Pain and Pleasure are somehow devilishly connected.
✵ Ⅰ. The Intuitive Threshold
The phrase above is one of my earliest reflections shared back in 2013. Almost a decade later, I became curious once again and decided to delve into the topic to learn more.
When I first expressed that sentiment, I had never researched the mechanics. Basing my personal reference almost entirely on years of exercise, sex, and drug-use, it simply felt intuitive that a distinct relationship existed between the two states. Ever since, there had been plenty of time to put that view to the test. Finally, the inquiries and research followed.
Pondering questions like: Why do we laugh until we cry, or cry out of sheer happiness? Why do some tear up while playing a musical instrument, writing poetry, or staring at a moving painting? Why do we moan and scream from pain as well as from pleasure? Why is our “orgasm face” indistinguishable from our “pain face”?
Why do adrenaline junkies feel exhilarated due to risky, fear-inducing “daredevil” activities like extreme sports or 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.
✵ Ⅰ. The Intuitive Threshold
The phrase above is one of my earliest reflections shared back in 2013. Almost a decade later, I became curious once again and decided to delve into the topic to learn more.
When I first expressed that sentiment, I had never researched the mechanics. Basing my personal reference almost entirely on years of exercise, sex, and drug-use, it simply felt intuitive that a distinct relationship existed between the two states. Ever since, there had been plenty of time to put that view to the test. Finally, the inquiries and research followed.
Pondering questions like: Why do we laugh until we cry, or cry out of sheer happiness? Why do some tear up while playing a musical instrument, writing poetry, or staring at a moving painting? Why do we moan and scream from pain as well as from pleasure? Why is our “orgasm face” indistinguishable from our “pain face”?
Why do adrenaline junkies feel exhilarated due to risky, fear-inducing “daredevil” activities like extreme sports or 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
― Alan Wilson Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety
─── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅱ. The Neurobiological Currency
Historically, pain and pleasure were often considered to be actual diametrical opposites. But are they really?
For the realised individual, they are simply two sides of the same coin. Both are worthy of thorough investigation. For it seems they share a multilayered relationship, fundamentally inseparable and intertwined.
When the perception of one increases, so does the perception of the other. In fact, they are ingrained into our neurobiological makeup, sharing the exact same brain circuits and neurochemical pathways. Be it pain or food, sex, and drugs, scientists tracking brain scans of people who were subjected to a certain painful stimulus found that similar neural regions are triggered during both experiences. Both entice the body to produce its own internal narcotics: 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. This neurological reality validates Carl Jung’s stark declaration:
“There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅲ. The Architecture of Memory
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, tracks this alignment further.
“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.”
These additional features appear to help humans create more refined memories of a painful event, preventing the organism from repeating the mistake in the future. But it may also be the exact reason why the mind tends 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 handles the immediate experience of the sensation, the dopamine system regulates the anticipation or expectation of that experience.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅳ. The Reward-Punishment Matrix
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 report, Why Pain Feels Good, any standard painful stimulus forces the central nervous system to release endogenous endorphins. These natural painkillers act to block the distress signal while working in a similar way to opiates like morphine to induce states of euphoria.
Take the classic Runner’s High: proteins bind to opioid receptors in the brain, blocking pain transmissions while simultaneously stimulating the limbic and prefrontal regions — the exact zones activated by passionate love affairs and music. It is a post-pain rush similar to the high of morphine or heroin, also binding to the brain’s opioid receptors.
Evolutionary speaking, the ‘Runner’s High’ mechanism enabled our ancestors to endure the physical exhaustion of a marathon hunt.
Both states are equal components of the reward-punishment loop. Whenever pleasure is perceived, we associate it with positive reward; when pain hits, we process it as negative punishment. When test subjects had their hands gently warmed or painfully heated during Harvard Medical School brain scans, the circuits releasing the body’s natural painkillers fired in tandem with the same zones that normally respond to rewards like food, sex, and money.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅴ. The Engine of Duality
Beside the shared neurobiology, fearing pain and desiring pleasure function as our greatest survival motivators. We tend to indulge in the latter strictly to evade the former.
