Witnessing the pain body. Written by Keren Obara.
Eckhart Tolle wrote, in the power of now, that he was 30 years old when he first witnessed the voice in his head. The ego voice. And ever since then, he felt free. I first witnessed this ego voice in my early 20’s. Through talking to my dad, and my therapist, I realised that I was wearing a deadly lens. My mind would run with thinking, and make stories out of everything. Complex stories, terrifying stories.
Unlike Mr. Eckhart, I cannot directly articulate the first time I fully separated from and witnessed the deadly voice as a separate entity from me.
Rather, it happened in glimpses.
It’s a terrific feeling. When you are finally able to look behind and catch the shadow that has been whispering negative words to you for years.
Suddenly, all the negative lies you believed about yourself and others, come crashing down. All that is left is you, and a chest that doesn’t ache. The dread of existence subsides and for a moment, just a moment, you can breathe.
That shadow is so cunning. It whispers horrible things. Makes me believe that situations are more dreadful than they appear to be. I get frightened, the fear responses kick in, fight, flight, or freeze.
Eckhart Tolle calls it: The Pain Body. When you hear people say “I don’t know what came over me” or “That wasn’t me”
I try to reach out and communicate as Keren. But amidst the vast ocean of pain bodies, sometimes I cannot hear myself. It’s way too much noise. Even when it’s quiet, it’s still noisy.
Even when it’s quiet it’s still noisy.
In “How to stop worrying and start living”, Dale Carnegie told the story of John D. Rockefeller’s. He is one of the richest Americans to ever live
He owned Standard Oil, and had billions pouring in to his account. But he was a worried man, a suspicious man. Fear and worry are not so fun to live with. It is only when he faced the very thing he worried, that he began to live.
As Eckhart Tolle states in “The Power of Now”, compulsive thinking has become a disease.” Reminds me of the Tatu song when they sing “will I ever be free?”
The first step to being free is witnessing the voice. Witness the thought. Witness the thinker. Witness the feeling. Let it wash over. This separates one from the thought and provides a little bit of inner peace.
Take care of your mental health. Until then, all the best.
Keren Obara 2023.
