By

Larissa Gough

Physical pain is a physiological process, and suffering is our mental and emotional response to pain.  Can finding an underlying purpose and meaning behind our pain modify our attitude about it?  And can a change in attitude lessen the degree to which we suffer when we are in pain?

People are usually ready and willing to endure any suffering as soon and as long as they can see a meaning in it.  Finding meaning in suffering is a powerful method of helping us cope even during the most trying times in our lives.  Strength is derived from purpose and from discovery of meaning of one’s experience. By reflecting on suffering during the quieter moments of our lives, when things are relatively stable and going well, we may often discover a deeper value and meaning in our suffering.

In his book, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants, Dr. Paul Brand explores the purpose and value of physical pain.  Dr. Brand, a world-renowned leprosy specialist, was working with leprosy patients in India and made a remarkable discovery.  He found that the horrible disfigurements of leprosy were not due to the disease directly causing the rotting of the flesh, but rather it was because the disease caused loss of pain sensation in the limbs.  Without the protection of pain, the leprosy patients lacked the system to warn them of tissue damage.  Dr. Brand observed patients walking or running on limbs with broken skin or even exposed bones; this caused continuous deterioration.  Without pain, sometimes they would even stick their hands in the fire to retrieve something.  He noticed an absolute indifference toward self-destruction.  In his book, Dr. Brand recounted story after story of the devastating effects of living without pain sensation.

After working with patients suffering from pain and those suffering from lack of pain, Dr. Brand gradually came to view pain not as the universal enemy as seen in the West but as a remarkable and sophisticated biological system that warns us of the damage to our body and therefore protects us.  The very unpleasantness of pain, the part that we hate, is what makes it so effective in protecting us and warning us of danger and injury.  The unpleasant quality of pain forces the entire human organism to attend to the problem.  It is also sears the experience into the memory and serves to protect us in the future.

Understanding the purpose of physical pain can lessen our suffering when pain arises.  We can prepare for pain ahead of time, while healthy, by gaining insight into the reason we have it. Since acute pain can demolish objectivity, we must reflect on these things before pain strikes.  If we can begin to think of pain as “message your body is delivering to you in the most effective way of getting your attention”, then our attitude about pain will begin to change.  And as our attitude about pain changes, our suffering will diminish.  We can even develop gratitude; we may not be grateful for the experience of pain, but we can be grateful for the system of pain perception.

Our attitude about pain can influence the degree to which we suffer.  Let’s say, for instance, that two individuals, a construction worker and the concert pianist, suffer the same finger injury.  While the amount of physical pain might be the same for both individuals, the construction worker might suffer very little and in fact rejoice if the injury resulted in a month of paid vacation which he was in need of, whereas the same injury could result in intense suffering to the pianist who viewed playing as his primary source of joy in life.

In seeking to discover an underlying purpose of our pain, Dr. Brand makes one additional fascinating and critical observation.  He describes many reports of leprosy patients’ claiming, “Of course, I can see my hands and feet, but somehow they don’t feel like part of me.”  Therefore, pain not only warns us and protects us, but it also unifies us.   Without pain sensation in our hands or feet, those parts no longer seem to belong to our body.

In the same way that physical pain unifies our sense of having a body, we can conceive of the experience of suffering acting as a unifying force that connects us with others.  When we are aware of our pain and suffering, it helps us to develop our capacity for empathy, the capacity that allows us to relate to other people’s feelings and suffering.  This enhances our capacity for compassion towards others. Perhaps that is the ultimate meaning behind our suffering.