“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?
