Pain is a Subjective Experience

Since all of humanity KNOWS what pain is, how can there, then, be a question on what it really is?

The people who are disabled tend to want to increase the number of disabled parking spots, and smooth out those curbs. The youngsters among us say, even if under their breaths, "Why should that old guy get the best parking space?"

Pain is a sensation to which we have applied the label of "unpleasant." One person's pain is another person's pleasure, so we can start this work with a clear understanding of the fact that the sensation is very personal to each of us. Even one person, one day, will label some sensation as unpleasant, but another day call it fun.

Thus, the "pleasant" sensation of sexual stimulation is "very light" while it is still a sensation as the hammer hits the toe. One type of "sensation" can be pleasant but becomes "pain" at "another" level.

Most scientists and doctors also realize that pain is very subjective. If I say some sensation is unpleasant (for me) then it IS unpleasant. You could if you were foolish, say, "Oh, Well! When I had that same hit on my toe, I am sure it hurt me more than it did you!" (Or less!) Doctors have learned to take YOUR word for it. You say, "It hurts!" They believe you (or lose customers.)

At least, we think, we can tell rather objectively when the pain sensation is getting less, or getting worse. If the guy says, "It is twice as painful now than it was!" he is "right!" Or, he says, "The pain is getting less -- I can actually put my attention on the book and read -- whereas an hour ago I could do nothing but think of the pain. It is definitely getting less!" He is right.

It's interesting that we can feel more confident in judging the direction in which the pain is moving, if not "how much pain" we have compared to someone else.

But, two persons, each with a hammer-hit toe, presumably feeling a rather similar sensation, could each also take some pain-killer, some aspirin, and one will say, "The pain is getting worse! I must see a doctor now!" while another would say, "The pain is going away!"

Not only is pain very personal, but pain-killers are also variable in their action.

So, we are increasingly certain that pain is personal, subjective, and is a variable even for one person having what seems to be the same experience (of impact).

We can easily recall or imagine the experience when a hammer hits our toe -- that is easy to see and feel. We expect just about everyone to feel pain when that happens.

Let's consider a hypothesis -- one that is suggested for testing, advanced to see if it backed up by other observations and logic. Perhaps we can start with this hypothesis, almost out of the ether and find the truth!

I offer you something to chew on, mentally. I suggest that the sensation that is real to you, even though you admit that it is personal to you, and subjective, COULD be "felt" because you have suddenly thought of (unconsciously) memories of earlier pain that was somehow similar. This is particularly likely to happen when you are sad, rather than when you are happy. This sadness is the dimension of emotional tone in illness and pain!

So, you were hammered on the toe, many times, figuratively, and each time it hurt. But, also, each time you were hit on the toe it reminded you that something similar had happened before. You might even recall the specific instances.

Your memories are actually stored in the form of "pictures." For a full historical explanation of how these "pictures" work, click here. That is old stuff -- you could read it, but you don't need to for the purpose of understanding pain. Now, if you want a much more current, and more accurate description of pain, you should read the Book, Dianetics, by L. Ron Hubbard.

Below is an examples of how people see something in the current physical universe, but a previous picture comes into action. In other words, he looks at a hammer or a toe and, perhaps a past picture of a hammer or a toe is now influencing him. Why? Because in this type of action it is rational to his mind that a hammer is the same thing as a toe, so the toe-pictures come into influence him, and any pain in them.

In the first panel, he sees a hammer and it does nothing more than remind him (unconsciously) of a hammer. This is "normal" for people in good condition.

Something happens to this guy -- we don't know what! Now the actual sight of a hammer reminds him somehow of a toe that had been hit by a hammer. He may or may not SEE the hurt toe, but he will feel it. There is no pain in the present time scene, but there is pain in the picture he thinks of -- so he feels pain in his toe.

Why? Because this is crazy. The hammer seems, in his crazy mind just then, to be the same as the toe that was hurt by a hammer, so it is the hurt-toe picture that becomes active for him (and any pain it contains).

Then he happens to look at a hammer. His toe was not hurting before he looked at the hammer. The hammer reminds him of the time a hammer hit his toe and NOW the toe hurts. It is a physical pain -- if you measured for inflammation in the area of the toe you would find it.

