Observations placeholder
Shereshevsky, Soloman - Feels no pain
Identifier
003687
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
A R Luria – The Mind of a Mnemonist
Let's say I'm going to the dentists. You know how pleasant it is to sit there and let him drill your teeth. I used to be afraid to go. But now it's all so simple. I sit there and when the pain starts I feel it.. it's a tiny orange red thread.. I'm upset because I know that if this keeps up the thread will widen until it turns into a dense mass... so I cut the thread, make it smaller and smaller, until it's just a tiny point. And the pain disappears.
Later I tried a different method. I'd sit in the chair but imagine it wasn't really me but someone else. I - 'S' - would merely stand by and observe 'him' getting his teeth drilled. Let 'him' feel the pain … it doesn't hurt me, you understand, but him. I just don't feel any pain.