While I was watching Closer with my wife, we hated it. Almost walked out. Immediately after we saw it, we couldn't articulate what we thought about it. Forty-eight hours later, we realized we had discussed it almost non-stop. In other words we loved it!
I've had the same experience with a number of movies (most recently Black Swan - Notes of an Anesthesioboist: Black Swan; holy shit it's a good movie!). I realize now, that I've had this experience with a number other things too. Hearing that my wife was pregnant with our daughter was objectively thrilling. But subjectively, it was too much to process. I knew that somewhere I was ecstatic. But where that was, I couldn't tell you. It was too big. My brain shut itself down on the topic as if defending itself from implosion.
It makes me think of our immune systems. Absolutely necessary for survival (who knows how much feces can be found on my keyboard right now despite my religious handwashing; think about that next time you hand a fesces-ridden dollar bill to the guy at Starbucks). It is necessary because it destroys and kills. Unfortunately, it also destroys and kills us. The more we study it, the more we realize how much our immune systems and associated inflammation are responsible for common disease states. (Coronary artery disease has been linked to air pollution through inflammation; statins and aspirin prevent heart attacks mainly because of their anti-inflammatory properties). So our body regulates it as best it can.
Richness of experience (both positive and negative), in my opinion, is the key to fulfillment. We are naturally dramatic beings who love happiness and tragedy equally (not necessarily our own tragedies however). But maybe richness of experience has limits to its safety. Maybe our brains need to keep our minds in check to prevent richness overload. Maybe some of the psychopathologies have their origin in an over-rich experience.
Or maybe I'm just an unfeelingly sociopath.
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