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RE: Blessed by Pain

in #philosophy7 years ago (edited)

There is a beautiful book called The Gift of Pain by Paul Brand. Essentially, it is a biographical allegory that details the author's time as a teacher and doctor in India. In his hospital there, he encountered many who struggled with leprosy, both the physical manifestations as well as the negative social stigma. Leprosy can be described as the body not acknowledging places of pain, allowing wounds to fester, muscles to weaken, nerves to remain damaged. A leper's body does not experience these places of pain, and so does not even know it needs healing. Dr. Brand saw the truth in this not just for medical treatment for leprosy, but really the value pain brings to us as human beings. Rather than seeing pain as something to avoid, to fix, to medicate - pain shows us where we need healing. And so, pain can actually be seen as a necessary gift.

Another way of saying the same thing: I had a good friend in college who was medicated for depression. He absolutely hated taking his meds. They worked as intended - he didn't feel low and depressed when on his medicine. But he also never felt joyful or exuberant. Everything just felt flat - neither high nor low. He recognized that sorrow and joy are actually necessary for each other.

Of course, I would also say there can be too much pain. There is definitely a place for medication, therapy, solutions for our problems, etc. My point, though, is that in our culture today we are generally more apt to solve our pains rather than face them and learn from them.

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Thank you for both of these examples and adding your thoughts. I meant to reply earlier but it slipped my mind.

pain is definitely a lesson delivery system and I think that many only learn how strong they are where the suffering is deep enough.

In Finland there is a term called Sisu, which is similar to grit in some ways. It is the reserve energy that gets accessed when facing deep adversity. I disagree with their definition though for in my view the energy is always there, I believe it is always accessible, we just haven't learned how unless under extreme stress.

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