Good evening ladies and gentleman
With the recent events occurring in the USA, along with the subsequent events, protests and marches across America and much of the world, it seems like we have reached a strange point. We are at the end of a particular era of humanity, with new qualities and morals seeming to take more of a centre stage in the higher positions of what we are told to be “authority.” Whether you agree with what these people say or not, their effect is reverberating across the globe, the sounds of a change, be it for better or for worse.
This intellectual/emotional divide seems more relevant to the way modern society is functioning, which seems in a way, as many things do, to be limiting the way we think of own lives, away from the matters of the world. The way we think and feel as individuals seems so much less relevant to us, as the divide between “what I think” and “what we think” is ever growing. Divides seem to be a major part of life these days, all in their own way having an effect on the events, thoughts and feelings that make up who we are. Furthermore, the effect of the complex relationships these divides have can create such an impact on your thoughts and feelings, as we experience and feel the painful pleasures of life, things may never be the same again.
It is the general belief across society that pain and pleasure come from distinctly different places with certain events, thoughts and feelings to be avoided in order to not be in pain and in contrast certain events and experiences that could provide us the heights of pleasure that we should be running towards. We are going through our lives limiting ourselves purely to these pleasurable experiences, consumed by this idea that beyond our knowledge of the divide between pain and pleasure is as far as feeling anything will go. It’s as if the modern day divide between the two is limiting the ability to feel pleasure, for we don’t want to risk feeling pain, like we have put a roof on our ability to feel good, so spend as long as we can, as close as we can to this “roof.”
What is pain? What is pleasure? How, if at all, does their relationship affect us in our daily lives and how does it impact the way we feel about the world, as well as the people who are a part of our world? Pain is an issue, a niggling sensation living in the back of your mind, something that feels near impossible to shake off.. I feel like in our own unique way, we want life to be painless, in that we experience pleasure without the fear of pain. If life was truly painless we would have no gauge for what pleasure means to us as individuals. Pain seems to be this great weight that sits on your shoulders, something you will often not tell anyone about, for its “your pain to bare.” I feel we are all pained by something and its something i feel like when its difficult to deal with, we learn instead to live with it. This way pain becomes comfortable, manageable.
In direct contrast to pleasure, which is a adrenaline fueled, blood pumping, heart in your mouth experience. Where pain seems a great weight to carry around with you, pleasure is for the instances in life that make you feel so much it creates a unique sensation that cannot truly be deconstructed or explained. Listening to an outstanding piece of music, imagining life the way you want it to be as you get closer and closer to it, laughing with people who mean so much to you, seeing places you have never been to, trying new food, having new experiences and spending life doing and feelings things that make you above all else, feel so outstanding and happy to just be there, in the moment.
How then do these two complex ideas, both of which having a remarkably different effect on our mental compositions effect the way we live our lives? The effects to me seem powerfully effective in influencing the way we think and our ability to move forward throughout modern life, with the thoughts and feelings that can take us to such dizzying heights and lows that feel like you can barely catch a breath for all the weight pushing you into the murky waters of pain. However, in many ways beyond the divide, the feelings they create can be remarkably similar.
At this point i think you maybe thinking “that’s it he’s totally lost it.” Not yet people, just run with me for a second. Beyond the fairly generic definitions i gave for these ideas that are fairly universal in nature, what creates these feelings is unique to us. In a world obsessed in defining, understanding and overcoming literally EVERYTHING these days I feel like we can easily not appreciate the small instances of pleasure, or learn from the moments of pain that come with the trials and tribulations of everyday life, for they “don’t make sense.” Pain and pleasure is the most typical example of the negative/positive lifestyle we have become comfortable with, for the pleasure puts something into your life, where pain is taking something away or maybe the longing of something pleasurable to be a part of your life, or to maybe return to the forefront of your periphery.
This divide here becomes more difficult to define, for pleasure can cause pain and pain can cause pleasure. Pain can bring us pleasure for we know that if we push through, the good will come. Yet at the same time pleasure can be tinged with the fear of what we feel is the inevitable pain to come. This seemably infinite complex structure of layers upon layers of thoughts and feelings between pain, pleasure and their combination not only makes them constructive but destructive, good and bad. The combined efforts of both pleasure and pain, to me, is what creates your personality, the ability you have to think and decide how to move forward in your life. It’s as if this relationship is a cause and effect problem in that if we feel pleasure, we instantly suspect some form of pain isn’t far behind.
This is why i think pleasure and pain can often feel similar, For they are always so close together. We hope with all we have for pleasure, but when the pain comes we feel it was inevitable. Its this “inevitability” that creates the divide- the ever widening chasm that leaves us fixated on only one part of the relationship, so fearful that allowing both sides in could make us feel something so much more then you or I ever thought possible. And who knows whether any of us could handle that.
What do you think? Do pain and pleasure feel the same? Do they have a relationship? What causes you pain- and in contrast, what gives you pleasure? How do these feelings differentiate?
Yours, with love as always.
DR
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