In the last article (part 1) I ended by saying that the perception of pain and pleasure depends upon an individual’s belief. But I realize that the word ‘belief’ is too broad to explain specific reactions to specific issues. If the belief about a specific incident of thing is considered, it can be called a ‘concept’.
Concept can be defined as the collection of knowledge, experience and attitude regarding a subject. This concept will determine how an individual feels about a particular incident. For example, regarding marijuana, if a person knows about the smell, taste, effects of it he or she will recall all of that as soon as someone talks about it. All those sensory recollection will trigger a feeling, good or bad – in that individual and that feeling will be dealt with by concepts. One may crave for marijuana while another might be disgusted by it as the concepts take control. A joke that makes fun of the Jews may understandably appear funnier to a non-Jew.
At the sensory basis, things may remain the same, and this sensation does have a huge impact on how we perceive things, but only concept has the power to guide that sensation towards pain or pleasure. You may have heard of the companion of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was crying in the face of death, not because he was about to be killed by the enemy of Islam, but because he had only one life to sacrifice for Allah (SWT). This is what concept does to the feeling of pain and pleasure.
But there can be times when the mind betrays the concept. When one just can’t stop feeling pleasure at doing something he or she knows is wrong, or can’t stop feeling pain or guilt at doing something that he or she knows is the right thing to do. Why do these incidents occur?
A probable answer to this is the context. It is the role of socially accepted thoughts. Every individual judges his or her action with multiple standards. These are the standards he or she adopted, and the standards adopted by the various social circles with which the individual relates to. For example, when a young lad goes out with his girlfriend, he will consider how his friends will see it, how his family, locality etc will react to it and so on. Each different judgment will invoke different emotions in him. This is likely to push him in an emotional cocktail if the judgments vary too much among different groups.
Another probable cause is the strength of the individual’s concepts. Contradictory concepts may well live inside an individual resulting in inconsistent feelings.
Most importantly perhaps, there is the role of the divine power. There will be times of great sorrow when one suddenly finds strength to overcome all oppositions, and there will be times of great joy that just will not feel right for some unknown reason. The unexplained bit, the God Particle from the beginning of time may never be fully understood by us. Until then, let us just pray and hope for a pleasant time.
You may also read these two articles: (a) The Dilemma of Pain and Pleasure – Part 1 and (b) Fluid Belief
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
Concept can be defined as the collection of knowledge, experience and attitude regarding a subject. This concept will determine how an individual feels about a particular incident. For example, regarding marijuana, if a person knows about the smell, taste, effects of it he or she will recall all of that as soon as someone talks about it. All those sensory recollection will trigger a feeling, good or bad – in that individual and that feeling will be dealt with by concepts. One may crave for marijuana while another might be disgusted by it as the concepts take control. A joke that makes fun of the Jews may understandably appear funnier to a non-Jew.
At the sensory basis, things may remain the same, and this sensation does have a huge impact on how we perceive things, but only concept has the power to guide that sensation towards pain or pleasure. You may have heard of the companion of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was crying in the face of death, not because he was about to be killed by the enemy of Islam, but because he had only one life to sacrifice for Allah (SWT). This is what concept does to the feeling of pain and pleasure.
But there can be times when the mind betrays the concept. When one just can’t stop feeling pleasure at doing something he or she knows is wrong, or can’t stop feeling pain or guilt at doing something that he or she knows is the right thing to do. Why do these incidents occur?
A probable answer to this is the context. It is the role of socially accepted thoughts. Every individual judges his or her action with multiple standards. These are the standards he or she adopted, and the standards adopted by the various social circles with which the individual relates to. For example, when a young lad goes out with his girlfriend, he will consider how his friends will see it, how his family, locality etc will react to it and so on. Each different judgment will invoke different emotions in him. This is likely to push him in an emotional cocktail if the judgments vary too much among different groups.
Another probable cause is the strength of the individual’s concepts. Contradictory concepts may well live inside an individual resulting in inconsistent feelings.
Most importantly perhaps, there is the role of the divine power. There will be times of great sorrow when one suddenly finds strength to overcome all oppositions, and there will be times of great joy that just will not feel right for some unknown reason. The unexplained bit, the God Particle from the beginning of time may never be fully understood by us. Until then, let us just pray and hope for a pleasant time.
You may also read these two articles: (a) The Dilemma of Pain and Pleasure – Part 1 and (b) Fluid Belief
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.