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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.
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