Purpose of Pain

What is the purpose of pain?

The first step in attempting to understand this significant question, might be to analyze the factors. One factor being pain, the question arises, what is pain? Pain is basically, technically negative signals going to the brain to warn that something harmful is occurring to the body. On the very basic and simple level of physical pain, which we share with the rest of animals, pain is a necessary requirement to warn from further damage. This type of pain is therefore arguably a beneficial concept.

Theoretically, the next type of pain would be emotional pain. Emotional pain is caused by the knowledge of something, and that knowledge causing a negative trigger in the brain, telling the owner something negative is occurring. In the case of animals, this negative trigger would most commonly be caused by separation from a typically necessary co-animal. By the theory of evolution, it would be beneficial for a lot of species of animals to live in co-operating with other animals of their own species in order to survive. Examples might be young animals being near their mother to be provided food and care, or the mother being near its offspring, in order to sustain their species population, or pack animals being with a pack to gain advantage on acquiring food, or defending. Since these relationships between animals would be beneficial, they would develop a negative trigger when separation occurs. This negative trigger would happen based on the knowledge of a scenario and could be considered the basic of emotional pain, rather than a direct physiological negative trigger such as hunger or a wound, being physical pain.

With such limited capable knowledge, animals would only have the small window for emotional pain based on the limited scenarios where they have developed the capability to have that negative trigger for their species typical benefit.

Humans on the other hand, have a profoundly vaster expanse of capable knowledge. With the development of conscious awareness in general, humans expanded the potential for knowledge almost infinitely. With the infinite scenarios and combinations of variables in this world, comes an unending possibility of knowledge. With all the potential for knowledge, comes the potential for the negative trigger based on knowledge of a negative circumstance. Therefore humans have a drastically increased potential for emotional pain.

Since it is based on knowledge, any emotional pain is therefore relative to the individuals’ comprehension and analysis of the knowledge. Emotional pain should be relative to the amount of knowledge (of which may be considered a negative occurrence), as well as that individuals interpretation of the knowledge, and comprehension to the degree of negativity of the knowledge. If someone comprehended nothing as negative to their perspective and understanding, they would therein feel no emotional pain. With the capabilities of analysis, processing, comprehension, and understanding, humans theoretically have the potential ability to determine –based on their perspective-, that any given circumstance is not a negative occurrence, and therefore intentionally avoid emotional pain.