There are different kinds of pain, physical and psychological. Now the psychological pain, the agony, the acute suffering, is that what one is concerned with? Or the physical pain, a certain incurable disease, like cancer, how do we meet this? There are various drugs and so on to alleviate physical pain. And one can put up with it. I'm sure most of us have experienced in spite of the drugs, put up with certain forms of pain. When it becomes acute, then you do something, some kind of medicine, medical treatment.

So let us first look at the psychological pain, which may be psychosomatic. And what is pain inwardly? You answer please. What is psychological grief, pain, pain that's caused by many factors, like one wants to fulfil, become, achieve, and there is the pain of all that. Right? There is the pain of being hurt, being wounded by another. And most of us are hurt from childhood, and we carry that hurt all our lives. That hurt brings about a resistance - right? - resistance in my relationship, because I don't want to be hurt any more. So I build a wall around myself, isolate myself, and that creates more fear. So I live with this hurt and fear and resistance all my life. That's one of the hurts that most human beings have. Is it possible not to have the pain of hurt, which is, not to be hurt at all, psychologically? Right? What is it that is hurt? Look at it, please, go into it yourself. When I say, "I am hurt by what you have told me, what you have said", what is it that's hurt? The 'me'. What is that? What is the 'me' which is hurt? The thought which has created the image, the image being myself. Right? Myself is not without the image.

I may have many images. So is it possible to live a daily life without the image which is me? Go into it, sir. You understand? The image is getting hurt, the image is causing pain, the image is created by thought through various incidents, accidents, and so on. That image, with all its complexity, it isn't just an image, is hurt. The image is I have a conclusion, I've come to a conclusion, and I hold onto that conclusion. And any disturbance of that conclusion is pain. I believe, if I do, in God. And you come along and say, "Don't be absurd." Then that very verbal assertion has hurt, because I'm beginning to question. Or I may not question but I'm hurt, because you say something very serious.

So as long as we have an image, as long as the process of thought, which is constantly creating the image and giving life to that image, there must be pain. Right? This is a fact. Then one asks, can that pain end, which means, can one live in this life without any image? Sir, this is not an intellectual conundrum, a puzzle - this is our life. "I am British", or Indian, or whatever it is. And it is very important to hold to that image. Any slur on that image I get violent, and pain follows and so on. Can one live a life without any image whatsoever? Right? You think it out.

Now there is this psychological pain. If one understands the nature of this pain, inwardly, therefore there is no image and therefore there is no pain as we, psychologically, know it. Right? From there let's move to the physical pain, not from the physical to the psychological, but from the psychological to the physical. Right? We always are concerned with the physical pains, never enquiring into the psychological structure of pain, inwardly. Right? We begin with the psychological, the psychosomatic state of mind and brain, and then enquire into the physical pain.

We live such rotten lives, smoke, drink and all the rest of it, we're all the time corrupting the natural process of life. Right? Pollution, polluting the air, waters, eating dead animals - right? Carcasses. And indulging ourselves in various forms of sensation and taste becomes all-important. So physically we yield to all the things that seem so abnormal. Right? And that may be, and perhaps it is one of the causes of physical pain, disease and illness. We're not going into the question, now what is disease and what is illness - we'll do that another time. Or you've have an accident, in a car. Your arm or your leg is broken and so on. Can one look at all this pain, physical pain, if it isn't too acute, to observe it, and remain with it for a while, as long as one can? You understand my question? Do we accept physical pain, or we are always trying to get rid of pain? If it is acute, naturally, we want to be free of pain. But can we observe pain, not being identified with pain? You understand my question? Suppose I have a bad headache, migraine, can I observe it, not identify myself with it? You understand my question? Or say, "My God, I've got such awful headache, I must do something about it." Or, if it isn't too terrible, can one be free of all identification with that pain? Right? Enquire into it, find out.

Sirs, in all this, what is important is to approach life with intelligence. Now what is intelligence? This is a problem, isn't it - here is a problem - first problem was whether the brain can be kept fresh, young, active, clear. Second question is, can one bear pain, and so on. Now, in observing these two questions, the central fact comes out, which is intelligence. To approach life, which is pain, pleasure, anxiety, sorrow, and all the complexities of this life which man has made for himself, both outwardly and inwardly: the wars, the terrors, the terrorists, kidnapping, the brutality, the vulgarity, the coarseness, the whole of that - which is part of our life, can one approach all this with real intelligence?

1st Public Question & Answer Meeting, Saanen, 1982