Pain, Grief, Sorrowing, Trouble, and Loss (etc.): A benefit?

[John 6:29]

Recently my mind has been trying to grasp pain with its complexities and paradoxes. It seemed simple: Pain is bad. However, I suppose this thinking came from the hedonistic culture in which we live in. A culture which believes the only thing beneficial is happiness in momentary things; not in longevity. We assume the role of: Live now, die later. We live moment by moment not foreseeing the future. We never comprehend the end of things: the grave. It seems mankind is so focused on life, that they forget about death. Yet the only thing on everyone's mind is time. How much time will it take and how much joy can I get within that time. Thus the paradox of life is that as we pursue living, we're contemplating death. And as we contemplate death, we contemplate living. As time progresses though things, at least for me, seem to lose their importance. Material things evolve, trends die out, and in the end were seeking for the better, and never content. It seems it escaped our mind's that none of this is going to last. The joy we experience, will pass. Subconsciously though we must know it's going to end, hence our concern for hedonism.

So, what about pain? Have we forgotten so much that pain is the only thing which joy springs from? If we only seek joy, there comes a point where joy is no longer possible. If there were no pain, there would be no joy. Just numbness.

Yet, pain is actually beneficial beyond just the ability to have joy. Pain tells us when something is wrong. Consider if there was no pain, you would jump in the shower with the water to hot, burning yourself. We wouldn't even know what is bad. If pain was gone, would losing an arm be bad? How about a thumb? There would be no consequence, since consequences consist of pain, or a form of wrongness. We'd watch people burn alive and see nothing wrong with it. Accidents would happen, we would not grieve over loss. If there was no pain, there would be no joy because there would be no loss.

Now, what about education? Is not education sometimes difficult, annoying, a pain? Yet it is good. What about exercise? Does it not get painful and tiring? Yet it's beneficial. If there was no pain, there would be no entertainment business. We would not enjoy movies because without conflict, there is no story. Or how about music? Would we even enjoy music without loss? Or what about the discipline and pain it takes to learn to play an instrument? Is that not the point of learning? So that through the trouble, you learn something greater?

Who said pain was fun? It doesn't have to be fun to be good.

How about those people you can't stand. Who've caused you pain. Certainly somethings are hard to get over, but would you be who you are without those things?

I'm not saying there is not need to sorrow. Or to rejoice in our pain, but that it produces a greater good.

If pain was completely removed, as in, we never knew it, life would be pointless. Is it not the consequences, pain, sorrow, loss, that keep us motivated?

If you get a failing grade in school, if it was not loss, you'd not strive to be better. An A would be the same as failing. So why try?

I've just seen so many people believe that pain is some terrible thing. True, it hurts. But it produces something. Without trouble there's no point to anything. Consider if you could get anything you want. Sounds pretty cool right? But imagine you could do this with anything, with no work put into it. Everything would lose it's value. In fact, you couldn't even think of what you'd want, it'd just be there, because thinking would be working, and working is work because it's contrary to not working (which we consider it a joy not to work), so working would be pain.

Without pain there would be nothing but numbness. Is not the point of joy the opposite of pain, so without pain there is no joy?

And yet the great paradox of all this is, even if we delight in pain for the better good, the good then becomes bad, and the pain becomes good. If we become content in our pain, we become discontent with our good. However, are we not already content in our pain? Why do I say this? We are never content with enough good. If we are discontent in our good, wanting more, then we must be content in our pain of wanting more.

So the question is, are we at all content with good in the first place?

[Union Of V]

Originally Posted by mewithoutYou

Recently my mind has been trying to grasp pain with its complexities and paradoxes. It seemed simple: Pain is bad. However, I suppose this thinking came from the hedonistic culture in which we live in. A culture which believes the only thing beneficial is happiness in momentary things; not in longevity.

I will comment on this, not because it's wrong, but because it's often misunderstood. It is true that one should not loose sight of the overall effects of one's actions, rather then simply the immediate effects. However hedonism isn't explicitly bad because of that. What is bad is when one reduces their quality of life in trying to build a better future for himself, one which death will invariably prevent him from living. That is another mistake, since he has not improved his long-term happiness, only reduced it in the short term.

Kudos on the last few paragraphs on how pain is good. It made me smile