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Comment by suifbwish | Hacker News Reader

They have the ability to turn off their pain entirely so it’s less of a miracle than if they were experiencing it.

They don’t “turn off” pain. Likely, they either objectify it (i.e. dispassionately observe the experience of pain) or ignore it (i.e. focus on a separate sensation) or dilute it (i.e. focus on “nothing” or alternatively, the all-encompassing sensation of “being”, the “now”, so that the experience of the pain is not the sole focus of their attention).

If the sense door of anatta [1] I walked through almost a decade ago now is any indication it's the former. The pain is still pain and as vivid but because not-you there's no clinging therefore no suffering.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anattā

They are experiencing it. Just because you aren't letting the pain dictate your actions, it doesn't mean you aren't experiencing it. It's about not letting your reflexes override your control.

It’s absolutely shocking how much pain you can be in before losing control if your willpower is strong enough.

> It’s shocking how much pain you can be in if your willpower is strong enough.

Or you are drugged with something strong enough. A much simpler explanation that doesn't require to believe in guys developing supernatural superpowers.

I was speaking from personal experience. Including having my insides burned away for multiple minutes without numbing agent. Stupid doctor. Really bad kidney stone comes somewhat close to that. Or severe nerve damage that causes every waking moment to be a nightmare. That one isn’t Not as bad acute as kidney pain. But it lasts a long time and doctors always think your faking.

One can build up a lot of tolerance.

I'm sorry for your experience. Colon cancer treatment, I guess?. Hope you are better now.

Poison. Clots, vascular and nerve damage

Wow, horrible experience then. I don't know what to say, frankly.

Some vascular problems can be fixed with surgery and some nerve damages can repair itself, even if is a frustrating slow process. Hope you the best in your recovery. Stay connected here if you need to talk.

What drug could work in that situation? I don’t think morphine would do the trick.

And even if there was a drug that would let you tolerate this level of pain, you would expect that it would make you super drowsy or at least not be able to stand still like they do. I don’t know, maybe you’re right though

There's no control to lose. There's no one suffering. The willpower to arrive at the experience is shocking but there's no sustaining of will once arrived at.

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