim for THE POWER OF NOW
Why Is The Pain-Body More Of An Obstacle For Women?
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Why is the pain-body more of an obstacle for women?
The pain-body usually has a collective as well as a personal aspect.
The personal aspect is the accumulated residue of emotional pain
suffered in one’s own past. The collective one is the pain accumulated
in the collective human psyche over thousands of years through
disease, torture, war, murder, cruelty, madness, and so on.
Everyone’s personal pain-body also partakes of this collective pain-
body. There are different strands in the collective pain-body. For
example, certain races or countries in which extreme forms of strife
and violence occur have a heavier collective pain-body than others.
Anyone with a strong pain-body and not enough consciousness to
disidentify from it will not only continuously or periodically be forced
to relive their emotional pain but may also easily become either the
perpetrator or the victim of violence, depending on whether their
pain-body is predominantly active or passive. On the other hand, they
may also be potentially closer to enlightenment. This potential isn’t
necessarily realized, of course, but if you are trapped in a nightmare
you will probably be more strongly motivated to awaken than
someone who is just caught in the ups and downs of an ordinary
dream.
Apart from her personal pain-body, every woman has her share in
what could be described as the collective female pain-body — unless
she is fully conscious. This consists of accumulated pain suffered by
women partly through male subjugation of the female, through
slavery, exploitation, rape, childbirth, child loss, and so on, over
thousands of years. The emotional or physical pain that for many
women precedes and coincides with the menstrual flow is the pain-
body in its collective aspect that awakens from its dormancy at that
time, although it can be triggered at other times too. It restricts the
free flow of life energy through the body, of which menstruation is a
physical expression. Let’s dwell on this for a moment and see how it
can become an opportunity for enlightenment.
Often a woman is “taken over” by the pain-body at that time. It has
an extremely powerful energetic charge that can easily pull you into
unconscious identification with it. You are then actively possessed by
an energy field that occupies your inner space and pretends to be you
— but, of course, is not you at all. It speaks through you, acts through
you, thinks through you. It will create negative situations in your life
so that it can feed on the energy. It wants more pain, in whatever
form. I have described this process already. It can be vicious and
destructive. It is pure pain, past pain — and it is not you.
The number of women who are now approaching the fully conscious
state already exceeds that of men and will be growing even faster in
the years to come. Men may catch up with them in the end, but for
some considerable time there will be a gap between the
consciousness of men and that of women. Women are regaining the
function that is their birthright and, therefore, comes to them more
naturally than it does to men: to be a bridge between the manifested
world and the Unmanifested, between physicality and spirit. Your
main task as a woman now is to transmute the pain-body so that it no
longer comes between you and your true self, the essence of who you
are. Of course, you also have to deal with the other obstacle to
enlightenment, which is the thinking mind, but the intense presence
you generate when dealing with the pain-body will also free you from
identification with the mind.
The first thing to remember is this: As long as you make an identity
for yourself out of the pain, you cannot become free of it. As long as
part of your sense of self is invested in your emotional pain, you will
unconsciously resist or sabotage every attempt that you make to heal
that pain. Why? Quite simply because you want to keep yourself
intact, and the pain has become an essential part of you. This is an
unconscious process, and the only way to overcome it is to make it
conscious.
To suddenly see that you are or have been attached to your pain can
be quite a shocking realization. The moment you realize this, you
have broken the attachment. The pain-body is an energy field, almost
like an entity, that has become temporarily lodged in your inner
space. It is life energy that has become trapped, energy that is no
longer flowing. Of course, the pain-body is there because of certain
things that happened in the past. It is the living past in you, and if you
identify with it, you identify with the past. A victim identity is the
belief that the past is more powerful than the present, which is the
opposite of the truth. It is the belief that other people and what they
did to you are responsible for who you are now, for your emotional
pain or your inability to be your true self. The truth is that the only
power there is is contained within this moment: It is the power of
your presence. Once you know that, you also realize that you are
responsible for your inner space now — nobody else is — and that the
past cannot prevail against the power of the Now.
So identification prevents you from dealing with the pain-body. Some
women who are already conscious enough to have relinquished their
victim identity on the personal level are still holding on to a collective
victim identity: “what men did to women.” They are right — and they
are also wrong. They are right inasmuch as the collective female pain-
body is in large part due to male violence inflicted on women and
repression of the female principle throughout the planet over
millennia. They are wrong if they derive a sense of self from this fact
and thereby keep themselves imprisoned in a collective victim
identity. If a woman is still holding on to anger, resentment, or
condemnation, she is holding on to her pain-body. This may give her a
comforting sense of identity, of solidarity with other women, but it is
keeping her in bondage to the past and blocking full access to her
essence and true power. If women exclude themselves from men,
that fosters a sense of separation and therefore a strengthening of
the ego. And the stronger the ego, the more distant you are from your
true nature.
