Monday, February 18, 2008

Pain Avoidance

The following is something I wrote on paper some time ago. Unfortunetly it is not dated, but I'm guessing it was written sometime during Winter Break of 2007-2008. Enjoy. Another blog entry to follow tomorrow evening at approximately 20:00.

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It's been a long while since I've written. And so I've decided to write. Writing frees the soul; perhaps that's why my soul has been so restless recently.

When I update on my blog, I feel it necessary to tell the world what affects me from the outside, perhaps allowing people to infer whit I feel on the inside. Such an allowance is dangerous; people may misinterpret said facts, thinking I'm sad when I'm happy, or happy when in fact I'm sad. Not that I would share my emotions anyway.

Who cares what words flow from this pen (or pencil even)? What makes anyone's words important? Do people read the Times to look important? Or read the Wall Street Journal just because their professors require it of them?

Nay. While there may exist these people reading for reasons impure, the majority read for one reason. Truth. The need to be in the know. Tabloids and made-up stories aside, people want to know what's going on around them, inside them. And accurately.

And hence, my words are not valueless. The human experience is generally the same. Situations, and the feelings that arise from these situations, span generations, civilizations, and space and time. It is a basic psychological premise.

The things I feel have been felt by many before me, and will be felt by many after me.

Pain without love. Love with pain. Pain.

In this unjust, imperfect world pain will be felt by all, be it physical, mental, emotional. I submit that people live their lives trying to minimize pain. People want a good job to make money to avoid financial hardship, financial pain. Everyone tries to avoid getting hurt, in basic nature. People avoid situations where they feel uncomfortable, or where they will be rejected. Sex does not drive people; pain avoidance is their goal.

People may even make others feel pain, just so they can avoid pain. Or people may endure more pain, so that another experiences less. When a society is added to the mix (friends, family, and all other human interaction), it becomes the matter of balancing one's pain avoidance versus an acceptable level of pain to others, or perhaps, in fact, pain-minimization of others.

Every decision made [is such], cost-benefit, pain-gain, and so it goes. A complex web of interactions, and a decision that will cause some pain, and others gain.

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