The necessity of suffering
Now that we have covered love, lets talk about pain.
I see you cringing already.
People spend a lot of energy in avoidance of suffering. When we cannot we often make it worse with obsessive self pity. We spend our lives hiding our talents and wishes and true selves for fear of the pain of rejection. We refrain from taking adventures we dream of for fear of dangers on the journey. We avoid love and intimacy for fear of its loss. We spend huge amounts of money on pain relief medication. Understandably so, pain sucks.
What I noticed most about that paragraph was how much fear has to do with it. I think in many cases the pain is actually easier to cope with than the fear of more.
Regardless, no matter how we avoid it, and work to find ever more elaborate ways to prevent it, suffering is a fact of life. When everything is perfect, there is always some little thing lying in wait to hurt you. I cannot think of one aspect of human civilization that did not arise from the desire to decrease pain and suffering, or at least make sense of it. Religion, art, architecture, agriculture, politics, etc.
This has led me to the conclusion that pain is not only unavoidable but also necessary and, I will go so far as to say; desirable.
Pain is a driving force. Suppose we never experienced a moment’s discomfort. Ever. Would we ever learn to walk or communicate? The world has formed itself by crushing and grinding and mutating and pushing and shoving and fighting. Things just get comfortable in one shape and the earth heaves a sigh and swallows up an entire ecosystem. Out pop some new mountain ranges, a few hundred species die, and the world goes on turning like nothing happened. As far as the world is concerned nothing did. All that anguish and suffering and death, and we just have sandy beaches where once there was rock.
What happens then is that life is forced to become stronger, more adaptable, more creative. It is forced to surpass its limitations, or die. It is forced to live intentionally, alertly, fully experiencing. Yes it is forced, but it is lazy and wouldn’t do anything otherwise.
Pain is furthermore a tool of spiritual teaching as we learn to rise above it, move through it, and continue accomplishing our objectives in spite of it. It shows us our true power as divine beings when we can continue to work, think, love, in spite of terrible feelings. The way to overcome pain is to find the center of your being and operate from there. This is a place that pain cannot touch, the place of quiet, steady Will. It is the best place to make decisions from in any case. This may not mitigate the experience of pain, but it will enable you to maintain self control in spite of it.
Physical pain stimulates the release of endorphins which assist in attaining altered mental states. Willingly accepting pain, controlling powerful instinctive reactions in order to do so, makes a firm statement to the psyche. It says, "I am in charge." It eliminates the use of pain as a weapon or tool of manipulation. If you no longer fear it, if you can control your reaction to it, it cannot be used to control you.
Pain is for evolution, just like love. Love gives us something to run toward, pain gives us something to run from. If we can keep our heads, in pain, in love, if we can hold ourselves steady and think clearly no matter what other forces distract us, we rise above the mechanics of our humanity and become sentient in a new way..
When you have reached a point of tolerance where you are firmly in control, you begin to see the pain for what it really is, which is raw energy and power. You can ride it, like a surfer on the ocean, instead of being swept away and drowned in it.
What’s kind of laughable is that I am holding back from possibly hurting someones feelings by saying what i really want to say which is;
"Everybody please stop being such fucking wimps, crying your frailty to an uncaring world and expecting the world to change! It will not change because you cry. It will not change because you are frail. In your cringing fear you debilitate yourselves far more effectively than ever pain could. So pick up your heads, assert the authority of the Self and get past it, or you will be slaves forever!"
Whew, that feels better now. And i dont mean to be (too) harsh, but i have spent my whole life pushing myself beyond pain and discomfort, creating happiness in spite of it, and watching people who couldnt. Of the two, I am better off, I think. Its not easy, but if more people did it it would be a saner world I say.
I am not trying to say that we should pursue painful activities (except the really fun ones but thats a whole other post) or abusive relationships in order to learn either, but only that we accept that we will frequently experience these things, and the part we have a choice about is our own response.
I have spoken more of fear than of pain, but pain is at the root of fear, and fear causes a great deal of pain. Life is a process of learning self control. Pain is an excellent teacher.
But it is not the only one.
posted by idnami @ 9:32 PM
12 Comments:
There is nothing wrong with pain, indeed. It IS the 'fear' that conquers peoples and enslaves them to an evermore neurotic society. But i do not agree with you about 'overcoming' pain..it is a lesson's page in the Book of Life, I would no sooner tear out than my own eye..also fear and pain have no relationship, pain is a state of being, fear is a state of mind. Pain tries to impede the flesh, fear tries to impede the mind(and, more often than not, the Spirit). With fear you are 'never' afraid of the 'actual' pain itself, merely an intimation of it's occurrence in a possible future moment. I think the frustration you feel towards these people is that they they have confused fear and pain, making pain a state of mind and fear their state of 'being'. Pain is an integral part of YOU, fear is not and should never be. If we, as a race could but seperate the two, i believe we would all live in an 'Edin'.
pain may be a state of being but i maintain it is one that can and should be mastered by the will to whatever extent a person can develop the capacity to do so. it is possible to continue to behave in a sane and efficient way regardless of pain. it is too often used as an excuse to pander to weakness instead of developing strength. im sure you know what i mean.
i am not suggesting ignoring pain, that is different. pain is a signal that something is going wrong, but often the signal is disproportionate to the actual damage. but when one has no choice but to experience pain, one can choose their response to it. knowing what i do of the sensual uses of pain i can assure you, it is sometimes worth it to hold still.
c'mere, ill show you pain.....
