**\#️⃣ Tags:** #Wisdom #Presence > **🌱 Planted:** Wed 16 April 2025 --- > [!QUOTE] > “There is no coming to consciousness without pain”. — [[Carl Jung]] When our consciousness expands, our sensitivity to life also deepens. As we become more aware of ourselves, others and the world around us, we simultaneously expand our capacity for both pleasure and pain. This isn't a flaw in consciousness but rather it speaks to the essential and dialectical nature of life itself. The deeper we go into one pole of experience, the more we invoke its opposite[^1] (see [[Mutual Arising]]). Life is continuously unfolding and evolving, and evolution inherently comes with pain ([[Evolution is an act of courage]]). Pain is an inevitable and integral component to growth, and it's something we must [[Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the commitment to keep going in its presence|courageously]] and consciously face in our developmental journey of becoming more fully human (and more fully ourselves). For the very fact that humans have been blessed with the gift of self-awareness, we participate in our own psychological and emotional development. In this way, our awareness and sensitivity acts as a double-edged sword. We're granted the ability to appreciate richer experiences of [[Truth, Beauty & Goodness]], yet it also deepens our vulnerability to suffering at the same time. Although nature seems to move toward shielding itself from experiencing pain (see: [[Complex Systems]]), and we possess the miraculous protective capacities of [[Dissociation|Dissociation]] and [[Publish/Elements/Dictionary/Repression|Repression]] that shield us from overwhelming experiences (see: [[Trauma]]), our psychological development and therefore our [[Individuation]] journey depends on our willingness to process and integrate the pain we once didn't have the resources to feel. If we don't then [[Resistance blocks our natural unfoldment|Resistance will block our natural unfoldment]]. This principle doesn't only apply on the level of the individual, it also plays out collectively. As our society evolves and therefore increases in complexity, so too does our collective awareness (and therefore our collective pain). Our technological advancements solve problems, but also create new ones. They help us to increase our comfortability, convenience and freedom, yet often at the cost of our intimacy with others, our ability to appreciate the simple beauties of life, or the way in which we harmonise with nature. As our awareness of these trade-offs expands, so does our responsibility to face the unintended consequences of our growth and evolution. So then, in order for us to therefore live fully and authentically, we must embrace the totality of our experience... not just our light, but also our shadow. --- **🈁 See Also:** - As we expand our awareness and therefore our sensitivity, we also need to [[Working With Our Window of Tolerance|be mindful of our Window of Tolerance]]. [^1]: Inspired by Chapter 2 "Pain and Time" of [[The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts]].