Broadly, there is Gross pain and Subtle pain.
Gross pain – Gross Resistance – Physical – Solid
Subtle pain – Subtle Resistance – Mental – Water
Subtlest pain – The very subtle substance is in resistance – Spiritual – Gas
Can all 3 exist together? They can.
Infact the gross pain tends to dominate.
Grosser the pain, more the domination.
In the domination scale, it is – physical pain 1st, emotional pain 2nd, mental pain 3rd, spiritual pain 4th.
When there is great physical pain it is impossible to do anything. It demands all of your attention.
That is why hell is such a physical torture place. Hell No. 1. This pain is the most dominating.
When there is emotional pain. It is possible to do physical things with it. The emotional pain however permeates the body too. Torture in this place is the Hell No. 2. This pain is the 2nd most dominant.
When there is mental pain. It is possible to emote and physically move. But there is mental pain and it permeates into the emotional and physical. Torture in this place is Hell No. 3. This pain is the relatively less dominating.
When there is spiritual pain, it permeates all 3 areas of your life and you have this constant discomfort which nothing seems to relieve. It is all encompassing. Torture in this place is Hell No. 4. However this pain is the least dominating.
Remember the subtle pain permeates all the grosser forms (just like there is air inside all solids).
Also gross pain also pulls the subtle into it – like if you break a rock, not only does the rock break, but you would have also disturbed the air and water element in it.
So in the freedom giving scale:
(LEAST)Gross pain(Physical) ——Less Gross(Emotional)——-Subtle Pain(Mental)——- Subtlest Pain(Spiritual)(GREATEST)
Gross pains dominate all of your attention and preclude you from freedom in the other bodies – emotional, mental, spiritual.
The subtlest pain on the other hand gives you a lot of freedom in all its grosser bodies (physical, emotional, mental) however absolutely nothing relieves this pain. For example if you are in the spiritual pain of the dark night of the soul, you can do whatever you want – physically(go running), emotionally(watch movies) or mentally(read concepts) and so on. But nothing will seem to relieve that pain which is constantly simmering subtley across the entire background.
Lets see examples of each to understand:
1. Physical Pain – spasm in the upper back, muscle cramp
2. Emotional Pain – Depression, Sadness
3. Mental Pain – Struggling with understanding certain concepts, struggles with clarity of thought
4. Spiritual Pain – Dark night of the soul.
Journey to the Abstract 