Crying, for instance, turned out to be triggered by opposite sensory extremes. Because scientists have mapped distress to the same neural circuits that grant us ecstasy, we can effortlessly laugh until we cry — and cry out of sheer joy.
Such biological commonality explains why I occasionally tear up while drumming or while writing or reading my own poetry. It often occurs when consciousness shifts during Flow State — while floating in The Zone.
Motivation, however, operates as a two-way street. Memory plays a commanding role in the process. Organisms are hardwired to avoid repeating behaviours that previously induced trauma; this basic recognition is how primitive learning comes about.
Similarly, we are driven to seek past ecstasies by projecting them into the future, hoping to relive those moments.
Yet, this automatic association with the past leads directly to attachment and expectation. It sequentially breeds future sorrow, disappointment, and psychological exhaustion. Our view of the horizon becomes foggy, paralysed by a dread of pain and the unknown.
The cognitive mind is conditioned to cling to skeletal memories of the past while completely forgetting to live in the present Here and Now.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅵ. Somatic Remembrance & Neuroplasticity
The mind is not the sole organ responsible for the persistence of trauma; the nervous system likewise forms its own cellular remembrances.
Something we learned from Gabor Maté is that the body keeps score of every memory the mind refuses to process, not metaphorically, but physiologically. Suppressed emotions turns into chronic stress signals. The culprit? Elevated Cortisol levels, while the nervous system stays in love-level threat mode.
This tracking becomes clear when observing how anaesthesia prevents the conscious brain from forming memories during invasive surgery. Despite the temporary blackout, the peripheral nervous system can still form its own deep pain memories of the procedure.
Such type of memories — a form of systemic scarring — causes a structural reorganisation of nervous system functions. The chronic disturbance can lead to phantom pain patterns inside an otherwise healthy body.
This mechanism tracks back to neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity. Having dedicated a full chapter to it inside my book, the following adaptation was mapped out in Theory of Mind: Thinking About Thinking and the Benefits of Observing the Observer:
“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.”
With that, any practising usually leads to improvement; the reason being is that our brain changes physiologically to adapt to the novelty. Whatever we repeatedly practice improves because the brain physically alters its architecture to adapt to the novelty.
But neuroplasticity is a non-local law that operates both ways: unused networks stop being hardwired and are systematically pruned from the motherboard.
Change your thoughts, and you rewrite your reality.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅶ. The Cognitive Shrinkage
As such, the more we reinforce standard trauma circuits, the more the brain gets stuck in repetitive thought and distress patterns. Then, the brain — the neurological architecture — tends to shrink, literally. Fewer circuits and degraded connections make other creative channels obsolete. Fun networks related to music, wine, and camaraderie gradually wither from pure disuse.
Fortunately, as it turned out, nothing is cast in stone.
Through transformative learning and actively stimulating neuroplasticity, we know that the wiring between these brain networks can indeed be altered, again and again. This shift grants us novel perspectives along with the ability to see things under a truer light.
Most people either live in the past or in the future, you see — oscillating between the ghost and the anxiety. Those who dwell on what was are depressed; those who overthink what will be are anxious. Only the few who inhabit their Here and Now find peace of mind.
When we are led by — neurotically identifying with — either pain or pleasure throughout life, we live a partial, fragmentary existence. We are trapped in what Alan Watts described as “a corresponding dim sense of the present”.
Conversely, when we learn to observe both forces with impartial eyes, it leads to unified awareness. Coincidentia Oppositorum. Awareness, in turn, allows the organism to become whole. To be fully in the present moment, in the Here and Now.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅷ. The Partial Mind (The Krishnamurti Excerpts)
Most people spend their existence oscillating between the ghost of the past and the anxiety of the future. Those who dwell on what was are depressed; those who overthink what will be are anxious. Only the few who inhabit their Here and Now find peace of mind.
