PAIN

 

PAIN 

‘Pain’ has several meanings. Some of them are : suffering, discomfort, torment, torture, agony and affliction. Some more which may be added with different meanings are : labour, exertion, struggle, strain, trouble, effort and care. Still more with medical terminology are: ache, pang, swelling, agony, soreness and hurt.

One common antonym of pain is pleasure. Others like ease, comfort, relief, relaxation and pleasure may be added appropriately.

There are many idioms, phrases and sentences, with the word pain; for example : no pain, no gain; be at pains to do something; a pain in the neck; that naughty child is a pain; it pained him to get rid of  his old friend.

The Hindu religious teacher Lord Gautama Buddha said : Pain is the outcome of sin.

According to the English clergy Caleb C. Colton (1780-1832) :  Pain may be said to follow pleasure, as its shadow; but the misfortune is, that the substance belongs to the shadow, and the emptiness to its cause.

The Irish novelist Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) said : Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other; and he only who knows how to accommodate himself to their returns, and can wisely extract the good from the evil, knows how to live.

There are at least four types of pain –physical, mental, neuropathic and emotional. They may be mild, acute, localized and  chronic. Their sufferers are all over world. In fact, the world began with pain and will probably end with pain. Today pain remedies are in maximum demand all over the world.

Some poets and philosophers advise that the sufferers should depend more upon their psychological approach to liberate  themselves from pain  than to swallow medicines or apply pain killer gels.

Finally, these words of the American novelist Earnest Hemingway (1899-1961): Life is pain, so live it while you can.

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G.R.Kanwal

17 December 2024