There is Nothing Wrong with You

because there is nothing personal

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

When I was a teenager I believed that my family’s dysfunction existed nowhere else. Eventually, I realized that it was extremely similar to the dysfunction of other families and the dysfunction of the world. There was nothing special about it.

Similarly, there is nothing special about my desire for more food when I don’t need it. There is nothing special about my tendency to create suffering for myself (which Eckhart Tolle calls the “pain body”). There is nothing special about my sometimes irritating obsession with the New York Giants. When there is a DSM-5 classification for whatever you have, it’s obvious there’s nothing special about it. These are all aspects of the human ego and exist worldwide.

So what’s the point?

The forces that create suffering are not personal to you or me. This is a universal challenge not a personal one: meeting obsession, compulsivity, suffering, with consciousness. The ego, the “pain body” is no more you than the spider who crawls up your leg is you.

Therefore: There is nothing wrong with you.