When we spend our lives identified with either pain or pleasure, we live a fragmentary, partial existence — trapped in what Alan Watts described as “a corresponding dim sense of the present.” Conversely, observing both forces with impartial eyes unlocks a unified awareness.
On a similar note, Jiddu Krishnamurti remarked in the above excerpt from Chapter 5 — 5th Public Talk, Saanen — 21st July 1981:
When defining the trap of pleasure during his 1970 interview by Oliver Hunkin at Brockwood Park, Krishnamurti added:
✵ Ⅸ. The Rebound of the Addict
✵ 𝐗. The Amusing Trip (Written in 2025)
But how exactly are the human body and psyche affected during these high-intensity experiences? The mechanics are quite fascinating.
Physiologically, the nervous system interprets the intense physical sensations as a genuine threat. Despite the conscious mind knowing the environment is engineered for safety, the automated fight-or-flight response triggers a massive cascade of chemical reactions.
Adrenaline is aggressively pumped into the bloodstream. Endorphins flood the networks, inducing instant euphoria. A massive dopamine surge hits the reward pathways.
This reward loop is why some thrill-seekers immediately loop back to ride again. I have shamelessly conquered three high-speed runs in a row, and I am not alone.
The entire experience functions as a form of positive stress — eustress — where the organism enjoys the visceral sensations that accompany a fear response within a controlled perimeter. The sensory fallout is immediate: a stomach-dropping threshold, temporary vertigo, and visual distortion.
Beyond the raw chemistry, distinct psychological factors contribute to this childlike enjoyment of physically risky activities:
• A Sense of Mastery: Resulting from directly facing your fears, daring your ego, and having fun simultaneously.
• Living in the Here and Now: Being violently compelled by the fast-paced action to remain fully present and attentive.
• Social Bonding: Shared high-intensity experiences that naturally breed collective narratives.
The final two mental mechanisms remain the most intriguing:
• Sensation Seeking: A distinct genetic predisposition to enjoy varied, novel, and volatile physical experiences. It is the primary reason why not everyone can tolerate roller coasters... let alone bungee jumping.
• Benign Masochism: What psychologists call the phenomenon where people enjoy experiences their brain initially registers as threatening, but the sudden realization of safety delivers intense pleasure.
The secret of this practice traces back to my early psychonaut roots. At 19, when first trying LSD in Los Angeles, my younger American neighbours — who favoured my company — casually mentioned that someone’s older brother’s friends used to trip at amusement parks.
At 19, still trapped in conventional matrix, mostly inherited, it sounded completely insane. At 34, freshly clean after seven years of heavy addiction, it became a calculated yearly ritual for a more experienced psychonaut navigating his inner journeys in Canada.
It is entirely about tricking the physical mind and body. What a stark, insightful find.
✵ 𝐗𝐈. The Evolution of Trade-Offs
Having repeatedly experienced ecstasy hidden in agony — and trauma lurking inside ecstasy — it felt imperative to unpack this enigmatic continuum. It became essential for someone who survived a heavy, multi-year addiction graveyard.
Carrying on in the BBC report regarding physical exertion:
“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.”
In a chapter titled Pain and Pleasure: Masters of Mankind, neuroscientist Kent C. Berridge,
“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.
I am entirely capable of dedicating four hours to cooking, simply because I know the sensory payoff will be a mouthwatering, filling, and fulfilling meal. My 29-ingredient Jambalaya with salmon and shrimps is an unvarnished testament to this; it requires fierce patience and functions as a live exercise in active meditation.
From a scientific stance, one practical implication of this shared currency research is the refinement of pain medications — allowing drugs to target distress while producing minimal side effects.
