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SCHMIDT WALLETS
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There is no universal consensus as to what is and what is not pain, writes Justin O. Schmidt, who stung himself with 83 different venomous insects just to describe the flavour of their pain. His descriptions are spectacular and evocative, rated on a scale of 1 to 4, from least to most painful.
“Concentrated dish detergent seeps into a freshly cut finger.”
“Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.”
“Pure, then messy, then corrosive. Like love and marriage followed by divorce.”
I was drawn to Schmidt’s work when I was healing from an intense physical and emotional injury this summer. It was an acute pain, followed by shock, numbness, rawness; then throbbing, panging, stiffness; then betrayal, rejection, and shame. Though these are all vastly different sensations, we recognize them under the umbrella of pain.
Agonizing pain is transcendental, interrogating life and reality itself. Truth, like beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder. Yet pure pain is pure information. In some contexts, pain sensations are pleasurable and desirable. As with all of the simplest things, tension and contradiction exist at its core.
PURE THEN MESSY THEN CORROSIVE
Artistic wasp Parachartergus fraternus Pain Level 2
A LOVER BIT YOUR EARLOBE A LITTLE TOO HARD
Anthophorid bee Emphoropsis pallida Pain Level 1
THE SHOCK MOCKS YOU
Tropical fire ant Solenopsis geminata Pain Level 1
LIKE TANNINS BITTERNESS LINGERS
Scarab hunter wasp Triscolia ardens Pain Level 1
HYDROCHLORIC ACID ON A PAPER CUT
Red paper wasp Polistes canadensis Pain Level 3
A FEROCIOUS PANG
Argentine harvester ant Ephebomyrmex cunicularis Pain Level 2
INSIDE FLAP
There may be no universal consensus on what is and what is not pain. Truth, like beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder. Pain truth comes in two flavors, imagined and realized. A bruised shinbone sends truthful pain. What if pain is intense and no meaningful damage occurred? Pain can be a lie. The insect sting exploits a weakness of the pain signal system to propagate a masterful deception.
Schmidt, J. O. (2016). The Sting of the Wild. Johns Hopkins University Press.
BACK FLAP
The Schmidt Sting Pain Index is a numerical and descriptive ranking of 83 self-inflicted insect stings by entomologist Justin O. Schmidt.