Would you eliminate pain if you could?
This is not intended to be a thorough theology of suffering. Nor is it intended to solve the perennial philosophical problem of pain. It is, however, intended as an open musing on our propensity to avoid pain. (Thank you Nick, from Loganville, GA, for sharing your story of pain over lunch yesterday. You are now a better man than when we met three years ago. I delight that you are no longer pain-free.)
Pain is generally our greatest vehicle to humility, prayer, and gentleness. I'm not sure I'm willing to do away with it. Pain is the inevitable result of freewill. Without freewill, we lose much of what it means to be human, to have dignity, to be self-determinate beings. I'm not sure I'm willing to do away with that. Pain is our greatest warning that something is terribly wrong. Without it, both our physical bodies would be destroyed as well as our souls. Without pain there would be little impetus for repentance, self-care, or transformation. I'm not sure I'm willing to do without it. Pain puts us in our place. It causes us to realize our creatureliness and cry out for the presence of God. Without it we would feel autonomous, independent, and arrogant. Pain appears to be a necessary concomitant of and foundation for self-abnegation. I'm not sure I'm willing to do without it. In God's upside-down economy, perhaps pain is a great, albeit underappreciated, gift.
Pain is generally our greatest vehicle to humility, prayer, and gentleness. I'm not sure I'm willing to do away with it. Pain is the inevitable result of freewill. Without freewill, we lose much of what it means to be human, to have dignity, to be self-determinate beings. I'm not sure I'm willing to do away with that. Pain is our greatest warning that something is terribly wrong. Without it, both our physical bodies would be destroyed as well as our souls. Without pain there would be little impetus for repentance, self-care, or transformation. I'm not sure I'm willing to do without it. Pain puts us in our place. It causes us to realize our creatureliness and cry out for the presence of God. Without it we would feel autonomous, independent, and arrogant. Pain appears to be a necessary concomitant of and foundation for self-abnegation. I'm not sure I'm willing to do without it. In God's upside-down economy, perhaps pain is a great, albeit underappreciated, gift.
posted by Mark Moore at
6/08/2006 08:44:00 AM
4 Comments:
Without pain are we not doomed to be the leper who rubs his nose until he has no nose to rub? By knowing our own pain (physical, emotional, whatever) we are not only reminded of our own finiteness, but we are also able to imagine the pain experienced by someone other then ourselves, thereby adding fuel to our compassion and driving us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Pain in this world seems good, though it is one whose duty is to work itself out of a job, longing for Rev. 21 when the old has passed away, and pain with it.
That being said, why do i still try to avoid it when at all possible?
Eh, I would rather do without it! :)
2 Corinthians 11:21b-12:10
As one who is no stranger to pain, I sometimes wonder what life would be like if a few events or relationships were different. I think I can say with integrity that I would not do away with pain. *Mark's first paragraph makes me err on the side of brevity.
I would not eliminate pain... except for tooth aches and kidney stones...
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