[Hans Blom, 961024b]
(Bill Benzon, 961017)
Many years ago I was moving from one apartment to another a few
blocks away. Some friends and I started moving after breakfast and
when at it all day. By 7 or so I was almost painfully hungry as I
had been working hard and hadn't eaten since morning. So, I went to
the refrigerator, took out a cup of yogurt, and as soon as I opened
that cup, my painful hunger vanished, instantly.
Some time ago I had a tooth-ache, probably due to a not too severe
bacterial infection, that lasted for a few weeks. Thorough cleaning
by the dentist resolved the problem, luckily. What surprised me on
several occasions was that the pain -- or more accurately an
unpleasant feeling -- was context-dependent. It was only when I left
the university building at night that it suddenly started to present
itself to me, whereas during the day I had, upon recollection, not
noticed a thing.
That observation made me pay more attention to the phenomenon, and it
seemed that whenever I was occupied by more pressing problems or
activities, no pain was there, although, if I paid attention, I could
again bring the unpleasant feeling to the foreground.
The same phenomenon has been described in other contexts, e.g.
wounded soldiers that only start to feel their pain during a break in
the fighting, when no acute danger threatens. It seems, if I may
generalize, as if somehow our attention is always focussed on the
most urgent problems or activities. And even if there are none, the
most "urgent" insignificant problem presents itself to our attention.
I have noticed the same thing in dreams. They tell me what concerns
me most. Sometimes very trivial matters, or so it seems. Sometimes
unresolved problems of long ago, where the worry is what we should do
if the same problem happens again. Sometimes a small problem for
which we have now found a new, better solution: "Ah, I should have
done _that_ instead!" And sometimes exactly the same things that
occupy me during the day.
My two cents...
Greetings,
Hans