The Loneliness of Pain, the Pain of Loneliness

Krzysztof WIECZOREK

Zakład Logiki i Metodologii, Instytut Filozofii, Wydział Nauk Społecznych, Uniwersytet Śląski, ul. Bankowa 11, room 319, 40-007 Katowice, Poland , Poland

Abstract

Pain is a borderline situation. An experience of pain makes the person affected by it live differently, feel differently, and communicate with the environment in a different way. A person affected by pain may even begin to think and evaluate things differently. What is most important in the subjective experience of pain turns out inexpressible in language. The communication barrier which comes into being in such situations is responsible for the sense of loneliness the person affected by pain experiences: the suffering caused by pain becomes even deeper. The author first analyzes various types and aspects of the experience of pain in order to focus on the issue of the dissolution of the communication bond between the sufferer and his environment. He subsequently reflects on the conditions of the possibility of accepting pain in a situation of a new existential perspective being revealed to the suffering person and points that in certain cases accepting pain may lead to a liberation and a more valuable life.

Keywords:

pain, loneliness, communication, language, suffering, liberation