Pain and Pleasure are somehow devilishly connected.
The above is one of my earliest reflections shared back in 2013. Almost a decade later I became curious once again and decided to delve deeper into the topic to learn more. When I expressed this sentiment I had never researched it before. Basing my personal reference on years of exercise, sex, and drug-use, it just intuitively felt that there is a certain relationship between pain and pleasure. Ever since, there had been plenty of time to put the view to the test. Finally, the inquiries and research followed.
Pondering questions like: Why we may laugh till we cry or we may cry out of sheer happiness? Why do some tear up while playing a musical instrument, writing/reading poetry, or staring at a moving painting? Why do we moan and scream from pain as well as from pleasure? Why our “orgasm face” cannot be distinguished from our “pain face”? Why do adrenaline junkies feel exhilarated due to risky, fear-inducing “daredevil” activities like extreme sports and even from riding roller coasters? Is this pain or pleasure... or both?
After The Intertwining of Genius and Insanity and The Intertwining of Music and Sexuality ― A Djembefola’s Tale, the following exposé deals with the peculiarly mysterious relationship between pain and pleasure ― neurobiologically, psychologically, and philosophically.
“This, then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. By remembering the past we can plan for the future. But the ability to plan for the future is offset by the "ability" to dread pain and to fear of the unknown. Furthermore, the growth of an acute sense of the past and future gives us a corresponding dim sense of the present. In other words, we seem to reach a point where the advantages of being conscious are outweighed by its disadvantages, where extreme sensitivity makes us unadaptable.”
― Alan Wilson Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety
Historically, pain and pleasure were often considered to be actual absolute opposites. But are they really? For the realised individual, pain and pleasure may be two sides of the same coin. Both are worthy of deep, thorough investigation. For it seems they share a multilayered relationship and are fundamentally inseparable and intertwined as we are about to see.
Now, when the perception of one increases, so does the perception of the other. In fact, pain and pleasure are deeply ingrained into our neurobiological makeup. We are dealing with the same brain circuits and neurochemical pathways here. Be it pain or food, sex, and drugs, scientists who studied the brain scans of people who were subjected to a certain painful stimulus found that similar parts of the brain are involved in the process. Both entice the body to produce its own narcotics and other chemicals, the endorphins. Along with Serotonin — our natural antidepressant, Dopamine — dubbed the feel-good hormone, Oxytocin — dubbed the bonding or cuddle hormone, Endorphins are part of the four essential Happy Hormones.
The above already is a good enough reason for Carl Jung when he declared: “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”
From an article titled Pain in the Past and Pleasure in the Future: The Development of Past–Future Preferences for Hedonic Goods published in Cognitive Science:
“Further research has found that the pathways used by pain impulses excite not only the areas of the brain that experience physical sensation, but also those associated with emotion and cognition. Pain is not only a physical experience; the association of cognition — higher awareness — and emotion attach meaning to the experience of pain. These additional features of pain appear to help humans create more refined memories of a painful experience, which may help keep the person from repeating it in the future.”
But it may also be the reason why we tend to cling to the past.
This neurochemical relationship between the perceptions of pain and pleasure is exemplified through the opioid and dopamine systems. While the opioid system is responsible for the actual experience of the sensation, the dopamine system is responsible for the anticipation or expectation of the experience.
The above is one of my earliest reflections shared back in 2013. Almost a decade later I became curious once again and decided to delve deeper into the topic to learn more. When I expressed this sentiment I had never researched it before. Basing my personal reference on years of exercise, sex, and drug-use, it just intuitively felt that there is a certain relationship between pain and pleasure. Ever since, there had been plenty of time to put the view to the test. Finally, the inquiries and research followed.
Pondering questions like: Why we may laugh till we cry or we may cry out of sheer happiness? Why do some tear up while playing a musical instrument, writing/reading poetry, or staring at a moving painting? Why do we moan and scream from pain as well as from pleasure? Why our “orgasm face” cannot be distinguished from our “pain face”? Why do adrenaline junkies feel exhilarated due to risky, fear-inducing “daredevil” activities like extreme sports and even from riding roller coasters? Is this pain or pleasure... or both?
