The Trail of Thorns: A Metaphor for the Healing Journey
By Derrin Kluth, PT, DPT
“Per Aspira, Ad Astra [Through the Thorns, to the Stars.]”
In the past, I’ve written my blog posts in a more logical way to appeal to that part of a reader’s brain in order to illuminate various topics and concepts in a way that makes rational sense. While this way of explaining things can take us far, sometimes there is additional understanding to be gleaned from the use of metaphor. The ancient Greeks used the word “mythos” (the root of our word “myth”) to describe this type of knowledge, and to differentiate it from “logos” (root for our “logic”) which was knowledge that could be understood via rational inquiry and analysis. Indeed, they held knowledge that could only be reached via mythos as superior to that of logos because they considered it to be a more fundamental and deep understanding. So in that spirit, for our purposes I submit the metaphor of the Trail of Thorns.
“Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only [poison] blood”
I like to think of this metaphor as more an archetype than a specific story. That is, it is something of an umbrella term that can describe any journey that causes relatively temporary hardship and even pain, but once the traveler is past this they reach a place or state where these sufferings no longer exist to trouble them. Somewhat similar to how the archetype of “The Heroes Journey,” can be found underlying mythic stories from Gilgamesh to Superman, the Trail of Thorns can be found in different times and all over the world in human culture, and for different purposes.
From the “Beyuls” of the Tibetan Buddhists that were divine refuges from the evils of the world found in the mountains only after perilous journeys, to the description of the upright moral path described by Thomas a Kempis as “". . . set with briars and thorns; and they who arrive at the kingdom travel over craggy rocks and comfortless deserts,” to the difficulty of a spirit reaching Heaven itself described in the famous Led Zeppelin song “Stairway to Heaven.” But I find this also an excellent way to describe the understanding and mindset one must adopt if they want to truly take on the healing journey back to (or beyond) a place of existing without pain and suffering. The “thorns” on the Trail hurt us, sometimes even significantly, but the pain is temporary and only draws out poison that needs to be purged in order for us to reach that better state where the poison no longer has control over us.
One might take Thoreau’s admonishment to mean that many things in life have a dual nature, not the least of which might be the “pleasure/pain” dichotomy. The state of “chronic pain,” can be conceptualized as when that balance is so heavily tilted toward ‘pain” that “pleasure” is hard to reach, and sometimes even a balance between the two we might feel as simply neutral no longer is the base set of our systems as it should more ideally be. To return the seesaw back to a balanced level is going to necessitate a journey back through pain towards pleasure.
The beginning will require some suffering and toil, but the end result is the rose, or the state of reaching pleasure again. This truth has its thorns and some do not like to accept it, but Trail is the Trail, and it doesn’t care what we think about it. It simply is what it is. True healing is a lifestyle change whose reward after struggle is empowerment, not easily done.
“Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us”
It’s hard to misconstrue Voltaire’s meaning here. In our context, the more we dwell on our pain and fear the thorns of the journey back, the more control we give our pain over us, and the more control it exerts. And the longer we wait to truly address the deep and difficult causes of our pain, the deeper its roots go and the thicker the thorns grow, and the harder it is to pull them out of us. So many of us with chronic pain go around in circles, chasing the same ground over and over looking for “the easy fix” where some magic practitioner or machine or technique or whatever will do the fixing for us with the snap of a finger or push of a button.
In time the pain worsens because the roots are not being pulled out and grow deeper in us. Oftentimes we never find the path out, but even if by some mercy we do find someone who can help guide us back to normal, all that time chasing magical cures could have been spent walking the Trail back to true healing. We can be so afraid of the discomfort of the cure that we stay in our suffering until it becomes so overwhelming we are left with no other choice, but in many cases earlier fearless action could have shortened or even prevented most of the suffering.
Overwhelming discomfort leaves us with no choice but to act.
"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." - Alphonse Karr
Some may take the inevitability of the lessons of Thoreau and Voltaire above as difficult to hear and bear. But there could be a different way of looking at it. As Karr here is intimating, it could be thought of as there being some kind of a cosmic mercy that we do have power over pain if we summon the courage to walk the Trail, and not just endless suffering with no way out at all. Although this can be difficult, it may simply take a shift of viewpoint to unlock this potential. Perspective can be powerful.
I’ve often thought it strange that, by comparison, if someone wants to take action to better their life in other contexts, it would be considered foolish to not acknowledge that there will be some difficulty but with payoff at the end. If someone wants to reach the “rose” of a healthy and/or fit body, they would expect the “thorns” of having to do exercise, muscle soreness, etc to reach that goal. If they wanted to reach the “rose” of a healthier diet, they would expect to suffer the relative “thorns” of disciplined eating and cravings for sweets and other things that would initially be felt with that lifestyle change. The “rose” of an education comes with “thorns” of time spent studying and gathering experience. And so on. Why would healing from chronic pain be any different? We are blessed that we have the choice of a path to something better at all, even if it’s an initially difficult one.
“I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, as watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; whilst, like a puff’d and reckless libertine, himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, and recks not his own rede.”
Before entrusting your guidance back to a state without pain to someone…make sure they both know and have walked the way…
I will finish by quoting Ophelia here at length, and her point is well taken. The best guide on the Trail of Thorns is someone who has walked it before you. In the context of the healing journey, most therapeutic practitioners promise the quick and flowery path to healing, and we already know it’s a false one. Yet others, as Shakespeare here describes, will promise to guide you through the thorns, but paradoxically won’t have actually made the journey. It’s the difference between having only read a map and having traveled there themselves. Before entrusting your guidance back to a state without pain to someone, it might be a good idea to make sure they both know and have walked the way.
To use the contexts in the last section, it would be a good idea if you want to be fit to find a personal trainer who is fit. To lose weight, find a nutritionist who has a healthy state of body. To be educated, find a professor who has done work in their field. And to lead you back from chronic pain, to be led by someone who has come back from their own pain.
At Myofascial Release Mississauga, every practitioner has their own story to tell about how Myofascial Release has helped them return from a state of pain and suffering to a more fruitful, enjoyable, and empowered way of living. They’ve made their own healing journeys and walked their own Trail of Thorns, and are here to share their knowledge and experience in hopes that we can help you do the same as well. If you find yourself inspired by or felt a connection by reading this, I might recommend to contact us to see if our services could be beneficial to you to reach that better state of being beyond the thorns.