Multiplex Pain

These 14k gold earrings have sharpened posts, and are used specifically for ear piercing.

Pain that an individual has endured, and his or her digestion of it, speaks loudly and honestly of the individual’s character and personal history. I think of it much like the brilliant glint on the edge of a sharp blade or a diamond’s many facets.

I sense that it is not so far fetched to contrast intangible emotional pain or distress with visible ones. Human perception is capable of recognizing a vast variety of pain, in both its physical form and otherwise. Pain comes in many different flavors, so to speak.

I think it is important not to try to lump pain into one faceless mass, but to attempt to identify it in order to achieve some sort of diagnosis. From this process it is possible to recognize sources, symptoms, and a resolution. And even a way to savor its characteristics.

Consider the different kinds of pain that are available, which occur for different reasons, and entail different consequences. Pain that we feel in our bones and muscles after exercising, for instance, is welcomed and considered a necessity. This is generally a common knowledge.

Then there is pain that is inflicted from tedious repetition, as to form a callous or thick scar tissue. I’ve found that more often than not, this is willfully self-inflicted. Pain as a consequence of punishment, like when a dentist drills your teeth because of your own ignorant neglect, is again of a different nature.

Some types of pain do not just scar but disfigure. The worst that I think we’ve all witnessed before are things like contagious diseases, or amputation. A familiar story: an animal caught in a bear trap gnaws off its limb in order to escape death. This animal might live but is guaranteed to remain crippled.

Some types of pain are fatal. This may be where intangible pain meets physical pain.

And then, there is pain of varying intensity but of no permanence. Like a small paper cut, a stubbed toe, or a grain of sand caught in the rim of an eyelid. Tears are shed and the grain of sand is forgotten. No new meaning is formed, nothing is gained.

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