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Justifying Pain Through Philosophy in Anne Conway and the Lurianic Kabbalah Jacob Hermant
Anne Conway’s The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy synthesizes philosophical monism with Jewish mysticism in a radical reimagining of God and the world that treats individual perfection as an attainable, and inevitable, goal of all beings. Having spent her entire life plagued by severe pain and migraines, Conway’s philosophy provides her with the opportunity to create a rationally consistent worldview in which suffering is proof of the body’s theologically redemptive connection to the soul, leading to the reunification of all beings in Heaven. The Lurianic Kabbalah inspires and supports Conway’s philosophical use for her pain, as she sees her own suffering in Isaac Luria’s tragic theology. This presents the perfect foundation for Conway’s system, which sees one’s pain as means to holy ends. While Luria seeks consolation for an entire people’s trauma and alienation, Conway applies his theology to vindicate individual pain through a collectively positive theological outcome. By aligning Luria’s theology with her own Christianity, Conway’s writing becomes an attempt to philosophically justify the suffering that she experienced as a fundamental and inescapable part of her life.1 Out of Conway’s lifelong suffering comes the need to create a philosophical system that focuses on mental fortitude as a method to surpass bodily vices in preparation for a future state of spiritual enlightenment and union, thus justifying her constant physical pain. Sarah Hutton, in her biography of Anne Conway, describes how “from her teens, [Conway] suffered from bouts of inexplicable pain,
