A Joust With Pain

SAT., JUNE 15, 1991, 6:17 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yes, o son, you had such a joust… even as the pains were not sharp nor the time long. You realized, as the pain seemed unmanageable, that this was to be an important learning experience. But since pain is not normative for most of you humans, you also knew that the sharpness of the experience would fade rather fast. And it has so faded.

You know, as part of the medical perspective, that pain is a warning that something is amiss in body functioning. It should not be diminished or erased until the pain suggests which tests should be run… to determine if it is this… or perhaps that. The results of your tests were quite inconclusive. The blood work showed no infection hiding. The urine work indicated no reason to believe a kidney stone was enlarging as it lurked.

Thus, the effective pain medication could now be started. And you slept. So, barring some unexpected set-back today, you should be off tomorrow to enlarge your friendships with people who see this spiritual dimension as one vital to truly full functioning… or high level wellness. It shall be “right” for you to speak of pain as a spiritual experience… and also the relief of pain.

Pain should always be seen, initially, as a testing experience of spirit. There are many kinds of pain. Yours was a physical pain, dull and persistent, with no position of comfort, for your back, that would allow sleep. You did well in managing the pain in your drive back from Ohio to home. You did less well when the pain prevented sleep.

Though you know that pain is part of your body’s alarm system, when you have a positive view of your body’s health it is almost inevitable that you see an experience like this one as a joust. The pain is NOT a part of your healthy being. It is an invader, one to be neutralized or, better, eliminated. You are not one for taking medications, but you even asked for a pain medication, and you were eager to take the first of those small, white tablets. You were pleased as the pain began to diminish, and postponed sleep was your reward.

Other types of pain are expressed in your Thursday evening DeColores get-together. Most of these you have not experienced, so you can have no true empathy. I shall not tell you whether or not you should continue in this association. On the one hand I want you to be supportive of the needs of those who have walked to Emmaus. On the other I tell you to trim your involvement in groups that are only tangential to your personal spiritual purposes. You shall have to decide which “hand” is the better “fit” for your present life situation.

You wonder whether it shall be another 10 years ere you have another real joust with pain, in the region of your back. Every ten years certainly seems reasonable, but as you move more clearly into elderly status the chances for times of pain do improve. Now I also suggested that the relief of pain can be a spiritual experience. True. I do not approve of all that modern, scientific medicine does and can do, but pain relief is, finally, a blessing. “Finally” means after you have experienced the pain fully, appreciating its potential power, but having it gone, as a personal experience. Pain returns some people to animal-like behavior, some more quickly than others. If a medication can prevent such an undesirable change I count it as one of My blessings.