Pain Has a Purpose

Last week, it was 70 degrees in Saint Joseph, Michigan. I ditched work and went for a walk through the woods to Lake Michigan. Then I laid on the beach for several hours, tuning into my body and moving my joints in every direction I could imagine, 30-50 times each. I'm developing a new exercise system that will help me and others develop a better relationship with our bodies and nature. When I get it together, my plan is to find some place that'll let me teach it for fun. Maybe the YMCA.

It's autumn here, and the leaves are turning from green to vibrant shades of yellow and red. The woods smell different than before...organic, earthy, slightly sweet. Crunching sounds under my feet, I couldn't help but think that autumn is about dying. And yet, autumn is stunningly beautiful! In a similar manner, I can see, hear, and smell something in our financial system that’s dying, and through my imagination, see how stunningly beautiful the aftermath and rebirth will be in the future.

Hard to express how exhilarated I felt in nature last week. In those four hours I was free from media and its information. As the words suggest, "in" plus "formation" is anti-liberating. It is the principal method of formation, or control, in society. Information is tricky because there's so much of it now that we have tuned it out, becoming more motivated by other people and groups than by data it provides. The more people who believe and follow something, the more legit it must be...right? Not really, because it's based on self-reinforcement instead of facts or truth.

Before the Information Age, we didn't have access to other people's opinions like we do today. We relied more on nature and relationships to teach us what we needed to know about our world and ourselves. What would you say if I told you that I discovered something anti-informational, something inside of nature that responds to harmful stimuli, injury, illness, toxic chemicals, germs, viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and all kinds of diseases? It fights, removes, recognizes, and neutralizes anything that is harmful to your life. It heals you and adapts to new challenges and threats. It is one of the most mysterious and amazing processes you can imagine.

If you knew it worked, how much would pay for it? What would you say if I told you that you already know what it is and have been conditioned to think of it as bad and dysfunctional. What I'm talking about is your body’s own immune system, which works using pain and inflammation to protect you. Through government handouts, prescription drugs, various forms of entertainment, and the fake food industry, we have been conditioned to believe that "pain" is the party pooper. We don't need pain, we don't want pain, and we must do everything we can to avoid it. I'm talking about emotional pain, physical pain, financial pain, any kind of pain you can imagine, society doesn’t want you to feel it, but to avoid it. This avoidance is considered natural.

Pain is the enemy to modern man, governments, corporations and central banks in a consumer-driven economy. Inflammation is the king of evil in the human body and we are all working hard to overcome it! We spend a lot of money trying to beat it. We ban together and fight against these pains with every arsenal and weapon we have, because pain doesn't and shouldn’t belong in our human existence. We were made only to feel good, right? If we don’t feel good, there’s something wrong with us. In fact, we've developed such weakness, such an intolerance, such sensitivity to pain, that most people find it excruciating to even think! Therefore, human intelligence is bad, and we must censor people that make us think...only artificial intelligence or "approved" intelligence is allowed to exist in society, to avoid pain.

Whenever I'm confused about humanity, myself, other people, or when things just don't make sense or add up to me, I go to nature like I did last week. I think better in nature. I feel better in nature. I somehow understand better in nature. You'd think in this day and age, where information is ubiquitous, things wouldn't be so hard to comprehend. Huge numbers of people wouldn't be arguing about whether the earth is flat or round or whether gender is philosophy or biology. MDs wouldn't be diametrically opposing each other about what's actually good and bad for the human body. The Blue people and Red people would get a clue that politics isn’t really working in their favor.

Just when you've found the answer to some dilemma, or some kind of pain you're experiencing, another dilemma and another kind of pain comes along to harass you and it happens over and over again. Could it be our immune systems, our bodies, trying to tell us something? Despite the fact that "anecdotal" is a dirty word now, I try to rely on my own experience with nature, and my relationships with real people, when figuring out if science, religion, and philosophy make sense of the world. Books and videos and podcasts are nice to have, but ultimately, if it doesn't make sense or work in nature, then it's not really so. If it defies nature, then it'll cause pain and inflammation until we deal with the root of the problem and get in alignment with nature again.

I think that many of us have been fortunate for a very long time to experience reality through our "selective" attention, rather than nature. We've had the luxury of tuning out the world, closing our eyes and ears, and living in bubbles we create, if we have chosen to do so. Technology and wealth can shelter us from the elements and from ourselves, but like anything that goes too far in exploiting its source, it eventually becomes cancerous, self-destructive, and painful. We must remember that pain has a purpose, though, and we should listen and understand what it's telling us. It is not our enemy, but our friend. It guides us to greater understanding and a better way of life, and ultimately to survival.