December 12, 2005

• Topics: illusions, creations, heroes, counseling, health, psychology of many things

  
  

   

  
  

  I want to create an image for you in your minds.  Imagine a close friend of yours sitting next to you, and you’re outside on a sunny day.  Now…imagine your friend has just been running, and he ends up jabbing his toe into a sharp rock on the ground.  He quickly drops to the ground, and stairs at his bloody and bleeding toe.  The nail has been half ripped off, exposing the sensitive flesh.  He screaches from the pain, and from the site, and moves quickly to take-care of the wound.  Grabbing a nearby first aid kit, he pulls out a syringe, fills it with clean water, and begins to shoot water on the open wound.  He sees that there are pebbles, dirt, and sand lodged between the nail and the flesh, and decides he needs to simply rip off the nail.  Using his thumb and forefinger of his left hand, he pinches the hanging nail on his toe, which is on his left foot, and has already been partially ripped off on the right side.  He pinches the nail, and he gives it a quick pull.  The nail yanks up a bit, his face grimaces, but the nail remains.  He uses his right hand to hold his left foot down, and proceeds to yank again, and again, his face beginning to cover itself with tears.  He yanks again and again, tugging away, till finally the nail is removed.  At this point, the entire flesh of this left toe is exposed.  The flesh is white, with drips of red blood and black grit mixed into it.  He shoots more water on it, then grabs a tube of antiboitic, spreads it onto a piece of gauze, and begins to press the pad onto the toe, and rub it around…

  
  

  The point of this paragraph wasn’t merely for me to try my hand at descriptive writing…but what I was hoping to do was to create not simply an image for you, but to make you feel something psychologically.  Because what i’ve been thinking about recently, is the idea of “shared pain.”  Why is it that when we see something painful, gross, horrifying, done to someone else, such as the person above ripping off a hanging toe nail, that we oftentimes grimace in pain ourselves?  Why do we feel pain when loved ones feel pain?  Why do we feel inspired when others do inspring things (watch the movie Cinderella Man if you’re looking for inspiration).

  
  

  Since these reacations are usually automatic, I believe them to be subconscious, or inborn reactions…to some extent.  You’ll notice that doctors can do all sorts of gruesome things to people, cutting them open, touching broken limbs, cleaning up blood and other gruesome injuries.  What doctors simply see is biology, and their job is to address whatever accident has occured to the human body.  It’s more likely that they’ve read case studies of things like ripped off toe-nails, and will not react squeamishly.

  
  

  But…what is the psychology of squeamishness?  Why cringe when others get hurt, both physically and mentally?  Is squeamishness natural, and is it desirable?

  
  

  For example, when the Giants kicker Jay Feely was lining up for the game winning field goal agains the Eagles yesturday in overtime, I felt squeemish.  There was no pressure on me, but I felt the pressure that was on the kicker.  I also assume how the kicker is feeling.  It’s likely that at that level, despite having had kicking problems in recent weeks, the kicker, being a professional, does not feel nervous or squeamish despite having a lot of people’s emotions riding on his right foot.

  
  

  I’ve written about this before, as I believe squeamishness to be an emotional reaction, vs. a rational reaction, although it’s hard for me to figure out right now what the relationship between emotions and rationality are.

  
  

  A new idea I want to tackle is the idea of creation and illusions.  Here’s where I’ll need some of your knowledge to help me, but it seems to me that what makes human beings different from all other species, is that we consciously create things, whether it be dwellings, communities, meals, or the ideas in which we communicate.  Other animals create, but it’s hard to say there’s any awareness of what they’re doing.

  
  

  Without communication, I think it’s fair to say that what human beings uniquely create, are ideas.  Other animals may create homes, or art, but only humans have the capacity to have come up with an idea called “art.”  Also…while many animals experience emotions and psychological reactions to various things (mating rituals, fight-or-flight reactions), humans have an extensive range of emotions.  I believe many of those emotions are only the result of our ability to create ideas.

  
  

  For example, if one gives food to someone on the streets, both people are likely to experience uniquely human emotions, such as gratitude and humbleness.

  
  

  In addition to being able to create these unique emotions, the fact that we’ve created complex societies, has naturally bred unique psychological states.  Whereas in cave men days, men would simply club a woman over the head, and drag her home, humans now have to rely on a wide range of techniques before finding themselves in a relationship.  If you used cave man courting techniques, you’d quickly find yourself locked up behind bars.

  
  

  So…I’ve gone in a bit into the idea of creating, and I now want to attempt to explore the idea of “illusions.”  Illusions usually means something that is not real, such as a mirage or a magic trick.  In these two examples, illusions can be both entertaining, as well as leading one down the wrong path.

  
  

  I believe life as we know it, the idea that there is objective importance in our lives, that what we do “matters” is to some extent, an illusion.  I say this because, besides our unique differences from other animals to create ideas and meaning in our lives, we are essentially no different than any different animal.  And…the very fact that what makes us different from animals, our ability to “create ideas and meaning in our lives,” has brought me to the conclusion that there is nothing “natural” about ideas or meanings, rather, they are things that human being have built. 

  
  

  Without language, would human beings have any ideas or life purpose, or would we be essentially the same as monkeys, snakes, chickens, or any other animal? 

  
  

  Now…moving onto another of the topics I had listed above, the idea of heroes.  The movie Cinderella Man is about an Irish boxer during the Great Depression, who quickly became an inspiration and a hero to many.  The fighter, played by Russell Crow, was no different than any other human being…yes his status was different.  Why?  Because human beings are capable of creating heroes, of developing the illusion that a person is beyond human.

  
  

  To summarize…human beings are unique in that we create things.  Some of the things in which we create are illusions, things which we believe to be true, but are not necessarily true.  In doing so, we affect our psychology and our emotions, by giving our lives meaning and purpose.  In essence, we live through the emotions (the pain, suffering, joy, humility) of others.

  • 10:35 am
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