“Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer
We are so afraid of pain. We are doing the best we can in order to avoid having painful experiences in our lives. And yet the whole way we are living is leading us to exactly what we are trying to avoid.
Most of us are in a continuous state of psychological pain. And the more we try to avoid pain, the more we find ourselves in pain, because by avoiding pain we can’t find out what is the cure for pain.
Painful experiences have so much to teach us. Pain implies that something is going wrong with ourselves. Pain points out to the fact that we need to take action so as to change the way we are living–to stop doing some things and start doing some other things. Therefore pain is not bad, contrary to what most people believe. In fact, pain is the best teacher.
Only by paying attention to your pain can you find your bliss, because pain helps you realize what you have been doing something wrong, and this realization can help you become more intelligent. Suffering means problems, and to solve problems you need to increase your intelligence. This is why those that don’t have the courage to face their their innermost fears and deal with their life problems are usually not that intelligent–they don’t have to use their reasoning that much. If you study the history of mankind you will find that the greatest minds to have walked on earth were those most in pain. Pain urged those individuals to ask questions and seek for answers. Pain pushed them to see life from a whole different perspective.
Don’t be afraid of pain. Accept pain and embrace it. This, however, does not mean that you should be a masochist. It does not mean that you should desire pain in your life. It just means that when you are in pain, you should not try to avoid facing pain or find ways to distract yourself from pain. Instead, allow pain to show you what it has to show you.
Unfortunately most of us are continuously trying to distract ourselves from encountering our selves, because we know that If we do otherwise, we will have to come in touch with a great amount of negativity: fears, worries, anxiety, everything that makes us suffer. So we choose to waste most of our time distracting ourselves. We are watching TV, consuming products, partying… we keep on doing all sorts of things, no matter how stupid, just so we can avoid a moment of aloneness. But unless you learn to listen to your pain you are never going to overcome it, and unless you overcome your pain, you are not going to evolve and grow into something better out of yourself.
We all need to find time in our lives to study pain. Pain is just a symptom and we should search for its causes if we truly want to relieve ourselves from it.
“Don’t carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones to rise above them.” ~Ryan Ferreras