Does chronic pain issues affect you spiritually and magickally? Yup. Of course, it does.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship that chronic pain issues has with the spiritual and magickal self, we first have to take a quick look into our basic construction.

We are spirits manifested into the physical plane. Yup. That’s what we are.

In our belief system, we choose to reincarnate life after life in order to learn lessons and gain wisdoms. Before we are born, we are in a more pure spiritual state unattached to the concerns, worries, scattered mental thinking, etc. that constitute what we call our manifested personality in each life. This manifested personality is developed through parenting, experiences, and life lessons in conjunction with our spiritual nature. It is a mutual intimate bond between the two worlds of existence (physical and spiritual) which we by nature attempt to maintain in some type of balance.

If the spiritual is removed from the physical self, then the physical self remains in a coma like essence. If the physical is removed from the spiritual self, then the spirit is released back to the Summerland to rest and prepare for reentry into this great training ground we call life. In other words, it’s important to keep in mind that in order to remain on this physical plane, we have to maintain this connection between these two worlds if we wish to remain here.

In between the two extremes described above lies the intimate relationship we maintain (or in some cases, try to maintain) between the spiritual and physical selves. One could spend lifetimes just analyzing and learning about the nuances of this relationship we have with ourselves, but we are at the moment looking at how pain on the physical level affects this relationship.

Let’s take a look at a pure pain state. Most people have stubbed their toe really hard or banged their shin or funny bone at some time or the other. In that moment of overwhelming pain, we are pretty close to being in a zen state or totally in the moment. We feel the pain and all we do is feel the pain. We don’t think about the bills, the broken lawnmower, what to make for dinner, what candles to light, the fight we are having, or how we feel about something someone else said. We feel the pain for a few moments and we don’t mentally chatter about other things either. We just feel the pain.

In that moment of intense pain, we are physically, mentally, and spiritually focused together on the pain. We don’t always have all these so intensely focused together on one thing very often. It is almost an enlightenment moment if you really understand it.

However, as we all know remaining so intensely in that state for a prolonged amount of time is entirely unproductive for us in any other area of life if we do not overcome the intense pain moment and return to living in the manifested world. Eventually, we have to go back to paying those bills and working on our relationships with other people, along with all those other chores of living.

With the stubbed toe or funny bone pain moment, the pain begins to subside and as it does so, we return our focus to our regular programming of getting on with living. However, with chronic pain issues, we encounter a loop at this point. We know we have to separate back away from the intense pain to be able to function and survive on the manifested realm, but it is extremely difficult to do so.

If the chronic pain of the physical self continues long enough, most of us will turn to some type of pain management, which also affects our personality’s mental and psychological state as well.

Without chronic pain issues, the manifested being can learn and be trained to expand the spiritual or magickal nature to the forefront in meditative or magickal workings. In other words, while we will remain connected (out of necessity) to some degree with the physical aspect of our manifested form, we maximize the spiritual or magickal component within us. Think of it as if in our regular mundane self, we are like a partially filled balloon. When we enter into the spiritual or magickal self, we inflate the balloon with more air (our spiritual / magickal essence) and the air takes more space than the physical balloon containing it. Of course, there are limits that have to be respected so you don’t pop yourself out of your manifested being.

With chronic pain issues, however, this changes to a degree because the pain itself is keeping the physical self less pliant. It is keeping some of the focus back onto the physical in some degree. It requires more energy, more effort, more focus to suppress that aspect than was necessary when it didn’t exist.

Human beings in the manifested form are quite adaptive however and people with chronic pain can adapt as well to these conditions and how they affect the spiritual or magickal self. Take the balloon example again. For someone with chronic pain, they first have to accept that their balloon doesn’t work like it used to. The nature of the balloon has changed. BUT at this point, we don’t have to give up and assume that it’s over and we are somehow lessened by this.

The spiritual / magickal person with chronic pain issues has to accept and then adapt.

We have to accept and then we have to adapt keeping in mind that sometimes an adaptation or mutation from an original form can produce the same level as previously, less results, or exponentially stronger results depending upon how that adaptation occurs.

Brightest of Blessings ~ Mead Muse