Day 13 - Human Pain

Sitting in class, I was struggling to keep awake. Heading bobbing up and down, my arm slipped from the table and hit the side of my own chair. Instantly, a searing pain from the bruised spot woke me up instantly, reminding me once again of the harsh reality of this world. Like from my own personal experience, C.S Lewis talks of many different sorts of pains that exist in this world. Why does pain even exist? Why would a caring, loving God of unlimited grace allow such a thing? In C.S Lewis' following article "Human Pain", he attempts to give a narrow concept of the significance of pain amongst humans.

But before attempting to answer the big question first, Lewis categorizes "pain" into the following two senses:

A. "A particular kind of sensation, probably conveyed by specialised nerve fibres, and recognisable by the patient as that kind of sensation whether he dislikes it or not."

B. "Any experience, whether physical or mental, which the patient dislikes."


Looking at the following two senses, it seems as if B was a greater form of A, although B cannot in a sense be A. So looking at B, C.S Lewis sees it as synonymous with 'suffering','anguish','tribulation','adversity',and even 'trouble'. Because of its relevancy, he states that the rest of the book would be focused on pain in a "B sense".

So when attempting to answer the big question, one might ask smaller questions to reach a certain understanding. "Why is our cure painful?" Is one important question C.S Lewis puts forth. As Christians, aren't we attempting to cure ourselves for the sake of God's glory and honor? The reason for such pain, C.S Lewis states, is that "to render back the will which we have so long claimed for our own, is in itself, wherever and however it is done, a grievous pain."

So we can see that our own selfish will, so integrated within us, is a self-made evil, reluctantly pulled out of us as we attempt to "cure" ourselves through Christ. The pain that comes with such "cure" is a blaring reminder from God of the evils of such pain, caused by the worldly sins. C.S Lewis exclaims:

"But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

C.S Lewis states that without pain, we are forever engulfed in this "illusion". Even with all the money in this world, we "suffer". Even with all the things we'd ever want, we would "suffer". Why? Because we are lacking the very center of our human existence: God. Quite obvious, isn't it? But surprisingly, amidst all the painful reminders, we perceive God as an "intruder" upon the worldly, materialistic things we enjoy doing. We prefer to be engulfed in such ignorance and illusion - to die blissfully in ignorance and suffer eternally. Pain our reminder of evil, whether it is in our actions, thoughts, or beliefs. C.S Lewis states that God is like a "conqueror" - he does not cease to recruit and save EVERY single person. God does not hold grudges or deep feelings of doubt towards others. As stated in the previous post, God's grace is eternal and imminent. Pain is a truly scary thing. It reminds us of something beautiful, heaven, but also of something dangerous: hell.
C.S Lewis states:

"And, of course, pain, like pleasure, can be so received: all that is given to a creature with free will must be two-edged, not by the nature of the giver or of the gift, but by the nature of the recipient."