Pain Tolerance

I have a pretty high level of pain tolerance when it comes to physical pain. I started my job while suffering from shingles (which I've still got), I got my wisdom teeth pulled without any anesthesia, I routinely dislocate my shoulder and pop it back in on my own.

But I've got a very low pain tolerance when it comes to emotional pain. I get my feelings hurt pretty easily. When someone hurts me, sometimes it hurts so bad that I'm literally incapacitated. Sometimes it hurts so bad I would almost rather die, even though I know I don't really want to.

My tolerance for emotional pain is so low that there is nowhere I feel safe. Unconditional love...do I really believe in it, outside of the context of God's love? A friend of mine once got incredibly angry with me for saying that I didn't, but then, he didn't believe in God. Didn't believe in God, yet somehow believed that human beings were capable of unconditional love. Maybe it's the Chicago-trained economist in me: people act out of their own self-interest. People love you as long as you're useful. If you can't come to terms with that, it's only going to open up more vistas of pain in the end.