Eckhart Tolle On Pain And Addiction

Excerpted from Oprah and Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth Online Class Podcast transcript

OPRAH WINFREY (HOST): We have an e-mail from Judy in Columbia, South Carolina. "Could you talk a bit about alcohol and drug abuse in the pain-body? Is this an attempt at escape from the painbody; alcohol and drug abuse?

ECKHART TOLLE (AUTHOR A NEW EARTH: AWAKENING TO YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE): Yes, often it is. And I mention that in the book. It's an escape of not wanting to feel the pain anymore.

In some people, the pain-body is active almost all the time, and that is dreadful way to live. And those people in whom the pain-body is active almost all the time, often they will seek some kind of escape from it because they can't live with that pain anymore.

The pain-body loves it, but it makes your life more and more miserable. So, but there is also a good chance and maybe that brings us to the, what connects us with the, what I said in the book, if people who have a heavy pain-body, their chance of awakening is also quite great because when life becomes unbearable because you're creating so much pain continuously for yourself, your desire to awaken, to finally get out of this misery is much greater than a normal person's desire to awaken.

In other words, you could say when you're having a relatively pleasant dream, you don't mind so much dreaming on. But when your dream turns into a nightmare, then you really want to awaken from that, and you can't stand it.

And that was the case with me. I had a very, very heavy pain-body that drove me almost, very close to suicide until I, the realization came, "I cannot live with myself any longer." And that thought was the breakthrough where the separation happened from consciousness that I am and the ego, and the pain-body that I had been identified with as the unhappy little me.... I had my first plans to kill myself at the age of 9 and 10.

So I had worked it all out, but somehow I didn't quite have the courage yet to do.

OPRAH WINFREY: Cause the pain-body was so heavy even at 9 and 10?

ECKHART TOLLE: Already then it was quite heavy. Then it subsided a little bit, and then it came back again very strongly in my 20s.

OPRAH WINFREY: Wow. And what was it? What was it that caused you to feel-you felt depressed, you felt unworthy, you felt what?

ECKHART TOLLE: It was partly living in almost continuous conflict in the home environment between my parents, who were always fighting. There was very little peace at home. I was very sensitive, so it was very hard for me to even be there at home.

OPRAH WINFREY: As you say in the book, for children who watch their parents fight, it's almost unbearable.

ECKHART TOLLE: Yes. And that, of course, contributes to their, a child's growing pain-bodies. So my pain-body grew very quickly and, but if this had not been the case, I wouldn't ever have awakened. I would have been in a relatively pleasant dream.

OPRAH WINFREY: That's right. If you had had a nice, happy childhood, you might not be sitting here teaching with us tonight.

ECKHART TOLLE: Certainly not. No, no. So retrospectively, one is grateful for one's suffering because eventually suffering will wake you up.

OPRAH WINFREY: You said, when I read earlier on page 141 about "any negative emotion that's not fully faced and seen for what it is in the moment it arises does not completely dissolve. It leaves behind a remnant of pain." So when we are faced with negative emotions on a daily basis, we should embrace them, we should go into them rather than resist them.

ECKHART TOLLE: Yes. Accept whatever emotion.

OPRAH WINFREY: Accept it.

ECKHART TOLLE: Accept because it's part of accepting the present moment because if a certain negative emotion is part of what's happening in the present moment, what can you do? It's already happening, so you.

OPRAH WINFREY: Take it.

ECKHART TOLLE: Take it. (unintelligible) "Oh, there it is. I can feel that anger. I can feel the sadness. I can feel it." Be the space for it. So accept that it is there. The acceptance of the present moment, no matter what form it takes, externally or internally, whatever form it takes, externally means whatever situation arises right now, it always is as it is at this moment.

You might as well say yes to it. Internally means whatever emotion arises at this moment it is as it is, you might as well say yes to it.

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, I know next week we're going to be talking about breaking free of the pain-body, but just for now, if every time you can see it show itself and recognize it for what it is, "There it is, there's my pain-body again. There it is again," that the awareness of it begins to dissolve it, correct?

ECKHART TOLLE: Yes, yes.~ ~

Copyright 2008 HARPO PRODUCTIONS INC

From A New Earth Online Class at Oprah.com - Chapter 5

[Image of Tolle from his AudioCD at LearnOutLoud.]

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Also see more articles by Eckhart Tolle.