The Thing About Pain

Look at the length of pain-killer aisles in American drugstores and sueprmarkets and only witness what kind of pain we are in. Look at the weight we carry as Americans while we stuff in more and more and more of our pain. Look at the patterns of disease that create such debilitating pain in our bodies.

The thing about pain is that the more we hold it in and hold it in and hold it in, the more pain manifests itself in the realm of excrutiating and debilitating physical pain.

I have the image of the keening, wailing passion of release - but where in our modern day lives does this image come in? Here we know anger, rage, shouting, screaming; here we know dramatic, emotional tears, but where is that keening, wailing release that says, "I am filled with pain, and I am willing to voice it to let it out"?

We live in a deceptive society where sales and marketing direct what our feelings should be, but their interpretation is nearly always being superficial and the built in human desire to belong, make it more liekly for us to bury our feelings and with it our pain until it is so deep that we no longer recognize it, nor the need to release it.

But the result of this is the pain that we keep piling in, expanding in size to contain it all, the pain in our bodies that stops us from free movement. It is the body's way of saying please, please, please, get rid of this stuff, this clutter, that is making everything hurt.

The thing about pain is that it is going to yell and scream and yell some more to get your attention until you release it. Perhaps all that pain we feel is the signal that lets us know that there is alot of pain cluttering us from the inside out that we need to find a way to release. It is almost like we have to find our own personal form of letting it out, whether that is crying or keening or wailing or whatever method is necessary to let it go completely.

I like the image of the keening, wailing passion of release, perhaps because pain needs a voice to set it free. Don't let it sit unattended. Take care of it, set it free so that you can live free of pain.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2009 Darshan F Jessop