Eckhart Tolle, my pain body, and me
A friend of mine went to see a talk by Eckhart Tolle the other day.
I'd never heard of Tolle, but the fact that my friend thought he was worth listening to made me curious to know something about him. Naturally my first port of call (and also my last) was the font of all human knowledge, AKA Google.
I am in many ways rather shallow, so I studied Tolle's teachings - studied is probably too grand a word but I'll stick with it - in the most superficial way possible.
Nevertheless I learnt something useful.
One of the things that Tolle talks about is the "pain body".
This is his name for the accumulation of emotional pain that almost all people carry in their "energy field". He says it consist of negative emotions that were not faced, accepted, and then let go in the moment they arose.
Personally I don't have much truck with "energy fields".
However, I do think there is much in his claim that those who haven't faced up to their negative emotions carry a burden of emotional pain. And "pain body" is as good a name for that burden as you're likely to come across.
I have a feeling that if I met Tolle, and he was able to see my pain body, he'd fall over with shock, because my accumulation of negativity is pretty damned big.
But in some ways I see that as a good thing; it's what drives me to write.
Writing is a therapy.
You could assume from this that my writing is indulgent and therefore not worth reading. After all, if I'm writing for my own benefit, why should you bother with it?
Good question.
The answer is:
If I pen a good story, it acts as therapy for you as well as for me.
Conversely, if I pen a bad story, it pisses you off - so I try to avoid that mistake!
What distinguishes good stories from bad stories?
Good writing has the hallmark of the writer's genuine emotions stamped all over it - even if his work is one of extreme fantasy, his true personal imprint will be revealed in his words.
The hallmark of bad writing is posturing - the writer attempts to impress you with words, without daring to be, and to properly reveal, himself.
So bring on that pain body, Eckhart! I'd rather confront my old emotional pain long after the event, in my stories, than immediately I feel it in real life.
That's the way creative people work.
Here's some interesting stuff about me that rather proves my point:
Read my free short stories:
For info about my books see:
Photo from Pixabay
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