Knowledge is Power?

Knowledge is power? Well, it can be. Understanding the source of chronic pain is helpful. Understanding what can assist with chronic pain is helpful. Knowledge can certainly be empowering.

What about lack of knowledge? Not knowing holds potential. There is the potential to acquire knowledge about external matters as well as self-knowledge. A state that holds potential is quite different from a state that is "powerless." This distinction is important in how we approach chronic pain.

Chronic pain tends to push us to search for answers. It is a journey that begins when chronic pain appears, continues through a diagnosis, and proceeds as we become accustomed to this new companion on our path. This uninvited companion is rude. Chronic pain nudges us continually, gets in our way, and exhausts us. We look for ways to eject this companion and, if that doesn't work, we look for ways to get chronic pain to at least behave. Chronic pain turns us into seekers.

To be a seeker is to be comfortable with not knowing. This can be quite counter to cultural experiences we may have had. Some families, schools, and work environments prize knowing above all else. In these environments to not know is to be "less than." If this has been our experience, we must put it aside. On our journey feeling "less than" about not knowing is counterproductive. It will serve only to impede us and make us doubt ourselves. Heaping negative emotional experiences upon chronic pain can actually worsen it.

As seekers we celebrate the opportunity to learn and the exhilaration that accompanies learning. Not knowing is an adventurous mystery. Who knows what wonderful development lies in wait for us? Who knows how greatly we can master our own minds? Who knows how greatly we can affect this experience of chronic pain? Who knows what amazing destination awaits that we might otherwise have bypassed? Who knows what wonderful sights we'll see along the way?