sense offender

could you live in a world devoid of feeling?

i netflix'd the movie 'equilibrium' since my husband had never seen it.  the movie portrays a future of suppressed emotions, where art, books, and movies are banned, and strict enforcers punish "sense offenders" by death.  in order to survive, you would take a government-mandated, mood-inhibiting drug, and as a result be able to exist in a war-less, peaceful society.

knowing how it is to feel and touch, on both ends of the spectrum, it is hard for me to imagine conforming.  i would join the revolution.  a world without sensing is cold.  bare.  uniform.  dark.

one of the protagonists in the story asks christian bale's character, john, "why are you alive?"  and sadly, his answer sounds programmed, illegitimate.  she asks him what the point of his existence is and he retaliates by asking her that same question.  she responds by explaining the point of her existence is to feel, both the good and the bad, that it is as vital as breathing.  this exchange ends up changing his outlook and eventually, his life and his world.

so to answer my own question, could i live in a world without feeling, without breathing?  certainly not.