Pain is the Father of Pleasure

The point was made by Nietzsche in Twilight of the Idols:

For the Greeks a sexual symbol was therefore the most sacred symbol, the real profundity in the whole of ancient piety. Every single element in the act of procreation, of pregnancy, and of birth aroused the highest and most solemn feelings. In the doctrine of the mysteries, pain is pronounced holy: the pangs of the woman giving birth consecrate all pain; and conversely all becoming and growing — all that guarantees a future — involves pain.

So very true.

You entered the world in an orgy of pain—your mother bleeding on a delivery table, screaming as you left her body. And then your greatest victories—from infancy to adulthood—were forged by adversity: the heartache of unrequited love, the death of a good friend, etc. Your “growing and becoming”…the result of a solemn battle.

You ought to thank God for your pain!!! Without hatred, would you know about love? Without a bloody war, would you understand peace?

Dear reader, your happiness is shaped by the Storm of Adversity. Your pleasure is born in the Fire of Agony.

Pain is the father of pleasure.

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