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Within the
creativity perspective,
pain is a gift. It is not seen as a gift because the gift that
it possess lies at the energetic level before the pain manifests as
an experience pain. It is something which must be understood and can
play an important role in our creative endeavors. To many, that does
not seem possible given how painful and debilitating pain can be.
But pain is something we need to creatively learn to use. To use
pain we need to work at the unseen and energetic level. It us to
work at the deepest levels of our being with those
conditions which give rise to painful experiences.
A painful condition is like any other experience we have. We create
it. Accessing the gift inherent in pain is not about
creating pain as some traditions have recommended in the past.
Rather it is about understanding and using the information within
any physical or non physical pain that arises in our creative
endeavors and our life is one such creative endeavor. It is not that we intentionally going out and create pain.
It is about using what is created and what the pain reveals about
how we are focusing our attention and awareness to create what we
do. So the question which quickly arise is “What needs to be
understood about pain and the experience of pain to understand how
to use the gift that it is?”
Pain is not a subject that will adequately be covered in a short
discussion as provided on this web site. It is a subject that is too
deep and too broad to fully explore here. However, an extensive
discussion is not needed to access and use the gift inherent in
pain. What is provided here is a perspective and some understanding
of how to use the pain that arises in your creative endeavors what
every they may be, including the life you are creating and the pain
you experience in life.
Two notes need to be made here before moving on. One note is for
those who suffer great physical and/or non physical pain and/or are
currently in pain. What is discussed here may seem very detached
from the reality you experience. However, if you use the
understanding provided here and consult your intuition about the
nature of your pain and its origins, you will find you get answers.
You can also ask your intuitive guidance as to what you can do to
help alleviate your pain to complement what you think and are
advised by others to do
In following your intuition to
address the root cause of your pain, you may get spontaneous relief
from your pain. However, most probably, you will have to act to undo
the conditions which created the painful situation. Or, you will
have to allow the energy that has already been committed to the
experience you face to
flow to dissipation. As introduced under the topic the “Creativity
Perspective on Health and Related Topics,” the pain may be the
result of an experience that is judged as an unhealthy experience
that you have created for one reason and another. The painful
condition you experience may be the vehicle you use to get something
else you desire and/or it may be simply a byproduct of the condition
you desired to experience. So either the conditions that created the
painful experience you have will need to be changed or you when you
achieve what you desire the pain will leave. Unfortunately,
everyone’s pain is ultimately unique and you will have to
learn to use your unique experience of pain. No one can do that
for you. .
The second note is there is no suggestion or recommendation here
that you do not act to mitigate or alleviate the pain you may be
experiencing. Do what you think you need to do. However, ask your
intuitive guidance, “From where does this pain arise - what is it
that I can do?” Listen to what answer is given and
pull the string
on the answer given until you know exactly where it comes from. As
discussed in the topic “Creativity
Perspective on Health and Related Topics,” how much outside assistance you need will depend on
the how strongly you are identifying with the human condition.
Pain is a phenomenon that has a great influence on our creative
power and creative ability. It impacts in several different ways and
at several different levels. It is probably one of the most
misunderstood phenomenon that is experienced by humanity and
probably the
greatest issue we face that can limit and control our
creativity.
As we are all aware, pain in many ways is a problem. But it is a
problem not for the reasons that most individuals think. If pain
wasn’t actually so painful, people might consider it the gift that
it is. Probably most feel pain is a problem because it hurts and
they don’t want it so they try and do everything they can to get rid
of it or remove it. In this regard, pain is an exceptional catalyst
for action. The problem with pain, even though it is painful, is
that we really don’t understand it nor do we use it as
constructively as we can. When used properly, it is actually a
teacher for there are
realizations in pain and
pain can awaken consciousness. It can bring us to the awareness
of how we are creating our experiences we have. Because pain is a
path to realization, many in the past have created traditions in the
past that have been a
misapplication of pain. Some of these approaches still exist and
are used today. You need to be aware that there is no
need to create pain nor utilize a discipline that promotes pain.
There are gentler and easier ways to obtain any realization that
through pain.
As a starting point for understanding pain in your creative
endeavors, what happens is that the pain becomes the catalyst for
action and/or creation. Often it is the fuel of our creative
endeavors that propels us forward for the duration of our journey.
In pain, one moves to becomes the creator. It motivates one to
create something different than what is. In this regard, the problem
with pain is that we really don’t understand how it has
fueled
Creation, fueled our creation, nor do we use it as effectively in
creation. Pain is a gift at two levels. The first level is that it
warns us of harm. But at a deeper level, it awaken our consciousness
to the world we have created. Pain will awaken you to who and what
you really are
if you are willing to face it.
What exactly is pain? Pain is one of those words that has a
dictionary definition. But it will have as many definitions as there
are people. Often what is painful for one is not necessarily
painful to another. Because of the
construct of our bodies, some forms of pain border on pleasure.
For some, they indulge in pain for the pleasure that can be had.
That in turn introduces a whole new aspect to
pain and the pain pleasure cycle.
