I can't say I've been through anything nearly as bad as a concentration camp, but I have definitely been through situations in which I've found suffering to be beneficial.
When we feel emotional pain, it's often a far larger feeling than any other emotion we've felt. Last year I went through a tremendously painful period of my life, and I found myself reeling at the pure depth of the emotion inside me. I had never felt so much before.
What I found after the painful period was over was that I was suddenly able to experience all of my emotions to a greater extent. When I'm happy, I am now capable of being unbelievably exuberant. When I'm nervous, I can feel my blood pumping through my veins. And when I'm content, I feel peace like I've never felt it before.
The phenomenon seemed to be as follows: when I suffered, the pain dug deep down within me, far deeper than anything else had ever delved. As it did so, it burrowed through cavities of extreme emotions that had been suppressed inside me for years.
This is my theory: all of our human emotions function as one, to a certain extent. By dampening one of them, you by effect dampen all of them. Sorrow and anger are perhaps the only emotions that are harsh enough to break through our artificial seals and retrieve them.
I find this shockingly accurate. I agree that people who experience suffering significantly in their individual lives, have some kind of greater understanding of human emotions, theirs and everyone else's.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very intriguing argument. I agree with you. When Frankl wrote about his experiences in the concentration camp, it seemed to me that all of his suffering really struck a chord in his mind. He developed his mind and was able to survive the camps through his intellectual experiences. It seems that suffering makes a person stronger.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome, Rosie! Your last piece about how sorrow and anger strike us the most was thought provoking. Maybe we think we feel those the most, but we fail to account for the amazing feelings in life because they go by so quickly and easily. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good way of putting it. I think the idea of pain being the only way to break through the seals we've put up is pretty accurate.
ReplyDelete