Becoming Aware In The Dentist Chair

[Yarco]

I had a dentist appointment this morning, just a standard cleaning, and had almost a quasi-spiritual experience.

You'd think the dentist chair would be the last place you'd feel more conscious or closer to God. But for some reason, it always focuses my mind in that direction.

Maybe it's because I heard someone (maybe Peter Ralston) once say that if you were completely enlightened, you could get your teeth drilled with no freezing and just embrace the pain.

I didn't have an enlightenment experience, it was more intellectual than anything, but still pretty interesting.

The pain was pretty excruciating. I haven't been flossing as often as I should, I'm a mouth breather, allergies, and other factors mean my gums were already quite red and inflamed. All while the hygienist was scraping the plaque off my teeth, I could see my blood getting sucked up into the little vacuum tube she was holding.

At one point I became aware of the fact that it was possible that this is all there is. I was in the present moment. It's possible that all that had ever existed was me laying back in that chair, looking up at a light in pain, having someone scrape a metal stick under my gums. Basically infinite dentist hell. I considered the possibility that nothing existed outside the tiny room I was currently in. There was a big window in front of me, but at the angle I was laying I couldn't even see the light from outside, and it's possible the external world no longer existed.

I felt a bit depersonalized a few times because of the pain. Not necessarily in a negative way like a bad THC trip I had in the past. It was like the pain made my consciousness recoil further and further back into my body, until at some point I wasn't my body any more.

Usually I keep my eyes open the entire time, but the pain was enough that it was more comfortable to close my eyes occasionally. I felt as if I might have fallen asleep 5 or 6 times over the course of my appointment, or just blacked out, but I don't think I actually did.

I feel a bit changed even now, a couple hours later. Like some karma was scraped away along with the plaque. I feel humbled, more powerful, calmer, and a bunch of other feelings all at once.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk. Next time you're at the dentist, try to go through the whole process as consciously as possible and try to embrace the pain.

[Zeroguy]

You all buy into Leo's solipsism train.

Boring.