There is really a hammer there, but because his thinking is all fuzzy from argument, there comes to his unconsciousness a previous picture of a hammer and toe (with its pain, perhaps). He may not see the toe with his eye balls, but the hurt-toe picture, with its pain is what is affecting him just then.

The above is not likely to happen after ONE tiny accident, but it does happen. When a man has accumulated dozens, even hundreds of harmful incidents, then any part of any one of them can be enough to trigger that picture to cause the pain of that incident. Where does that toe picture come from? How can that the pain in the toe picture be so real to the man who is NOT looking at a toe? (This may not be real to you if you have never had an argument or accident! Even if you fall down a lot you won't be aware of your own pictures as being "wrong.")

These are vital questions which could be answered if scientists had any clue of how to study such matters. They don't. The only explanation is in that previously referenced Book, Dianetics. They don't understand "mind" and therefore all their science is built on false premises. Like the biblical parable, the man who builds his house on sand has no solid foundation.

These "memories" that are the cause of much of the pain you experience are not of present time physical actions. They are "in your mind" somehow, from past experiences.

Leaving for a while what is the "mind," you know you have one, and you can probably accept that memories come into your mind. You can "think" about the day you got hit on the toe with a hammer.

If I say to you, "Recall an early birthday party," most of you will be able to do that easily. You were thinking of whatever, and now, suggested by me, you think of a party. The picture is real. You know it is a picture, but it is there and you can describe what is in it. (Most of you!) Usually it is easier to see the picture of the party with your eyes closed -- this demonstrates the fact, incidentally, that it is NOT your eye balls that are doing this type of "seeing."

What you may not realize is that just thinking about that earlier incident (hammer-hit toe) can and does cause you to think that your toe hurts "right now," as if a hammer had just hit it. That pain is "real" because you can feel it. The fact that there is no hammer on the toe doesn't matter -- you feel the pain. It is real.

If someone tells you that "your pain is in your head" he usually means you are crazy and need a psychiatrist. This is a harmful intention because they usually mean that the pain is NOT real.

It is possible that just THINKING about an earlier hammer-hit-toe event in the past will make your toe hurt now. But, in most likelihood, your recalling that incident from the past was caused by the fact that there was also a physical hit to the toe, now, rather similar to the one in the past. You can see your toe swelling up. You FEEL the pain in your toe. You also think about that past toe-hitting incident.

It is very possible that the pain you "feel," right now, is caused by TWO things. One cause of the pain is the hammer hitting your toe -- right now. The other thing causing you to have the sensation of pain could well be the memory of pain from the past incident.

All we have to do is arbitrarily decide that "memory" includes some feature that can impose itself on the physical body in such a way that the physical body experiences pain, even when, perhaps, there was no actual physical incident NOW. We make that arbitrary decision as a hypothesis, and then test it. We will find it to be valid. You are reading about a revolution on the subject of "pain."

In contrast with the simple explanation, consider the state of research into pain in today's scientific community. They have a glimpse of the truth, but can only describe it in complicated words which, when you follow them, wind up to have no structure in reality.

(Click on that strange word, "diathesis," below to go to an old explanation. It is overly simplistic to define "diathesis" as "picture" but that is quite close.)

The last sentence is fascinating. Are they not saying that "past memories" of pain can exacerbate the pain in a present time incident? There is a more modern, much better researched word, now, called the "engram."

You can have nothing hitting your toe today -- no possibility of "left-over" pain from yesterday, and if someone reminds you of the hit-on-the-toe incident of two years ago, you can (many do) get a twinge of pain, RIGHT NOW, in your toe.

This sensation in your toe, now, may well be less, but it could even be as large a quantity of pain as you think there was two years ago when the physical event occurred. In most cases the earlier incident is not something you are aware of. It is like a "hidden incident" that is affecting your feeling of pain. Since it is hidden, of course, you don't recognize this as a source of pain. This picture is like an invisible person walking along beside you -- whispering in your ear, "Your toe hurts!"

