Question

" Because we feel pain only when a loved one suffers or dies. This kind of pain is self-centered and particularistic. The more intense our love is, the more intense our pain. " -  Kitamori’s Theology of God’s Pain , p.53. Why this sentences important to your life and faith?

Answer 1

Kitamori talks about how tragedy corresponds with the pain of God. He says that the love of God is rooted in pain.

As mortal beings, we often tend to seek solace in relationships. It is comforting to know that there is someone who is always watching out for you. It can be a parent, a friend, a life partner or anybody who is close to you. Attachments usually lead to the formation of close relationships. The more we love a person, the more attached we are to that person. We start to care for them, be concerned for them, and expect them to stay by our side in all walks of life. More often than not, the love is so intense that we cannot stand being apart from them. Distance becomes painful and staying away from the person we love the most becomes a nightmare. When a loved one is around us and is a conscious part of life, we often tend to ignore worst case scenarios like separation from the person forever. Suffering is a part of life but is often very challenging and difficult to see a loved one suffer. It pains to see when the person we love is in pain. Empathy might be a reason for this since we tend to empathize with the person and the pain or suffering that is being inflicted on them.

The pain that is experienced when a loved one passes away is considered to be self centered by Kitamori since it is somewhat selfish to always want a person by our side. They are such an essential part of your life that their presence is a part of it. Their absence starts to affect you because you have not known life without the loved one’s absence.

The truth of life is that each one of us is aware of our mortality but somehow tend to overlook the fact that someone we are so attached to, may someday not be with us anymore. It is a very unpleasant thought but ultimately, is the truth. Our love for the person accounts as a reason for happiness and if they are dragged away from the midst of all of us, then their absence will start to bother us so much, that it causes immense pain that might be hard to cope with. We may have to spend the rest of our life without the loved person, and the realization brings grief, pain and suffering into our life.

When we view death from close quarters in life, such as the loss of a loved one, it brings a lot of pain and suffering into our life, and as Kitmori said, the more intense our love is, the more intense our pain.