After The Intertwining of Genius and Insanity and The Intertwining of Music and Sexuality ― A Djembefola’s Tale, the following exposé deals with the peculiarly mysterious relationship between pain and pleasure ― neurobiologically, psychologically, and philosophically.
“This, then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. By remembering the past we can plan for the future. But the ability to plan for the future is offset by the "ability" to dread pain and to fear of the unknown. Furthermore, the growth of an acute sense of the past and future gives us a corresponding dim sense of the present. In other words, we seem to reach a point where the advantages of being conscious are outweighed by its disadvantages, where extreme sensitivity makes us unadaptable.”
― Alan Wilson Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety
Historically, pain and pleasure were often considered to be actual absolute opposites. But are they really? For the realised individual, pain and pleasure may be two sides of the same coin. Both are worthy of deep, thorough investigation. For it seems they share a multilayered relationship and are fundamentally inseparable and intertwined as we are about to see.
Now, when the perception of one increases, so does the perception of the other. In fact, pain and pleasure are deeply ingrained into our neurobiological makeup. We are dealing with the same brain circuits and neurochemical pathways here. Be it pain or food, sex, and drugs, scientists who studied the brain scans of people who were subjected to a certain painful stimulus found that similar parts of the brain are involved in the process. Both entice the body to produce its own narcotics and other chemicals, the endorphins. Along with Serotonin — our natural antidepressant, Dopamine — dubbed the feel-good hormone, Oxytocin — dubbed the bonding or cuddle hormone, Endorphins are part of the four essential Happy Hormones.
The above already is a good enough reason for Carl Jung when he declared: “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”
From an article titled Pain in the Past and Pleasure in the Future: The Development of Past–Future Preferences for Hedonic Goods published in Cognitive Science:
“Further research has found that the pathways used by pain impulses excite not only the areas of the brain that experience physical sensation, but also those associated with emotion and cognition. Pain is not only a physical experience; the association of cognition — higher awareness — and emotion attach meaning to the experience of pain. These additional features of pain appear to help humans create more refined memories of a painful experience, which may help keep the person from repeating it in the future.”
But it may also be the reason why we tend to cling to the past.
This neurochemical relationship between the perceptions of pain and pleasure is exemplified through the opioid and dopamine systems. While the opioid system is responsible for the actual experience of the sensation, the dopamine system is responsible for the anticipation or expectation of the experience.
At the start of my research it became apparent that, unlike pleasure, pain had been the core subject of a wide field of neuroscientic and medical research. We can only, however, say the same about reward in particular rather than pleasure in general. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” Related fields of study deal with the neurocognitive mechanisms of human perception, emotions and desires.
As discussed in a BBC Future article titled Why Pain Feels Good, all kinds of pain causes the central nervous system to release endogenous endorphins — proteins. These body’s natural painkillers act to block pain while working in a similar way to opiates such as morphine to induce feelings of euphoria.
Explaining the Runner’s High example, “The proteins bind to opioid receptors in the brain and prevent the release of chemicals involved in the transmission of pain signals. This helps block pain, but endorphins go further, stimulating the brain’s limbic and prefrontal regions — the same areas activated by passionate love affairs and music. It’s a post-pain rush similar to the high of morphine or heroin, which also bind to the brain’s opioid receptors.”
Evolutionary speaking, the ‘Runner’s High’ may have enabled our ancestors to endure the pain of a marathon hunt.
Pain and pleasure are equally both part of the reward-punishment system. Whenever pleasure is perceived, we associate it with positive reward while when pain is perceived, we associate with negative punishment. When test subjects had their hands gently warmed or painfully heated while undergoing a brain scan, not only did the circuits responsible for releasing the body’s natural painkillers were activated, but also the area which normally responds to rewards such as food, sex, and money. More about the studies conducted by David Borsook, associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, can be found in Pleasure, Pain Activate Same Part of Brain published in the Harvard Gazette.