How many different "memories" might you have that contain pain? Could it be thousands? If any one of those memories gets restimulated, without your particularly noticing this, do you think you could experience pain -- somewhere in your body? In your head? The Bayer Aspirin people have been selling their product since 1899. Don't you think they might have some idea of what pain is? They say there are about 165 types of headache pain. What could restimulate one of these memories? Could it be "tension" whatever that is?

There is another scientific way of understanding the impact of past memories.

You may or may not be familiar with hypnotism. If you are you would agree that the person who has no physical pains TODAY, can be hypnotized and told that his toe was just hit by a hammer, and that his toe hurts like the dickens --right now. You then tell him that the pain is going to continue for the rest of the day. You then bring him out of his hypnotized state, with the warning that he will not remember whatever happened during the hypnotism.

He wakes up, but immediately complains that his toe hurts. He will look for logical reasons why his toe should hurt. He may accuse you of stepping on his toe. He will look for some logical reason to explain his hurting toe.

No matter how foolish his reason might be, he will find something to believe, and his toe will still hurt. What was the "command phrase" you gave him while he was hypnotized will operate right on time. At the exact moment you commanded, the pain will suddenly disappear. He will have some (false) logical explanation for this also.

If you told him, while he was hypnotized, that the hurt toe would quit hurting at 4:00 PM, then after he is out of his hypnotized state, some hours later at 4 PM his toe will no longer hurt. Up to that time the toe hurts like the dickens.

It is even common to tell the guy, while he is hypnotized, that when he is "awake" every time you start adjusting your tie, his toe will hurt, and stop hurting when you let go of your tie. He wakes up from hypnotism, you start to adjust your tie, he yells, "Ouch! My toe hurts" and he looks for some logical reason. You let go of your tie -- his pain goes away. He says, "Oh, it must have been something temporary." The game goes on.

In fact it is the "game of life" that continues with these memory-based pains.

But if you really know hypnotism you also know that this compulsion you have laid in will not last long -- a few hours, or so, then tugging on your tie does nothing to him.

So, we know that hypnotism is a very powerful "something" and not to difficult to do. We may even study it enough to know that some people can be hypnotized and others cannot!

But, leaving aside the vital details, we should be able to prove to ourselves and others that the "mind" (if that is what it is) is very powerful, and that a "suggestion" given to the person, to his mind, can cause him to feel pain when there was no physical impact of any type with his toe.

It may not be successful all the time, but there are still thousands of "hypnotists" who charge a fee for helping you to stop smoking. They may use different approaches, but one way or another they implant into your mind some idea about smoking (that it tastes horrible, for instance) and all too often the person wakes up, reaches for a smoke, and realizes that the taste of the cigarette is horrible -- he cannot imagine that he used to enjoy smoking.

The hypnotists realizes that this implant might last only a few days, or weeks, so the whole thing is renewed.

There is no question that the CIA, working with psychiatrists and others, in secret programs to

learn how to control the mind, achieved at least limited success. The story about the Manchurian Candidate may seem like fiction to many, but it is all too real to others. Click here for a complete review of CIA incursions into mind control. Are you too young to remember the Manchurian Candidate? Click on Frank Sinatra's image, on the left, for that old movie story.

Let's pursue this path of understanding "pain" by going down this interesting road of hypnotism

I want to jump far ahead to give you a final conclusion, that hypnotism IS NOT the full explanation of how memories can cause pain, but it is an acceptable starting point.

Let's jump to the question of where and what the "mind" is. If hypnotism can "control" the mind, what is being controlled and where is it? That answer is fully available, but I'll not go into it here.

I won't try to answer all that very deep question right away, but let me then pose another question. Is it possible that living cells in the body have their own memories? Is "memory" a characteristic of living organisms? Does a fish have a memory? Can a fish learn?

I suggest that you need to have answers to all these questions if you want to understand pain.

Cellular Memory

Western Science has no clue on the term "memory" because the experts look within structure for the mind. The mind is not the brain. Once someone comes to grip with this truth, he could possibly start trying to understand cellular memory.

You cannot understand "pain" without also understanding at least some part of memory, and particularly cellular memory.

