Pain is universal. And though I speak mostly from the viewpoint of a human, almost all organisms are capable of feeling pain. It's an unpleasant feeling you want to stay away from.
Everyone has felt some kind of pain in their lifetime. Physical pain, emotional pain, the pain of not having enough pain. I think the greatest of them all is being born, of coming out into a bright, dry & cold world from the affectionate moist, dark warmth of the womb. But as with all things I know, I don't know. I do not remember. I can't be sure.
Physiologically, pain is an unpleasant reaction the body produces to avoid or escape the source of a potentially harmful stimuli. "This isn't good. Move away. Run.". That's what it'd say if it had a voice. And different kinds of pain would perhaps have different personalities. Maybe a paper-cut would be silly, shrill & impish whereas a heartbreak like a ruin of a once great & powerful emperor, full of malice, but the nature of pain is such that it can't be spoken nor understood. Pain must be felt.
People might wonder why, of all the joyous things in the world, do I write about the unpleasantness of pain. The answer to that lies somewhere between the fact that I don't know why and the fact that people can relate to each other more easily through discussions about pain and suffering (which are almost the same but have subtle differences, both in usage & grammar). I do realize, that, I am contradicting myself here, but what I mean is the fact that only people who have felt pain can relate &/or compare. It can't be imagined from scratch.
[ ...to be contd. ]
Everyone has felt some kind of pain in their lifetime. Physical pain, emotional pain, the pain of not having enough pain. I think the greatest of them all is being born, of coming out into a bright, dry & cold world from the affectionate moist, dark warmth of the womb. But as with all things I know, I don't know. I do not remember. I can't be sure.
Physiologically, pain is an unpleasant reaction the body produces to avoid or escape the source of a potentially harmful stimuli. "This isn't good. Move away. Run.". That's what it'd say if it had a voice. And different kinds of pain would perhaps have different personalities. Maybe a paper-cut would be silly, shrill & impish whereas a heartbreak like a ruin of a once great & powerful emperor, full of malice, but the nature of pain is such that it can't be spoken nor understood. Pain must be felt.
People might wonder why, of all the joyous things in the world, do I write about the unpleasantness of pain. The answer to that lies somewhere between the fact that I don't know why and the fact that people can relate to each other more easily through discussions about pain and suffering (which are almost the same but have subtle differences, both in usage & grammar). I do realize, that, I am contradicting myself here, but what I mean is the fact that only people who have felt pain can relate &/or compare. It can't be imagined from scratch.
[ ...to be contd. ]
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