May 23rd Meeting Summary

We met on Sunday (a VERY, VERY hot day!) at Meenakshi’s house, and we had a great turnout. We talked about chapter 5 again, The Pain Body, and I think we got quite a bit figured out.

The pain body appears to be our beliefs, or past conditioning. I find it very interesting that many different authors refer to this issue in many different ways. I have heard them called beliefs, the thoughts behind the thoughts, rules, emotional baggage, unconscious programming, mental associations, unconscious assumptions, pain body, etc. They have almost as many names as God does. Whatever you call them, they are tough little buggers, for sure. They control our every move, our every word, our every thought. That seems like a big claim, an exaggeration. But maybe it’s not so far fetched after all.

Consider the fact that each and every one of us goes about our day in a different way. Each and every one of us will approach a situation in a different way, if we’re even willing to approach it at all. And each of us perceives the exact same person or situation in a different way. Granted, sometimes some of our perceptions are similar to others’, but never exact. Why is this? Because each of us has had different experiences, and our experiences form our beliefs. And since we continue to have more experiences every day, our beliefs continue to be shaped and altered, however slightly or drastically, all the time.

The problem is, they’re unconscious. We can’t always tell what our true beliefs are. They, like the ego, like to hide in the shadows with a remote control, making us do this or do that, sometimes against our better judgment. But in order to gain full control of our lives, and of our own minds, we must find out what they are, figure out which ones are actually useful to us, and change the ones that are not.

I’m excited for the next chapter, Breaking Free. Perhaps Eckhart will give us some powerful insight regarding how to identify our pain body and how to eliminate it.

One thing I have noticed in our meetings, especially the past few meetings, is that we are getting off the subject more and more. At first, it made me a little anxious, feeling this need to control things and “accomplish” something at these meetings. But I have since recognized the FAR more important benefit of all of us getting together every other week or so. And that is connection. Each meeting, I learn more and more about you all, and that makes me feel closer to each of you. No book could ever replace that, nor are there words that could accurately describe it.

I like the idea of including meditation and visualization at our future meetings. In fact, having a segment of time during our meetings to talk about these and what each of us does on a daily basis (or whenever we get around to it!) could be very enlightening. If anyone has any ideas regarding this - types of meditation, things to visualize, meditation or visualization CDs you’d like to bring in for the group to share, peaceful places to go, etc., please feel free to add to this.

Farewell, until our next adventure…

Tom L.