Here is a true example of cellular memory, without delving into the location of the mind.

A fish is normally hungry and spends much of its time swimming around, looking for food.

In the course of these travels it may find food very often in warm water, and not find food in colder water. The fish will "learn" that it should spend more time swimming in warm water. This may have been true for centuries, in which case you could say that this fish is acting on instinct. So the fish normally looks in the warmer water for food, and the warmer water would normally be near the surface, and in shallow water.

The fish is swimming, looking for food, and it swims in shallow water where there happens to be a rather rare red coral growing in this area of water. These are coral that are red while most other coral is lighter in color. (True about red coral or not, the example applies.)

The fish is swimming in this area for the first time and as he is about to catch some food the fish is attacked from behind by a much larger fish -- the larger fish manages to get a bite out of the tale of the small fish.

The small fish, of course, recognizes the bite as harmful, and as a warning to leave rapidly.

The small fish may have an "instinct" or a "memory" that "pain in the tail" is equal to being bitten, and maybe to being dead. But his action is "RUN!"

The small fish has a new observation in this example. The pain in the tail came at the same time as the fish saw red colored coral. (I do not try to claim that fish can see or not see "color" here.)

The fish "learned" that "red" is "dangerous." (Assuming that red coral is rather rare, then we would not expect the fish to have lots of previous instances of being bitten at the same time as he was close to red coral.)

This is the most simple of memories -- something is equal to something. "Red" equals "pain!"

The image on the left may be a type of experience which is too complicated to be stored into memory and used. The fish sees a piece of "bait." The fish cannot see the hook in the bait. He swallows the bait and gets caught. Maybe he learned, maybe he didn't but he is no longer around to remember this lesson. Or, maybe he even SEES the hook, but he also sees the bait. He may or may not have any previous instances of seeing a hook, seeing food, swallowing, and being caught. He may still not be afraid of the baited hook. No instinct, no memory. Or, maybe yes, but the need for food was stronger than the fear of the hook? What a terrible decision for a smart fish!

The fish will avoid areas of water, now, where there is red stuff on the bottom. A very "smart" fish could differentiate between "red coral" and "red trash cans." A more simple memory would equate red coral, red tin cans and pink coral as all the same -- danger. Stay away!

Let me also suppose that big fish are not more likely to attack small fish in either shallow water or in water where there is red stuff on the bottom. So, the "danger" perceived by the small fish, in this example, is not a universal danger of "red stuff" but the accidental conversion of a large fish happening to be swimming in that area at that time -- the large fish was not somehow "attracted" by the red stuff.

The small fish has a new memory. Areas of water where there is red stuff are dangerous. Where there is red stuff in warm water will be a problem of decision for the fish -- it would probably depend on how many times he was bitten on the tail when there was red stuff and how many times he got food when there was warm water. He "decides" on a very primitive basis. Should he let go of the food in his hand to grab the "food" in the mirror? You and I can see the difference between "food" and an "image of food," but don't expect a fish to be that smart.

It is a false perception that "red" equals "danger," but the very limited thinking power of a fish doesn't allow much logic or reasoning.

The small fish had learned, earlier, or by instinct, that shallow warm water is the best place for IT to find food. It has now also "learned" (it could not be instinct) that water with red stuff on the bottom is dangerous.

The small fish now has conflicting data -- more attacks by large fish, particularly in areas of red stuff, could reinforce the "memory" that red stuff is dangerous.

Presumably it would never be rational to figure that "red stuff" is truly dangerous since it could be supposed that the large fish has NOT learned that there is more food to be had where there is red stuff on the sand.

A long story, but that is the background. If you want to quibble with the story, don't. Another story more in keeping with zoology could be generated with ease.

The above could be tested and found true. The task I lay on the scientist, then, is to replicate this example with something more simple -- actual living cells can be observed acting and reacting to various stimuli. You can expose living cells under a microscope to food and to toxins. You would see that the cells move toward food and move away from toxins. There is something going on here. But, you can also make good food APPEAR to be toxic, while it is not. The cells will avoid this food. This would APPEAR to be suicide.

