3 Levels of Human Pain
I work with people in pain.
For much of my week I work with people suffering with pain in their back, neck, abdomen, joints, face and all parts of their body. Sometimes they have been suffering for years and dealing with all the additional suffering ( agoraphobia, panic attacks, immobility, fatigue etc) that such pain can cause. This, we will call Physical Pain, although I will soon write about the deeper causes of physical pain.
Alongside this, I also work with people with various types of psychological and emotional distress. As a society, we have become a whole lot better about speaking about this type of pain and more open to asking for support when we need it. This is of course, is Emotional Pain.
And for so many Western (or just European?) societies today, this is where it ends. If we were to be asked to draw our sources of pain we might be brave enough to say the body and the mind. Workplace Wellbeing programmes and an increasingly compassionate society have made us more emotionally intelligent or at least more emotionally aware, if still secretive.
But why do we so often stop there…
Ignoring our wordless sense of Something even deeper than our emotions? Something behind our emotions, intrinsically connected to our emotions but somehow more, below, underpinning?
Why do we continue to be so Spiritually Shy?
Why do so many people hide their hopes and beliefs about the Sacred for fear of seeming “unscientific” or “Woo”- and most certainly not very "business-like"? But isn't all business, at it's core, about understanding people?
Now whether you agree that we are Spiritually Shy will depend on where you are as you read this. In the US, it seems that Religion (as opposed to Spirituality) is far more openly discussed, even at governmental levels. But from an outsiders perspective it seems tribal, territorial and decidedly political.
In Ireland, where I write, as in much of Europe, the decades long exodus from church membership has left a large hole in people’s lives. For many, the wellness industry filled the void, with meditation, retreats and even some bliss. But these practices can seem meaningless or self-indulgent, without the sense of discipline, community and duty that traditional religion once provided.
But in that part of us which we struggle to describe or understand, that place that words cannot grasp, is the answer to to so many of our struggles. That part of us that connects us to something so much Greater Than Ourselves is where we are most ourselves - the purest version of ourselves, without our habitual pretensions and facades. This is where we feel most relaxed, at ease even when busy, most compassionate and patient - because we are in our "happy place". We might simply call it "having a good day" but we know it when we feel it.
Existential Pain: Living A Life That Isn’t Me
It is in this part of us that we find our “Uninjured Self”, * a part that cannot be broken or harmed because it comes from somewhere more than ourselves, something universal. Certainly, if ignored, we can find ourselves “out of kilter” and “burned out”. Going against our sense of who we really are depletes our energy at a far greater rate than doing what is aligned with who we really are. This was a fundamental part of the original work of Hans Seyle, who first coined the term “stress”. What is meaningful to us, damages the body less, even when it is stressful.
But when we are hurting physically or emotionally, this is the part of ourselves we can go to if we would only get to know it again. This is where we can rest, repair and remember who we are, our connection with something Bigger Than Ourselves. This is where we can find source of our physical and emotional hurts and the possibility of healing — no matter what the outside world has done to us.
For any reader who might know my writing, you will know that this is the topic I am most passionate about; our collective need to reinstate Spirituality in to our model of what makes us Human — and what makes us so much more than Human. As a mental health crisis spreads across the industrial world, we would do well to notice what has been lost from our collective model of humanity — an omission which has cost us dearly.
For millions of people across the globe, religion provides a source of comfort, discipline and direction in life. It is where they find their spirituality. But every one of us needs a framework, a means of understanding or at least exploring that Other Part of ourselves that defies description by words — and this framework does not have to include belief in any Higher Power.
If the society we live and grow up in does not have a method of recognising this part of us, then how can we even begin to know how to explore it, question it, doubt it, challenge it, or turn away from it as adults? We swim in the sea, we run marathons, we self medicate — all ways of touching this Other Way, this part of us that we do not understand and haven’t been taught to turn to.
Whether we understand it as God, Atman, Universal Love, Mother Nature, The Unmoved Mover, Consciousness or by any other name, there is a part of us that can naturally connect to this ultimate source if we are taught that it is there for us. But how can we expect the millions of us who struggle to find peace, if we haven’t been taught to consider our Spiritual Healthcare Needs?
For how long are we willing to ignore the Spiritual aspect of our Humanness and our desperate need for Spiritual Education?
My writing is my personal attempt to bring us out of our collective Spiritual Shyness and a call to reinstate Spirituality in to our model of health. From this stems our need for spirituality in design of our homes and building, in healthcare and education, in the workplace and in government. If this is a passion that you share, I really hope you’ll join me.
Until soon,
Susannah
*( a phrase quoted by philosopher Dr. Steven Costello on my podcast A Tweak A Week. You’ll find it on Apple and Spotify- link here)
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