So do not use the pain-body to give you an identity. Use it for
enlightenment instead. Transmute it into consciousness. One of the
best times for this is during menses. I believe that, in the years to
come, many women will enter the fully conscious state during that
time. Usually, it is a time of unconsciousness for many women, as
they are taken over by the collective female pain-body. Once you
have reached a certain level of consciousness, however, you can
reverse this, so instead of becoming unconscious you become more
conscious. I have described the basic process already, but let me take
you through it again, this time with special reference to the collective
female pain-body.
When you know that the menstrual flow is approaching, before you
feel the first signs of what is commonly called premenstrual tension,
the awakening of the collective female pain-body, become very alert
and inhabit your body as fully as possible. When the first sign
appears, you need to be alert enough to “catch” it before it takes you
over. For example, the first sign may be a sudden, strong irritation or
a flash of anger, or it may be a purely physical symptom. Whatever it
is, catch it before it can take over your thinking or behavior. This
simply means putting the spotlight of your attention on it. If it is an
emotion, feel the strong energy charge behind it. Know that it is the
pain-body. At the same time, be the knowing; that is to say, be aware
of your conscious presence and feel its power. Any emotion that you
take your presence into will quickly subside and become transmuted.
If it is a purely physical symptom, the attention that you give it will
prevent it from turning into an emotion or a thought. Then continue to
be alert and wait for the next sign of the pain-body. When it appears,
catch it again in the same way as before.
Later, when the pain-body has fully awakened from its dormant state,
you may experience considerable turbulence in your inner space for a
while, perhaps for several days. Whatever form this takes, stay
present. Give it your complete attention. Watch the turbulence inside
you. Know it is there. Hold the knowing, and be the knowing.
Remember: Do not let the pain-body use your mind and take over
your thinking. Watch it. Feel its energy directly, inside your body. As
you know, full attention means full acceptance.
Through sustained attention and thus acceptance, there comes
transmutation. The pain-body becomes transformed into radiant
consciousness, just as a piece of wood, when placed in or near a fire,
itself is transformed into fire. Menstruation will then become not only
a joyful and fulfilling expression of your womanhood but also a sacred
time of transmutation, when you give birth to a new consciousness.
Your true nature then shines forth, both in its female aspect as the
Goddess and in its transcendental aspect as the divine Being that you
are beyond male and female duality.
If your male partner is conscious enough, he can help you with the
practice I have just described by holding the frequency of intense
presence particularly at this time. If he stays present whenever you
fall back into unconscious identification with the pain-body, which can
and will happen at first, you will be able to quickly rejoin him in that
state. This means that whenever the pain-body temporarily takes
over, whether during menses or at other times, your partner will not
mistake it for who you are. Even if the pain-body attacks him, as it
probably will, he will not react to it as if it were “you,” withdraw, or
put up some kind of defense. He will hold the space of intense
presence. Nothing else is needed for transformation. At other times,
you will be able to do the same for him or help him reclaim
consciousness from the mind by drawing his attention into the here
and now whenever he becomes identified with his thinking.
In this way, a permanent energy field of a pure and high frequency
will arise between you. No illusion, no pain, no conflict, nothing that is
not you, and nothing that is not love can survive in it. This represents
the fulfillment of the divine, transpersonal purpose of your
relationship. It becomes a vortex of consciousness that will draw in
many others.
Все темы данного раздела:
A GUIDE TO SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT
Eckhart Tolle
NAMASTE PUBLISHING
and
NEW WORLD LIBRARY
NOVATO, CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER THREE: Moving Deeply into the Now
Don’t Seek Your Self in the Mind
End the Delusion of Time
Nothing Exists Outside the Now
The Key to the Spiritual Dimension
Accessing the Power of the Now
CHAPTER SIX: The Inner Body
Being Is Your Deepest Self
Look beyond the Words
Finding Your Invisible and Indestructible Reality
Connecting with the Inner Body
Transformation through the Body
About the Author
AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO
THE PAPERBACK EDITION
Six years after it was first published, The Power of Now continues to
play its part in the urgent task of the tr
THE ORIGIN OF THIS BOOK
I have little use for the past and rarely think about it; however, I
would briefly like to tell you how I came to be a spiritual teacher and
how this book came int
THE TRUTH THAT IS WITHIN YOU
This book represents the essence of my work, as far as it can be
conveyed in words, with individuals and small groups of spiritual
seekers during the past ten year
THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Enlightenment — what is that?
