When Kahlil Gibran speaks about pain, he likens it to medicine and connects healing to understanding. The understanding is of the self and its relation to the larger order of things. When I think of his use of the word shell, two things come to mind: ignorance is bliss and ignorance is limiting. And when that shell cracks, it is both painful (no more bliss) and give rise to the possibility of increased understanding and healing through that openness.