Pain and pleasure are equally both part of the reward-punishment system. Whenever pleasure is perceived, we associate it with positive reward while when pain is perceived, we associate with negative punishment. When test subjects had their hands gently warmed or painfully heated while undergoing a brain scan, not only did the circuits responsible for releasing the body’s natural painkillers were activated, but also the area which normally responds to rewards such as food, sex, and money. More about the studies conducted by David Borsook, associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, can be found in Pleasure, Pain Activate Same Part of Brain published in the Harvard Gazette.
Beside the common neurobiology, fearing pain and desiring pleasure are humans’ greatest motivators. We tend to indulge in pleasure only to avoid pain. Crying, for instance, turned out to be triggered by opposites. As scientists have found pain in the same brain circuits which give us pleasure. That is why we can laugh till we cry and cry out of sheer joy. Such commonality also explains why I sometimes tear up while drumming or while writing and/or reading my own writings and poetry. It often occurs while my consciousness is altered during Flow State — or in The Zone.
Motivation, however, goes both ways. And memories plays a significant role in the process. Humans and animals alike may be motivated by not repeating a behaviour, which caused pain. This identification is how learning comes about. Similarly, we are motivated by seeking previous pleasures by projecting them into the future, in hope to relive the pleasurable experiences. The same association with the past, though, leads to attachments and expectations, which sequentially often leads to future sorrows, disappointments, and suffering. Then, our view of the future tends to become foggy and unsettled due to fear — from pain as well as the unknown. The cognitive mind, therefore, is conditioned to cling to the past as well as to memories about it while discarding or forgetting to live in the present Here and Now.
But the mind is not the only organ responsible for the persistence of memories [of pain]; the nervous system likewise forms its own remembrances. This has been found when observing how anesthesia prevents the conscious mind from forming pain memories during surgery. Yet, the nervous system can still form its own pain memories of the procedure.
Such type of memories can indeed cause a certain restructuring of nervous system functions. This disturbance may lead to chronic pain, which is the sensation of pain in a healthy person.
The above makes sense — for pain as well as pleasure — when we consider a phenomenon like Neuroplasticity, or Brain Plasticity. Having a full chapter in my book, the following adaptation was previously shared in the Theory of Mind: Thinking About Thinking and the Benefits of Observing the Observer exposé:
“Through transformative learning and neuroplasticity the wiring between the different networks of the brain can be altered. … Cognitive Neuroscience shows that when we repeatedly perform a certain activity, learn a new fact, or practice a skill the corresponding neurons consistently keep stimulating each other. Over time, the wiring between them becomes stronger, which can make the connection last an entire lifetime. The neurons become more sensitive to each other and are more likely to synchronise their firing time in the future. All this takes place in the brain to support learning. In other words, whatever we do we are always physically modifying the brain to become better at it. What a remarkable feature that is.
That said, any practising usually leads to improvement; the reason being is that our brain changes physiologically to adapt to the novelty. Neuroplasticity has equally shown that it works both ways: Neurons and connections which are not used stop being hardwired. Change your thoughts and you change your reality.”
As such, the more we reinforce pain circuits, the more the brain gets stuck in repetitive thought and pain patterns. Then, the brain tends to shrink, literally. Less circuits and less connections make other creative connections obsolete. Fun connections related to music, wine, friends gradually start shrinking due to disuse.
Fortunately, as it turned out, nothing is cast in stone. Through transformative learning and stimulating neuroplasticity we know that the wiring between said networks of the brain can indeed be altered, again and again. This means gaining novel perspectives along with the ability to see things under a different light.
Most people either live in the past or in the future, you see. Those who dwell on the past are depressed; those who overthink the future are anxious. Only a few are able to enjoy their Here and Now; only them find peace of mind. When we are led by — identifying with — either pain or pleasure throughout life, then we live a partial, fragmentary existence along with, in the words of Alan Watts a corresponding dim sense of the present. When, conversely, we learn to observe pain and pleasure with impartial eyes, it leads to awareness. Awareness, in turns, leads to becoming whole. To be fully in the present moment, in the Here and Now.
