103. The worst thing about physical pain
103. THE WORST THING ABOUT PHYSICAL PAIN
Pain is obviously bad because it hurts. And therefore it is good to relieve it, in others as in ourselves, if some greater good is not avoided by its relief. Is pain also bad for any deeper reason?
Pain deprives one of the power to learn. . . .
Augustine says: Although during those days I was tormented with a violent toothache, I was not able to turn over in my mind other things than those I had already learnt; and as to learning anything, I was quite unequal to it, because it required undivided attention. . . .
Now it is evident that sensible pain above all draws the soul’s attention to itself. . . . It is likewise evident that in order to learn anything new, we require study and effort with a strong intention. . . . Consequently if the pain be acute, man is prevented at the time from learning anything; indeed, it can be so acute that as long as it lasts a man is unable to give his attention even to that which he knew already.
However, a difference is to be observed according to the difference of love that a man has . . . because the greater his love, the more will he retain the intention of his mind so as to prevent it from turning entirely to the pain.
Moderate sorrow, that does not cause the mind to wander, can conduce to the acquisition of learning, especially in regard to those things by which a man hopes to be freed from sorrow. And thus in the tribulation of murmuring men are more apt to be taught by God.
Both pleasure and pain, in so far as they draw upon themselves the soul’s intention, hinder the reason from the act of consideration; wherefore it is stated in (Aristotle’s) Ethics that in the moment of sexual pleasure, a man cannot understand anything.
Nevertheless pain attracts the soul’s intention more than pleasure does. . . (I-II,37,1).
Not only is physical pain not the worst thing in the world, physical pain isn’t even the worst thing about physical pain. Pain is an evil, of course, in itself; but its effects on the soul are the worst thing about it. Intense pain is like a tyrant with a whip, demanding the total submission of your mind, your attention. It screams, “Look at me! Look at me!”
The evil of anything is relative to the good that it deprives us of. The goods of our body are great: health, long life, pleasure, and freedom from pain. We willingly and wisely exchange external goods, especially money, to recover these goods of the body. But the goods of the soul are even more important, more internal, more ours, than the goods of the body. These are spiritual goods: our freedom of thought, our power to know truth, to learn new truths and remember old ones, and the power to turn our attention to the true, the good, and the beautiful, i.e., the power to “contemplate” the truth. This is the great good that physical pain threatens. That is the main reason it is important to avoid physical pain, especially great physical pain, and to deliver others from this great evil. Jesus’ physical healings were not a concession to materialism; they ministered to people’s spiritual freedom.
As St. Thomas mentions, however (par. 5), a little pain or sorrow can be conducive to wisdom. Rabbi Abraham Heschel says, “The man who has not suffered—what could he possibly know, anyway?”
If wisdom is a great good, then both too much and too little pain are bad because they are obstacles to wisdom. The same holds for great riches and great poverty, great comfort and great discomfort. God knows how much we need. We do not.
Finally, as St. Thomas explains (par. 4), love can change this. When you love something a little bit, even a little pain will harm or distract you; when you love a lot, even a lot of pain does not harm or distract you. Look at women in childbirth!