36 pages • 1 hour read
A New Earth: Create a Better Life
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BetaChapters 5-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Pain-Body”
Tolle argues that thinking is an unconscious practice in many humans, who do not think so much as experience thinking, which Tolle likens to the experience of circulation or digestion. Unconscious thinking can be problematic because it “is conditioned by the past,” and the same repeated thoughts lead to a continual reenactment of the past (129).
Emotions, which take place in the body, become identified with ego “when you identify with them and they take over you completely” (132). When a negative thought occurs, it sends signals to the body, which responds to the stimulus as though it were a real danger. This response leads to a disruption of the body’s harmony and, on a long-term basis, to poor health outcomes. There are also deeper, positive emotions, which are “states of being” and the kind of “love, joy, and peace that are aspects of your true nature” (137).
Tolle calls the human “tendency to perpetuate old emotion” and the unwillingness to let go of the past, which leads to the “accumulation of old emotional pain,” the pain-body (140). People have different degrees of pain-body, according to their personal and ancestral lived experiences. The pain-body feeds on negative thinking and drama in relationships, as “the other person’s pain-body wants to awaken yours so that both pain-bodies can mutually energize each other” (148).
The pain-body exists on a collective level, in addition to an individual one. Different nations and ethnicities have different levels of pain-body, according to the age of the nation and the violence of its history. Some countries with a violent history, such as China, compensate for what would otherwise be a dense pain-body with activities such as t’ai chi and qigong, which promote harmony between the mind and body. Women have a “share in the collective female pain-body,” owing to the many injustices perpetrated by men (154). Similarly, marginalized and historically exploited groups, such as African Americans, have a strong pain-body. However, in the case of the United States, where white settlers exploited both Native Americans and African Americans, the “suffering inflicted […] has not remained confined to those two races, but has become part of the collective American pain-body” because “both victim and perpetrator suffer the consequences of any acts of violence, oppression, or brutality” (159). Tolle here reinforces the unity and interconnectedness of all humans, as he shows that what one does to others, one does to oneself. Still, Tolle does not advocate that marginalized groups remain trapped in blaming their oppressors. To do so would be to feed the pain-body and perpetuate the cycle of negativity. Instead, they should forgive the wrongdoers and rely on the power of their “Presence” to “bring in the light” (160).
Chapter 6 Summary: “Breaking Free”
The way to break free from the pain-body is not to identify with it. Thus, it “can no longer control your thinking, and so cannot renew itself anymore by feeding on your thoughts” (161). The first step toward nonidentification with the pain-body is to accept the pain and sit with your pain until you are conscious of the “space around it” (166). When you perceive space around a feeling, you are living in the present moment rather than in stories of past wrong, and you can see the pain as a separate entity from “the is-ness of the Now” and your true self (184).
Tolle also advocates not identifying with, or reacting to, others’ pain-bodies. Reaction often amplifies the pain-body, thereby strengthening its influence. In the case of witnessing a child’s pain-body, parents should encourage the child to be curious about their pain and to see it as an entity that has temporarily taken them over rather than an intrinsic part of them.
Tolle argues that the pain-body’s unconscious tendency to seek further pain causes those with already heavy pain-bodies to make negative events, such as traffic accidents, happen. While those with heavy pain-bodies operate unconsciously, and so cannot be directly blamed, they must take responsibility for their healing, and so align themselves with the evolution of consciousness in the universe.
Often, when one person is triggered by another’s pain-body, and feels an aversion toward them, it is because their own pain-body is being triggered. A person must meet such an encounter with deep awareness of their own pain-body and a “state of alert presence” because the pain-body cannot live in the reality of the present moment (179). In some cases, a strong pain-body can be a great catalyst to enlightenment, simply because when life becomes miserable enough, the person may choose to stop identifying with their negative thoughts and emotions.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Finding Who You Truly Are”
For Tolle, self-knowledge comes from being “rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind” (186). The egoic mode of self-knowledge is obsessed with the stories that are “conditioned by the past” and with the transitory “content” of a life rather than its essence (193). When a person is conscious enough to know that they are not their ego, or the numerous external forms that they could identify with, they learn what they are not. This negation of externals is an important step toward enlightenment. As the person contemplates the vast mystery of the sky at night, they “sense the vast depth of space as your own depth” and identify with its formless, still nature (219).
An over-emphasis on the outcome of events is to become dependent on the illusory nature of the ego’s “psychological time” and the transitory forms that inhabit it (207). While the ego loves to focus on the future and treat the present moment “as a means to an end, as an obstacle, or as an enemy,” happiness and flow can only happen in the present (202). Life becomes more accommodating if you are present in the moment rather than wishing it away. Life goals ought to be fulfilling in the moment rather than simply future-orientated. They can thus be infused with Presence rather than simply servicing a restless, dissatisfied ego.
Chapters 5-7 Analysis
Tolle introduces the reader to the pain-body, the ego’s emotional counterpart. Like the ego, the pain-body is averse to the present moment, as it prioritizes and carries past pain within it. Pain-bodies easily become identified with stories of past trouble, and their bearers fear that they will not know who they are without these narratives. While Western societies have historically praised martyrs, Tolle teaches that identifying with our pain is a negative, egoic way of staying stuck in stories that no longer serve us or society. Instead of identifying with negative feelings, we should feel them in the moment and allow them to pass through us. If we bring our alert, nonreactive presence to emotional dramas, rather than ascribing narratives to them, we will help ourselves and others be more at peace.
Tolle allows for variations in the pain-body. On an individual level, some people have such dense pain-bodies that they are ruled by them and subconsciously seek to make everyone as miserable as them. On a collective level, some pain-bodies are particular to specific groups who have undergone historic injustice. For example, women, citizens from countries with war-torn histories, and persecuted groups often have strong pain-bodies. In an era where identity politics fuel conflict, Tolle advocates against making an identity of historic victimhood because this only serves to augment the pain-body. Conversely, when marginalized groups focus on “generating Presence” and reestablishing their connection to the timeless, formless realm of Being, they bring truth and light to a situation of extreme wrong-doing and lessen the malicious charge around it (158).
In addition to pain, Tolle addresses the issue of general dissatisfaction, which he relates to the goal- and future-oriented nature of the ego. He teaches that trying to control outcomes in pursuit of future happiness is futile because we are not in control of the fluctuating criteria that make the ego happy, and in any event, the feeling of happiness or contentment can only happen in the present moment. Goal-setting must be coupled with strong awareness of the present moment and the realization that the fluctuating aspirations and forms “that make up the content of your life” are not the essence of who you are (219). Tolle teaches that before you can know the truth of your identity, you must recognize that the forms that obsess the ego distract you from that truth.
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