CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT PAIN

There is no doubt that pain is both the most disliked and most combated of all human sensations, and the most feared too. Perhaps only the fear of the death still surpasses it by a person who is being affected by a severe pain.

But we are not defenseless as today we count on an immense and varied arsenal, of constantly improved drugs to fight the multiple types of pain and etiologies. Whether the pain is sharp or chronic, physical or its origin is from the soul, there is a certain weapon, of the appropriate caliber, for each one that exists. Our weapons range from light ones, like analgesics, sedatives and group therapy, up to the more potent ones, such as opiates, anti-depressives and internment. There are even those who surrender themselves to very dangerous options, such as alcohol, hallucinogens and hypnosis. As war means, war.

But why do we have to compulsorily engage in this apparently endless war? For life itself really seems to be a continuous fight against pain, or, better put, it is a fight we have undertaken to free ourselves from it and escape its reach.

We spend a great part of our lives in fear, keeping an eye on Damocles' sword that can every now and then unexpectedly fall upon us, and it shows no mercy when it strikes; apparently without any motive, then it returns to its upright position. Some are mysteriously struck slightly and sporadically, and end their lives with just a few scars. Others, quiet to the contrary, are struck firmly and continuously, and their wounds are never allowed to fully heal. For them, life is summarized as a never-ending martyrdom.

Their own reaction to pain also varies considerably. For on the one hand there are those who, most of the time, continue their journey stoically withstanding the suffering instead of analyzing the reason for it. And at the other end, there are those who despair so much that the only effective medicine they have to cure this unbearable pain, once and for all, is by taking their own lives. Not such a smart way out, for this way they succumb to even greater and more intense pain, because despite bringing their lives to an end they will never escape from it, for pain will continue to effect them even after their physical death.

The world would be a much better place to live in if there was simply no pain. This nobody doubts. It would be Paradise on Earth. So, why is not like this? Why does pain exists on our planet? Why are we forced to feel it in its many varied forms and degrees? Why are innocent people struck so hard by destiny sometimes? Who was it that placed the sword of pain over each one's head, against our will?

Above all, these questions about pain not only let us realize that pain is disliked, fought and feared, but primarily it is also misunderstood. First of all let us check the main reason why pain exists, principally with regard to physical pain.

There is a congenital and very rare disease that prevents the person from feeling any kind of pain whatsoever. But what may at first seem a special blessing is in fact a curse. Nobody would envy such a person struck by this disease if they saw the state of the person's body covered in scares and sores. What you don't see you don't feel. Even if you place your arm against a hot oven you won't feel the burning but your arm will melt away without giving off any sign. This victim's greatest desire is to one day feel pain, so that he will be able to take care of his entire body.

Therefore, physical pain protects the body from external damage and forces us to react in order to correct all internal dysfunctions. The end result of all this is to make it possible for us live on with a healthy body, in perfect working condition. Corporal pain in reality is a true gift of nature, an absolutely indispensable protection that we have.

As for the pain in the soul, the story once again repeats itself. Whoever has already experienced a pain like this–and this number is continually increasing– knows exactly how indescribable the suffering is. A suffering so atrocious that it provokes us to take the necessary measures to react to the pain to free ourselves from the anguish, depression, the fear, and the panic, just as we do when we feel physical pain. The only difference here is that the dysfunctions that are unleashed by this type of pain come from the inner most part of man. That's why the most suitable medicine in this case is the one that acts directly on the soul, that is, the individual's own will, which brings about a change in the individual's inner tuning, which is also naturally seen in the words and thoughts of the people. Thus, in the same way that physical pain is a natural blessing so too is the pain in the soul. It forces us to redirect our inner direction of the self, slowly leading us towards the right way of living, whose principal characteristic is precisely the absence pain.

Now all that remains is the question of unjust suffering. An accident, an unexpected disease, a big deception, etc., are generally seen as arbitrary blows of destiny. And bad luck too in life, may strike one or another human by chance causing perfectly dispensable pain. However, what outwardly appear to be, is not always so.

There is no such thing as injustice in the reciprocal effects that strike us today. There is not any kind of arbitrary at all. Everything, absolutely everything that now affects us was generated by us, at some point of our existence. Man always reaps what he sows, and this is absolute. Not one strand of hair can be removed, if we ourselves had not given a motive for it.

The function of pain is not only to help maintain our physical, mental and psychic health. Its action goes well beyond that. It is one of the effects of a natural fundamental law – the law of the reciprocity – that is, it is the guardian of order in Creation. It is the final effect of a previous action contrary to the dispositions that govern nature. Whoever is struck by it should not only seek to clean the toxins from the body and the soul, but they should also recognize how they caused it, be it through thoughts, words or actions. And the seriousness of the mistake that was perpetrated in the past can be evaluated by the intensity of the pain that affects us, for we cannot receive anything different from what we ourselves generated, through our sowing.

Pain considered as unjust is only so because man today doesn't have the vision of its true causes. This vision was gradually removed along the millennia, as man withdrew more and more from the correct way of life, extolled by natural laws. But we are in essence human spirits and today, the majority of mankind is made up of both short sighted and spiritual blind ones, absolutely unable to see this simple truth, which is, whatever strikes us was caused by us, at sometime of our existence here on Earth that stretches for thousands of years and not just a few decades of a single earthly life.

It is this same short sightedness that also impedes humanity of discovering who placed each sword of pain over our heads. Each one of us forged his own sword, and placed it over his own head at the exact moment he took the first step on any one of the innumerable false highways that we ourselves made. Thus, we maliciously reject the true path that had already existed and was placed at our disposition by the Creator. So the further someone looses themselves on these large highways, without paying heed to the signs and warnings that still manage to reach them, they become even more resilient. However, they will continue to receive even more blows, in the attempt to make them recognize their error and retake the right path that was so carelessly, stubbornly and criminally abandoned, while there is still enough time.

If he faces the blows that strike him this way now, and tries to redirect his life on a different norm than he has until now, then the sword will strike with even less intensity and frequency with the passing of time. And if he finally retakes the true and narrow path, with unyielding conviction, that leads directly upwards and becomes a useful human in Creation – and therefore really happy – the sword will simply disappear, because according to the natural laws there will be no reason for it to exist anymore.

Roberto C. P. Junior