In 1929 Rene' Magritte painted a now super famous painting
of a large wooden pipe(tobacco) with the writing ''This is not
a pipe'' under it. This caused a bit of a stir as most people
looking at the painting would exclaim: ''Of course it is
a pipe!'' But, if one was to be really finnicky, it is not
(and this is what Magritte was trying to say)
a pipe, it is the representation of a pipe.
it's not a crow. It is acrylic paint on
a canvas.
Some hold the opinion that all art is
in some way or another.........
representational, some others do not.
It is a philosophical quandary that's been
debated for years and years without at this point,
having come up with a definitive outcome
either way.
As a lyricist(song writer) I have come to understand
just how tricky it can be to come up with
representations/definitions of a large number of words.
Take the word ''colour'' for instance, how would
one depict/explain/define it to someone who is
born blind?
Words that are not physical/tangible and or
words that rely heavily on context can be very hard
to conceptualize. (depict)
Such as subjective words: feelings, opinions,
beliefs, interpretations, big, small, tasty, bitter etc. etc. etc.
Words like: time, reality, consciousness, mind,
soul and many more. One of them is pain, which is
what I am going to try and write about today.
The top image is called ''PAIN'' and is one
of my attempts at depicting how I experience pain
visually. (Tangibly)
Pain is a constant companion of mine but I have
never thought of trying to paint what that feeling
could possibly look like. Until, that is, the moment that
I realized that every time I had a neck and shoulders massage
and closed my eyes, I could ''see'' the same vivid colours
(how is that even possible??)on the inside of my eyelids.
The more the massage hurt, the more vivid the colours.
And, now.....strangely.....those colour combinations
seem to only show up when I have a massage.
For the last 15 years or so my son has been suffering with
chronic pain all through his body. This affects him in a number
of ways which in turn affects his emotional well-being
as well as his physical ability to do his work.(Composer)
When I was a performing musician I had to carry very heavy
musical equipment every time I did a gig(job), as well
as standing for hours upon hours while playing keyboards.
One day, a long time ago, I forgot to lift my keyboard amp
the ''right'' way and so managed to destroy my muscles
and ligaments in my lower back.
The pain that I experienced made me collapse on the floor
and unable to move any body parts without invoking
excruciating pain for the next two weeks.
Going to the toilet was a massive under-taking as
I had to crawl on the floor in order to
get to the toilet to empty my bladder.
However, eventually I managed to
''swim away''(in a pool)enough acute pain so that
I could keep playing and earn a living.
Years later when I quit performing live,
I was left with a chronic
severe bursitis all through my neck and shoulders.
Pain, used to be defined as a physical sensation.
These days however, many define it as a complex
biopsychosocial experience.
Huh? And in other words?
It is not a simple reflex(physical sensation) demanding
our attention, rather,
pain is a warning system with biological,
cognitive, emotional and social components.
These different components(elements) protects
tissues and drives behaviour, so says those in the know.
Pain is a subjective experience and the way we
respond to and deal with it, is therefore subjective.
For the purpose of this post I will write about
two types.
Acute pain is a temporary pain caused by a temporary
illness or injury.
Once triaged the healing can begin and often
the level of pain begins to subside.(Usually, not always)
Chronic pain is persistent and even after
the initial injury/illness is triaged and resolved,
the pain can linger for a number of different reasons.
This affects nearly all aspects of the sufferer's
life such as: cognitive function, memory, emotional
well being, sleep, mood and general outlook on life.
Chronic pain keeps the sympathetic nervous-
system on high alert which affects the immune-system.
This often leads to fatigue, which often result
in the sufferer feeling socially alienated.
In my view,
dealing with chronic pain would be a lot easier
if people could contain themselves from passing
unfair judgement and whisper under their breath:
''It's all in the head.''
I wish that sometimes ''pain-doubters'' could let go
of their dis-belief in that us(chronic pain sufferers)are
actually experiencing as much pain as we say we are,
because I believe that perhaps then us ''Chronic's''
may be able to feel a little bit less judged,
and a little bit more understood.
Suggestion: What people with chronical pain really want
is to not have to fake feeling well.
(Lustercraft)
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