✵ 𝐗𝐈𝐈. The Coincidentia Oppositorum
✵ 𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈. The Governance of the Masters
Like the “Runner’s High”, an excess in one extreme inevitably pulls through the other. Pain frequently does feel good. Think of how intense training exercising (no pain no gain), wild unconditioned sex — specifically BDSM — eating volatile spices, or even having the blues can alter and inspire our state of consciousness. Also transform our perception and experience of reality.
Here, the neurophysiological, emotional, and psychological elements interact to translate distress into ecstasy — facilitating the experience of pain as pleasure. Like crying, the body finds itself moaning or screaming from raw discomfort as well as from joy, surprise, or pure excitement.
The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham studied these hedonic frequencies, writing:
“All good feelings were pleasures, and “pain” could describe all that humankind sought to avoid”. 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 this data, my past actions became transparent. Looking back at my addiction years, I was dreading withdrawal symptoms so fiercely — since those early agonising detoxes were burned deep into the memory of my nervous system — that my survival mode would push me to do anything to evade that trauma. In other words, to keep getting high... again and again.
The extraordinary human imagination multiplies the suffering. As the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca illuminated: “We suffer more in our imagination more often than in reality.”
The addicted mind operates on an automated autopilot script, reducing the individual to a compliant zombie. While experiencing pain is a fundamental human reality, fearing the sensation remains a strict choice.
True suffering lies within that very choice — inside the abyss between the life you wish you had and the one you are actively creating; between the desire to heal from past hurts and the desire not to repeat them in the future. It is a gentle reminder that we create our own reality, as authors of our own parameters, and true sufferings are mostly self-induced.
✵ 𝐗𝐕. Riding the Dragon
Establishing that a distinct continuum exists between our traumas and ecstasies — our pains and pleasures — provides a stark clarity. It systematically removes the veil of ignorance, helping us better navigate this volatile, dynamic couple.
This novel self-knowledge is physically capable of altering our neural wiring, permanently breaking through our automated conditioning.
If we cling to the formatting of past wounds by attempting to block them — or frantically avoiding future discomfort out of raw fear — we directly paralyse the fluid balance of an eternally ceaseless cosmic dance.
The exact same paralysis occurs when we chase future ecstasies, neurotically identifying with and hunting them.
When the natural momentum of this internal vortex is perturbed through our desperate attachments, our judgement is muddled. The cognitive associations compromise our ability to choose what is best for the organism.
To dissolve this conditioning and repair the internal systemic imbalance, a deliberate recalibration of the corresponding neural circuitry must follow. Neuroplasticity has proven that we are fully capable of executing this structural change on a neurophysical level.
A major benefit of examining these sensory forces comes about when we learn to utilise both dynamics, rather than letting them command us.
Only when both currents are accepted as standard parameters of the human condition can one begin to inspire the other. It allows you to ride the dragon, if you will, so it can carry you to unmapped territories.
Only when they are processed neutrally for what they essentially are can we gracefully coexist with both, and hence become whole.
When core truth is sought, experiencing both extremes remains essential — hopefully without drowning in either, and without allowing fear or desire to sabotage the raw observation. Active reflection, meditation, and quiet contemplation are the tools that facilitate this balance.
Perhaps they can even guide us to extract profound meaning from the suffering.
Pain and Pleasure are s̶o̶m̶e̶h̶o̶w̶ devilishly connected.
After dissecting this captivating, multi-dimensional relationship, it appears evident that they are not merely devilishly linked as instinctively guessed back in 2013. They share a fundamentally inseparable, interrelated, and entirely reconcilable bond.
Whenever either pole is frantically pursued, we are naturally inviting its shadow counterpart into the room. Yet, both frequencies remain necessary to maintain the ultimate balance of the system.
We can now confidently remove the ‘somehow’.
On a similar note, Jiddu Krishnamurti remarked in the above excerpt from Chapter 5 — 5th Public Talk, Saanen — 21st July 1981:
“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.”
