7.
Also known as infinity.
On this portion of the scale I think it's interesting how Eula Bliss dissects the concept of pain and the scale people measure it on.
That scale is not accurate, just simply an approximation. Like the approximation of prime numbers and their square roots, 7 being a popular one located on the number line.
As Eula dissects "pain" itself, she comments that not only is there that physical unpleasantness we physically feel but also the knowledge of how long it'll last, or the mystery of how long it'll last. Because in the case of Eula Bliss, she doesn't know how long she'll have to live with her pain. She doesn't even know what's causing it. Can't that count as a pain all on its own? Earlier in the text Bliss refers to subdivisions of pain such as physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and financial. Which one would this aspect of pain fit into, or maybe it's a part of all of them?
Eula Bliss doesn't seem to be the overly religious, spiritual type yet she refers to Christianity quite often. Her analogy of 7 to the eternity of Hell in my opinion is deep, and it's obviously something she's thought about often. I see her point in it, however.
I like how you write "She doesn't know what's causing it. Can't that count as pain all on its own?" That the knowledge of non-knowledge is pain. That without discerning the "cause" of the pain, we are still in pain. The question is: even if we discern the 'cause' of pain, does that help us deal with it or does pain override the importance of discovering "reasons"
ReplyDelete7 and the eternity of Hell is indeed an interesting association, given that a common association of 7 is actually with "luck" or with Heaven.