Medicine Series: 3 Views of Pain
3 World Views Regarding Pain
Why do I say I am further down the rabbit hole than most people, even those who are into modern alternative medicine? What deeper holes are there to dive into, and in what way is it more unique than other viewpoints?
I’m not here to give a soft presentation of these truths. If you’re ready for them, because you see that the world is too crazy to continue any longer as it is, then you’ll keep reading, because you’re hungry for deeper truth. But if you want a quick solution - a solution which utilizes the systems of society - you may dismiss my views and click away. That’s ok.
Not everyone is ready for this, and I have no intention of forcing it on anyone. What I present here is a radical shift of perspective, and in this article, I will do my best to clarify this view on pain, so you can begin to glean an idea of where further articles are headed.
The Two Dominant Views Regarding Pain, and an Introduction of a Third:
In our modern world today, there are two philosophies regarding pain which I have yet come across. There may be some room for interpretation or variation within each, but by and large they distill down to what I call the Modern World View and the Catholic World View. In my experience, the beliefs of various protestant and Jewish individuals fall somewhere between these two extremes. There may be eastern takes on suffering of which I am unaware, but my personal experience as a Catholic in the western world of the United States of America has shown me these two approaches.
Modern World View: Pain is unavoidable for us, because the struggle of the fittest is part of our genetic makeup, and our bodies are always trying to adapt to survive longer than others; but we can find ways to manage and mitigate this pain, so that we can ignore it in favor of happier things, and enjoy living as the current dominant species on earth until we die, or are replaced as a species, or else we discover a way through technology to supersede our human weaknesses, and rise into a permanent position as the dominant species of the world.
Catholic World View: Pain is unavoidable to us, because Adam and Eve sinned, and Christ died on the cross. For these reasons, we must suffer in order to be redeemed, to ‘make up what is lacking in Christ’s sacrifice’, as Saint Paul says; but it is humane to relieve pain wherever possible in others, since we are taught to love our neighbors. Not we ought not to seek too much relief in our own suffering, since that would be to turn our backs on the opportunity we are being offered for our own redemption. The struggle is redemptive, and our worth is revealed through the crucible of our individual suffering. The more we suffer, the greater our potential for holiness, and the happier we will be after death.
Radical Shift View: While pain is part of life, we have abundant resources for healing, even to attain full and complete wholeness, because we were created and designed (both in the garden and in our mother’s womb) for health and happiness, and the Lord is restoring that reality, using suffering as the vehicle. He does this because Adam and Eve chose suffering in the garden, and the Lord respects and redeems all our choices.
The first world view, the Modern, focuses on ‘managing’ and ‘mitigating’ pain. It belittles all of life, including our purpose on earth, and denies the possibility that there is any meaning to our pain.
The second view, the Catholic, acknowledges that there is meaning in pain, but it focuses overmuch upon the pain, as if placing the Passion as the final victory, rather than the Resurrection.
The third, the Radical Shift, places the Resurrection on top, acknowledging the path of suffering, and moving past it to the wholeness that Christ yearns to bestow upon every individual. This is the radical shift, under which all the philosophies of medicine, nursing, self-care, and vibrant exercise take on a new understanding and clarification.
Diving Deeper into the Radical Shift
The loving, all-good God placed mankind on this earth in a perfectly healthy state to live in happiness, but before man had given birth to any progeny, he and his wife committed the sin of rejecting health and happiness, and this distorted their nature.
This sin led to a loss of their whole, healthy, balanced (known theologically as ‘preternatural’) selves, and resulted in a distortion of their souls. The distortion of their souls led to a cascade effect, for their souls distorted their minds, their minds distorted their emotions, and finally, their emotions distorted their bodies.
All physical ailments in mankind today can be traced back to sin, either recently committed sins in our own lives, or generationally from our ancestors, or as a result of the original sin of man and woman. God, being the loving and redeeming God that He is, chose to take this pain and suffering which the man and woman embraced, and make it the very thing which will save them, if they choose to embrace it for His sake, and not their own. Eventually, this embracing of pain will elevate them above the preternatural state they were originally created into, and one day, at their death, move them beyond their fallen nature and into a glorified state in the new Heaven and the new earth, where they will live forever, after death, in resurrected bodies.
As all three philosophies agree, on earth, suffering is inevitable, because our own experience makes it undeniably so. However, God has made creation so diverse, so restorative, that there is no ailment which cannot be treated, balanced, and eventually healed through the means of the resources the Lord has given us. And He does not stop with the body or the mind. We can even treat the soul, through Baptism and the Sacraments, through sacramentals, prayer, and the authority given us as adopted children of God. We can do this because God sent the second person of the Divine Trinity to earth to suffer for our sins, and to rise to wholeness, thus healing us on the deepest level: our soul.
The Radical Shift View, in Summary:
No life can be lived without pain, for pain is part of life.
We were created for health and happiness, and the Lord is restoring that reality, using suffering as the vehicle.
We have abundant resources for healing.