If you are strongly pre-disposed to some other view, you certainly won't be convinced by my simplistic story. I only suggest you accept if for purposes of continuing.

Or, you could make toxic stuff APPEAR to be good (for what is heroin, after all?) and the cells will move toward it. That would APPEAR to be suicide. But, only from your high viewpoint -- not from the viewpoint of the cell. (If not heroin, some other "non-food" -- like sugar!)

So, here is another mind-blowing hypothesis -- living cells can commit suicide, being completely rationale based on their memories. I have studied the actual science on this carefully. There is more evidence of this below.

Cells do learn stuff -- using the type of "learning" described above for fish. It would be even more primitive for a cell.

After doing their own experiment, I then invite this scientist to FIND where this "memory" is located inside the structure of the fish or the cell.

Many years ago the word "engram" was defined as an "engraving" inside a cell! Click for a few paragraphs talking about memory being stored in "engrams." A much more modern definition of "engram" is HERE -- and this one has it right.

Here is a new thought -- group memory. AS a body is made up of many cells, the body has a mind of its own -- affecting, but not necessarily controlling the individual cells. And as the body is nothing more than a group of cells, there are also "sub-groups" of cells -- such as all the cells in the liver, or whatever.

It is likely that all the cells in the liver have a common purpose that is very specific -- the creation and continuing creation, therefore the survival, of the individual cell first, the liver, next, and the body next.

When a cell in the liver is impacted (say, by a pressure, or even a needle) those cells experience pain. How, then, does this experience and this sensation of pain get "felt" in your mind?

Let's consider that the cells, themselves, the ones experiencing pain, generate electrical signals as a result. (This can easily be proven -- check here about the frog).

I appreciate that I am asking you to accept, for purposes of this article, many very new thoughts -- accept them as hypotheses to be tested. After all, pain is a universal experience, and very, very poorly understood despite this universality.

How universal is PAIN? Consider the billions of dollars that are spent every year on prescription drugs that are supposed to handle pain -- add to that the billions spent on non-prescription drugs like aspirin. Perhaps it is not wrong to even think that some amount of money spent on anti-depressants are spent because there is unbearable pain that the person cannot handle. Even alcohol is often consumed to flee from pain. Pain is big business.

Is it too much to think that one guy, in California, with no medical training, can have insights into "what is pain" that no one else has? That, in fact, he has even come up with a remedy for pain that is not harmful? These considerations would be well beyond the reality of most of the people taking those billions of dollars of pain killers!

The electrical signal travels as a nerve impulse through the nerves to the brain. Most people think that the "mind" is the brain. This is one of the foolish myths that has held back any true understanding of the mind. Be that as it may, the electrical signal travels through the body, on nerve cells (fibers), and reaches the brain. Incidentally, even though this signal seems like electricity, it is actually a "nerve impulse" and travels much more slowly than electricity in wires. Nerve messages travel about ten feet per second. That is fast enough so that an impact on the toe is "felt" in the mind, as the signal traveled from the toe to the train, in such a short time that it seems instantaneous.

There is even controversy as to how fast different types of nerve impulses travel. These speeds have been observed, but not measured accurately because scientists don't know what they are measuring.

A few hundred years ago the nature of electricity within the human body was an area of immense controversy. Much of this controversy revolved around the frog.

If you take a recently dead frog, start dissecting it, and apply a small electrical current to the nerve in the leg -- the frog leg "JUMPS." You understand that the frog is dead, but the leg moves! This called into question many of the deepest concepts of life and God.

Finally it was well accepted that the frog leg had cells within it (not yet dead -- since life leaves the body slowly) and that when those cells received an electrical impulse (causing pain, surely) the cells reacted. Whatever the reaction may be, the result was movement of the leg. More accurately, the cells reacted by sending an electrical impulse through the nerve, from the point of contact with the current, to the cells in the muscles (not far away) causing a tightening of the muscles in the leg -- motion.

The application of the electrical current proved that electricity was "moving" through the nerve channels in the frog, reaching the cells. The cells experienced pain and caused the muscles to contract and the leg jumped. Notice that because the frog was "dead" we cannot look to the "mind" ("brain") of the frog as causing any of this -- unless we claim that the mind of the frog is in the cells of its leg?? (Incidentally this same test works even if you cut off the head of the frog!)

