What is Pain?

Up till today, scientist has very little understanding of how pain works. Some scientists describe pain as “a complex mixture of emotions, culture, experience, spirit and sensation."

I came across a very interesting situation when watching a drama show.

A patient’s right foot was infected with flesh-eating bacteria. For the past few days, he had been living in agony and pain in his right foot. The infection was so bad that the doctor had no choice but to amputate his right leg, from the knee down.

After the operation, his right leg, from the knee down was gone. But for the next few days, the patient still complains about pain in his right leg.

There was once in the lift, he met with a very experience doctor. He told the doctor, there is still pain in his right leg. The doctor asked him to close his eyes, feel the pain and tell him where the pain is. He close his eyes and told the doctor, the pain is in his right foot, and he then uses his hands and try to touch his right foot where the pain was.

Of course, he couldn’t feel anything down there as his right foot had already been amputated. Shocked, he looked at the doctor. The doctor then explained to him that the painful part of his leg is already gone, but his mind has yet adjusted to the new situation.

Now comes the big question.

If his leg is gone but he is still feeling the same pain, is the pain in his leg or in his mind all this time?

Surprise Surprise

I thought I should take some time this week to thank a few people that are very important to my blog.

Universe in a single atom started on 22 June 07, my very first blog. I’m very new to blogging and I don’t blog everyday as I am holding a full time job. I am still learning and blogging at the same time.

Nearly 2 months into blogging, I got so much surprises and so much support from the folks at Bloglog which totally surprises me.

I got 2 Inspirational Blogger Awards this month, first from Jennifer at Goodness Graciousness and the other from Trish at Breathing. I really appreciate them for giving me this award and it really gives me a lot of encouragement.

Jennifer has a wonderful blog. I really think she deserves the Inspirational Blogger Award. Her blog provides a lot of insights & awareness and it really inspires people.

I love what Trish says about truth “What seems to me to be truth one day may pass like the wind through the trees and disappear the next”. Trish only listened to the heart speak and those who speak from the heart are the most inspiring people.

So much surprises and I really want to say a big thank you to all of you.

Ever since I started blogging, I have visited many great blogs. And here are some of them that I think deserve the awards.

Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness. Rick’s blog is devoted to provide information that will help in changing beliefs and creating a better life. Rick mentioned about my blog A Peep at the Monster in his Sunday Reading 15 July 2007. That was my fifth writing and that has given me so much encouragement to keep writing. Thank you Rick!

Karen at Journey at Water Learner. Living a life with awareness. Thought provoking and enlightening blog filled with honesty.

Sujit at gurushabad. Great music accompanied by great wisdom. Knowing ownself is wisdom, I love that.

Joel at Fearless Dreams. Great articles, informative and inspiring. A blog worth reading.

Jackal at Jackal. Jackal suffers from mental illness (borderline personality disorder). She had recently been awarded the courageous award but I still wanted to give this to her as she really deserves this. Jackal, be brave.

To read more about the Inspirational Blog Award please visit Christy at Writer's Review.

Value of human life?

When it comes to precious and valuables gems and diamond, there are some who like to collect, some like to show it off as a form of status, others aspire to have them. I was thinking what gives things a value? When it comes to fashion, gems, electronics, what gives them a value? From economist’s point of view, it is the demand and supply that give rise to the value of an item. From marketer’s point of view, the value is determined by the perceived benefits successfully portrayed in a series of advertisements, packaging, display, location of sales, etc.

This means that there is no fixed value on any item. The value of all things in this world is fixed by each individual. The market can fix a Tag watch at $1,000, but I can value this watch at $2,000 and I would think that at $1000, I actually got a good bargain. On the other hand, if I value this watch at only $500, I would not pay for that price they are selling.

A lot of the determine factor for the value came from the expectation of society, the people around us, the advertisements, our family, added to this expectation. Diamonds and gems, perceived to be valuable, portrayed as prestige by marketers, are valued at high price by the society.

Anyone that has watched the movie on Blood Diamond, will probably give a second thoughts when it comes to buying diamonds. Greed propels some beings to value money and gems more than anything else. It is just madness that we human are willing to sacrifice the precious life of another human just to get a piece of element existed in this world, excavated from the earth FREE.

It really makes me wonder, how much is our human life worth?

With no marketers and no demand and supply to fix a price, what is the perceived value of a human life?

Riding the Roller Coaster

The past few days have been a roller coaster ride for me. One moment I’m happy, the next moment I fell into frustration and the next I’m depressed. Work has been frustrating. I became so emotionally tired.

I started to blame the company, the management, the processes, colleagues and everyone else. I begin to hope for a new job, new colleagues, new management. Maybe things will be better if I change a new environment. I wanted to escape from all these unhappiness, from all these madness and I wanted to look for happiness and peace somewhere else.

Then I begin to wonder, how many times have I experience these before? How many escapes have I made in the past? I have been changing jobs, always in search of a “better place”.

I realized that there is no better place in our outer world. Things and people always change. The things that bring us happiness today, might not bring us happiness tomorrow. For example, my manager praise me yesterday and I became very happy, but today, he reprimanded me and I became depressed and frustrated.

I always thought that I would be happier if I get a new job, or a new bag or a new mobile. But that happiness only lasted very briefly. So I concluded that true happiness and peace couldn’t be found externally.

If we continued to search for peace and happiness in all these things out there, we will always be riding the roller coaster, up one day and down the other. True peace lies in the heart. What this means is that we should practice looking inwards for inner peace.

When we look inwards, we will see that a lot of our unhappiness came about because we are either constantly looking to escape from this unpleasant situation or we are constantly looking forward to new pleasure. When we are here, we wish to be there. We can’t be truly enjoying.

It is time to stop whining and stop escaping. I’ll pack up my emotional baggage and start breathing.