The well protected film crew was wading through the snow clad Himalayas. The main actor, a young youth portraying an Indian Yogi, was shivering clad as he was in a simple dhoti with a bare torso. After every shot was canned his aides would literally rush to him with protective shawls and blankets to cover him. Loads of hot spicy tea was pumped into him to keep him warm. The guides of that region almost seemed unnecessary. They hardly had any work. And yet it were they who saved the youth’s life!
Science was watching the filming with great enthusiasm. It was a queer sight to see – everybody totally covered from head to foot with the latest snow gear with only one youth standing tall in his bare body. As the day proceeded, the shivering of the youth began to reduce and one fine moment he was so at ease in the snow without any clothing that the guides suddenly sprung into action. Even before anybody could object they hurled towards him bundling him against his protests in shawls and blankets and literally carried him down the path towards their tents. Even as the youth began protesting ‘Hey I am not cold anymore…’ the rest of the crew remained speechless at this hasty retreat. But Science was relieved – a life had been saved.
God: You seem pleased with the activity on those snow clad mountain tops!
Science: Yes Father! Indeed I am! They just saved a life!
God: Why so dramatic? He did say he wasn’t feeling cold and he wasn’t even shivering!
Science: O Father! It is not that simple! The ability to shiver falters when a body cools by more than a few degrees. The chemical furnace burns more slowly as it cools. Heat is a byproduct of muscles contracting, acids digesting, neurons twinkling. So once the furnace loses ground to cold, it slows all chemical interactions, starving the furnace more. The slowing brain often doesn’t help things either. Suddenly, if a person caught stranded in the cold says, “I am not feeling cold anymore!” and stops shivering, it does not seem like such a big deal to be out in the cold. But the truth is that as the body temperature falls more, fugue can set in. People will lose all sense of identity and purpose. Coma and cardiac arrest follow. Cold affects nearly all bodily systems. Bone marrow doesn’t produce blood cells correctly. Kidneys don’t concentrate urine well, increasing the risk of dehydration despite a lack of sweating. A wicked cold tends to be associated with frostbite or damage to skin, limbs, noses and ears. The heart and brain don’t tolerate cold either, which is why the body restricts blood flow to limbs in order to preserve vital organs…
God: Do you know what you just said actually implies? It means it is good to shiver!! It is good because it shows that your core body temperature has still not fallen below functioning capacity for normal metabolic activity.
Science: Yes Father! Not just shivering, in fact every symptom that man faces for every ailment is indeed a blessing for it helps him to understand and rectify his problem. Like say, fever! An increase in body temperature is the body’s immune response when it attempts to neutralise bacterial or viral infection. That is why the response to vaccination differs from individual to individual.
God: Very true! That goes for the response of pain as well!
Science: Pain?
God: Yes pain. A gym exerciser knows that if he blocks the pain that has arisen after a heavy workout, he will never know if it is from muscle soreness or real damage. DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness can tempt anyone to pop in a pill and lie down, but if the muscle has been wrongly used or stretched beyond a point, without that pain indicator, repeated exercises will only cause more damage. Pain is good!!
Science: Try saying that to the people in hospital beds! They will certainly not agree Lord!
God: Hmmm… Well you do know what happens when the signal of pain is removed from a condition without altering the malfunction of the body!
Science: It sounds like death…
God: (with a tender smile) What happens when a group of cells display uncontrolled growth? Till they invade adjacent tissues there is no feeling of pain. The damage is already caused by the cell division beyond limits.
Science: (Whispered) Cancer…
God: Yes! Cancer is indeed a dreadful disease!
Science: Indeed my Lord! If only there was an indication at the very beginning when the first uncontrolled cell division happens, humanity will be able to tackle the carcinogenic exposure to other body parts. When you look at it from this angle, I have to agree with you, pain is good!
God: Same is the case with hurt, my child! Hurt is a signal that you still care, that it still matters. When the words and actions of another hurt you, it just means that there is love in that relationship!
Science: Yes I understand! Many a time the harsh words of a stranger are just ignored and brushed aside and yet the smallest action of a loved one triggers enormous hurt and pain. That must imply that there is love. But it also implies that something needs to be done to protect and insulate that vulnerability right?
God: Good thought! Yeah, if the physical pain is an indication that something within your body is not responding the right way to your activity, it most certainly calls for an examination and correction of the activity or strengthening of the body part. In the same way, when hurt in a relationship keeps resurfacing often, it calls for an examination of that relationship – correction in the way you relate or strengthening of the bond.
Science: But Lord! I am just curious! So many spiritual seekers flock to the snow clad mountains and live there in the open. None of them shiver!
God: My dear, shivering is an involuntary condition in which muscles contract rapidly to generate additional body heat. But yogis don’t shiver for they can raise the skin temperature by 15 degrees through meditation. However the modern office goer has no such defences – he is used to sitting in front of a key board in a temperature controlled workplace! To him the shivering is a warning – get out of the cold and into the warmth before your core temperature drops below acceptable levels.
Science: So in relationships, would you say, hurt needs to be acted upon till the relationship builds such a strong foundation that it hurts no more – like our yogis shiver no more?
God: Most certainly my child! Of course it should matter and yet it should not become agonising. Detached but not disinterested! If it no longer hurts – time to worry for it means somewhere along the way love has left that relationship. If it hurts always – again time to worry for somewhere along the way the relationship is so frail it is not able to weather the journey.
Science: You mean it is like endurance and strength training. When the muscle is soft and unused, it hurts to lift those weights. But neither shying away from it nor popping pain killers is going to help build that muscle. To build those muscles they need to be exerted and trained.
God: Yes! So it is with everything. Neither indifference nor total dependence can ever build a healthy life. It should hurt if you haven’t given your best and yet it should not make you feel inferior. When lack of excellence hurts, it builds you. If it doesn’t hurt it makes you mediocre. When goals are not achieved and it bothers, it motivates you. If non achievement doesn’t worry you, it stagnates your progress. And in relationships too, if you don’t care about the outcome you are apathetic to that relationship. If you become over protective, it will become claustrophobic and strangulate the relationship. Build life like the muscle – working till the point of soreness but never to failure – involved to the point of tenderness but never as an addiction.
Science: Sydney J.Harris said “The art of living successfully consists of being able to hold two opposite ideas in tension at the same time – first, to make long term plans as if we were going to live forever; and second, to conduct ourselves daily as if we were going to die tomorrow” – dynamically involved with the goal of life yet detached enough to give it all up any second!
God: That is indeed what the Bhagavat Gita too tries to explain. It is important to practice ‘Detached attachment’ – enthusiastically attached to the process and yet emotionally detached from the outcome! My child! Every feedback from life – hurt, pain, failure or for that matter even pleasure and success is just a message from life – just experience it as an incident that happens in life that helps you improve yourself in all ways.
Science: O God! It hurts… but I am glad it does…
Written by Gita Krishna Raj | Published in infinithoughts in September 2010
When Science met God… | Segment Five: Why Me? | Chapter Five: O God! That hurts!
