The Power of Pain: Beautiful Pain

Last Updated on July 2, 2025 by The Unbounded Thinker

I have discovered the power of pain while experiencing one of the most difficult moments of my life. Normally, when pain knocked on my door, I’d just light up some weed and float away from everything. That was my escape, my comfort: my way of numbing whatever I didn’t want to feel.

But this time, something in me whispered, “Don’t smoke.”

So I didn’t.

For the past six days, I chose not to numb pain. I didn’t roll a joint. I didn’t drink. I just took a break from work. I wasn’t trying to love the pain. I wasn’t trying to “embrace it” like some motivational speaker might suggest. No. I just let it be. I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t use drugs to escape from pain.

I just lay around and watched movies, and sometimes I prayed. But deep down, the pain was still burning intensely, asking to be noticed.

Then something unexpected happened. Around the fifth day, I started seeing things clearly.

The ancient occult teaching that pain breaks illusion started to make sense.

By choosing not to escape from pain through weed, I gave pain space to speak. And when I listened, I saw how it clears the fog from the mind. It unclouds your thinking. It doesn’t lie. It doesn’t sugarcoat. It just shows you what’s real.

Anyway, I began to realize that the projects and plans I am working on will never bring the kind of progress I expect. They might move things forward a little, but not in any meaningful or satisfying way. At best, they will lead to slow results. At worst, they will waste my time and keep me stuck in the same place. This clarity didn’t come from overthinking. It came from sitting with pain long enough for things to become clear. I now finally see which paths have no real power in them. I can now tell what works and what doesn’t.

And with this realization came a tough truth. If I truly want to experience real growth, not the shallow kind, but the kind that transforms everything, I must choose the right steps with full awareness.

I have to be willing to let go of any project that offers comfort but no real movement. I have to walk away from anything that feels safe but stagnant. I have to be willing to do whatever it takes to bring progress. I must choose the harder path.

Pain has brought all this to the surface. It has forced me to be honest with myself, and in that honesty, I have found the map forward. Not the easy road, but the real one. The one that will work.

It has now dawned on me that maybe I have never experienced real progress because I always smoked weed or drank alcohol whenever I was in deep pain. Every time things got hard, I chose to escape instead of facing the pain.

This time, I am certain that I will experience progress because I see things clearly since I have not escaped from pain. I now know the power of pain. I’ve come to realize that pain is not the enemy. In fact, I am now certain that pain is highly beneficial to any form of progress.

Pain is a spirit guide that shows you what’s not working in your life. It reveals what’s out of alignment with your dreams. It’s the fire that burns down all delusions, illusions, and mental noise. It clears the path, opens your eyes, and forces you to see what you never saw.. It might hurt, but it shows you a better direction: the one your soul has been calling you to follow.

If you stay present with pain rather than run from it, you evolve. You uncover truth and divine clarity. This is because pain, when consciously faced, becomes a sacred teacher that reveals hidden truths.

In many ancient mystery schools, intoxicating substances like weed were often avoided, except in rare sacred rituals, because they cloud the mind and interfere with its purification, which requires intense pain and not increased dopamine release.

Across many ancient traditions — from the mystics of India, the Stoics of Greece, the desert fathers of early Christianity, the Taoist sages of China, to the medicine people of indigenous African tribes — pain was never seen as an enemy. It was seen as the soul’s invitation to grow, to break illusions, and to see things clearly.

Therefore, avoid using drugs or alcohol to escape your pain. When going through a difficult and painful moment, don’t force yourself to embrace, accept, or love the pain as many motivational speakers suggest. Instead, simply take a break from work if you can. If that is not possible, use your free time to watch a movie, play video games, go for a walk, or do something simple that helps you relax or feel slightly distracted. And avoid drugs and alcohol until you understand what the pain is trying to tell you.

If you can’t stay away from intoxicants for good, that’s okay. You can always return to them later. Just give yourself time to learn what the pain is trying to show you first.

However, always know that intoxicants cloud the mind and prevent you from seeing things clearly. They prevent pain from reaching deep within, where it needs to burn through confusion and clear the way for inner clarity. If possible, just avoid intoxicants for a while when experiencing pain, and you will begin to see that your progress has always been slow because you’ve been numbing your pain instead of letting it burn. You’ll realize that every time your ran away from pain, you blocked it from doing its divine work of burning through the dirt that blinds you and showing you what’s not working. You’ll begin to see that avoiding pain is what kept you stuck.

Most importantly, you will see the power of pain. Your pain will guide you, help you see things clearly, and reveal the right steps that align with your true path.

And surprisingly, once the pain has exposed what you needed to see, it will start to subside even if the external situation that caused it is still present. The pain won’t disappear immediately, but you’ll start to feel its intensity fading: it won’t hurt anymore. This is because it’s mission is accomplished. Looking back, you’ll no longer see the situation that caused the pain as something evil or unfair. In fact, you’ll be grateful that it came into your life and caused intense pain because you’ll see the pain for what it truly is: a beautiful pain. A pain with a sacred purpose. A pain that came to clear your vision and put you on the right track.

As I was reflecting on the power of pain, one song came to mind that perfectly captures what I’ve experienced. It’s Beautiful Pain by Eminem and Sia. It says everything I’ve felt but couldn’t fully express until now. It reminds me that pain, when embraced, can become the very thing that lights the way forward.

Beautiful Pain Lyrics – Song by Eminem and Sia

I’m standing in the flames

It’s a beautiful kind of pain

Setting fire to yesterday

Find the light, find the light, find the light.

I feel the burn, watch the smoke as I turn

Rising, a phoenix from the flames

I have learned from fighting fights that weren’t mine

It’s not with fists, but with wings that I will fly