The typical definition of pain really does little to clarify what we
consider painful but does show the variation as to what we consider
pain. On the physical level, pain is seen as an unpleasant or
undesirable sensation or feeling that results from, or accompanies,
some injury, over strain, or obstruction of our physical ability or
powers. Emotionally it is perceived as any distressing or afflicting
emotion. In general pain is seen as the care, trouble, effort or
exertion expended on anything. Incomplete as they are, these
definitions of pain do suggest there are two types of pain. One type
of pain is physical pain related to our physical condition and
abilities. The other is a non physical pain based more on our mind’s
interpretation of what we experience. That is, what we find
distressing, troubling, or an exertion. Here again, what is
troubling and exerting to me may not be for you. As for physical
pain, most of us can agree on what is painful. Yet, there are also
great variations.
If we learn to
understand pain and explore the
origins of our pain at the deepest inner levels we will begin to
understand why we are creating the experiences we have. In doing so
we will begin to be able to use the gift of pain and use
pain as the messenger that it is. However, most often pain is
the gift that nobody wants simply because its painful.
Although pain is not inherent to the creative process, it is
integrally tied to the creative process as performed by humans
because of how we create our experiences.
Pain and the creative process are related in several several
different ways.
The primary way pain and the creative process are coupled is through
attachments. It is the conflict and tension in attachments that is
the
ultimate root of pain. To avoid creating pain we must learn to
let go as we move through the
creative process. Yet some of our
attachments are so deep and convoluted that we have
lost the origins of our pain. If we
pull the string and explore the root of our attachments we may
find within our
pain is a pearl that when accessed may even be experienced as
the euphoric experience of the
kundalini rising.
It is probably hard for most to see and believe our mental
attachments can result in the intense physical pain and suffering
many experience. This is especially true when we can point to a
cause for our physical pain and addressing that cause removes our
pain. However, if you explore how our thoughts get manifested into
physical manifestation, you can being to see who our attachments are
what create our pain. Here again, this is not something that can be
address in this short discussion but the
applications web sites can provide much information to
understand how this is possible. Of course, if you are interested,
you can do your own experiments and observations.
A second way pain is connected to the creative process is creativity
takes us into the unknown. To enter unknown we must
stretch ourselves and our thinking. We must stretch it to move
past our limits and what we think and believe if not transcend them.
This is the equivalent to saying we have to
step out of mind.
Stepping out of mind can be frightening. But besides stepping past
our limits and barriers, the unknown offers the possibility of pain.
We know life has its pains. We assume the future will have more of
the same and many are afraid of creating more pain that they have
now. Hence the pain of the past causes fear to arise. There is a
level of fear that can arise about the pain we think we will
experience. Our first response is often to
act to avoid the pain whether or not is it real or an
illusionary perceived pain created by our fears. However, that
creates the condition for more pain in two ways.
One way is if will give into the fear. That fear will rob us of our
creative power and creative ability. Responding to the fear rather
than the true hazards, causes us to respond in way such that
fear limits our creative power by curtaining our actions in
those areas. For many of us, rather than facing the true hazard, we
allow fear to rule and then wonder way we cannot create a way to
remove our pain. Or, why we cannot create the pleasure we seek. If
we do not allow ourselves to act because we fear pain we also cannot
step out to create pleasure for we do not know which the unknown
will give us. In essence, we creatively paralyze ourselves.
The other reason is responding to what we think will happen is an
attachment to the past. It is our
attachments that cause our pain
in the creative process. As said
above, some of our attachments are so deep we have
lost the origins of our pain.
Often we are not aware where we allow the past to rule our lives.
One of the more important realizations you can have about pain is
that
pain is our unique experience
and it is incumbent on each of us to explore where its origins lie
within our being. No one can do that for us. As you explore the
origins of your pain, you will move into the depth of your being. In
fact, you will find
pain is an indulgence of self, not self indulgence, but an
acknowledgment of the
self/Self as a unique entity. In exploring how
pain is an indulgence of the self one can being to understand how
the pain which gives rise to addictions can be so difficult to
address.
The
ultimate lesson in pain
is that we are identifying with our creations rather than with
the creator that we are. Our creations gives us our identity as a
creator but we are not the creation. We are which lies behind what
we create. In understanding pain we can understand how to free
ourselves from pain and we can begin to
move beyond pain. We can move to obtain
true freedom for our creative spirit
to create the seed for our next creation in freedom and to
become aware of
pain inherent in awareness and compassion that keep many away
from seeing our true interconnectedness.
Topics on Pain
Pain
Creating Pain
The gift of pain
Understanding pain
Lost origins of pain
Ultimate root of pain
Realizations from pain
Ultimate lesson in pain
Pain of stretching who we are
The precious pearl within pain
Pain to awaken consciousness
The pain of birthing a new creation
Pain, fear and the avoidance of pain
Pain inherent in awareness and compassion
Origins of pain - pain and the creative process
Facing the fire of pain and moving beyond pain
The misapplication of pain - pain versus discipline
Pain and the indulgence of self the basis
of addiction
Using our unique experience of pain,
accident, illness and disease
Pain, ego and attachment
- creating the seed for the next creation
The ultimate pain we face - an ongoing
issue for the Creator/creator
Internal hyperlinks
Gift of pain
From a creativity perspective,
pain is a gift at two levels. The first level is a messenger that it
warns us of harm. But at a deeper level, it awakens our consciousness
to the world we have created and in which we have placed ourselves
which may not be serving our best interests.
