Food for the Soul - A reflection on John 6:51-58

What are we feeding our souls? - John 6:51-58

Have you ever wondered why some people when  in a drunken state can act out in sometimes violent and angry ways that are often completely out of character?  That is an extreme example, but there are times when we all act out of character, and we don’t always understand why, unable to offer an adequate explanation to others or even to ourselves? 

The German spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle in two of his books: The Power of Now, and A New Earth provides an explanation that is worth reflecting on.  In both of these books he explores the concept of what he calls the "pain body".  He describes the pain body as an accumulation of old emotional pain, unprocessed trauma and unresolved negative and painful experiences. This pain, instead of being fully acknowledged and healed, because it feels too painful or overwhelming, gets suppressed and stored within us, forming a semi-autonomous entity in our unconscious mind which Eckhart Tolle refers to as the pain body. For some this pain body is small. For others the pain body of stored up unprocessed emotional pain is large and heavy. 

Over time, he suggests that this unprocessed pain begins to take on a life of its own controlling us and affecting us from the shadows of our unconscious. He suggests that it is not just a passive presence within us; it actively seeks to manifest itself and perpetuate its existence. The pain body thrives on negativity, and it becomes stronger when we experience or engage in painful situations, conflict, or suffering. A lot of the time he suggests that we use large amounts of energy in keeping these painful, unacknowledged parts of ourselves in check. 

The pain body is most easily recognized when we are triggered into emotional reactivity. When this happens, and the pain body erupts from our unconscious to the surface of our lives we may suddenly feel an overwhelming wave of anger, sadness, or fear that seems disproportionate to the situation at hand. This reaction is often the pain body "coming to life," seizing the opportunity to express itself and feed on the negative energy.

One of the most vivid examples of the pain body erupting to the surface and taking control is when a person gets into a drunken rage. Alcohol lowers our inhibitions and diminishes the conscious mind's ability to maintain control. In such a state, the pain body can emerge unchecked, expressing itself with a force that can seem almost demonic.

In a drunken rage, a person might say or do things that are completely out of character. They may lash out verbally or physically, driven by the pain body’s need to release pent-up negativity. The person may feel a strange, perverse satisfaction or relief in this release, even though it is destructive. This is because the pain body feeds on the energy of pain and suffering, both in themselves and others.

For those with a particularly strong pain body, there can be a constant undercurrent of negativity in their lives, sabotaging situations that could bring happiness or peace and thus creating a cycle where the pain body feeds on further negativity, creating more situations that generate pain.

Eckhart Tolle teaches that the key to healing and ultimately dissolving the pain body lies in growing our awareness. The first step is to recognize when the pain body is active within us. This requires us to be perceptive, present and mindful, to observe our emotional reactions without getting lost in them. The Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh expresses this process beautifully encouraging us to hold our pain, our negativity, and our anger with love and compassion like a mother holding and comforting her crying baby.  Another way of saying this is to hold our pain and negativity with the compassion and kindness of Christ. 

And so when we become aware of the pain body, and hold it with awareness and compassion, we can begin to dis-identify from it. By compassionately observing the pain body without feeding it with further negativity, we start to weaken its grip on our lives and in its place we experience our true spiritual nature the divine light within, experienced as a deeper sense of peace and presence. 

In today’s Gospel reading from John 6:51-58, Jesus presents a challenging and profound teaching: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." What could these words mean?   

In the reading, the crowds take Jesus literally once again. They do not see that this isn’t about physical consumption but a deep, spiritual engagement.  John’s Gospel which is filled with symbolism that invites us to understand these words at a deeper symbolic level. And I believe that what they point to is an ongoing, life-long engagement and meditation of the stories and teachings of Jesus in the Gospels. 

Birch and Rasmussen, in their book “The Bible and Christian Ethics”, remind us that this kind  continuous reflection and meditation on the life of Jesus begins to shape our characters. By constantly returning to the Gospel stories of Jesus, we allow the stories of Jesus’ life and teachings to permeate our being, seeping into our unconscious, influencing our thoughts, our values, and actions. This spiritual feeding transforms our character, aligning us more closely with Christ's own character—compassionate, just, and self-giving.

In contrast to a life of feeding on and meditating deeply on the life of Jesus, Eckhart Tolle believes that the pain body feeds on negative emotions—anger, resentment, and fear—and grows stronger the more we indulge these feelings. If we feed our pain body, it begins to dominate our inner life, distorting our perceptions and behaviours.

In light of Jesus’ teaching, we must ask ourselves: Are we feeding on Christ, or are we feeding the negativity of our pain body? To feed on Christ is to meditate on His love, peace, and forgiveness, allowing these to become the dominant forces within us. But if we neglect this spiritual nourishment, we may find ourselves unwittingly feeding our pain body, allowing bitterness and division and hatred to take root.

This dynamic is beautifully illustrated in the Native American parable of the two wolves. A man had a dream in which he saw there were of two wolves fighting within him—one good and one evil. When he woke from sleep, disturbed by the dream, he shared it with a wise and trusted person.  The wise person listened intently and then asked a penetrating question. Which one wins in the end? To which the man replied, "The one I feed the most."

This parable underscores the reality that our character is shaped by what we consistently choose to dwell on and nurture. If we feed the negativity and pain in our lives, those qualities will grow stronger within us. But if we feed on the life and teachings of Jesus, nurturing virtues like love, patience, and kindness, these will prevail.

Our Old Testament passage today comes from Proverbs 9:1-6 and personifies wisdom as a woman who invites us to her banquet, to feed on her bread and her wine, to feed on the ways of wisdom urging us to leave behind our "folly" and to find life by walking in the ways of perception. This echoes Jesus’ invitation in John 6 to partake of His life-giving flesh and blood. To accept this invitation of Christ is to choose the path of wisdom—a path that leads to true, eternal life which in John’s Gospel is not so much about living forever, but rather finding a life flowing with an inner abundance and expansiveness within.

In conclusion it needs to be said that ‘feeding on Jesus’ is about more than a single act of faith; it is a lifelong process of character formation. It requires us to consistently meditate on the life, teachings, and personhood of Jesus, allowing His compassionate example to become a living presence within us that transforms us from within. And in doing so equipping us with the capacity to hold our own and others pain, anger and negativity with the kind of loving, compassionate awareness that can heal instead of harm.

Amen.