Have you ever wondered what the difference between emotional and spiritual pain is?
Attempting to pin down a definition of spiritual pain as a starting point is not that easy. In a general secular sense, spiritual pain is the absence of (to varying degrees) connection, help, comfort, meaning, hope, love, strength, and peace that infiltrates all of a person’s inner being as it disrupts and transcends basic biological and psychosocial descriptives.
A question I am often asked is, “what is the difference between emotional and spiritual pain?” In the obvious sense, emotional pain refers to being human in thinking and acting while spiritual pain can transcend the same. Another difference is that emotion and feelings affect and are observable by others and lead to friendship and/or hostility. But things start to deepen as we appreciate that while emotion refers to a state of mind, spirituality refers to the divine nature of our soul.
Spirituality is our awareness of the reality of God within us, and while some argue that individual spirituality does not affect others, I argue that if God is a reality within our innermost; then this will reflect, because of the nature of God and the inner working of the Holy Spirit as the believer is progressively transformed into a Christ-likeness.
I agree that spiritual pain, is interconnected with the emotional pain we feel when relationships are disrupted, meaning and purpose are lost (or are out of our sight), regret is experienced, unforgiveness and shame are present, and when a sense of hopelessness or pointlessness sets in.
Having said this, spiritual pain is often both difficult to diagnose and assess since it is experienced in the innermost of who we are as spiritual people. This is an area which one can try and close off to others – but at the same time, there might be signs in others such as an uncharacteristic outburst of anger, crying, disinterest in life, saying “I am fine” when they are clearly not, withdrawal from usual religious practices and suffering with one’s own existence.
It stands to reason healing from spiritual pain is brought about when relationships are restored, meaning is found, self and others are forgiven, and genuine hope is established. For the Christian, true and full healing from spiritual pain cannot be separated from the inner working of God.
I am mindful that the inner working of God within our innermost infuses our whole being, and therefore, emotional, and physical health too are important for our spiritual well-being.