"On Pain" Summary

A woman asks about pain, and Almustafa defines it as the breaking of the shell enclosing one's understanding. One must know pain in order to see the wonder in the daily miracles of one's life. One must accept the seasons of one's heart as one accepts the seasons in nature and be serene in the winters of one's grief. Much of one's pain is self-chosen: the bitter remedy that heals when accepted in silence and tranquility. The physician's hand may be heavy and hard, but the tender hand of the Unseen guides it. The cup burns the lips but is moistened by the Potter's sacred tears.

"On Pain" Analysis

Pain, like work, helps one find harmony with nature, and like law and freedom, it is largely self-imposed. Almustafa shows God ("the Unseen" and "the Potter") guiding the physician and...