‘Understanding pardons all’ wrote Will Durant, and the author Lewis, in this polarizing book, tries to educate the readers of the reasons for pain, as per the teachings of Christianity, in order to reach to an understanding where we all finally understand the problem of pain – and would likely be less confused and mad about it. If God is all powerful and all Good, how come there is so much pain, so much suffering in this world? That is what the problem of pain is ultimately about; and Lewis tries to answer this one question very thoroughly, and very religiously also, in this book of ‘lay theology’.
I like the usage of this term here: ‘lay’, it hints towards not only humility, but also possibility; that we can, all of us, with some degree of knowledge and analytical thinking, do theology or philosophy; that it shouldn’t only be left to the experts to decide these matters, we too can have a part in it. Especially when the ‘it’ that we want to have a part in, is pain. Something so universally felt, a feeling that gets and scars all, threatens many, and aligns all of us, from all walks of life, to its crushing and intense power. In pain, we are all equal.
But while most of us receive pain as ‘default’, as we do life, for some of us, those damned by their self-consciousness and hypersensitivity, pain with its repetitive nature, takes on a form of problem, which then needs to be treated or solved, or resolved rather. I really liked the title of this book when I first came across it on a TED-Ed video: The Problem of Pain; as if pain wasn’t or isn’t meant to be, like it is an unwanted byproduct of a creation which needs to be taken care of. And sometimes, pain does feel like that: unwanted, needless, too much to bear, too powerful, problematic.
Recently, a poetry page on Facebook, by the name of ‘Rekhta’, posted a question, asking: if you could meet Ghalib (the great 19th century Urdu poet) what one question would you ask him? The question that came to my mind was: what is one to do with ‘pain’? Pain that descends like a toxic fog and never seems to lift off, or one that thunders instantly into one’s life, without any fair warning, and in that instance, demolishes all the structures of your sane and normal life like it was made of cotton. And with its exhaustingly repetitive nature yet novel every time with its intensity and rush, what is one to do with ‘pain’?
But while Ghalib might never get to hear this earnest question of mine, or he might’ve already answered it in one of his couplets long ago, waiting for me to find it, Lewis, for the time being, has brilliant tried to answer this very question in this ‘very religious’ book.
Lewis starts this book by setting up the stage for his arguments: he talks about God, (the Christian God that is, since Lewis is a lay Christian theologist) and explains where the idea of God first came from; then about His omnipotence and His Divine goodness. From reading these early chapters only, I was blown away by the patience, clarity, complexity, coherence, and the solving effects of Lewis’s arguments and explanations.
But then soon after, I had moments like: ‘Is he really being serious here? Does he really expect me to believe that everything is just related to God? When did we write this book, in the medieval ages?’ It was written in mid-20th century. So while parts of this book I appreciated for the clarity of its arguments, the other parts I almost scoffed at for being too involved in itself, too Christian, too religious even.
But then again, I was Muslim reading Christian theology in the 2022, such polarizing outcomes were almost expected. Yet do read this book: it’s worth it for the understanding of pain, for consoling it – even if it involves only the Christian God.
Ratings:
4/5 **** January 31, 2022_