突破对痛苦之身的认同

当我们有足够的意识来突破对痛苦之身的认同时，它将会变成什么样子呢？

无意识创造了它，意识将它变为原形。圣保罗优美地说出了宇宙的原理：“万物在光明下无所遁形，同时万物在光的照耀下都会转化成光。”就像你不能向黑暗宣战一样，你不能向痛苦之身宣战。这样做会引发内心的冲突并创造更深的痛苦。所以观察它就足够了。观察它意味着接纳它成为当下时刻事实的一部分。

痛苦之身由受困的生命能量构成，这种能量是从你总的生命能量中分离出来的，它通过思维认同的反自然过程暂时地取得自治权。它变得反对生命，就像动物试图去追自己的尾巴一样。你认为我们的文明为什么已经变成了一种自残的文明？但是即使自残的力量也仍然是生命的能量。

当你开始不再认同痛苦之身，而成为观察者时，它还会继续挣扎一段时间，同时还会试图让你再度与它认同。虽然你不再通过认同它而给它能量，但是它还是会保持一定的动能，就像转动的轮子一样，即使你不再推它，它也会因为惯性继续转动一会儿。在这个阶段，它会在你身体的不同部位，制造一些痛苦或不适，但是这些痛苦不会持续很久。你需要充分地保持注意力，以便直接地观察痛苦之身并感受它的力量。这样，它就不会再控制你的思维。当你的思维被痛苦所控制时，你就会再次与它认同，而痛苦之身就会再次通过你的思维获得生存。

比如说，如果愤怒一直左右着你的思维，你不停地在想别人对你做的事，或你将要对别人做的事，这时你就无意识地被痛苦所控制了，痛苦之身又成了“你”。在有愤怒的地方通常就有痛苦埋伏在其下。或者，当你心情不好时，你开始有了很多消极的思想，并不断地想你的生活是多么的糟糕，这时你的想法就和痛苦之身结合，你就会无意识地被痛苦所控制，也很容易遭受痛苦之身的攻击。此处我所说的“无意识”，是指对某个思想或情绪模式的认同。它隐含的意思是：观察者的完全缺席。

持久而有意识的关注切断了痛苦之身和思维之间的桥梁，它会带来转化。也就是说，痛苦成为你意识火焰的燃料，结果是意识之火燃烧得更加猛烈。这就是古代炼金术的深奥意义：将金属变成金子，将痛苦转化为意识。内部被分裂得创伤被治愈，你又成为圆满的。这样，你接下来的责任就是不再创造更多的痛苦。

我来总结一下这个过程：将注意力集中在你内心的感受上，了解到这就是痛苦之身并接受它的存在；别去想它，别让你的感受变成了大脑和思维，不要去评判或分析它，别在其中寻找你自己的身份认同；保持临在，继续观察你的内在；不但觉知到你情绪上的痛苦，更要觉察那个沉默的观察者。这就是当下的力量，这就是你自己有意识的那种临在的力量。然后，请看看接下来会发生什么事情。

What happens to the pain-body when we become conscious enough to break our identification with it?

Unconsciousness creates it; consciousness transmutes it into itself. St. Paul expressed this universal principle beautifully:. 'Everything is shown up by being exposed to the light, and whatever is exposed to the light itself becomes light.' Just as you cannot fight the darkness, you cannot fight the pain-body. Trying to do so would create inner conflict and thus further pain. Watching it is enough. Watching it implies accepting it as part of what is at that moment.

The pain-body consists of trapped life-energy that has split off from your total energy field and has temporarily become autonomous through the unnatural process of mind identification. It has turned in on itself and become anti-life, like an animal trying to devour its own tail. Why do you think our civilization has become so life-destructive? But even the life-destructive forces are still life-energy.

When you start to disidentify and become the watcher, the pain-body will continue to operate for a while and will try to trick you into identifying with it again. Although you are no longer energizing it through your identification, it has a certain momentum, just like a spinning wheel that will keep turning for a while even when it is no longer being propelled. At this stage, it may also create physical aches and pains in different parts of the body, but they won’t last. Stay present, stay conscious. Be the ever-alert guardian of your inner space. You need to be present enough to be able to watch the pain-body directly and feel its energy. It then cannot control your thinking. The moment your thinking is aligned with the energy field of the pain-body, you are identified with it and again feeding it with your thoughts.

For example, if anger is the predominant energy vibration of the pain-body and you think angry thoughts, dwelling on what someone did to you or what you are going to do to him or her, then you have become unconscious, and the pain-body has become 'you.' Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath. Or when a dark mood comes upon you and you start getting into a negative mind-pattern and thinking how dreadful your life is, your thinking has become aligned with the pain-body, and you have become unconscious and vulnerable to the pain-body's attack. 'Unconscious,' the way that I use the word here, means to be identified with some mental or emotional pattern. It implies a complete absence of the watcher.

Sustained conscious attention severs the link between the pain-body and your thought processes and brings about the process of transmutation. It is as if the pain becomes fuel for the flame of your consciousness, which then burns more brightly as a result. This is the esoteric meaning of the ancient art of alchemy:, the transmutation of base metal into gold, of suffering into consciousness. The split within is healed, and you become whole again. Your responsibility then is not to create further pain.

Let me summarize the process. Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body. Accept that it is there. Don't think about it — don't let the feeling turn into thinking. Don't judge or analyze. Don't make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware not only of the emotional pain but also of 'the one who observes,' the silent watcher. This is the power of the Now, the power of your own conscious presence. Then see what happens.