Is life mostly suffering? Is the worst pain more bad than the best pleasure is good?

[nimchimpsky]

I truly believe the more down you go the more up you can go.

Originally Posted by Melvin.George

I had some tough times during the early years but the satisfaction from my family, my work and the company of more than 300 young women definitely covered any possible suffering which might show up later. With modern pain medication how bad can it get?

Modern pain medication doesn't always work and isn't always available or affordable. It can get pretty bad. I've had pain so bad the clothes on my skin burned and I felt like I was on fire. I couldn't move or think or speak cause it hurt too bad and there was nothing I could do to alleviate it. I spent my whole childhood with undiagnosed fibromyalgia, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and legal blindness and had to get through school (including P.E. class) through all those conditions. I also had severe PTSD growing up from other things that have happened to me. Then I managed to land myself in a situation that made me go totally blind and deaf and brought my pain level up to what I described earlier. At one point I was eating once a day and the basement we were living in was 40 degrees.

I've met other people who have been in pain that severe as well, and not just for childbirth or something, but for years on end. One woman I know enjoys life so much now cause she had 10/10 pain for 4 years and was quadriplegic and now her pain is much less and she's paraplegic.

I know there are people who suffer way more than even what I mentioned and I truly believe they have the ability to enjoy life even more.

I also agree with Reverend. I have been through some intensely painful experiences, emotionally and physically, and none of it compares to the Divine Love I have felt in my soul. That Divine Love absorbs all that pain and just makes you feel completely loved, loving, deeply appreciative, so peaceful, and extremely joyful. The paraplegic woman I just mentioned has found that same love and we spent 2 days just talking and meditating together because it's that powerful.

I love my life so much now because none of the things I mentioned earlier are happening anymore. I have such an appreciation for life, for sights and sounds, for the agility my pain-free body has now, and all of that is thanks to that Divine Love I have felt in my soul. That Divine Love can heal everything and anything. I'm literally living out my dreams now. I'm in a program watching other people who have gone through the same healing process I have, and helping them continue and get to be part of new people's healing processes. I'm applying to music school cause I want to share a message of love and resilience with the world through music. I have a job and a place to stay and three meals a day. I'm constantly meeting wonderful people. Life is great.

[nimchimpsky]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

If you believe the scientific view emotional pain basically IS physical pain, as the chemical reactions in the brain and the way the body responds is still physical.

Exactly. Depression/PTSD and fibromyalgia have a very high rate of comorbidity because PTSD actually changes the neurological system in way that can cause it to be hypersensitive to pain. I know for a fact my fibromyalgia was related to and most likely caused by my PTSD.

[nimchimpsky]

Originally Posted by Woodrow LI

Are we twins by any chance. Maybe it is just that us old codgers who have passed 7 decades have by default lived through numerous physical pains. Oddly after my first plane crash and a year in a body cast, I discovered I can live with physical pain. I have found that emotional torment to be far more painful than any physical pain I ever experienced. My little visit to an obscure south east Asian country left me with a life of PTSD. My body left Viet Nam decades ago,My mind stayed there. I still wake up in horror each night. It is not the fear of dieing that comes back, it is always the faces of the lives I took that haunt me.

This I can totally relate to and agree with. I spent the first three years of my life in an orphanage and was abused emotionally, physically, and sexually by both men and women for years after that. My PTSD was the worst thing that ever happened to me. It was even worse than the trauma that caused it cause with the PTSD, I was really feeling the emotions. During the trauma, at least I had blocked those out. I had flashbacks constantly during the day and at night for years on end. I couldn't sleep and couldn't function. I had no friends cause no one wanted to be around me and no one in my life could relate to me cause I was the only person around through the kind of trauma to the extent I've been. (That isn't to say others haven't--just they weren't around in my life to provide a support network.) My base level of anxiety and depression was so high. I used to think I would die every day and often had at least 1 full-blown panic attack a day. I was convinced I wouldn't wake up the next day for years.

I can and have lived with severe chronic pain. I can and have lived with deaf-blindness. I never figured out a way to live with PTSD. The only way I figured out to live was to get rid of PTSD (which is doable). I still get flashbacks but at least it's minimal now and it doesn't get in the way of me living life.