“A man who wants money, power, position, is perpetually occupied with it. Perhaps, the brain is similarly occupied with the remembrance of something of a week ago which gave great pleasure, being held in the brain, which thought projects as future pleasure and pursues. The repetition of pleasure is the movement of thought and therefore limited; therefore the brain can never function wholly, it can only function partially.”
On what is pleasure, Krishnamurti responds in a 1970 interview by Oliver Hunkin at Brockwood Park, saying:
“You have enjoyed, say for example, an evening sunset, marvellous thing. A lovely colour, and all the rest. Then you want to repeat it the next day. Because you had great delight in that. The repetition of it is brought about by thought. Thinking that you had a pleasure yesterday you want to repeat it again tomorrow. Not being able to get that pleasure tomorrow, you feel frustrated, you feel angry, or afraid. So, thought is responsible for both the continuance of pleasure and the sustaining of fear.”
According to Krishnamurti, to understand fear one must also understand pleasure.
According to Krishnamurti, to understand fear one must also understand pleasure.
I recall in my early 30s when I visited Canada’s Wonderland in Toronto on three consecutive birthdays. This had followed seven years of heroin addiction. So when I finally got clean, the reformed addict in me still needed some excitement in his life. A certain high or rush I was yearning for. And it was right there in these wicked roller coaster rides. I did not mind the 30-45 minutes lines, because I knew I was getting a reward soon — à la Pavlov. It seemed like I needed the stimulation for my own mental health.
I also recall that it was then and there in Toronto when I went back to jogging. Usually twice a week with my neighbour Brent and Cocker Spaniel Caramella when we would often go through the nearby Beltline. I was recovering my health after almost a decade of self-medicating and running felt great. Bit by bit, one day we ran for two hours and five minutes from Davisville all the way to the Beaches. The “Runner High” was even greater. It was my first time to ever run this long or this far, which turned out to be around 18 Kms when we calculated it later. Of course we had to ride both a bus then the subway to return home. But I certainly did not care as I was exhilarated and naturally high, and remained so till maybe the next day. Eventually I concluded that natural highs don’t have lows. Meaning, unlike many substances, you do not wake up the next day feeling groggy, down, or in withdrawals.
I also recall that it was then and there in Toronto when I went back to jogging. Usually twice a week with my neighbour Brent and Cocker Spaniel Caramella when we would often go through the nearby Beltline. I was recovering my health after almost a decade of self-medicating and running felt great. Bit by bit, one day we ran for two hours and five minutes from Davisville all the way to the Beaches. The “Runner High” was even greater. It was my first time to ever run this long or this far, which turned out to be around 18 Kms when we calculated it later. Of course we had to ride both a bus then the subway to return home. But I certainly did not care as I was exhilarated and naturally high, and remained so till maybe the next day. Eventually I concluded that natural highs don’t have lows. Meaning, unlike many substances, you do not wake up the next day feeling groggy, down, or in withdrawals.
Now, is this pain or pleasure? Can we say for sure. Likely, it is not one or the other. For they are both chemically and alchemically intermingled in the process together. In this marriage, this matrimony, this bond, lies the oneness of the non-duality of the system.
There seems to be certain pleasure in pain as there is
certain pain in pleasure.
In the following years in Venice Beach, the jogging remained while writing and drumming
were added. All three activities got me naturally high and, as mentioned, often teary, especially while flowing in The Zone.
Having repeatedly experienced the pleasures in the pain — and the pains in the pleasures — it seemed imperative that I unravel this enigmatic relationship between both elements of the equation. Especially for someone who had been addicted for many somewhat recent years.
Carrying on in the BBC article about exercising: “The pain of intense exercise also causes a spike in another of the body’s painkillers, anandamide. Known as the ‘bliss chemical’, it binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain to block pain signals and induce the warm, fuzzy pleasure emulated by marijuana, which binds to the same receptors. Adrenaline, also produced in response to pain, adds to the excitement by raising the athlete’s heart rate.”
