Pain

Is there anything more humbling than pain? I have been plagued with a recurrent back pain for the last week. It has been a reminder of the effectiveness of pain as a teacher. Though I live in a society which chooses to ignore or medicate pain as much as possible, I have not had the luxury of living without a fair share of intensely painful conditions. I have also worked as a nurse and have seen people suffer horribly through pain which could not be controlled without knocking the patient out with heavy medication. Pain has an inevitably transforming effect on consciousness. After all, great seekers of Truth have subjected themselves to painful deprivations through fasting and mortification of the flesh throughout the ages. I accept the transformation that comes with pain. Rather than fleeing from the pain, I have learned to work with pain to both heal it and learn from it. Medication is a wonderful thing too, but medication alone does not really make the lessons of pain more bearable or useful.