Millions of people are searching for the answer—what is pain?—because untold millions are suffering in pain.  Pain relievers are the number one drug sold in America.  Today’s Google search for “What is pain?” produced 776,000,000 results.

If you read my last blog post on word studies, I defined the word SYMPTOM.  Today, let’s look at the word PAIN.

PAIN is physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.  Pain comes from the Latin word poena ‘penalty.’   Penalty is another word worthy of consideration and we’ll look at it in just a minute.

Synonyms for PAIN include suffering, affliction, and torment.  Lengthy word studies on the origin of each of these words begins to paint a picture—pain is something that we give birth to, and it is the product of our labors, or fruits of our action.  In other words, we ourselves, are responsible for our own pain.  What?

This is where most people will immediately begin to make excuses for themselves:  ”I have a disease that causes my pain.”  ”I had an accident or injury 20 years ago and I’m still suffering in pain.”  ”I have no control over my headaches.”  ”I didn’t ask for fibromyalgia, it just happened to me.”  ”My pain is caused by multiple sclerosis.”  And so on.  But notice the main subject in each of those statements “I, my, and me.”

In my new book WARNINGS of Disease, I discuss the word pathogen.  Science defines pathogen as a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease.  However, the Greek roots of the word PATHOGEN are pathos ‘suffering, passion’ and gignomai ‘I give birth to.’  From a medical perspective, a pathogen is thought to be a germ that causes disease to the host, but from the Greek roots of the word we find a rather different explanation.

Pathogen means that not only are we capable of giving birth to passion (love), we are also responsible for giving birth to suffering (our afflictions).  Since both infection and acquired disease begin on the inside of our body and work their way out, it might be concluded that we are responsible for our own suffering.

Now let’s look at the word PENALTY.  Synonyms include punishment, punitive action (disciplinary correction), and retribution—punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved.  A penalty is punishment that is imposed for breaking a law, rule, or contract.

What we see here is that PAIN is the PENALTY for wrongful action—the breaking of rules.  As mentioned, we are responsible for our pain!  But whose rules are we breaking in order to suffer the penalty that results in pain—that is the question?  They [the rules] are the one’s of the universe, the laws of order—the body of divine commandment, otherwise known as God.  When we choose to go against order, what God ordained, we create and cause disorder.  Once I came to understand this very important truth, I was then able to look for, and find, the exact cause of my 35 diagnosed diseases, along with MS, Parkinson’s, or Lou Gehrig’s disease being the suspected culprit for my 36th affliction.

But what is an AFFLICTION?  Affliction is a disorder, disease, or illness that results in pain, suffering, and torment.  Seems like we’ve seen these words before!  When we suffer with PAIN, whether it is from an illness, disease, or disorder—”I give birth to suffering (my afflictions)”  becomes the main subject matter once again.

Once I established that I was responsible for my own PAIN (suffering), the healing process was initiated.  Since I no longer had anything to blame for my pain other than myself, I was no longer able to produce excuses for it (my pain).  And one thing that I have learned during my lifetime—excuses are futile and pointless!

This meant that I had to look deep within to find the real reason for my PAIN.  Again, notice the subject matter—I and my—it was my pain and I was to blame.

According to science, PAIN is caused by illness or injury.  So why do people live in pain for 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 years?  By all rights, an illness lasts for a period of time and the body is then healed.  If not, death is the probable outcome.  But if an injury never heals, death is most assuredly imminent.

I used to live in PAIN 24/7.  Each pain that I bore was judged by doctors (Man) and was given a name to blame, otherwise known as a diagnosis.  Keep in mind that “to bear” means to give birth to…

But after I did a word study on diagnosis, I learned what a diagnosis truly is.  It is nothing more than the identification of the nature of an illness or problem by characterizing the symptoms.  In other words, a diagnosis is just a definition.  And when a diagnosis is rendered, it is nothing more than a judgment of Man, an opinion.  More importantly, an opinion is not necessarily based on fact.  But I wanted to get to the bottom of my infirmities—I wanted the truth!

When I accepted Man’s judgment every time I experienced pain, I blamed the name that was given to it.  But what did that get me?  I was still in PAIN and I was still suffering.  Doctors diagnosed my afflictions.  Doctors gave me drugs.  Doctors performed surgeries.  But I was still in PAIN!  So that meant that a piece of the puzzle was still missing.

As a Forensic Document Examiner, I love to solve puzzles!   So I got to work.  What pieces did I have to work with?

• I was in PAIN.
• I was sick, diseased, and miserable.
• I was overweight.
• Through pathos and gignomai, I learned that I was continually giving birth to my afflictions through my actions.
• I was suffering with some type of illness or injury that by all rights should have healed with time.
• Something that I was doing wrong was causing PAIN in my life.