From Pain and Pleasure: Masters of Mankind, a chapter from a book titled Pleasures of the Brain by Kent C. Berridge, Professor in the Psychology Department and Neuroscience Program at the University of Michigan:
“In terms of evolutionary psychology, both seeking pleasures and avoiding pains are essential for our survival and may compete for preference within the brain. In the face of a large food reward, which can only be obtained at the cost of a small amount of pain, for instance, it would be beneficial if the pleasurable food reduced pain unpleasantness. Cabanac (2002) argues that the brain must contain a common currency that allows motivations for pleasures and pains to be weighed against each other.”
These decisions involving trade-offs between costs and benefits make perfect sense. Because I am capable of going through the time and energy of cooking for four hours, since I know the result will be a mouthwatering, filling, and fulfilling meal. Jambalaya with salmon and shrimps and its 29 ingredients is one of those experiences, which require patience and also teaches meditation.
Scientifically speaking, one of the implications of the above research is refining pain medications; in order to do their job with minimal side effects.
Having repeatedly experienced the pleasures in the pain — and the pains in the pleasures — it seemed imperative that I unravel this enigmatic relationship between both elements of the equation. Especially for someone who had been addicted for many somewhat recent years.
Carrying on in the BBC article about exercising: “The pain of intense exercise also causes a spike in another of the body’s painkillers, anandamide. Known as the ‘bliss chemical’, it binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain to block pain signals and induce the warm, fuzzy pleasure emulated by marijuana, which binds to the same receptors. Adrenaline, also produced in response to pain, adds to the excitement by raising the athlete’s heart rate.”
From Pain and Pleasure: Masters of Mankind, a chapter from a book titled Pleasures of the Brain by Kent C. Berridge, Professor in the Psychology Department and Neuroscience Program at the University of Michigan:
“In terms of evolutionary psychology, both seeking pleasures and avoiding pains are essential for our survival and may compete for preference within the brain. In the face of a large food reward, which can only be obtained at the cost of a small amount of pain, for instance, it would be beneficial if the pleasurable food reduced pain unpleasantness. Cabanac (2002) argues that the brain must contain a common currency that allows motivations for pleasures and pains to be weighed against each other.”
These decisions involving trade-offs between costs and benefits make perfect sense. Because I am capable of going through the time and energy of cooking for four hours, since I know the result will be a mouthwatering, filling, and fulfilling meal. Jambalaya with salmon and shrimps and its 29 ingredients is one of those experiences, which require patience and also teaches meditation.
Scientifically speaking, one of the implications of the above research is refining pain medications; in order to do their job with minimal side effects.
In another Behavioral Scientist article, The Pleasures of Pain and the Pains of Pleasure, professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Paul Bloom writes:
“Plato describes Socrates rubbing his aching leg and saying, ‘How strange would appear to be this thing that men call pleasure! And how curiously it is related to what is thought to be its opposite, pain! If you seek the one and obtain it, you are almost bound always to get the other as well.’”
Centuries before the inception of neuroscience, Baruch Spinoza and Descartes were among the noted philosophers who held that the feelings of pain (or suffering) and pleasure are part of an emotional continuum. In other words, pain and pleasure belong to one movement in action, in which they are both truly intermingled and in constant flux. Like the Yin Yang relationship between light and darkness, conscious and unconscious, one cannot exist without the other. Again, there is degree of pleasure in the pain as there is a degree of pain in the pleasure. Yet, as it appears, they are not actual opposites in the absolute sense of the word, neither do they contradict each other.
Speaking on the Unity of Opposites between pain and pleasure, I am reminded by a recent exposé of mine titled A Dialectic With Myself: Practical Yin Yang Approach to Coincidentia Oppositorum. “This is the concept of Coincidentia Oppositorum, which is Latin for Coincidence of Opposites or Unity of Opposites. Those two components — the poles — are not antithetical, incompatible, or incongruent, but they are in fact complementary. One is needed to provide contrast for the other. Both are necessary to the balance of the ‘system’. For the road up and the road down are the same road. ...
The concept of the Coincidentia Oppositorum doctrine, which in modern philosophy is sometimes regarded as a metaphysical concept, a philosophical concept, or a scientific concept, was first suggested by the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Then in the 15th C. German polymath, Nicholas of Cusa, coined the neoplatonic term Coincidentia Oppositorum. In On the Vision of God, he described it as “The wall of paradise, beyond which is God”.”