From this we can conclude that cells experiencing pain give out pain signals that cause changes in the body -- and it would be no big stretch to assume that these same pain signals could reach the brain (presumably in a live frog) and that the frog would "feel" pain.

The vast omission here should be glaring. The truth here is that if you take a frog leg (the same dead frog) and "HAMMER" on the leg, while attaching electrodes to the nerve channels in that leg, the result will be that nerve signals flow away from the point of impact into the nerve channel and can be registered on an ordinary voltmeter.

These signals would travel all the way to the brain, on the nerve system, if the frog had a head, or were alive. This experiment will work with a dead frog, or just a frog leg! It would work on a live frog too, although that doesn't sound pleasant to do.

This means that an impact creates pain which creates an electrical flow in the nerves. The reverse had been proven, hundreds of years ago, but this undiscovered fact has never been looked for. Hit the frog. Hit your toe! The frog feels pain. You feel pain. An electrical impulse flows from the point of impact to the brain.

How? There is electricity (of a special nature) generated within the cells (either the toe or the frog leg) and that electricity, in the form of nerve impulses travels through the nerve. Some of it hits muscle cells and causes those cells to create a contraction in the frog leg. In YOUR foot, these electrical impulses cause you to pull your foot away from the source of the pain.

You may think that it is YOU (or your mind) that is deciding to pull your foot away from the source of pain. Probably not. Put your hand in a fire, get pain, the hand will move away from the fire before you have time to think about it. Cells do experience pain, in their way, and cause actions in the body.

That is what is called an automatic muscle reaction. But, now you have the explanation.

But, more interestingly, these same impulses travel to the brain and register there as "pain" you can "feel" in your mind. Whether the "leg" feels pain or not you wouldn't know since you don't think of yourself as being "the leg."

Now the million-dollar question. Could the stored memory of this incident INCLUDE the "memory" of the nerve impulse? Does this mean that the memory of previous pain (in the toe) can be recalled and could that memory carry something that would cause an electrical impulse to travel from the brain to the toe. Could this cause the toe to hurt even when there is no hammer?

You are now at the verge of a vast understanding of pain that is not to be found in the millions of text books and web pages about pain.

The memories of previous pain can actually create electrical impulses that travel exactly to the part of the body from where, originally, some similar (or same) pain originated in the physical universe (not the mind). As those impulses hit the cells in the toe, the toe feels pain. That is, the very same cells (or their progeny -- inheriting memory!) in the toe experience pain which comes from the stored memory of the impulse -- the impulse now moving the opposite direction -- but who is to measure??

Since the cells in the toe "feel" pain, they react by sending their own pain signals back to the brain. The signals are now going in both directions, each one is reinforcing the other. What a mess!

The mind feels pain too, because the source of the pain is, after all, the memory of previous toe pain, recalled into the mind. Pain stored in these pictures is felt in the toe, but comes back into the mind, or was in the mind because of the picture, and when "YOU" feel pain you usually place the location of that pain in both places -- the toe and the head (where you think the mind is).

These electrical impulses, either way, CAN me measured. I don't think this type of measurement has had any publicity, until now.

Whether the impulses originate because of an impact on cells in the toe, or whether the impulses originate from a memory of previous pain in the toe, and flow from the brain to the toe - either way the cells in the toe experiences pain and the mind feels pain.

You now have the essence of pain -- never revealed in this way. Pain comes from physical impact, yes, but if this research is fully done, you will find that the bulk of the sensation of all pain comes from memories of past pain -- from nerve impulses traveling FROM the brain to the toe, not from the toe to the brain.

There is more, much more, but this is enough to let you know that doctors have no clue.

A pain killer, here is a vital fact, works, partly, by inhibiting the flow of electrical signals through the nerves. Thus, if the cells in the liver experience pain, and send "pain signals" through the nerves, the signals are not received and "you" do not feel them.