When defining the trap of pleasure during his 1970 interview by Oliver Hunkin at Brockwood Park, Krishnamurti added:
“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.”
To understand fear, one must untangle the search for pleasure.
To understand fear, one must untangle the search for pleasure.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ Ⅸ. The Rebound of the Addict
I
recall my early 30s, visiting Canada’s Wonderland in Toronto on three
consecutive birthdays. This new phase closely followed seven years of
heroin addiction. When I finally broke the script and got clean, the
reformed addict in me still craved an intense velocity of excitement — a
chemical rush my antenna was yearning for . I located it right inside
those massive, wicked roller coaster tracks.
I did not mind the 45-minute lines; because I knew a reward was soon to follow, in the form of a massive dopamine dose — à la Pavlov. It seemed like I needed the stimulation for my own mental health, to shock the system back awake.
It was during that same Toronto chapter that I returned to jogging. Once or twice a week, my neighbour Brent, my Cocker Spaniel Caramella, and I would cut through the nearby Beltline trail. Recovering my health after a decade of self-medication felt spectacular.
Bit by bit, our capacity expanded. One day we ran for two hours and five minutes straight from Davisville all the way to the Beaches. The post-run Runner’s High was immense.
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.
That was when I discovered the defining law of sovereignty, becoming part of my inner truth: Natural highs don’t have lows. Unlike pharmaceutical substances, you never come down feeling groggy or trapped in physical withdrawals — and existential dread.
Now, is this pain or pleasure? Can we say for sure? It is clearly neither. Both forces are chemically and alchemically intermingled in the process together — inside the non-duality of the physical machine. In this matrimony, this bond, lies the oneness of the system.
There is a distinct pleasure hidden in pain, just as there is a silent pain lurking in pleasure.
During the subsequent American phase when residing in Bohemian Venice Beach, the jogging remained while [serious] writing and drumming were integrated into my daily cadence. All three activities keep me naturally high, especially while flowing effortlessly in The Zone — sometimes teary-eyed as mentioned.
Shake the snowglobe operating system to rewire your neuroplasticity. New neural connections open up the Doors of Perception.
I did not mind the 45-minute lines; because I knew a reward was soon to follow, in the form of a massive dopamine dose — à la Pavlov. It seemed like I needed the stimulation for my own mental health, to shock the system back awake.
It was during that same Toronto chapter that I returned to jogging. Once or twice a week, my neighbour Brent, my Cocker Spaniel Caramella, and I would cut through the nearby Beltline trail. Recovering my health after a decade of self-medication felt spectacular.
Bit by bit, our capacity expanded. One day we ran for two hours and five minutes straight from Davisville all the way to the Beaches. The post-run Runner’s High was immense.
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.
That was when I discovered the defining law of sovereignty, becoming part of my inner truth: Natural highs don’t have lows. Unlike pharmaceutical substances, you never come down feeling groggy or trapped in physical withdrawals — and existential dread.
Now, is this pain or pleasure? Can we say for sure? It is clearly neither. Both forces are chemically and alchemically intermingled in the process together — inside the non-duality of the physical machine. In this matrimony, this bond, lies the oneness of the system.
There is a distinct pleasure hidden in pain, just as there is a silent pain lurking in pleasure.
During the subsequent American phase when residing in Bohemian Venice Beach, the jogging remained while [serious] writing and drumming were integrated into my daily cadence. All three activities keep me naturally high, especially while flowing effortlessly in The Zone — sometimes teary-eyed as mentioned.
Shake the snowglobe operating system to rewire your neuroplasticity. New neural connections open up the Doors of Perception.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ 𝐗. The Amusing Trip (Written in 2025)
But how exactly are the human body and psyche affected during these high-intensity experiences? The mechanics are quite fascinating.
Physiologically, the nervous system interprets the intense physical sensations as a genuine threat. Despite the conscious mind knowing the environment is engineered for safety, the automated fight-or-flight response triggers a massive cascade of chemical reactions.