Like the “Runner’s High”, the excess in one tends to bring about the other. Seemingly paradoxically, pain often does feel good. Think of how exercising (no pain no gain), wild rough sex — especially BDSM — eating spicy stuff, or even having the blues can alter, inspire, and transform our state of consciousness or our perception or experience of reality. Here, the neurophysiological, emotional, and psychological elements of pain interact to facilitate the experience of pain as pleasure. Like crying, one can then find themself moaning or even screaming from pain as well as from pleasure, as in from joy, surprise, or excitement.
English philosopher Jeremy Bentham was another who studied pains and pleasures as hedonic feelings. “All good feelings were pleasures, and “pain” could describe all that humankind sought to avoid”, he wrote. Also, “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.”
Knowing all that, now certain things made more sense. Back to my addiction years, it seems I was dreading the withdrawals symptoms so much — since my first few horrible experiences are well-ingrained into the memories of my psyche as well as the entire nervous system — that my survival mode would push me to do anything I could as not to feel the same agonising pain ever again. In other words, to keep getting high... again and again. See, the extraordinary human imagination can make things much worse. Echoing with the illuminating words of Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca: “We suffer more in our imagination more often than in reality.”
The addicted mind feels like it is on auto-pilot, making you like a mere zombie. While the reality is, it is a perfectly human experience to feel pain. But fearing pain, or fearing to feel pain more likely remains a choice. Suffering lies in this very choice; in the abyss between the life you wish you had and the one you are actually creating; between the desire to heal from past hurts and the desire not to repeat them in the future. A gentle reminder that we create our own reality and that most of our true sufferings are self-induced.
“Plato describes Socrates rubbing his aching leg and saying, ‘How strange would appear to be this thing that men call pleasure! And how curiously it is related to what is thought to be its opposite, pain! If you seek the one and obtain it, you are almost bound always to get the other as well.’”
Centuries before the inception of neuroscience, Baruch Spinoza and Descartes were among the noted philosophers who held that the feelings of pain (or suffering) and pleasure are part of an emotional continuum. In other words, pain and pleasure belong to one movement in action, in which they are both truly intermingled and in constant flux. Like the Yin Yang relationship between light and darkness, conscious and unconscious, one cannot exist without the other. Again, there is degree of pleasure in the pain as there is a degree of pain in the pleasure. Yet, as it appears, they are not actual opposites in the absolute sense of the word, neither do they contradict each other.
Speaking on the Unity of Opposites between pain and pleasure, I am reminded by a recent exposé of mine titled A Dialectic With Myself: Practical Yin Yang Approach to Coincidentia Oppositorum. “This is the concept of Coincidentia Oppositorum, which is Latin for Coincidence of Opposites or Unity of Opposites. Those two components — the poles — are not antithetical, incompatible, or incongruent, but they are in fact complementary. One is needed to provide contrast for the other. Both are necessary to the balance of the ‘system’. For the road up and the road down are the same road. ...
The concept of the Coincidentia Oppositorum doctrine, which in modern philosophy is sometimes regarded as a metaphysical concept, a philosophical concept, or a scientific concept, was first suggested by the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Then in the 15th C. German polymath, Nicholas of Cusa, coined the neoplatonic term Coincidentia Oppositorum. In On the Vision of God, he described it as “The wall of paradise, beyond which is God”.”
Like the “Runner’s High”, the excess in one tends to bring about the other. Seemingly paradoxically, pain often does feel good. Think of how exercising (no pain no gain), wild rough sex — especially BDSM — eating spicy stuff, or even having the blues can alter, inspire, and transform our state of consciousness or our perception or experience of reality. Here, the neurophysiological, emotional, and psychological elements of pain interact to facilitate the experience of pain as pleasure. Like crying, one can then find themself moaning or even screaming from pain as well as from pleasure, as in from joy, surprise, or excitement.
