Pain and Its Consequences

I. Introduction

We are all complex organisms that function so smoothly at mental, emotional, physical levels that almost always we are unaware of multiple aspects of our being that need to work in harmony to achieve the state we are in. The other day I happened to have a tooth-ache, which then proceeded to distract me to no end. This incident then brought into sharp relief that any small part of my body could be in disrepair for this smoothly functioning system to go haywire - be it thorn in the toe, speck in the eye, scalding at the stove...pick your poison.

This singular event that causes this disruption in the system is pain. FOr example if I had a thorn in my foot and had not pain, would i continue walking? So why pain? And what is it?

II. Philosophy of Pain

The Standford University Philosophy site has a terrific exposition on the topic of pain. Pain is the most prominent member of a class of sensations known as bodily sensations, which includes itches, tickles, tingles and so on. Bodily sensations are typically attributed to bodily locations and appear to have features such as volume, intensity, duration, and so on, that are ordinarily attributed to physical objects or quantities. Yet these sensations are often thought to be logically private, subjective, self-intimating, and the source of incorrigible knowledge for those who have them. Hence there appear to be reasons both for thinking that pains (along with other similar bodily sensations) are physical objects or conditions that we perceive in body parts, and for thinking that they are not. This paradox is one of the main reasons why philosophers are especially interested in pain. One increasingly popular but still controversial way to deal with this paradox is to defend a perceptual or representational view of pain, according to which feeling pain is in principle no different than undergoing other standard perceptual processes like seeing, hearing, touching, etc. But there are many who think that pains are not amenable to such a treatment.

III. Pain as a message

Pain appears to be a message that we ought to be paying attention to as a fault in the system that needs to be fixed. Lookd that way, pain is no more than a signal. Imagine if you are a robot, and you had a sensor in your feet. If a pebble were to be stuck there, the robot would pluck it out and continue on its path. No pain - just a signal (a la Terminator). Yet our reaction to a pebble on our foot is not so clinical. In an extreme instance we might yelp, screech, sob or grunt in pain.

So while pain could indeed be considered a signal, we treat it instinctively as more than that.

IV. Psychological Pain

The first heart-break. Loss of a parent. Loss of a friend. Loss of a championship game. These are all also causes of pain. These can also cause the kind of distraction and loss of focus that physical pain can induce. In this instance it is all mental or psychological. Yet the pain feels real. A robot stuck in a maze unable to get out continues to look for a way until its battery runs out. But we might despair. Again contrast the robot's mechanical persistence with our reaction which is not clinical.

V. Societal Pain

The list here is long and tragic. I imagine even a commentary is not needed, just the labels. Rwanda. Apartheid. Holocaust. Darkness at Noon. Khmer Rouge. Partition. Civil War.

There is only so much suffering we can process. At some point to get on with our daily lives, we rationalize. However this is not history collecting dust in tomes. I only have to mention Darfur for societal pain coming rushing to the forefront of our consciousness.

VI. Empathy

This feeling of pain and its consequences is what leads us to empathize with our fellow-humans and what leads to the golden rule - 'do unto others, as you would have others do unto you". However this empathy breaks down when there is more distance. For example we read a newspaper account of a tragedy in a far away place with more detachment than a tragedy in our own country, our own city, our own neighborhood. In fact someone once said, if your neighbor loses a job it is a recession and if you lose yours, it is a depression!

It is not just geographic distance, it is psychological distance as well. A fellow countryman might evoke more empathy than another. Or human misery might evoke more empathy than animal misery.

VII. Managing Pain

As medicine advances, we have learned the art and science of managing pain. Sports people manage pain all the time. The military does. We learn to accept pain for what it is. In fact people who understand the role of pain, use it to explore their limits and then go beyond it. In this context pain is signal to ignore, rather it is a signal to take advantage of for your purpose or objective.

There are some ethical dilemnas that have been thrown open because of our increasing understanding of the role of pain and pain management. There used to be a Calvinist attitude towards pain that viewed pain as beneficial, good for you. That view is yielding more and more to a more rational approach to pain and using it for our own benefits. Medical Marijuana is a hot topic in the United States now. Many terminally ill patients are clamoring for it becuase it gives them physical relief. But other worry about it being a slippery slope.

VIII. Animalistic vs Humanistic Reactions

We as humans are capable of good, but on balance capable of more harm than good perhaps with our access to science and technology. So understanding how we react to pain might be useful not only for us individually but for society as a whole. When hungry, or tired or desperate we can do desperate things. An economy, a global economy that is hurting could lead us to irrational decisions that could further worsen the situation we are in.

As a whole if we understand that pain has multiple dimensions - physical, psychological, social - we will be the better off for it. For we will then understand that under severe duress there is every danger that our animalistic spirits could come to the forefront. We have come too far to be in a cycle of two steps forward and three steps back.

So it is my fervent hope that now that all our combined societies are pressed and pressed hard, that we understand the nature and role of pain and our reactions to it. Lets hope that there is no lashing out or its other extreme - protectionism.

In the movie Wall Street from the 1980s, when the character of Bud Fox acted by Charile Sheen is handcuffed and taken from his office for his transgressions, his wise old mentor says, "Man stares into the abyss, and there's nothing staring back at him. That's when man finds his character. And that's what keeps him out of the abyss."

So here is hoping that our national leaders find their character as we stare into the economic abyss.