Extracts from L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery's Green Gables letters have appeared in several articles in the past.
Ephraim Weber, the recipient of these letters, was someone to whom she could express her true thoughts and feelings about many mundane, metaphysical and philosophical topics and experiences. She was very lucky to have this kindred spirit in her life.
She covered a lot of ground: she wrote about envy, writing, religion, the flowers in her garden, books, housework and many other things. Her letters also contain some amusing anecdotes.
The inspiration for this article comes from some thought-provoking words that she wrote about two kinds of pain.
As with the extracts in the previous article, this one was chosen because it reminded me of something that I had read in the works of other writers.
L. M. Montgomery said this in a letter dated May 8th 1905:
“...I agree with you in regard to one kind of pain. There are two kinds, don’t you think! The pain God sends to us and the pain we bring on ourselves; the former is the fire of heaven, the latter the flame of hell.
God’s pain is indeed one of his ministering spirits. Great mysteries of soul-birth and soul growth are bound up in it and if we have the courage and the endurance to make a friend of it it will bring great gifts to us. But the pain we bring on ourselves through folly or wilfulness or even simple blindness! Ah, it is horrible; it is degrading; there is no fine, high ministry in it; it burns and scars and defaces for our punishment.”
This is strong stuff; it is all very biblical. It contrasts the purifying flames of Purgatory with the everlasting fires of Hell.
This is not the place to go into the events in L. M. Montgomery's life that caused her to develop these ideas about pain – and at this point the worst was still to come. For now, I just want to give examples of two other people's words on two very different kinds of pain.
Rob Randall, the main character in John Christopher's Guardians, goes to two very different schools.
Life in the first one, a state boarding school, is unbearable. There is no hope of any improvement in the future, so he runs away.
Life in the second school, which is for the elite, is arduous and discipline is severe, but there are some good aspects.
Rob eventually sees a big difference between his old and new schools:
“The difference between the two places was not easy to grasp at first, but it was distinct. Gradually Rob worked it out as having to do with pride and self-respect. At the boarding school there had been nothing to make up for the hardships. The whole aim had been to grind you down to submissiveness. Here there was a sense of being trained, and trained for eventual authority."
The pain that Rob Randall endures cannot be attributed to either God or the Devil or to his blindness or wilfulness, but the message is the same: in some cases the victims of suffering have nothing to show for their torment and are often much the worse for it, but in others something positive, productive and constructive can eventually come out of it.
Cult expert Steven Hassan has a lot to say about the difference between positive and negative pain in his book Freedom of Mind.
He concedes that at first glance there may seem little difference between a cult and the US military:
“The military is an example of a highly structured, pyramid-shaped organization. There is a strict hierarchy. Soldiers are assigned numbers, given identical haircuts and uniforms, and told how to talk, walk, march and fight. In boot camp...the use of mind control techniques is considered essential to create the identity of an elite soldier.“
This makes the military seem like a sinister, cultlike institution that puts people through hell, but Steve Hassan goes on to list some of the differences:
“But unlike a destructive cult, the military provides a service to society. Military leaders must answer to other branches of government. The military is governed by ethical codes and structural checks and balances. People join the military for a specified length of time and receive pay and benefits. With a few unfortunate exceptions, the military does not use deception in its recruiting. When people join the military, they know what will be expected of them. Soldiers are encouraged to maintain contact with their families and friends, and vacation time is scheduled annually.“
Steve Hassan makes the point that there is a price for progress and it must sometimes be paid in pain and suffering, but the game is often worth the candle:
“When people endure rigorous training such as medical or law school, the military, or the priesthood, they are making a conscious career choice. The training enhances their identity and offers knowledge and skills and various benefits.”
Once again, he contrasts productive with destructive pain:
“A person deceptively recruited into a destructive cult is immediately subjected to a process of tearing down, rejecting, and reprogramming the authentic identity. The person does not receive much in the way of personal benefits, and there is no institutional way to exit with honor.”
Steve Hassan makes some good points. The differences between a cult and the institutions he mentions are not too dissimilar to the differences between Rob Randall's two schools.
In summary, suffering can either toughen you up or break you; what doesn't kill you can make you stronger.