A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years.
One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the
FREEING YOURSELF FROM YOUR MIND
What exactly do you mean by “watching the thinker”?
When someone goes to the doctor and says, “I hear a voice in my
head,” he or she will most likely be sent to a
ENLIGHTENMENT: RISING ABOVE THOUGHT
Isn’t thinking essential in order to survive in this world?
Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific
task, and when the task is co
EMOTION: THE BODY’S REACTION TO YOUR MIND
What about emotions? I get caught up in my emotions more than I do
in my mind.
Mind, in the way I use the word, is not just thought. It includes your
emot
CREATE NO MORE PAIN IN THE PRESENT
Nobody’s life is entirely free of pain and sorrow. Isn’t it a question of
learning to live with them rather than trying to avoid them?
The greater part of human pa
PAST PAIN: DISSOLVING THE PAIN-BODY
As long as you are unable to access the power of the Now, every
emotional pain that you experience leaves behind a residue of pain
that lives on in you. It merges
EGO IDENTIFICATION WITH THE PAIN-BODY
The process that I have just described is profoundly powerful yet
simple. It could be taught to a child, and hopefully one day it will be
one of the first things c
THE ORIGIN OF FEAR
You mentioned fear as being part of our basic underlying emotional
pain. How does fear arise, and why is there so much of it in people’s
lives? And isn’t a certain
THE EGO’S SEARCH FOR WHOLENESS
Another aspect of the emotional pain that is an intrinsic part of the
egoic mind is a deep-seated sense of lack or incompleteness, of not
being whole. In some peop
DON’T SEEK YOUR SELF IN THE MIND
I feel that there is still a great deal I need to learn about the workings
of my mind before I can get anywhere near full consciousness or
spiritual enlightenment.
END THE DELUSION OF TIME
It seems almost impossible to disidentify from the mind. We are all
immersed in it. How do you teach a fish to fly?
Here is the key: End the delusion of time. Time
NOTHING EXISTS OUTSIDE THE NOW
Aren’t past and future just as real, sometimes even more real, than
the present? After all, the past determines who we are, as well as
how we perceive and behave i
THE KEY TO THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION
In life-threatening emergency situations, the shift in consciousness
from time to presence sometimes happens naturally. The personality
that has a past and a futur
ACCESSING THE POWER OF THE NOW
A moment ago, when you talked about the eternal present and the
unreality of past and future, I found myself looking at that tree
outside the window. I had looked
LETTING GO OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME
Learn to use time in the practical aspects of your life — we may call
this “clock time” — but immediately return to present-moment
awareness when those practical m
THE INSANITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME
You will not have any doubt that psychological time is a mental
disease if you look at its collective manifestations. They occur, for
example, in the form of ideol
NEGATIVITY AND SUFFERING HAVE THEIR ROOTS IN TIME
But the belief that the future will be better than the present is not
always an illusion. The present can be dreadful, and things can get
better in the future, and
FINDING THE LIFE UNDERNEATH YOUR LIFE SITUATION
I don’t see how I can be free now. As it happens, I am extremely
unhappy with my life at the moment. This is a fact, and I would be
deluding myself if I tried to c
ALL PROBLEMS ARE ILLUSIONS OF THE MIND
It feels as if a heavy burden has been lifted. A sense of lightness. I
feel clear. . . but my problems are still there waiting for me, aren’t
they? They haven’t be
A QUANTUM LEAP IN THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
I have had glimpses of this state of freedom from mind and time that
you describe, but past and future are so overwhelmingly strong that I
cannot keep them out for
THE JOY OF BEING
To alert you that you have allowed yourself to be taken over by
psychological time, you can use a simple criterion. Ask yourself: Is
there joy, ease, and lightness
LOSS OF NOW: THE CORE DELUSION
Even if I completely accept that ultimately time is an illusion, what
difference is that going to make in my life? I still have to live in a
world that is complete
AND DEEP UNCONSCIOUSNESS
What do you mean by different levels of unconsciousness?
As you probably know, in sleep you constantly move between the
phases of dreamless sleep and the dream sta
WHAT ARE THEY SEEKING?