Adrenaline is aggressively pumped into the bloodstream. Endorphins flood the networks, inducing instant euphoria. A massive dopamine surge hits the reward pathways.
This reward loop is why some thrill-seekers immediately loop back to ride again. I have shamelessly conquered three high-speed runs in a row, and I am not alone.
The entire experience functions as a form of positive stress — eustress — where the organism enjoys the visceral sensations that accompany a fear response within a controlled perimeter. The sensory fallout is immediate: a stomach-dropping threshold, temporary vertigo, and visual distortion.
Beyond the raw chemistry, distinct psychological factors contribute to this childlike enjoyment of physically risky activities:
• A Sense of Mastery: Resulting from directly facing your fears, daring your ego, and having fun simultaneously.
• Living in the Here and Now: Being violently compelled by the fast-paced action to remain fully present and attentive.
• Social Bonding: Shared high-intensity experiences that naturally breed collective narratives.
The final two mental mechanisms remain the most intriguing:
• Sensation Seeking: A distinct genetic predisposition to enjoy varied, novel, and volatile physical experiences. It is the primary reason why not everyone can tolerate roller coasters... let alone bungee jumping.
• Benign Masochism: What psychologists call the phenomenon where people enjoy experiences their brain initially registers as threatening, but the sudden realization of safety delivers intense pleasure.
The secret of this practice traces back to my early psychonaut roots. At 19, when first trying LSD in Los Angeles, my younger American neighbours — who favoured my company — casually mentioned that someone’s older brother’s friends used to trip at amusement parks.
At 19, still trapped in conventional matrix, mostly inherited, it sounded completely insane. At 34, freshly clean after seven years of heavy addiction, it became a calculated yearly ritual for a more experienced psychonaut navigating his inner journeys in Canada.
It is entirely about tricking the physical mind and body. What a stark, insightful find.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ 𝐗𝐈. The Evolution of Trade-Offs
Having repeatedly experienced ecstasy hidden in agony — and trauma lurking inside ecstasy — it felt imperative to unpack this enigmatic continuum. It became essential for someone who survived a heavy, multi-year addiction graveyard.
Carrying on in the BBC report regarding physical exertion:
“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.”
In a chapter titled Pain and Pleasure: Masters of Mankind, neuroscientist Kent C. Berridge,
“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.
I am entirely capable of dedicating four hours to cooking, simply because I know the sensory payoff will be a mouthwatering, filling, and fulfilling meal. My 29-ingredient Jambalaya with salmon and shrimps is an unvarnished testament to this; it requires fierce patience and functions as a live exercise in active meditation.
From a scientific stance, one practical implication of this shared currency research is the refinement of pain medications — allowing drugs to target distress while producing minimal side effects.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ 𝐗𝐈𝐈. The Coincidentia Oppositorum
In another Behavioral Scientist article, The Pleasures of Pain and the Pains of Pleasure, professor of psychology 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 birth of modern neuroscience, Baruch Spinoza and René Descartes similarly held that sensory suffering and ecstasy belong to a singular emotional continuum. They are part of one synchronised movement in action, intermingled in constant flux.
Like the Yin Yang relationship between light and darkness, or the conscious and the subconscious, one cannot exist without the other — its reflection. Again, there is degree of pleasure in the pain as there is a degree of pain in the pleasure. Yet, they are clearly not diametrical opposites in a literal sense, nor do they contradict each other.
This tracks seamlessly with a previous text of mine 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 metaphysical framework was first declared by the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Later, in the 15th century, the German polymath Nicholas of Cusa coined the Neoplatonic term Coincidentia Oppositorum. In On the Vision of God, he beautifully described the phenomenon as: “The wall of paradise, beyond which is God.”
It is a non-local oneness I explored further in my archival piece, Dance With Your Demons — and your angels will clap and sing along
Another reflective piece about the oneness beyond our seeming polarity is Dance With Your Demons — and your angels will clap and sing along.
