THE PLEASURE-PAIN CONTINUUM...

 ...OR HOW I DISCOVERED THE MEANING OF LIFE IN A DENTIST'S CHAIR.

I have my most profound thoughts about twice a year, sitting in my dentist's office, with a nitrous oxide mask over my nose. Since I don't partake of marijuana nowadays, even though it's legal, my semi-annual dental appointments are my only opportunity to get high. (I do drink alcohol on occasion, but it doesn't have the same effect. I'm more likely to fall asleep after a couple of drinks, than to experience nirvana and become open to the secrets of the universe.) The high I get from nitrous oxide is much more intense than any affects I feel from alcohol, and probably approximate that of recreational drugs. It's been too many decades since I've indulged in any of those, so I can't really make a precise comparison.

One of those profound thoughts, which I was blessed with just the other day, was a concept I'll call the "pleasure-pain continuum." I'm sure I'm not the first person to conceive this idea, but it feels worthy enough for me to share with you.

All sentient creatures have the ability to experience both pleasure and pain, though only humans have the vocabulary to discuss and analyze it. Pleasure and pain is a continuum, and since we cannot literally feel someone else's pain or pleasure, we've come up with ways to describe and communicate it to each other. Patients in hospitals are often asked to rate their pain level on a scale of 1 to 10. For me, the worse pain I've ever experienced was following a medical procedure many years ago. I was hospitalized for a couple of days, with a morphine drip attached to my arm. I'm fine now, and though it's hard to reconstruct that sensation in my brain (probably a good thing), I do remember how miserable I was for those few days.

Though not everyone has been hospitalized or had a serious medical condition, most of us have had the "pleasure" of sitting in a dentist's chair. I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to pain, so I'll happily take Novocain or nitrous oxide when offered. If I want to describe the epitome of pain, dentistry provides a useful lexicon that most people can relate to. To me, having an extraction, filling or root canal without pain medication of any kind, is the worst pain I can conceive. Being drawn and quartered (like criminals were in the old days) is probably even worse than any dental procedure, but I have no reference point to that level of pain. I can only imagine it and I don't want to. 

The other end of the continuum is pleasure, which is a lot easier to focus on. Many people use erotic imagery to describe the ultimate experience of ecstasy, and I've even used the word "orgasmic" to describe non-sexual pleasures, such as the most delicious food I've ever eaten. We all know what pleasure feels like, but it's different for each of us. For some, sexual pleasure is the pinnacle, while for others, it may be an enjoyable experience like a fabulous concert, an exquisite work of art, a perfect sunset at the beach, a succulent filet mignon, a luscious dessert, or just the warm and loving companionship of friends and family.

But what does all this have to do with "the meaning of life" as I've suggested above? I've always been of a philosophical bent, and have pondered this question most of my life. I remember a certain period in my late teens and early twenties when I was obsessed with finding the meaning of life. I explored various religions (read my other blogposts on that subject) and at times felt like I was having an existential crisis. As I've gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I've come to believe that as interesting as the subject may be, too much philosophizing about arcana can be detrimental to one's mental health, and I'm unlikely to discover the secrets of the universe until I'm on the other side of the grave, if then. I've previously blogged about the dangers of introspection, and remind myself that I should make the best of the life I have now, since this may be the only one I have. 

My nitrous oxide induced conclusion, at least while sitting in the dentist's chair, was that we may never know the meaning of life, but what we can know and understand is the life we are living right now, and that all of our emotions, sensations and experiences lie somewhere along the pleasure-pain continuum. It is primal, existential and universal. Even my cat Dexter understands this, though he doesn't have the words to communicate it. I know he feels pain, when I accidentally step on his tail, and his purring, kneading and nuzzling when I pet him  suggest pleasure, or whatever the equivalent is for a cat. None of us know, but all of us feel. I think we should savor life as best we can, and experience joy in whatever form is meaningful for each of us.