Carl Jung tells in one of his books of a conversation he had with a
Native American chief who pointed out to him that in his perception
most white people have tens
DISSOLVING ORDINARY UNCONSCIOUSNESS
So how can we be free of this affliction?
Make it conscious. Observe the many ways in which unease,
discontent, and tension arise within you through unnecessary
FREEDOM FROM UNHAPPINESS
Do you resent doing what you are doing? It may be your job, or you
may have agreed to do something and are doing it, but part of you
resents and resists it. Are yo
WHEREVER YOU ARE, BE THERE TOTALLY
Can you give some more examples of ordinary unconsciousness?
See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought,
about a situation you find you
THE INNER PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE’S JOURNEY
I can see the truth of what you are saying, but I still think that we
THE PAST CANNOT SURVIVE IN YOUR PRESENCE
You mentioned that thinking or talking about the past unnecessarily is
one of the ways in which we avoid the present. But apart from the
past that we remember and
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS
You keep talking about the state of presence as the key. I think I
understand it intellectually, but I don’t know if I have ever truly
experienced it. I wonder — i
BEAUTY ARISES IN THE STILLNESS OF YOUR PRESENCE
What you have just described is something that I occasionally
experience for brief moments when I am alone and surrounded by
nature.
Yes. Zen masters use
REALIZING PURE CONSCIOUSNESS
Is presence the same as Being?
When you become conscious of Being, what is really happening is that
Being becomes conscious of itself. When Being becomes conscious
CHRIST: THE REALITY OF YOUR DIVINE PRESENCE
Don’t get attached to any one word. You can substitute “Christ” for
presence, if that is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God-
essence or the Self, as it is
BEING IS YOUR DEEPEST SELF
You spoke earlier about the importance of having deep roots within or
inhabiting the body. Can you explain what you meant by that?
The body can become a point of a
LOOK BEYOND THE WORDS
I don’t like the word sin. It implies that I am being judged and found
guilty.
I can understand that. Over the centuries, many erroneous views and
interpr
FINDING YOUR INVISIBLE AND INDESTRUCTIBLE REALITY
You said that identification with our physical form is part of the
illusion, so how can the body, the physical form, bring you to a
realization of Being?
CONNECTING WITH THE INNER BODY
Please try it now. You may find it helpful to close your eyes for this
practice. Later on, when “being in the body” has become natural and
easy, this will no longe
TRANSFORMATION THROUGH THE BODY
Why have most religions condemned or denied the body? It seems
that spiritual seekers have always regarded the body as a hindrance
or even as sinful.
Why
SERMON ON THE BODY
What you perceive as a dense physical structure called the body,
which is subject to disease, old age, and death, is not ultimately real
— is not you. It is a misp
HAVE DEEP ROOTS WITHIN
The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your
inner body — to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and
transform your life. The more c
BEFORE YOU ENTER THE BODY, FORGIVE
I felt very uncomfortable when I tried to put my attention on the inner
body. There was a feeling of agitation and some nausea. So I haven’t
been able to experienc
YOUR LINK WITH THE UNMANIFESTED
What is the relationship between presence and the inner body?
Presence is pure consciousness — consciousness that has been
reclaimed from the mind, from the world
SLOWING DOWN THE AGING PROCESS
In the meantime, awareness of the inner body has other benefits in
the physical realm. One of them is a significant slowing down of the
aging of the physical body.
STRENGTHENING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Another benefit of this practice in the physical realm is a great
strengthening of the immune system, which occurs when you inhabit
the body. The more consciousnes
LET THE BREATH TAKE YOU INTO THE BODY
At times, when my mind has been very active, it has acquired such
momentum that I find it impossible to take my attention away from it
and feel the inner body. Thi
CREATIVE USE OF MIND
If you need to use your mind for a specific purpose, use it in
conjunction with your inner body. Only if you are able to be conscious
without thought can you use y
THE ART OF LISTENING
When listening to another person, don’t just listen with your mind,
listen with your whole body. Feel the energy field of your inner body
as you listen. That takes
GOING DEEPLY INTO THE BODY
I can feel the energy inside my body, especially in my arms and legs,
but I don’t seem to be able to go more deeply, as you suggested
earlier.
Make it int
THE SOURCE OF CHI
Is the Unmanifested what in the East is called chi, a kind of universal
life energy?
