Pain Has No Virtue, I’m Afraid
“The East has recognised long ago that that which is good for man (sic)* — for his body and his soul — must also be agreeable, even though at the beginning some resistances must be overcome.”
Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving
Fromm, a German Jewish psychologist, contrasted the Eastern philosophy of ‘agreeableness’ with the “Western concept of discipline”, which intimates that what is good for you must be painful. Reading that was a lightbulb moment for me, as the following phrases echoed around my head:
“No pain. No gain.”
“A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.”
It clarified some of the things I’d been struggling with as I eased into my thirties.
We will milk our braincells for all they are worth to get ahead. This is painful but good for us. Long caffeinated stints at the library, broken up by melty plasticated snacks, are good for us. Slamming our body into yoga poses and gym workouts are good for us — the more we shake and sweat the better. The satisfaction of the lingering pain the day after. Going hungry (not so much in the tradition of fasts deployed in spiritual practices, reminding…
