There was shock, non-acceptance, rejection, hurt and anger in her face. She simply couldn’t believe this was happening.  Her jaw had dropped and her eyes were shinning bright with an emotion not entirely comprehensible to the mind nor easily captured in words.  Her friend squeezed her shoulders and brought her back to the reality of her surroundings. She gently smiled willing her friend to calm down.  Her eyes spoke volume ‘I understand… I am with you… Be strong…’

Woman:  (in a furious whisper)  I just don’t believe this! How could he…?

Friend:  (with a gentle smile)  Just hold on… Let us discuss this later. Not now. Not here!

Science was curious to know how the friend would justify what had just happened.  The woman had felt betrayed by her colleague.  She really thought he did not deserve to be given the ‘Employee of the year’ recognition.  A few months ago, she would have been the first to celebrate.  But after what he had done…  Despite having been in the organisation for over 15 years, and despite having contributed in several ways to the growth of the organisation, this man was not really all that he portrayed.  He had stollen her ideas and presented them to the management without giving her any credit!  When she had confronted him, he had hurriedly tried to make amends by including her name.  But that is not really the same, is it?  She had been furious – he had made her look very petty.  Her boss had merely acknowledged her once with a ‘way to go’ pat for the idea, not really understanding the seriousness of the issue. 

The ladies room was buzzing with activity.  Sympathetic and curious glances where following her all the way.  In a relative corner the friend began…

Friend:  I know you think he doesn’t deserve it, but you must understand that this incident is not really the only determining factor. He is a very good employee and you yourself have acknowledged that you have learnt so much from him.  And remember, he genuinely apologised to you!  Don’t let this cloud your judgement.

Woman:  It may be just one incident, but it surely shows the character of the person…

Friend:  For your own sake, I think you should let this go. Nobody is going to benefit from this.

Woman:  (Walking hurriedly away)  Oh! I will let this go… once I have told him exactly what I think of him…

Science looked on with a frown.  This was really taking it too far.  She was simply processing her hurt so much that all the other good stuff were quickly disappearing.  It just wasn’t right that one mistake should spoil such a good working relationship.  But what could he do…

God:  Science!  Why is that man rubbing his knee so hard?

Science turned to look at the scene where a man had just banged his knee on the table.  Hopping on one leg, he had found a chair to rest and was now furiously rubbing his knee – a common enough reaction! Why was the Lord asking him about this?  He very much wanted to see what was happening to the confrontation between the woman and her colleague.

Science:  That is nothing Father. He just banged his knee. 

God:  Yes I know.  So why is he rubbing it now?

Science:  To ease the pain…

God:  But that isn’t going to help the knee get better, is it?

Science:  (resigned to the fact that the Lord was not going to let him pursue his other interest)  Yes Father!  It doesn’t address any changes to the knee.  But it certainly helps handling the perception of pain.

God:  Can you please explain?

Science:  To explain why thoughts and emotions influence pain perception, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall proposed that a gating mechanism exists within the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Small nerve fibres (pain receptors) and large nerve fibres (normal receptors) send electric or chemical signals on projection cells, which go to the brain, and inhibitory interneurons.  The interplay among these connections determines when painful stimuli go to the brain.  When no input comes in, the inhibitory neuron prevents the projection neuron from sending signals to the brain, the gate is closed.

God:  That is there is no perception of pain, correct?

Science:  Yes, there is no pain as there is no signal.  When normal somatosensory input happens like simply touching an object, there is more large fibre stimulation or only large fibre stimulation, both the inhibitory neuron and the projection neuron will be stimulated.  But the inhibitory neuron will prevent the projection neuron from sending signals to the brain, the gate is closed.  Once again there is no signal of pain.

God:  So when does one actually feel pain?

Science:  Pain reception happens when there is more small fibre stimulation or only small fibre stimulation, like when you bang your knee.  This inactivates the inhibitory neuron.  So now the projection neuron will send signals to the brain informing it of pain, the gate is open.

God:  Ok!  So why does one rub the area when they are hurt?

Science:  When one rubs or shakes the hand after banging the finger, you stimulate normal somatosensory input to the projector neurons. That is, you activate the large fibre neurons.  This closes the gate and reduces the perception of pain.

God:  Hmmm… Hey what is he applying now?

Science:  (seeing the man apply a spray for relief) Oh! That is just a counter-irritant.  Any irritation of the sensory nerve endings alters or offsets pain in the underlying muscle or joints that are served by the same nerves.  So normally when people get hurt, they immediately use another agent to produce an irritation in one part of the body, the skin in this case, intending to relieve the irritation or pain in the other part, the knee joint here.

God:  (with a mischievous smile) Guess man thinks the Gate Control theory of pain works only on the physical body and not the mind…

With enormous clarity Science knew exactly what he had to do.  The woman was walking with enormous purpose towards her ‘Best employee’ colleague.  One lady interposed “Hey I thought you may like to see this…”  She handed over the office album of photos taken over the last few years.  The woman distractedly opened the album to find a picture of her first day at work.  There he was standing right next to the boss welcoming her.  Slowly she turned the pages in the album and several instances of togetherness, happy times, challenging ones, promising ones, the achievements, the hopes – all danced back to her conscious mind.  Times when he had supported her in front of the boss, times when he had personally helped her get over issues, times when he had been so grateful for her support…  She was so engrossed in the album and the memories it was jogging in her mind that she didn’t notice she had arrived at his desk.

‘Thanks! I couldn’t have made it here without you!’  The words jerked her to reality.  She was confused.  She had been so full of all that negativity harping over one perhaps unintended action that she had almost lost perspective of how precious this friendship was.  ‘Congrats’ she whispered, desperately trying to find her equipoise, willing herself not to be the person she had turned out to be over the last few hours.  He smiled.  ‘You have taught me something very profound today.  The first time someone walks through a forest, there is no path.  But by repeated use a path begins to form.  Today I realised, some paths need never be formed.  Here I was thinking that you were so angry with me, upset for that stupid unthoughtful act of mine, that you didn’t appreciate my efforts.  Walking down that path of hurt I had almost made it a highway!  Yet now you have taught me by your graciousness that some roads need never be built.  Why make a highway for hurt?’

She was saved from the need to answer by the telephone bell.  Her friend here had helped her find the woman she always wanted to be.  When so much was positive, why make such a big thing of the minor issues?  As he had said why make a highway for hurt?  Equally she had also learnt, if this is who she wanted to be, she had to act in ways that the consciousness of that was ingrained as a highway.  She thought ‘Thank you God!  You have really taught me a very profound lesson today.’  Science grinned. Indeed Thank you God!

Written by Gita Krishna Raj  |  Published in infinithoughts in April 2012

When Science met God… |  Segment Five: Why Me?  | Chapter Six: In search of who I want to be