“Thomas Aquinas said of suffering, as Aristotle had said of shame, that it was not good in itself; but a thing which might have a certain goodness in particular circumstances. That is to say, if evil is present, pain at recognition of the evil, being a kind of knowledge, is relatively good; for the alternative is that the soul should be ignorant of the evil, or ignorant that the evil is contrary to its nature, ‘either of which’, says the philosopher (Aquinas), ‘is manifestly bad’. And I think, though we tremble, we agree.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Evil being “contrary to the nature” of “the soul,” may be over-generalized here, but I don’t think it detracts from the truth of Lewis’ application of pain giving us a knowledge of that which is contrary to “shalom”: the way things ought to be. The distinction between joy and pain can be pedagogical and not simply existential. Pain is not simply a matter of fact, but a gift, or a tool, to help us learn the difference between light and darkness; good and evil; heaven and hell. In fact, this quote is from his chapter on hell.
Thoughts?
To say that pain is a gift or a tool that’s needed in order to have the knowledge that things are not they way they ought to be may be overstated. Everyone shouldn’t need the same personal pain in order to spot evil. If pain is such a great tool or gift in helping one identify evil then why is the one in the midst of that pain unable to find help during it from those within the church? Instead more pain is usually added and the Christian enduring suffering learns the church isn’t a place to find safety and healing. That shouldn’t be how it is. Few can withstand the raw pain of another so it’s hidden behind a smile and answers like: “Fine”, “Pretty good”, or “Busy”. It’s a slow and careful process to find those who can help ones in pain when most can’t even take the knowledge of the pain someone else has experienced in real time.
If the only way such knowledge of evil is gained, is through the personal experience of pain; then that could mean that evil goes unchecked and unknown because there is no one to help, listen and learn about the pain from that particular type of evil that the person you see every Sunday has experienced or is in the middle of. I say it’s better for the church to come alongside in tangible ways to help, listen, and just be there for those suffering; and in the long run the church will be better for it and will learn to identify evil through the many ways individual Christians have experienced pain but only if that pain can be acknowledged.
journey,
Thank you for you thoughts and comments. When I posted such a short quote on such a large topic, I was hoping it would provoke thought and perhaps some discussion, so I appreciate you taking the time to make your comments.
I am currently reading Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain,” and came upon another paragraph this morning that might further explain Lewis’ thoughts in my original post. Here goes:
“The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as all seems to be well with it. Now error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they are the less their victim suspects their existence; they are masked evil. Pain is unmasked, unmistakeable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt…And pain is not only immediately recognizable evil, but evil impossible to ignore. We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shovelling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. A bad man, happy, is a man without the least inkling that his actions do not ‘answer’, that they are not in accord with the laws of the universe.”
That quote may not convince you to agree with Lewis or with what I’m personally learning from him, but maybe it will better explain the crux of what he’s saying. Thanks again for you comment.
“Pain is unmasked, unmistakeable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt…And pain is not only immediately recognizable evil, but evil impossible to ignore.”
I will say that not everyone knows for sure something is wrong. Children are especially susceptible to accepting pain as normal if that’s all they’ve known and Christians at church scold them for saying something “bad” about a parent or another adult in the church. “Ignore the evil, it’s not that bad.” The child learns to somehow ignore the evil the best they can, but it does them great harm. http://netgrace.org/ “There is no doubt that child abuse profoundly impacts a child’s faith. This spiritual damage is often compounded by the inadequate response of the Christian community. As a result, many survivors of child abuse flee the church, wanting nothing to do with God.”
Fast forward some years and the child is now a young adult who can no longer ignore the evil. It doesn’t get better, it gets profoundly worse because even though pain may “insist on being attended to”, there is no safe place within the church for that pain to be acknowledged, therefore it will not and cannot be “attended to”. Churches in general have not proven to be hospitals for the seriously injured. If your pain requires more than a band aid; then often you are asked to find a church that is better able to help you. “Be quiet or go away, and you need to forgive and not be bitter.” are the messages that those who have survived years of pain receive. I agree that forgiveness needs to happen and bitterness shouldn’t, but is that really an appropriate message to give to someone who needs help and is in the midst of suffering?
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Although I haven’t read the book you’re reading I am a bit familiar with C.S. Lewis. I suspect that Lewis is talking about the pain adults have experienced as adults, and not the pain they have carried forward from childhood and have had compounded due to the mishandling and harmful counsel they have received from Christians ranging from friends whom they confided in, to Christian counselors and to pastors.
I do agree that pain does ”help us learn the difference between light and darkness; good and evil; heaven and hell.” What is hard to comprehend is why such pain is given to some as God’s “megaphone”. I suppose that it takes something extremely drastic to get peoples attention, even Christians. I don’t get it, or at least if I do; then I don’t like it. It seems like Lewis is saying that God shouts to us through pain to get our attention so we can tell the difference between good and evil.
Pain is a very difficult gift and tool to handle. Most of the time it feels like a curse, until you recognize someone in pain and offer an ear and a shoulder because you KNOW that’s what they need more than anything else in the world. Those are the days you can almost be glad for that heavy “gift” of pain.
I probably should read the book because I don’t think we are really talking about the same type of pain Lewis is referring to. I’m not sure my comments really apply to your reading; even though still about pain.