October 7, 2018, Pain and Suffering Have Value.
If there’s no God, no life after death, nothing but physical and chemical processes driven by the laws of physics, then much of the pain and suffering endured by life on earth is tragic, with no positive value at all.
Some pain does have value in nature. It motivates us to avoid injury and keeps us safe. It reinforces learning. It can motivate us to work hard to reduce pain and suffering and increase our chances of survival. In can also enhance our appreciation for pleasure or at least the sense of peace and wellbeing when pain and suffering are absent, but that is meaningless in a purely naturalistic world.
Now if we put the abstract concept of a spirit world into the picture it changes everything. If there’s life after death then perhaps the pain and suffering we endure in this life has value in the afterlife. If there’s an omnipotent creator, perhaps pain and suffering are part of the design and they have an eternal purpose. Pain and suffering still provide all the naturalistic value discussed above, but now we see potential value even when it serves no naturalistic benefit.
These concepts are difficult for most people to consider because our brains are hardwired to hate pain and suffering to the point where we go to extremes to avoid them, but if you can set the negative emotional response aside and consider these points objectively, they make sense. I can only offer a little evidence that they might be true so I prefer to just throw them out as possibilities rather than try to prove or support them.
One other point needs to be made. In case someone would turn this discussion into an excuse to be masochistic and put themselves through increased pain and suffering deliberately, I think such action would likely backfire. Pain and suffering only have value when we despise them and want desperately to avoid them. If by some twisted mental disfunction you actually enjoy pain and suffering then it’s not difficult to endure and you no longer gain any of the potential benefits I explored above.
Likewise, someone could use these ideas to justify sadistic behaviors and rationalize that causing pain and suffering for others is actually good for them. Compassion with a desire to help others avoid pain and suffering along with the drive to work together to reduce pain and suffering are among the greatest benefits. Deliberately inflicting pain and suffering has the opposite effect, destroying unity and erasing compassion. It inflames anger and divides, causing people to attack each other and multiply pain and suffering. This cycle is evil, tragic, and reduces the precious rewards of life for everybody.
The value in considering positive benefits from pain is to gain insight into eternal truth and diminish discontent with the state of the world as it is. Many people come to sad conclusion by judging life negatively when they see and experience the harsh realities of existence on this planet. Some reject the idea of a good and loving creator. Some just get discouraged. In extreme cases the failure to see potential benefit to pain and suffering can lead to suicide.
This line of reasoning doesn’t seem to justify some instances of tragic suffering & death that seems so pointless. And it seems trite when applied to the harsh realities of nature. The life that most wild animals endure seems heartlessly cruel from a human perspective. And that’s the key. We’re looking at life from a limited, human perspective. Even from that perspective we should be blown away with the wonder and beauty of life. Now imagine taking a step outside of ourselves and viewing life from the perspective of spirits that dwell beyond the limitations of time and space, without the judgmental bent of humanity, perhaps the circle of life, even in all its harsh brutality, would be completely glorious and beautiful in every respect.
I’m exploring things so far removed from our everyday reality that there’s no way to know the truth, but it does open my mind to possibilities, humbles me to the point I don’t presume to judge nature or the creator, and helps me live with a heart at peace even when I don’t understand why things are as they are.