Week 3 -- A New Earth

“The Truth is inseparable from who you are.” – Eckhart Tolle

Affirmation:

"My joy replaces any pain I might experience."

Study Questions – A New Earth  (Review chapters 5 & 6, pp 129-184)

Chapter 5

“This is not to say that all thinking and all emotion are of the ego. They turn into ego only when you identify with them and … they become ‘I’.” (p. 131-132) What examples of thoughts and emotions have you had with which you have identified? … with which you have NOT identified?

“Although the body is very intelligent, it cannot tell the difference between an actual situation and a thought.” (p. 134) Speculate as to why this is so.  What personal examples illustrate this concept? How is this principle used by the ego to ensure its perpetuation?

“We can learn not to keep situations or events alive in our minds, but to return our attention continuously to the pristine, timeless present moment rather than be caught up in mental movie-making.” (p. 141) In what “movie-making” have you recently engaged? How can the practice of forgiveness as taught here (“giving love to the moment”) help you avoid “movie-making”?

What distinguishes a “happy, positive thought” from an “unhappy, negative thought”? Is the effect of each more than just on your emotional well-being? Consider the ramifications of holding each type of thought on your present consciousness, on the development of your consciousness and on the development of your relationships.

Tolle seems to ascribe a motivation to the pain-body as an “entity” of consciousness separate from but similar to the ego. Consider the pain-body as a “tool” of the ego rather than as a separate “entity”. In this context, how can the pain-body be used by the ego to ensure its perpetuation? How can it be used to escape the grip of the ego?

Tolle refers to the “collective pain-body” as one would refer to the “collective consciousness” or “shared consciousness”. Does this idea resonate with you or do you understand the “collective pain-body” to be something other than “shared”? Discuss.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 begins with the first two steps required to free yourself from your pain-body: 1) realize you have a pain-body, and 2) notice the pain-body is the source of negative emotion. What benefits can you see of being free of your pain-body? Do you anticipate that this is a “permanent” freedom?

“The energy that was trapped in the pain-body then changes its vibrational frequency and is transmuted into Presence.” (p. 162) How would you describe this process of transmutation? Describe a situation where you have experienced this. What effect did you experience?

Tolle’s definition of the ego is the identification with thought or form. When we identify with the pain-body, we are reinforcing the ego. Illustrate with personal examples when this has happened, how this ego-perpetuation occurs and what effects it has.

According to Tolle, each of us has a pain-body. It often shows up in adults as the source of spontaneous, “negative” responses to otherwise benign stimuli – such as one weeping in response to someone’s criticism of some task just completed. Can you identify an early “addition” to your pain-body (something that occurred early in your life)? How has that affected you in your life?

“It requires a high degree of Presence to avoid reacting when confronted by someone with such an active pain-body. If you are able to stay present, it sometimes happens that your Presence enables the other person to dis-identify from his/her own pain-body and thus experience the miracle of a sudden awakeing.” (p. 174-175) Describe a situation where you have experienced this (either as the one maintaining Presence or the one awakened). Speculate as to how this might happen.

Next Week: Read chapters 7 & 8.