The greatest issue faced
by human
Pain, and it earliest
manifestation as a discomfort, is probably the greatest issue faced
by humanity. If you looked for one single issue that underlies all
action of humanity it is probably pain, and to a lesser extent
discomfort, and the avoidance of pain/discomfort. Because of the
nature of the human body, if the body’s needs are not met and not
fulfilled, they eventually become painful. We seek those body needs
for their own value. But we also seek them to avoid pain and
feelings of discomfort that arise when they are not met. In addition
to being a catalyst to act to meet our physical needs, there are
spiritual, emotional and mental needs which must be met. The
psychological/emotional pain of not having what one wants has driven
men and women across the globe in search of fulfillment and has lead
to numerous scientific discoveries. Pain has fueled medical science
in it attempts to help heal the body conditions that give rise to
pain. It has also it has sent individual after individual on an
inner and outer journey in search of higher truths and to explore
the nature of God to alleviate the non physical pain of inner
longing that many experience. However you look at it, pain is a
catalyst to act. Pain, and the ability to feel, is the door way into
the unknown of our own being. It is a catalyst to step through that
doorway into the unknown to explore the cause behind what we feel.
Pain and the
construct of our bodies
The way our physical bodies are
constructed, physical pain uses the same system as any physical
sensation. Any physical sensation we feel is generated is through a
sensor in the body. There is a sensor in the tissue of the body and
a transmission line to the brain. The sensor generates an electrical
signal based on what is sense. That signal is then is transmitted to
brain and interpreted by the brain. To effective understand what we sense
and we experience as feeling in
the body, the sensor must work, the transmission line must work, and
the brain must be able to properly characterize what is sensed.
Often the brain does not have the
requisite set of minimum experience to properly characterize the
experience we have. Much of our early life is spend learning to
interpret these signals as to what is painful and what is
pleasurable.
Because both pleasure and pain arise out of what we sense, there are
forms of pleasure border on being painful and some pain moves into
the realm of pleasure. One point does need to be noted here is a
very slow and gradual change often moves past the protection offered
by pain.
With properly functioning pain sensors, probably no one would step
into a tub of hot water hot enough to be cooked in the water.
However, people have been know to fall asleep in a hot tub and
literally become cooked as the temperature of the water slowly rises
as happen in Marin County, California in the early 1970's. Quite
simply the change in thermal temperature was gradual enough that the
pain sensor did not register pain or there was not a significant
enough change to be interpreted as pain in any one moment for the
brain to experience pain and awaken the individual.
There are often events we experience in our life that tend to do
this. Then we awaken to the situation at had and find ourselves in a
very painful situation. Many relationship are like this. They start
out fine but slowly pain enters the relationship and then one day we
awaken to find the ourselves in pain and we don’t know how we got
there.
Pain-pleasure cycle
To any sensation of pain or
pleasure, there is an aspect to the experience that can become a
cyclic pattern. For the pain or pleasure sensation, there is a rise
in intensity of what you feel to give the sensation of pain or
pleasure. Then as the sensation is removed, the pain or pleasure
decreases. However, if one strongly attaches to the pleasure one
feels, as the sensation causing the pleasure is removed, one may
feel pain. Similarly, if one strongly reject pain, as the sensation
causing the pain is removed, one may feel pleasure. Hence there is a
cyclic aspect to the rise and fall of pleasure and plain.
Our problem arises as result of this phenomenon in two ways. One is
when we seek one over the other rather than understanding how they
are relate and how we are not allowing the ourselves to experience
the full cycle. The energy of any experience must be fully
dissipated if it is going to be available for a new creation. If we
jump in and exert a preference, in really we are not allowing the
totally creative energy giving rise to the experience to fully
dissipate. That in turn causes us to bind our creative energy such
that it is not free to create another experience.
The second issue is that when the sensation first starts we do not
always know whether it will be painful or pleasurable. Some
experiences have an uncanny way of not truly revealing their full
nature until they become intense. So, if we fear pain, we will turn
off such experiences long before they become intense. However, in
doing so we also deny the pleasure that is possible. Or, if we fear
intense feeling of pleasure because their absence is experienced as
pain, we will terminate the pleasure long before they become
intense. In doing this we do not allow the range of possibilities to
exist. Also, in turn, we do not allow the creative energy to flow to
dissipation and again, bind and block the energy rendering it
unavailable to create another experience.
Pain
is a messenger
Pain is a messenger that warns us
that harm is being done or potentially being done at some level of
being. It tells us that we are attached to something and that
attachment is limiting and confining our freedom of movement. It is
only a warning that something is potentially harmful to our being.
Ultimately the pain can be related to the fact we are approaching
the limit of endurance of a truth of our being.
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