For these reasons, it is not only legitimate but also necessary, that Scarry places pain in a category all of its own. Pain is distinguishable from all other examples of being in that pain is not a projection into the world. Pain is the only experience that turns within itself. While mind and body are not separate entities, physical pain differs from all other mental and physical modes of being in that it is incommunicable and has no external reference in the world. Scarry shows us that imagination, what we often refer to as mind, is destroyed by pain, and is ultimately pain s intention.
Imagination is world, and world being the alleviation of pain, is what pain desires.
Although Enlightenment thought has so ingrained within us a dual view of human existence, I believe that once understood, it is clear why mind and body cannot be separated from one another and yet physical pain must be viewed as an experience different from all mental states.