No, it isn’t. The Unmanifested is the source of chi. Chi is the inner
DREAMLESS SLEEP
You take a journey into the Unmanifested every night when you enter
the phase of deep dreamless sleep. You merge with the Source. You
draw from it the vital energy
OTHER PORTALS
The Now can be seen as the main portal. It is an essential aspect of
every other portal, including the inner body. You cannot be in your
body without being intense
SILENCE
Are there any other portals apart from those you just mentioned?
Yes, there are. The Unmanifested is not separate from the
manifested. It pervades this world, but
THE TRUE NATURE OF SPACE AND TIME
Now consider this: If there were nothing but silence, it wouldn’t exist
for you; you wouldn’t know what it is. Only when sound appears does
silence come into being
CONSCIOUS DEATH
Apart from dreamless sleep, which I mentioned already, there is one
other involuntary portal. It opens up briefly at the time of physical
death. Even if you have m
ENTER THE NOW FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE
I always thought that true enlightenment is not possible except
through love in a relationship between a man and a woman. Isn’t this
what makes us whole again? How
LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIPS
Unless and until you access the consciousness frequency of presence,
all relationships, and particularly intimate relationships, are deeply
flawed and ultimately d
ADDICTION AND THE SEARCH FOR WHOLENESS
Why should we become addicted to another person?
The reason why the romantic love relationship is such an intense and
universally sought-after experience is that i
FROM ADDICTIVE TO ENLIGHTENED RELATIONSHIPS
Can we change an addictive relationship into a true one?
Yes. Being present and intensifying your presence by taking your
attention ever more deeply into the Now:
RELATIONSHIPS AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
As the egoic mode of consciousness and all the social, political, and
economic structures that it created enter the final stage of collapse,
the relationships betw
WHY WOMEN ARE CLOSER TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Are the obstacles to enlightenment the same for a man as for a
woman?
Yes, but the emphasis is different. Generally speaking, it is easier for
a woman to
GIVE UP THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOURSELF
When one is fully conscious, would one still have a need for a
relationship? Would a man still feel drawn to a woman? Would a
woman still feel incomplete without a
THE HIGHER GOOD BEYOND GOOD AND BAD
Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace?
Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive;
inner peace does not.
Is it not
THE END OF YOUR LIFE DRAMA
In that state of acceptance and inner peace, even though you may not
call it “bad,” can anything still come into your life that would be called
“bad” from a perspe
IMPERMANENCE AND THE CYCLES OF LIFE
However, as long as you are in the physical dimension and linked to
the collective human psyche, physical pain — although rare — is still
possible. This is not to
USING AND RELINQUISHING NEGATIVITY
All inner resistance is experienced as negativity in one form or
another. All negativity is resistance. In this context, the two words are
almost synonymous. Negat
THE NATURE OF COMPASSION
Having gone beyond the mind-made opposites, you become like a
deep lake. The outer situation of your life and whatever happens
there is the surface of the lake. So
TOWARD A DIFFERENT ORDER OF REALITY
I don’t agree that the body needs to die. I am convinced that we can
achieve physical immortality. We believe in death and that’s why the
body dies.
The b
ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOW
You mentioned “surrender” a few times. I don’t like that idea. It
sounds somewhat fatalistic. If we always accept the way things are,
we are not going to make any
FROM MIND ENERGY TO SPIRITUAL ENERGY
Letting go of resistance is easier said than done. I still don’t see
clearly how to let go. If you say it is by surrendering, the question
remains: “How?”
SURRENDER IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
What about people who want to use me, manipulate or control me?
Am I to surrender to them?
They are cut off from Being, so they unconsciously attempt to get
TRANSFORMING ILLNESS INTO ENLIGHTENMENT
If someone is seriously ill and completely accepts their condition and
surrenders to the illness, would they not have given up their will to
get back to health? Th
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES
As far as the still unconscious majority of the population is concerned,
only a critical limit-situation has the potential to crack the hard shell
of the ego and f
TRANSFORMING SUFFERING INTO PEACE
I read about a stoic philosopher in ancient Greece who, when he was
told that his son had died in an accident, replied, “I knew he was not
immortal.” Is that surre
THE WAY OF THE CROSS
There are many accounts of people who say they have found God
through their deep suffering, and there is the Christian expression
“the way of the cross,” which I s
THE POWER TO CHOOSE
What about all those people who, it seems, actually want to suffer? I
have a friend whose partner is physically abusive toward her, and her
previous relationship w
Document Outline
Author’s Preface to the Paperback Edition Introduction The Origin of This Book The Truth That Is Within You CHAPTER ONE : You Are Not Your Mind The Greatest Obstacle to Enlightenment Freeing Yourse
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