The other action of a pain killer is to make it very difficult for you to recall the memories of previous pain. You may think that is good? No, because those memories can come back any time and cause pain in the toe. Also, a man without memory is a man without the opportunity to use his previous knowledge.

The extreme is what is caused by psychiatric drugs -- where the person loses his memory and becomes a quiet vegetable.

One further thought here is also revolutionary, but you may not appreciate it yet. Pain from pictures can be felt in the mind. Since people tend to think of the mind as the brain, or the head, the pain is experienced in the head. This is the common headache. The pictures are not strong enough to cause pain in your toe, but they are strong enough to cause a headache. Or the pictures could be of an earlier time when the hammer hit the head, or some sort of head injury!

Ordinary pain killers stop those pictures from being active, so they "work." A marvel yet to be understood is that the herbal MSM described on this web rarely handles the pain of a headache, although it is very effective at handling the pains that arise from physical impact, or the wearing of bone against bone, for instance. You may think it is better to handle the pain from the pictures too? Not necessarily.

If you understand the value of "consciousness" and "being aware" you will place a high value on your ability to "remember" the past. That ability is what helps you plan the future, and act in present time.

There is nothing that will stop the pain impulses from traveling up your leg, to the brain, carrying pain messages. These are NOT pictures of some past incident, but present time impact. Herbal MSM seems to stop these pain impulses -- that is how it works. Pictures are not involved here.

The fact is that all the prescription drugs do both types of pain handling -- they stop the nerve impulses from traveling and ALSO prevent you from getting those old pictures containing pain.

There are actually people who think those pictures, those memories, do you no good. Well some are good, some are bad, but they ALL get prevented when you take a prescription pain killer. ONLY the actual nerve impulses of pain from current impact or damage in the body is inhibited by the herbal MSM. It is unknown in the rest of the world that pain killers work in this way, and that there can even be such a thing as a "selective" pain killer that only handles the pain from a current impact or as from arthritis, from the wearing of bone against bone, or from current inflammation.

Now, the other pain? Well, there are other remedies for that. These other remedies are NOT in the form of any drug or even any vitamin. I could tell you a lot about them, but will only tell you one simple remedy.

When you have a headache, you can usually be sure it is from pictures of past painful incidents. Yes, a harmful drug will "stop" that pain, but just you try, one day, the simple remedy of leaving wherever you are and going to a place with a view of the mountains, or the ocean, or some vast space. Sit in a meadow and admire the distant scene. This change of location is often just as effective as taking Aspirin. Those pictures containing pain fade away when whatever had been in the environment is no longer there. Change location, get away from whatever and wherever you had been near, including people. See if that doesn't help.

As long as scientists look for something physical within the structure for the mind, they will invent foolish things and note some of the functions of a mind, but not the location or all the functions of this mind.

This mind affects the body -- affects cells. A cell can appear to commit suicide, and the explanation would be that the cell has a false memory -- a memory that some substance is helpful to its survival (food, nutrients) and another memory that some substance is harmful to its survival. Either of these memories could be based on false observations, and when a cell "acts" on the basis of its stored memory it can be making a mistake -- take in bad stuff "by mistake" and that appears to be suicide from our viewpoint. From the viewpoint (and memory) of the cell it would be rational.

From our viewpoint suicide is never rationale, but from the viewpoint of the entity committing suicide it is the ONLY rational action.

Here (below) is a rather mundane, common treatment of "memory" in the scientific community. It is, of course, false since the authors are looking for "memory" within structure. This entire article is a good example of claims made without any proof. But, the words are technical enough that the normal reader would think, "Ah! Well! This man must know what he is talking about!" He does not.

This web site presents truly revolutionary new data -- it will NOT be believed by the vast majority of psychologists or other scientists who dwell on "mental" things.

How can one man, no matter how brilliant, get away with so much allegation of harmful drugs, and breakthrough science? It may seem simplistic, but I am so far ahead of others that they feel it is quite safe to ignore me for now. As Mahatma Gandhi said:

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win."

Memory

Sensitization

Sensitization is an increase in the response to an innocuous stimulus when that stimulus occurs after a punishing stimulus.

