Pain

Your pain is the breaking of
the shell that encloses your understanding.

- Kahlil Gibran

Comments

Frankly, this went overboard when I first read it. But I had a strong feeling that there is a truth camouflaged.

Let me give it a shot: Khalil talks about the concept of self-knowledge. Happier times just skim the surface of the self. We are broad-minded, think about the world, think about a beautiful world and go on happily roaming the mental terrrain.

Only pain brings us back to self. It gives us a new perspective of our own self every time we end up in physical or mental pain.

Pain is a real grounding of character, while happiness is the fragrance.