Beg to differ here. I think it highlights the contrast between the suffering of the other people and the automatic shutdown of emotion in extreme stress situations as a survival mechanism. This known & documented I think. And very very human. Have you read Bone Games: Extreme Sports, Shamanism, Zen, and the Search for Transcendence by Robert Schultheis? Illuminating. Can lend you a copy if your library doesn’t have it. Scary book but I found it chimed with some of what happened to me back when I was a professional 3day eventer, and also with accounts of the holocaust etc. And other instances of humans under extreme physical, social and mental stress.
I haven’t read that, but I’ve discussed that very automatic shut down in my research quite a bit. They call it a ‘psychic closing off’ in trauma studies.
Beg to differ here. I think it highlights the contrast between the suffering of the other people and the automatic shutdown of emotion in extreme stress situations as a survival mechanism. This known & documented I think. And very very human. Have you read Bone Games: Extreme Sports, Shamanism, Zen, and the Search for Transcendence by Robert Schultheis? Illuminating. Can lend you a copy if your library doesn’t have it. Scary book but I found it chimed with some of what happened to me back when I was a professional 3day eventer, and also with accounts of the holocaust etc. And other instances of humans under extreme physical, social and mental stress.
I haven’t read that, but I’ve discussed that very automatic shut down in my research quite a bit. They call it a ‘psychic closing off’ in trauma studies.