English philosopher Jeremy Bentham was another who studied pains and pleasures as hedonic feelings. “All good feelings were pleasures, and “pain” could describe all that humankind sought to avoid”, he wrote. Also, “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.”
Knowing all that, now certain things made more sense. Back to my addiction years, it seems I was dreading the withdrawals symptoms so much — since my first few horrible experiences are well-ingrained into the memories of my psyche as well as the entire nervous system — that my survival mode would push me to do anything I could as not to feel the same agonising pain ever again. In other words, to keep getting high... again and again. See, the extraordinary human imagination can make things much worse. Echoing with the illuminating words of Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca: “We suffer more in our imagination more often than in reality.”
The addicted mind feels like it is on auto-pilot, making you like a mere zombie. While the reality is, it is a perfectly human experience to feel pain. But fearing pain, or fearing to feel pain more likely remains a choice. Suffering lies in this very choice; in the abyss between the life you wish you had and the one you are actually creating; between the desire to heal from past hurts and the desire not to repeat them in the future. A gentle reminder that we create our own reality and that most of our true sufferings are self-induced.
As we have conceived, pain and pleasure do not oppose or contradict each other as they may be perceived on the surface. Only a fine but murky line separates them. They are only true opposites if we think in binary, dualistic or linguistic terms — lexical semantics. But in truth, whenever we place our attention on one, we are inherently in the presence of the shadow of the other. As Khalil Gibran poetically puts it: “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. ... Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.” More from Gibran about the topic can be found in his masterpiece, The Prophet.
Pain and pleasure are part of the same “system”. In essence, we cannot grasp the depth of one without delving into the other. If self-realisation is the intention — that is, knowing oneself — then both principles, both movements should be well understood, investigated. Observed clearly. Faced. Honoured. Dealt with as they are. Not as a projected image, or as a positive/negative emotional and cognitive experience to seek or run away from. But realised neutrally for what they essentially are. Pain is pain and pleasure is pleasure. It is our reactions, which are build upon our previous memories and attachments to either that bring about suffering.
Similarly, this was what the Buddha taught his disciples when they would eventually find out that desiring not to desire is still desire; that our attachment to it is what makes us obsess and ultimately suffer.
Even without any intention, establishing that there is indeed a relationship between our pains and pleasures adds us with certain clarity, which helps us remove the veil of ignorance while learning how to better deal with such dynamic couple. This novel self-knowledge, then, is capable of altering our own wiring of neurons and their connections; of breaking through our own conditioning.
Now, if we cling to the pains of the past by trying to block them or by trying to avoid future pains — due to fear — then we begin interfering with the balance of this eternally ceaseless cosmic dance they both seem to indulge in. The same goes for clinging to the pleasures of the future by constantly and neurotically identifying with and seeking them. When the continuum or the dynamics of the movement, the vortex, are perturbed through our attachments, it naturally messes with our ability and judgement to choose what is best for us; the associations muddle our view. In hope to free oneself from such conditioning and fix the imbalance, recalibrating or rebalancing the corresponding circuitry can and should follow. Mentally speaking, Neuroplasticity has shown that we are capable of change on the neurophysical level.
One could argue that another benefit of looking into our pains and pleasures comes about when we learn to use both elements rather than the other way round. Only when both are accepted as part of the Human Condition can one start to inspire the other. To ride the Dragon, if you will, so it can take you places. Only when they are understood neutrally for what they truly are can we coexist with both, and hence become whole. See, when truth is sought, experiencing both pain and pleasure remains essential — hopefully without drowning in either. Also without allowing fear or desire to get in the way of the experience. Reflection, meditation, and contemplation can help do just that. Perhaps they could even help us find meaning in the suffering.
Pain and Pleasure are somehow devilishly connected.
After learning about this captivating multidimensional relationship herein, it appears evident that indeed pain and pleasure are not just devilishly connected as instinctively indicated, but they also share a fundamentally inseparable, interrelated, and reconcilable bond. Whenever either is pursued, we are naturally inviting its counterpart in. Yet both pain and pleasure remain needed to a certain degree. One can now confidently remove the ‘somehow’.
