Eckhart TolleNYT Bestselling author of the Power of Now

The Illusion of “My Body”

14 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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1:18

In this brief talk, Eckhart Tolle explains that the sense of ownership over one’s body—or any possession such as a car—is not a true identification with the physical object but with the mental label “my body” or “my car.” He argues that this mental formation creates a false feeling of superiority over others, which is temporary and ultimately dissolves when the body ages or the illusion is examined. The passage illustrates how egoic identification is rooted in thought, not in the actual object, and how it inevitably leads to a loss of the perceived superiority when the body changes.

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Let's say your body looks better than other people's body for a while. This too will pass, but for a while you can get in there, and then you become, this is my body. That also is a mental formation, but so it's not so much you identify with the body, you identify the thought of my body. That's what you identify with. You don't identify with your Ferrari, if you have one. It's the thought of 'my car' which makes you superior to others who only have a little car. Or your body makes you superior to others who have a puny and weak body. So you can display for a few years, you display your body on the beach and feel good about yourself. And after a while, a day comes when you look in the mirror and say, "What happened?" There's something wrong with the mirror.