Writing by Bob Doto

A scraped knee is never just a scraped knee

The problem isn't pain. It's our relationship and interpretation of the physical and emotional sensations that come with pain.

Modern humans are overwhelmingly pain-avoidant. We don't like pain. Above and beyond the painful sensation, we hate it.

We attach emotional components to the painful experience. A scraped knee is never just a scraped knee. It's us being "clumsy." It's us "not paying attention cuz we're ALWAYS distracted." We create narratives out of our pain. Painful narratives. These narratives intensify painful sensations.

Once we've created a narrative around our painful experience, we store it in our mind-body. We latch onto it. Thread it into our muscle fibers. Samskaras. "Triggers."

No wonder people hate pain. They've never experienced the thing itself. They've only ever met the reason for the pain. The culprit. The source.

The source of pain is often loathsome. But, pain is just pain. An experience to be had.


riff on transhumanists and "pain shouldn't exist."

#2022 #posts