Pain and pleasure are part of the same “system”. In essence, we cannot grasp the depth of one without delving into the other. If self-realisation is the intention — that is, knowing oneself — then both principles, both movements should be well understood, investigated. Observed clearly. Faced. Honoured. Dealt with as they are. Not as a projected image, or as a positive/negative emotional and cognitive experience to seek or run away from. But realised neutrally for what they essentially are. Pain is pain and pleasure is pleasure. It is our reactions, which are build upon our previous memories and attachments to either that bring about suffering.
Similarly, this was what the Buddha taught his disciples when they would eventually find out that desiring not to desire is still desire; that our attachment to it is what makes us obsess and ultimately suffer.
Even without any intention, establishing that there is indeed a relationship between our pains and pleasures adds us with certain clarity, which helps us remove the veil of ignorance while learning how to better deal with such dynamic couple. This novel self-knowledge, then, is capable of altering our own wiring of neurons and their connections; of breaking through our own conditioning.
Now, if we cling to the pains of the past by trying to block them or by trying to avoid future pains — due to fear — then we begin interfering with the balance of this eternally ceaseless cosmic dance they both seem to indulge in. The same goes for clinging to the pleasures of the future by constantly and neurotically identifying with and seeking them. When the continuum or the dynamics of the movement, the vortex, are perturbed through our attachments, it naturally messes with our ability and judgement to choose what is best for us; the associations muddle our view. In hope to free oneself from such conditioning and fix the imbalance, recalibrating or rebalancing the corresponding circuitry can and should follow. Mentally speaking, Neuroplasticity has shown that we are capable of change on the neurophysical level.
One could argue that another benefit of looking into our pains and pleasures comes about when we learn to use both elements rather than the other way round. Only when both are accepted as part of the Human Condition can one start to inspire the other. To ride the Dragon, if you will, so it can take you places. Only when they are understood neutrally for what they truly are can we coexist with both, and hence become whole. See, when truth is sought, experiencing both pain and pleasure remains essential — hopefully without drowning in either. Also without allowing fear or desire to get in the way of the experience. Reflection, meditation, and contemplation can help do just that. Perhaps they could even help us find meaning in the suffering.
Pain and Pleasure are somehow devilishly connected.
After learning about this captivating multidimensional relationship herein, it appears evident that indeed pain and pleasure are not just devilishly connected as instinctively indicated, but they also share a fundamentally inseparable, interrelated, and reconcilable bond. Whenever either is pursued, we are naturally inviting its counterpart in. Yet both pain and pleasure remain needed to a certain degree. One can now confidently remove the ‘somehow’.
ALSO VIEW:
The Intertwining of Genius and Insanity
The Intertwining of Music and Sexuality ― A Djembefola’s Tale
Who Are We?
My Journey Towards Self-Transcendence
How Drumming Changed The Way My Brain Processes Music
My Journey Towards Self-Transcendence
How Drumming Changed The Way My Brain Processes Music
Different Shades of Passion
The Parable Of The Cow: You Are Not Your Thoughts
Why We Should Not Fear Death
Change Is The Only Constant
Why I Share Stuff
For The Love Of Storytelling
The Significance of Letting Go
SOURCES:
Pleasure, Pain Activate Same Part of Brain, Harvard Gazette
The Pleasures of Pain and the Pains of Pleasure by Paul Bloom, Behavioral Scientist
Pain in the Past and Pleasure in the Future: The Development of Past–Future Preferences for Hedonic Goods, Cognitive Science
Why Do We Remember Pain?, How Stuff Works
Why Pain Feels Good, BBC Future
On Joy and Sorrow by Khalil Gibran, Poets.org
Pain and Pleasure: Masters of Mankind by Siri Leknes and Irene Tracey from a book titled Pleasures of the Brain by Morten Kringelbach and Kent Berridge
What Is the Relationship between Pain and Emotion? Bridging Constructs and Communities, Neuron, Cell.com
What Is the Relationship between Pain and Emotion? Bridging Constructs and Communities, Neuron, Cell.com
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
No comments:
Post a Comment