Convincing Oneself You Aren't A Body...

[MiracleMan]

I've had a particular insight, which to me feels 100% true:  pain is in the mind, sickness is in the mind, it's of the ego, and the next part isn't an insight but something I read in ACIM that I believe is true:  asking or praying to be healed of sickness reinforces the egoic belief that you are a body, instead a proper prayer (or practice if you will) is to ask for right perception, to see that believing you are a body is a limiting belief and recipe for pain.  Don't get it confused, bodies can get sick in a physical sense, bodies can be in pain, but I want to know for a fact that I'm not the body.

A bit of a background, I have a chronic pain condition, and admitting this is dangerous, I'm giving my ego more ammo by talking about the pain I'm in.  There is no physical evidence for this pain and if you guys do some short research on the chronic pain epidemic you'll find a shocking amount of lack of evidence for physical problems, like MRIs not finding any abnormalities whatsoever, yet millions of people are suffering from a seeming phantom.  Mindfulness based chronic pain programs are popping up all over the place now (because some clinics are finally understanding that giving all these folks pain killers aren't working to heal their pain), including one in my area.  I really want to do a big thread on this eventually and hear what you guys have to say and compare/contrast research because this highly interests me, and anyone else I can help get out of this pain, the better.

Countless teachers have told me "find out who you are" and "Maya can't hurt you if you know who you are."

What are the common traps to being stuck in believing you are reduced to a body?

 

 

[Dodo]

For me, following the wisdom teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Rupert Spira,  the best way to deal with the psychological pain associated with physical pain is to acknowledge it's there and surrendering/accepting that it's there (otherwise you are fighting with what is) while at the same time noticing that it is not happening to you, but is simply a happening, it's there, just as valid as any other happening (like your entire ego structure) . And just as subject to change as any other happening. 

Even looking at the pain more deeply and being interested by what it actually is can be a great tool. 

 

"Hello (darkness) pain my old Friend, I've come to talk with you again"

Befriend/accept pain, Befriend/accept ego too. Ego thrives on resistance. Ego cannot accept pain, because it is threatened by it, only you can.

"Have no enemies " - Jesus

Edited October 26, 2017 by Dodo

[Nahm]

@MiracleMan Huge point - I have not experienced what you are experiencing so I don’t know anything at all about it. But you posted and I like offering love, so....maybe sit and contemplate; all is me, so what is the higher me showing me? What is the growth in this? What is it I can let go of? What happened in my past that led me to this pain? When I picture myself thriving and feeling amazing, in hindseight, what is it that I would have let go of? Who would I have forgiven? Maybe it’s me? Do I need to forgive myself for something I did to someone? Is that my blockage to loving myself? To loving my body?  Again, total crap shoot at my end. I hope maybe one of these contemplative questions helps. 

And am I actually sitting and spending time loving myself? Is that the practice I need right now at this place in my life? 

 

[Feeble Dave]

@Dodo Seconded, Rupert Spira's Yoga Meditations Playlist deals with seeing through beliefs that are hard to get rid of by intellectual understanding. They're really good.

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjLULqAA72YtUw3D0B2TIudCYiUWpX4ef

[Highest]

You do have a body, and if it is in pain it is in pain, there is no way to escape it. You have to accept the pain and live with it, hopefully not for too long. The body can be a pain, but fortunately we all have to drop it, then go on living as spirit, soul. Focus on the Self, the body will perish anyways. The self/soul is eternal, it will never die.

[YaNanNallari]

I hope you've started doing some self-inquiry. It will help you be more open minded about this issue. I highly recommend at least a bit of it.

If I were to explain someone what they are I'd explain how they cannot be the whole body since if you lose a limb you obviously are still you. Now they might say they're in the brain then or the brain. But I can explain to them that there are in fact areas of your brain especially responsible for the feeling of self. Once this is out of the way they can at least logically understand that they're an idea made by their brain especially since you can't pinpoint a line of self and other outside of one's brain.

You've probably heard about the idea of oneness and all that so that is what's left. But questions to ask might be if you're just an idea then what are you actually? What is existence actually? You are a part of the world but the idea of you is just an idea, so what is everything actually?