Thank you Brother Justin.
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Ahhhh...thank you for clarifying. I had thought you were implying sweeping pain under the rug so to speak. I don't know if anyone else does this but i transubstantiate powerful emotions (such as pain) into raw energy at my disposal..i'm not sure if that is what you mean by mastering it. Incidentally, what were those del posts..my curiosity is piqued. As for the 'sensual', M'Lady, I am a Sadist..not a masochist ahahahaha!
'all human life is suffering'
-The First of the Four Noble Truths stated by Siddhartha Guatama
some of your assertions in your post seem to agree with the perceptions of the big B. qouted above.
from reading your statements of channeling pain i dont think you have ever had the experience of intense pain. there is no room for the mind to believe it controls intense pain, no endorphine release that will mask it.
for example, a few years ago i witnessed a womans nonfatal broken body in a car wreck, writhing, twitching, trapped, spouting bile, mouthing a scream and staring with bleeding eyes at her dead mangled child. there is no way she could have said to herself "i am in charge'..an unbelievable lie under those circumstances as in any circumstance where true pain is experienced.
what you are referring to, it seems, is not pain but discomfort.
of your pugnacious statement to those who cry over the worlds state . it is doubtful anyone believes that crying will preciptitate change in their circumstances.
on occasion i get the intuitive impression upon reading your blog that you have come to a philophical place of a similar world view to Ayn Rand. have you read her works?
and on that note, as i began this comment to you, precious m, with a quote, i end it with one.
'Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values'
-Ayn Rand
cunning linguist, there is a major difference between the pain the average person will experince in their lifetime and the rather extreme situation you described. i only assert that people are capable of a far greater tolerance to reasonable levels of pain, or discomfort if you will, than they generally allow themselves to be aware. i have never had body parts completely destroyed or witnesed the gory death of someone i loved, but i have experienced quite intense pain and loss anyhow, and am well aware of the truth of what i say.
i have come to accept that maybe i have a higher natural tolerance than some, but i have also used pain as an excuse and i know its easy to let yourself think its controlling you. dangerously easy.
i find that often it is the people who have experienced REAL pain that tend to be the most philosphical about it, which is not to say they dont curse the universe for making them suffer it while it is happening, and i have too. i only think we should recognise it as unavoidable and actually quite useful in many ways.
pain causes changes in a person, this cannot be avoided. i maintain that you have a choice as to the nature of the change.
and yes, some people do expect the world to take pity on their weeping, or at least hope it will. again, i have been among them.
do you think i would dare speak so derisively were i not speaking of myself?
also, no i have never read ayn rand, altho during my time as a bookstore security guard i often had to follow a woman who claimed to be ayn rand, wondering if we had her new book, and if we did could we please take it off the shelf, since it was stolen from her head by mind pirates.... she also would walk aound the store singing songs about jesus in a lovely alto. we had to ask her to leave that time, but i didnt want to because it was really very pretty.
this is my only experience with ayn rand. oh and i once tried to read atlas shrugged and gave up after 2 paragraphs. it was boring. im way more fun than that.
3raser, your breviloquent offering of insipid insight is indictative of your weak psychological state. attacking me with 25th rate grade school bullyisms and uneducated cynicism as commentary in this blog is not productive for anyone nor honouring of the effort m puts into it. you should perhaps remove your head from your rectum and offer a worthwhile commentary the next time you decide to crawl from under your father.
ps - those who quote rock songs would also name themselves after one which is demonstrative of a lack individual identity, showing another sheep in the herd.
m,
amusing bookstore tale. sometime i should recall for you the stories of the aleister crowley's i've met, but not now.
do i think you would have spoken so derisively if it werent of yourself?
yes. but i was incorrect in that circumstance apparently. although the manner of its presentation does lead to another conclusion.
ayn rand's books may seem like dry reading yet the woman herself led an intriguing life, of which i have no doubt you would respect if you were aware of it. as to her philosophy i dont agree with many of ayn rands positions on capitalism. however she does present valuable insights on the nature of individuality, which is doubtlessly one of the reasons 3raser vehemently opposes her.
i agree that moderate amounts of pain can be managed with the mind and its affects controlled by the will.
however, the extreme example i shared was only one of many circumstances whereby such control is not attainable. even less unlikely circumstances could produce uncontrollable conditions of pain.
the person in your recently deleted blog is an example. it is unlikely he surrendered to the malestrom of emotional pain he was enduring without trying to fight it. he lost control and with it endured an extreme change in temperment. a typical response to pain, with temperment usually being the first victim in an individual under the duress of pain.
do i agree pain can be controlled? yes in moderate circumstances.
but when that pain has led to changes in temperment? unlikely. the psyche by that point is too unbalanced to have the stability to impose its will. a third party needs to interfer, either drugs, therapy, perhaps even simply the healing that time can bring or maybe even Love.
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