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motivation for growth. the main idea here this morning, is that without emotional pain, one could never experience joy. i am not quite certain, how much i buy into that this morning, as one may argue that emotional pain and joy may not be entangled in that way. black and white exist independently, one is the absence of color, the other the bend of all colors, so black does not define white. the notion of good and evil, however, do define each other. without a definition of good, there can be no evil, just as ugly and beauty define each other. so concrete, scientific ideas, no matter how subjective, need not be defined by their opposites, but it seems that when one enters into the human realm of perceptions and definitions, there the opposites define each other, seem to apply. which brings me to the thesis at hand, is joy truly the opposite of emotional pain?
where i go with this, is that joy is another term for happiness, extreme happiness, but happiness nevertheless. is emotional pain, truly a lack of happiness? for me, that seems more than a bit simplistic. i can feel emotional pain and happiness at the same time, but can i feel joy and emotional pain at the same time? way too deep of a question to ponder and write about this morning, but certainly one that i can carry through my day.
where does that leave me? well, quite honestly i would have liked the reading to stop at the point that emotional pain, may be a cause for doing something different, just like physical pain, however slight, causes one to roll over in their sleep to prevent getting bedsores, or pull one's hand off a hot burner. emotional pain, i can see is also a response to events in my life, that may have been expected, but are not the way i like them, such as the death of someone close. in that case, the pain i feel, is something that is part of the human condition, and in that moment i may not feel especially joyful, but at least in my experience, that pain never goes away, it just become less intense and evident, i still feel the loss. and yet, i can feel joy today.
where i guess i am going is here: emotional pain and joy are not mutually exclusive entities that define each other, as i have seen that i can feel them both at the same time and i am no longer an emotional sadist or masochist. joy, like truth, is subject to my ever shifting definitions and internal landscape. sure emotional pain, can help me realize when i feel joy, but i disagree that it is necessary for me to realize what joy is all about. that being said, i am not one who likes to dwell in the house of pain, emotionally or physically, so it can be an impetus to do something a little bit different.time however, to go make the donuts, as it were. it is a great day to be clean and to have a very long day stretching ahead of me.

∞ DT ∞