“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 birth of modern neuroscience, Baruch Spinoza and René Descartes similarly held that sensory suffering and ecstasy belong to a singular emotional continuum. They are part of one synchronised movement in action, intermingled in constant flux.
Like the Yin Yang relationship between light and darkness, or the conscious and the subconscious, one cannot exist without the other — its reflection. Again, there is degree of pleasure in the pain as there is a degree of pain in the pleasure. Yet, they are clearly not diametrical opposites in a literal sense, nor do they contradict each other.
This tracks seamlessly with a previous text of mine 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 metaphysical framework was first declared by the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Later, in the 15th century, the German polymath Nicholas of Cusa coined the Neoplatonic term Coincidentia Oppositorum. In On the Vision of God, he beautifully described the phenomenon as: “The wall of paradise, beyond which is God.”
It is a non-local oneness I explored further in my archival piece, Dance With Your Demons — and your angels will clap and sing along
Another reflective piece about the oneness beyond our seeming polarity is Dance With Your Demons — and your angels will clap and sing along.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ 𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈. The Governance of the Masters
Like the “Runner’s High”, an excess in one extreme inevitably pulls through the other. Pain frequently does feel good. Think of how intense training exercising (no pain no gain), wild unconditioned sex — specifically BDSM — eating volatile spices, or even having the blues can alter and inspire our state of consciousness. Also transform our perception and experience of reality.
Here, the neurophysiological, emotional, and psychological elements interact to translate distress into ecstasy — facilitating the experience of pain as pleasure. Like crying, the body finds itself moaning or screaming from raw discomfort as well as from joy, surprise, or pure excitement.
The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham studied these hedonic frequencies, writing:
“All good feelings were pleasures, and “pain” could describe all that humankind sought to avoid”. 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 this data, my past actions became transparent. Looking back at my addiction years, I was dreading withdrawal symptoms so fiercely — since those early agonising detoxes were burned deep into the memory of my nervous system — that my survival mode would push me to do anything to evade that trauma. In other words, to keep getting high... again and again.
The extraordinary human imagination multiplies the suffering. As the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca illuminated: “We suffer more in our imagination more often than in reality.”
The addicted mind operates on an automated autopilot script, reducing the individual to a compliant zombie. While experiencing pain is a fundamental human reality, fearing the sensation remains a strict choice.
True suffering lies within that very choice — inside the abyss between the life you wish you had and the one you are actively creating; between the desire to heal from past hurts and the desire not to repeat them in the future. It is a gentle reminder that we create our own reality, as authors of our own parameters, and true sufferings are mostly self-induced.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ 𝐗𝐈𝐕. The Shadow of the Board
On the surface, pain and pleasure do not oppose each other; a fine, murky line separates them. They are only true opposites if we choose to think in binary, dualistic, or linguistic terms — lexical semantics.
In truth, whenever we place our attention on one, we are inherently standing in the shadow of the other. As Khalil Gibran poetically captures in his masterpiece, The Prophet:
“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.”
Both forces are part of the same system. We cannot grasp the scale of one without expanding into the other. If self-realisation is the ultimate intention, both principles, both movements must be thoroughly investigated, observed, faced, and honoured as they are. They cant be treated as a projected image, or as a positive/negative emotional and cognitive loop to chase or escape from. They must be realised neutrally — for what they essentially are.
Pain is pain; pleasure is pleasure. It is our automated reactions — build upon past memories and attachments — that breed our suffering.
This was the core lesson the Buddha delivered to his disciples: discovering that the desire not to desire is still a desire, and our frantic attachment to the script is what causes us to obsess and ultimately suffer.
On the surface, pain and pleasure do not oppose each other; a fine, murky line separates them. They are only true opposites if we choose to think in binary, dualistic, or linguistic terms — lexical semantics.
