On Suffering and Pain

This piece was originally written on March 20, 2022 out of a spontaneous inspiration in a certain Starbucks cafe.

I want to reflect with you all on something that I have been noticing lately, and that our society has created this new principle of what I like to call "pain regulation and prevention."

Pain regulation and prevention is, according to normative societal values, trying to prevent pain in life and regulating how much happiness you have in your overall day. Sounds pretty convincing, am I right? I don't want to be in pain. I want to be in a constant state of “hedone” where I am in a constant state pleasure 'round the clock, and not even the good kind of shared pleasure, but one that satisfies ONLY me. See where I am going?

This constant pursuit of "hedone" makes humans do absolutely crazy stuff. Kill, steal, commit adultery, tie your soul to your phone through pornography and immature relations and so forth, relying on drugs and psychedelics to alter your state of mind. At best, you keep shopping to the limits out of your card until you have to go on loans to supply the constant need of “hedone.” If anything, this constant "pursuit

of happiness" in my opinion is more or less a futile pursuit, one filled with misery, suffering, and constant pain. Now that sounds like the complete opposite of pleasure.

Let's look at the opposite of this spectrum. When we look at the saints, the holiest of them have suffered much and toiled not in pursuit of pleasure, but in pursuit of completing their struggle on earth in peace. At this moment I would like to point your eyes to something very enlightening from the life of the great St Antony, the father of monasticism. In his life, he suffered much tribulation and torture from the demons of the inner desert. Read with me this beautiful excerpt from the Coptic Life of Antony:

“Antony perceived that the Lord had saved him and when he took a breath he realized that he had been relieved from his suffering. He entreated the one who had appeared to him, saying, 'Where are you? And why did you not appear to me from the beginning so you could heal me?' A voice then came to him, saying, 'I was here, but I waited to see your struggle. And now, since you persevered and were not defeated. I will be a helper to you forever and I will make you famous everywhere.’ When Antony heard these things, he stood and prayed, and he was so strengthened that he felt the strength return to his body. He was about thirty-five years old at that time.”

Here was St Antony, not much older than us in age, but leagues ahead of us in spiritual wisdom and experience. Here he is calling out in the same doubt we all have as humans, "Where is God in my struggle? Why doesn't He lift me out and give me pleasure?" He wants to see you grow. Constant pleasure will make you weak. While we may not fight the demons St Antony fought, it is poignant that we fight the daily demons that come to attack us, to fight the old man and his laziness. In the Garden of Eden, I'm more than sure Adam had a ton of trees he could have picked out fruit from, and the whole creation served him who carried the Image and Likeness of his Lord. Did he need the tree of knowledge of good and evil's fruit? No! But it looked "pleasing to the eyes." This was the ultimate beginning of "pleasure brings with it more pleasure," a concept that at its root is hedonistic. In the parable of the prodigal son, the son lived in pleasure and was an heir to his father's land (let's assume it was a lot of land). That means, as a farming mogul, the son really had no need for any more pleasure than he had, but this concept of "pleasure brings with it more pleasure" seemed to be rooted in us humans from a long time. And the end result for both? One was kicked out of the garden, dooming with him humanity. The other, he decidedly left the warmth of his father's house, and sought the coldness of the world. Through seeking this, he lost all his inheritance, his identity as a son and heir, and ultimately all pleasure that he went and sought. In both cases, man sought to return to God, and God guided him through the laws, until He descended Himself and took human form to save us from the hell we made for ourselves in severing our connection with God. Our pursuit of pleasure is what ruined everything. It's what makes us lose ourselves more and more everyday in pursuit of trying to gain something for ourselves. "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39)

So then, is having fun wrong? Is the concept of pleasure inherently wrong? Not entirely.

The Bible says very clearly: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me [Paul speaks of his example, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:8&9). The conditions for enjoyment is that this joy is from God, and it is characterized as being true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. There cannot exist joy outside our God and outside the fact that we will suffer greatly, but God sustains us with this one promise. "You now have sorrow [the precursor and foundation of joy, no matter how uncanny that isl; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” (John 16:22).

Two final things I want to conclude on:

1. Our greates pride and joy came from our greatest suffering. Christ turned the worst punishment into the greatest exaltation and pride; the image of that shameful cross he hung on, to the Jews stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness (Ist Corinthians 1:23) became for us Christians it is "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1st Corinthians 1:24). It is no wonder then that St Paul the Apostle states, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Galatians 6:14)

2. Please enjoy this beautiful scenario from the

life of St Antony the Great:

A hunter in the desert saw Abba Anthony enjoying himself with the brethren and he was shocked. Wanting to show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs of the brethren, the old man said to him, "Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it." So he did. The old man then said, "Shoot another," and he did so. Then the old man said, 'Shoot yet again," and the hunter replied "If I bend my bow so much I will break it." Then the old man said to him, "It is the same with the work of God. If we stretch the brethren beyond measure they will soon break. Sometimes it is necessary to come down to meet their needs. When he heard these words the hunter was pierced by compunction and, greatly edified by the old man, he went away. As for the brethren, they went home strengthened.

Glory be to God forever Amen.