Would you Rather: Lose the ability to feel fear or the ability to feel pain?

I would rather lose the ability to feel fear. I'll still have a brain so it's not like i'll run in front of a bus saying "i'm not scared!!!' lol. And since I wouldn't be afraid there are some things I would be able to do that I wouldn't be able to do before, and it wouldn't have to be something that would harm me. If I couldn't feel pain that could lead to some problems. What if something happened to me but I didn't know because I couldn't feel it! That could lead to some serious health issues even though you can't feel it! :)

I know many people probably say this same thing, but i'd prefer not to feel fear. The reason being is that i'm already not scared of much, with the exception of a couple critters and stuff, but that has effected my life for the better. But if i couldn't feel pain anymore (now not sure if you mean this physically or mentally but i'll talk about both) *Physically* it would be like having leporacy, and i would become mutated, and lose the ability to do many things because of that mutation, also i wouldn't be able to feel pleasure or know when i've pushed myself too far. *Mentally* If you can't feel pain, then what can you learn? We all learn through our experiences, and without that pain, we don't learn much at all, we can learn what makes us happy, but otherwise we would be like a zombie, crashing when something hurtful comes around. I prefer to feel pain 100 fold than never feel it and never learn anything, after all, this is the reason we're here. Wonderful discussion, i might have to check into this little game your talking about.

Oooh that a good one, involves deep careful thinking because there are pros and cons to both, when you say pain do you mean physical, emotional, mental or all three? Because if it involves not being able to feel emotional pain like rejection for example then yes definitely that would be my straight choice.

A good question indeed, and a hard one to answer. Both are good things I think, as we learn from both, or can do. I think too much fear can be a bad thing though, as it can stop us from doing a lot in life. Some people like to sky dive or bungy jump, too much fear would stop us from trying these things. Even fear of rejection could stop us from entering into a relationship. I think both can make us better people, but maybe a little control over both is required so we can become better people from them, and not just wallow in them.

I would rather lose the ability to feel fear. For me - fear turns to worry, then worry to pain, then the cycle goes back to fear. Without fear, then I wouldn't feel the pain that comes with it.

i saw this girl on the oprah show that was unable to feel pain.. and it was painful watching. she would touch hot bulbs and get burned, she would bite her tongue until it would bleed. I wouldn't want to lose the inability to feel fear either.. because when we're in a dangerous situation that would require us to run, i'd feel nothing and do nothing about it too.. So basically, i can't make up my mind about this one. But it really gets you thinking. Thanks for the brilliant discussion!

Thats a tough one Tia. But I think I would rather lose the ability to feel fear. I feel that fear keeps me from living my life up to its potential. Without fear, I might be able to do more things. I've dealt with alot of pain in my life so I have become almost numb to it. I have a very high pain tolerence. I believe all that pain has made me stronger person and I could handle more things, if I wasn't afraid.

This one is an interesting question that requires some thought... Lets see...one one hand I would say I would like to lose the fear factor. I am often fearful and paranoid although I hate that about myself. I am afraid of storms, afraid that I'm going to prematurely loose my family members, ect. I know that it's only natural for that last one but I can send my self in a panic about it at times. But on the other hand if I can't feel pain then I wouldn't be able to feel the pain of the loss among other things. No I don't think I would like that. Feeling pain is a basic human emotion that I think is important in being human and well as feeling physical pain. One could really hurt themselves and even end up killing themselves if they aren't very careful. You could get cut and not know it then it could get infected for example. Yeah overall I think fear is less important in being and feeling human and would rather not have the fear factor. Looks like I still ended up with my first response LOL.

I think I'd go for losing the ability to feel pain, since pain can somtimes bring us to uncertain circumstances. From making life miserable, to the time where we get end life due to unrelentless suffering and mistakes. Fear, can be conquered or can be overcomed with.

i would rather lose the ability to feel fear. fear is when we are afraid of something. usually it's something we don't know or are not familiar with and we feel threatened by it. the thing is, fear sometimes stops us to do things. the ability to feel pain makes us human. it makes us learn from our mistakes. yes, it breaks our hearts. it drains our spirits but pain makes us appreciate life more. it is only after you feel pain that you feel the healing power of love.

I would rather lose the ability to feel pain! I hate pain!!! Fear keeps us safe! If we didn't fear situations we could end up in alot of sticky situations. Fear is natures way of making sure we stay out of danger.

Lose the Ability to feel Pain... my reason is that I feel that pain is really quite unneccessary but fear is part of living. Without fear we would try the stupidist things and get ourselves killed... like skydive without a parachute or run across a busy intersection with our eyes closed

I think i want to loose the ability to feel fear. I think it is pain that makes you who you are, and fear that pulls you back from being all you can be. So i would give up fear anyday for pain. Fear of anything cripples you for life.

Tough one. Without fear, we would have nothing to tell ourselves "no". Like if we see a huge snake pit. Usually fear would say "no way in heck am I jumping in there!!" Without fear, we would be like "aww heck, why not?" Thus bringing lots of pain. If we couldn't feel pain, we wouldn't have anything to tell us to stop what we are doing because its damaging. You touch a hot pan but don't feel it so you leave your hand there and take on permanent damage. Tough question. Although besides fear, common sense would tell me not to jump in the snake pit. So I would choose to lose the fear. You could accomplish so much that way!

Although I am not one to enjoy pain, I would rather keep the ability to feel it. Fear is one that I would be better off without. If my fears went away, my life would be better. Losing fear would enable me to accomplish things I have feared doing.

this is an interesting question and I would like to say the ability to feel pain because I feel pain 27 X 7 but I cant say that. Without pain, we do now know how good painless feels. Without fear we do not know peace or comfort. I think all these feelings are a necessary part of life to fully enjoy and embrace it, we must fell the bad to appreciate the good.

I'd rather lose the ability to feel pain. The reason is that I fear pain. Without it, I'll get rid of the main source of fear. Two birds with one stone.

I'm afraid of Pain and my pain only reminds me of my fears. How can you have one without the other. Your not just afraid for no reason. May be afraid of heights for the fear of falling, or affraid of snakes for the fear of being bitten. In both cases their will be tremendous pain.

Hi brokentia! I think I would rather lose the ability to feel fear because without fear in life, I would be able to do so many things without fearing anything and that is quite liberating somehow. Pain can always b treateed, I will just take some pain reliever. haha...But with fear, it is my mind that I will try to overcome and struggle with. Take care and have a nice day.

I would rather not feel fear. Feeling pain can be uncomfortable and even unbearable is not pleasant, but pain is necessary. For example, if you fall and break your ankle, you would feel the pain so you know something is wrong. But if you can't feel pain, then you may not realize it and you could further injure yourself by walking. And while it may not hurt, you might damage muscles or bones and you may not be able to run anymore or have another issue. Feeling fear can be good but not all the time. Fear can be good because it can stop you from doing something dangerous, but having irrational fears don't benefit you. For example, it's one thing to be scared of heights, because falling from heights can injure or kill you. But being scared of clowns isn't anything but awkward, embarrassing or inconvenient. I'd rather not feel fear because then I could do things I wouldn't want to or be able to do before. I could learn to drive, I wouldn't mind giving presentations and not feeling fear might even help my social anxiety! It's too bad these "would you rather" scenarios can't come true