In truth, whenever we place our attention on one, we are inherently standing in the shadow of the other. As Khalil Gibran poetically captures in his masterpiece, The Prophet:
“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.”
Both forces are part of the same system. We cannot grasp the scale of one without expanding into the other. If self-realisation is the ultimate intention, both principles, both movements must be thoroughly investigated, observed, faced, and honoured as they are. They cant be treated as a projected image, or as a positive/negative emotional and cognitive loop to chase or escape from. They must be realised neutrally — for what they essentially are.
Pain is pain; pleasure is pleasure. It is our automated reactions — build upon past memories and attachments — that breed our suffering.
This was the core lesson the Buddha delivered to his disciples: discovering that the desire not to desire is still a desire, and our frantic attachment to the script is what causes us to obsess and ultimately suffer.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
✵ 𝐗𝐕. Riding the Dragon
Establishing that a distinct continuum exists between our traumas and ecstasies — our pains and pleasures — provides a stark clarity. It systematically removes the veil of ignorance, helping us better navigate this volatile, dynamic couple.
This novel self-knowledge is physically capable of altering our neural wiring, permanently breaking through our automated conditioning.
If we cling to the formatting of past wounds by attempting to block them — or frantically avoiding future discomfort out of raw fear — we directly paralyse the fluid balance of an eternally ceaseless cosmic dance.
The exact same paralysis occurs when we chase future ecstasies, neurotically identifying with and hunting them.
When the natural momentum of this internal vortex is perturbed through our desperate attachments, our judgement is muddled. The cognitive associations compromise our ability to choose what is best for the organism.
To dissolve this conditioning and repair the internal systemic imbalance, a deliberate recalibration of the corresponding neural circuitry must follow. Neuroplasticity has proven that we are fully capable of executing this structural change on a neurophysical level.
A major benefit of examining these sensory forces comes about when we learn to utilise both dynamics, rather than letting them command us.
Only when both currents are accepted as standard parameters of the human condition can one begin to inspire the other. It allows you to ride the dragon, if you will, so it can carry you to unmapped territories.
Only when they are processed neutrally for what they essentially are can we gracefully coexist with both, and hence become whole.
When core truth is sought, experiencing both extremes remains essential — hopefully without drowning in either, and without allowing fear or desire to sabotage the raw observation. Active reflection, meditation, and quiet contemplation are the tools that facilitate this balance.
Perhaps they can even guide us to extract profound meaning from the suffering.
Pain and Pleasure are s̶o̶m̶e̶h̶o̶w̶ devilishly connected.
─── ✵ ────── ✵ ────── ✵ ───
After dissecting this captivating, multi-dimensional relationship, it appears evident that they are not merely devilishly linked as instinctively guessed back in 2013. They share a fundamentally inseparable, interrelated, and entirely reconcilable bond.
Whenever either pole is frantically pursued, we are naturally inviting its shadow counterpart into the room. Yet, both frequencies remain necessary to maintain the ultimate balance of the system.
We can now confidently remove the ‘somehow’.
———————————————————————————————————————
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
Theory of Mind: Thinking About Thinking and the Benefits of Observing the Observer, One Lucky Soul
A Dialectic With Myself: Practical Yin Yang Approach to Coincidentia Oppositorum, One Lucky Soul
A Dialectic With Myself: Practical Yin Yang Approach to Coincidentia Oppositorum, One Lucky Soul
ALSO VIEW:
The Intertwining of Genius and Insanity
The Intertwining of Music and Sexuality ― A Djembefola’s Tale
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 20 Things Learned From a 48-Minute Terence McKenna Talk on Hermeticism and Alchemy
The Significance of Letting Go
The Intertwining of Genius and Insanity
The Intertwining of Music and Sexuality ― A Djembefola’s Tale
Theory of Mind: Thinking About Thinking and the Benefits of Observing the Observer
Dance With Your Demons
Dance With Your Demons
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
No comments:
Post a Comment