When the siphon of Aplysia is gently touched, the animal withdraws its gill for a brief period. However, if preceded by an electrical shock to its tail, the same gentle touch to the siphon will elicit a longer period of withdrawal.

The sensitization response to a single shock (blue bar) dies out after about an hour, and returns to baseline after a day (yellow). So it is an example of short-term memory.

However, it the animal is sensitized with multiple shocks given over several days, its subsequent response to a gentle touch on the siphon is

These findings are the work of Eric R. Kandel (who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2000) and his associates. Over the years, they have worked out the neural circuitry that the sea slug uses in this response.

Facilitation

Sensitization is the term used to describe the changed behavior of the intact Aplysia. It depends on increased synaptic activity - called facilitation. Facilitation is studied in vitro with isolated preparations of neurons.

Short-Term Facilitation

The result: a longer period of gill-withdrawal in response to a light touch to the siphon.

Long-Term Facilitation

The result: a light touch to the siphon elicits a longer period of gill withdrawal, and this response is retained for a longer period.

Long-Term Depression

Applying another neurotransmitter, a peptide containing 4 amino acids called FMRFa (for Phe [F], Met [M], Arg [R], Phe-NH₂) [Link to table of the abbreviations for the amino acids] to these in vitro preparations produces an opposite effect from facilitation - the synapses become less responsive.

Long-term depression also requires changes in gene expression. A different CREB, CREB-2, displaces CREB-1 from the cAMP response elements. Not only is the positive signal, CREB-1, removed, but CREB-2 actively shuts down the promoters by recruiting a histone deacetylase (HDAC) to remove acetyl groups from the nearby histones, thus preventing RNA polymerase from beginning gene transcription. [More]

Implicit Memory

These responses of Aplysia are examples of implicit memory (also called procedural memory).

They involve changes in the efficiency with which motor activities of the body are carried out in response to a stimulus.

Explicit Memory

Explicit memory (also known as declarative memory) involves recall of objects, events, etc. outside the animal's body.

If a mouse is placed in a pool of murky water, it will swim about until it finds a hidden platform to climb out on. With repetition, the mouse soon learns to locate the platform more quickly. Presumably it does so with the aid of visual cues placed around the perimeter of the pool because it cannot see or smell the platform itself.

Explicit memory is also acquired in a short-term process followed by a long-term process.

Pain is a Subjective Experience

The North American Chronic Pain Association of Canada

American Chronic Pain Association

Cellular Memory

You can reach Karl Loren at www.PainStudy.com by mail at 1831 N. Bel Aire Drive, Burbank, CA 91504. Within the US and Canada, use the toll free number: (800) 523-4521, the local number: (818) 558-1799, the FAX: (818) 558-7299, eMail to karl@painstudy.com

Copyright © May 20, 2008 6:26 AM by Karl Loren on behalf of Vibrant Life, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Permission is granted for non-commercial downloading, copying, distribution or redistribution on two conditions: One, that some form of copyright notice is included in every copy distributed or copied, showing the copyright belonging to Vibrant Life, Burbank, CA, at www.oralchelation.com . The second condition is that the material is not to be used for any purpose contrary to the purposes and objectives of this site. This permission does not extend to materials on this site which are copyrighted by others.

The Man Is Looking	At This	This Is What his PREVIOUS Mental Picture is	Comment
			Here is a happy guy who is in good mental condition! He sees a past picture similar to the present situation. There is no pain in either picture.

The Man Is Looking	At This	This Is What his PREVIOUS Mental Picture is Restimulated NOW	Comment
			Here is a guy who MAY have a toe problem because he saw a hammer!

The Man Is Looking	At This	This Is What his PREVIOUS Mental Picture is Restimulated NOW	Comment
			Here is a guy who has just looked at a PICTURE (not real) of a hammer. His toe is not involved. The hammer he saw reminds him of an earlier pain in the toe. So, his toe now hurts!

The Man Is Looking	At This	This Is What his PREVIOUS Mental Picture Is Stimulated	Comment
			Here is a guy who has just LOOKED at a hammer, but now FEELS pain in his toe. You tell him there is no pain there and he will say, "YES there is pain!" He is right!

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