Highwood Highlights No. 25. April 2009
The Mystery of Pain
What would our world be like without pain? Would it be paradise? As far as physical pain sensation is concerned, it would only be a paradise if accidents did not happen and if there were no natural dangers to avoid. As evidence for this position consider the following news article from CNN.com, September 28, 2006.
World without pain is hell, parent says
When you first meet 4-year old Roberto Salazar, you can’t help but notice his unwavering smile and constant laughter. By all accounts, he’s a very happy boy.
It is only when he rams his head violently into walls or plays a little too roughly with a schoolmate, all the while smiling, that you are reminded that he suffers from an incredibly rare genetic disorder.
Roberto is one of 17 people in the United States with "congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis", referred to as CIPA be the few people who know about it.
Roberto was born in July 2001, becoming Luis' and Juan's little brother. As a newborn, his parents thought he was the perfect baby.
"Roberto was wonderful. He never cried. He would sleep 23 out of 24 hours a day. He never cried to eat, never cried that his diaper is itching," said his mother, Susan Stingley-Salazar.
At 3 months, things abruptly changed. Roberto refused to eat. He was rapidly losing weight. His parents tried desperately to find ways to "force a child to eat that doesn't want to eat," Stingley-Salazar said.
First they tried to feed him with an eyedropper. Then a feeding tube was attached to his stomach at 8 months.
His family was shocked when Roberto started teething. He gnawed on his own tongue, lips and fingers to the point of mutilation.
"If you could imagine when you bite your tongue how bad it hurts. At one point, you couldn't even distinguish that his tongue was his tongue," Stingley-Salazar said.
Stingley-Salazar, a registered nurse with a degree in molecular biology, took Roberto to see more than 60 physicians in the boy's first few years. She researched his symptoms on the Internet every night. She e-mailed any specialist she could find.
She came up with very few answers until she contacted Dr. Felicia Axelrod of the New York University Dysautonomia Treatment and Evaluation Center.
Axelrod has studied this family of "no-pain" diseases for more than 35 years. These genetic disorders affect the autonomic nervous system -- which controls blood pressure, heart rate, sweating, the sensory nerve system and the ability to feel pain and temperature.
Stingley-Salazar's first reaction: "There is somebody out there who actually knows what we've been going through, you know, the hell we've been living for the last two-and-a-half years."
According to Axelrod, levels of pain vary. "For some children it's a mild degree such as breaking a leg, they'll get up and walk on the leg. They feel that something is uncomfortable but they keep on moving," she said. "For other children, the pain loss is so severe that they can injure themselves repetitively and actually mutilate themselves because they don't know when to stop."
Webster’s dictionary in defining pain, mentions physical and emotional pain:
1. A symptom of some physical hurt or disorder; "the patient developed severe pain and distension".
2. Emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid; "the pain of loneliness".
3. A somatic sensation of acute discomfort; "as the intensity increased the sensation changed from tickle to pain".
In addition to physical and emotional pain, there is also spiritual pain, felt as guilt. The first mention of the English word "pain" in the KJV Bible is Job 14:22: "But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn." The story of Job in the Old Testament is about a man who suffered severe emotional pain when all his children and most of his servants and belongings were destroyed in one day. He then had severe physical pain added to his misery when he was covered from head to toe in excruciating boils. Finally, his three friends visited him and assisted in torturing his conscience and making him feel spiritual pain. This book is recommended reading for all those who are suffering severe pain.
What are the benefits of pain? One obvious benefit, illustrated so clearly in our story about Roberto, is protection. For example, you are having a shower. The sensation of pain is needed to avoid running the water too hot and getting scolded.
Another benefit of pain is understanding. For example, a person who is experiencing the pain of loneliness may say to themselves, "I feel so lonely, I did not realise that social contact was so important". Thus they gain understanding concerning the priorities of life and their need to invest time in relationships.
Another benefit is empathy. Those who have experienced pain are best able to comfort those who are suffering like pain.
A further important benefit of pain is growth. This benefit is closely associated with the concept of risk. For example, a mountain climber is contemplating climbing Mount Everest. Climbing mountains can contribute to personal growth, but it is painful. The climber realises they will feel cold, their feet will hurt, they may lose a friend, they may have an accident. They weigh up in their mind whether the risk is worth it. For a crawling baby it might seem like a mountain to try walking. It will be risky and they are sure to have a fall or two. But if they never take the risk they will never get past crawling. The same thing happens when a child decides to take the risk of trying to ride a bicycle. This principle is also found in nature too. A butterfly imprisoned in its cocoon uses painful effort to force its way out. If it is helped by someone and does not go through the painful struggle, then its wings will be crumpled and it will never learn to flutter over the flowers and drink their nectar. Thus it is in life. Those who have gone through deep and painful experiences are often the ones who drink the sweetest nectar and pass it on to others. Many of the greatest works of art, stories and music comes from those who have experienced deep pain.
Growing, taking risks and emotional pain are also linked to one another. One of the most edifying experiences in life involves entering into close relationships with people. This, of course, includes marriage and family life, but also relates to friendship in general. But you are taking a risk when you share deep things and emotions with others. What if they reject you? What if they walk away from you? This is the risk that you must take if you want to experience love. Love is based on free choice. Someone cannot truly love you unless it is their free choice; unless they can also, if they choose, walk away from you. And if they do reject you then you will feel emotional pain.
Let us now consider briefly some spiritual concepts in relation to pain: God is the One who gave the gift of free choice to humanity. He did this because he did not want robots. He wanted beings who could truly love. He took the risk. And humanity chose to walk away from God (Genesis chapter 3). This has resulted in spiritual pain, the experience of gult. In order to win them back and provide a solution to guilt, God, in Jesus Christ, experienced the worst kind of pain on our behalf. This He did on the cross. And those suffering pain today can gain comfort, relief and strength by identifying with and seeking to understand the mystery of what happened upon the cross of Jesus Christ.
It is because of the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can look forward to a better world to come, a world where the absence of pain will not be hell, but heaven. It will be a different order of things entirely. All things will be made anew. Here is the last mention of the word "pain" in the Bible: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." Revelation 21:4-5.
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Disclaimer: Any medical comments made by Dr. Bird are not to be taken as personal medical advise and are presented for general educational purposes only.
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