In the discovery and collection process for this series on Kakosynaisthima, one recurring thing that keeps on recurring is that the beast which shouts "I" at the heart of the kosmos can reasonably easily make value judgements between what is "yummy, yummy, yummy" and what is "not yummy". The things which it determines are "yummy, yummy, yummy" are almost always animal desires to have physical, emotional, relational, spiritual et cetera, needs met. At the same time, things which it determines are "not yummy" are either impediments to the acquisition of those things, or actively things with endanger or harm those things. I think that it is obvious that there are many different kinds of pain, such as physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, financial, situational: because I think that this is a logical consequence to the being as many kinds of pain as there are variable states within the human condition.
As far as the telos of pain goes, the obvious purpose for which it exists, is as the signal that something is "not yummy". Pain demands a course of action which removes the agent of its cause. If it is physical, then the removal of the thing which caused the trauma is advisable. If it is emotional, then pain demands that the thing which caused the bad feeling either be removed or remedied. If it is relational, then pain demands a course of reconciliation or removal. If it is spiritual, then almost always as a small being which is capable of causing pain to others we are at fault and this demands some course of repentance and renewal of purpose. In all of the above, Pain demands that the "not yummy" be corrected so that something that is "yummy, yummy, yummy" can hopefully fill the space.
The biggest problem with pain is that as with any other experience which human find ourselves in as semi-rational electro-mechanical meatbags, it can not actually be shared with anyone else. Neither can it adequately explained to anyone else. Neither can anyone else feel that particular pain in the same way as we do. What's even worse though is that it is not particularly good at doing its job either. What I mean by that is, is that pain is a hideously vague and perhaps unreliable signaling system. Imagine an aeroplane with many systems. On board that aeroplane with many systems, the designers will equip it with many specific error codes so that the people whose job it is for fix them, can specifically fix where the system has gone wrong. When an aeroplane is going unexpectedly down, the signalling system is specific. Fuel pressure, hydraulic pressure, stall angle, trim alignment, et cetera et cetera et cetera. When investigators pore over the signals which are recorded on a black box, they can efficiently pinpoint what when wrong and maybe why. Pain has no such exact and specific method of explaining what has gone wrong exactly. You can ask of someone where something hurts, but beyond that, the information is non-existent.
Physical pain is often a sharp or a dull throb; which is all very well if you know that you have been physically hurt by someone else or come to some accidental harm but many physical pains like below the surface, so who knows what is going on in there. Emotional and relational pain are often because someone has tried to hurt you and been successful, or you have hurt someone else and just happen to be in possession of a conscience and a mind aware that something is not right. Spiritual pain if it is not caused by the awareness that you have hurt god (some readers my not concede that this exists) is at least caused by the awareness that the universe and the kosmos is undeniably indifferent, awful, broken, et cetera and that you as a small thing are practically powerless to do anything about it. In the general case, Pain is like having a warning light that comes on in a motor car but often with no error codes to determine what went wrong or worse, what the injury was.
There is a broad argument to be made that people develop virtues such as patience, longsuffering, maybe sympathy and lived experience but I do not think that Pain itself actually produces those things. Those virtues are moral products which are manufactured in response to Pain; not because Pain necessarily produces those things. Manufactured responses to Pain can also include hurt and sadness, despair, hopelessness, depression and even a tiredness of life itself; none of which many people would call desirable or a thing to be cultivated. That says to me that Pain is a thing which should be objectively avoided, and that coping mechanisms in the face of it, or uncoping mechanisms in the face of it, are in opposition to but not of Pain itself. I will suggest that of itself, Pain has no real dividends, ulitmately no meaning. What does that mean for everyone else? I think that this implores other people if they have any decency at all, to be patient and kind with the person going through pain. There might be likely, no actual solutions to be had.
Perhaps I am personally a good witness for the power of pain with no actual solutions to be had. Speaking as someone who was hit by a car and got a broken leg and a broken arm out of it, pain is a residual companion. Imagine being pricked with a pin, deeply, then imagine that same prick being about six inches long and worn like a lapel on your left shoulder. I experience that kind of pain 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without ceasing. The problem is, I do not actually know if the pain is in fact real or not. It might very well not be. It could in fact be nerve endings for whatever reason, yelling constantly because they have been severed. It is like having a silent parrot, which yells forever and constantly. What have I learnt from this? Quite frankly, nothing. I can not describe this to anyone, nor can I share this with anyone. Nobody else really wants to know about it either because this is a thing that they have literally no frame of reference to put it in. This is my burden that I must carry in silence.
In summary, Pain can not be shared with anyone else, can not be adequately described to anyone else, can not be experienced by anyone else, does not do a good job at signaling what has gone wrong; yet demands and yells to be felt. Usually when someone issues a demand they can express what they want; even my cats who do not possess the gift of language, can still make fairly easily understood demands by meowing and yelling. Pain does not do that. It just yells. It just demands to be felt. So when it comes to answering the general question of what if anything can be learned from Pain, I think that my conclusion is that nothing can be actually learned from it. I don't even think that the quality of character which one builds as the result of experiencing pain serves any other inherent purpose, than providing the resilience to survive more pain.
People as beings who want to experience "yummy" and remove "not yummy" have two problems with pain. If it can not be removed, then it must be coped with. The net reward for coping with pain is always a minus and yet, there are very few options for doing precisely that. Pain can be masked with pain medication but this doesn't actually address the root cause. As we live later and later in time and people get more and more used to the idea that various kinds of medication and drugs can be used as a deadening, amelioration, or otherwise gratification in the face of pain, then the irony is that those things themselves can end up becoming their own root cause of more pain. This quite frankly is utterly terrifying to people.
Worse, is the problem which follows when there is never going to be a solution. If a loved one has died, there is some broad solace to be had in a spiritual sense if someone believes in an afterlife but even then, the simple fact that a relationship is broken and destroyed and is never ever coming back in this life, still quite rightly causes pain for one who has been left behind. One can accept the situation which exists but there are some instances where the thing that is broken can and will never be repaired, at least not in this life.
It therefore follows that any attempt, by well-meaning people (and some ill-meaning people) to try to extract some kind of teleological meaning from Pain, I think are misguided. The people who cruelly tell others to "get over it", might inadvertently have the best advice because the thing that demands to be felt, and demands bluntly and badly, doesn't really have a sensible purpose beyond itself. Although it must be said that the people who cruelly tell others to "get over it" might be doing so from a place ranging from sympathy or empathy, to outright sociopathy and direct cruelty.
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