"Activationism outdoors," LIFE explained, "takes the form of a sprint across a Provincetown beach which ends with everybody falling to their knees and looking agonized. Ward (second from left, above) instructs his disciples to build up 'a feeling of mental pain' during the run, and explode in 'peak of spiritual torment' at the end. Children invariably follow but feel no pain."
David Hartley / Bloomberg / Getty Images
A man holds OxyContin pain-relief tablets at his home
Pali Rao / iStockphoto
Man with back pain
James Nachtwey / VII for TIME
A boy experiencing severe pain from TB meningitis is comforted by his mother at Svay Rieng Provincial Hospital, Svay Rieng, Cambodia.
JOE RAEDLE / GETTY
500 mg pain reliever caplets with acetaminophen.
KHALID TANVEER / AP
"I am in pain," Mai said after the verdict was read
MARCI STENBERG/MERCED SUN-STAR/AP
GAS IN CALIFORNIA: The pain grows
An] wounded Indian ambulance driver clenches his hands indicating the intense pain he’s enduring after having his leg almost completely blown off, Korea, 1951.
An] wounded Indian ambulance driver clenches his hands indicating the intense pain he's enduring after having his leg almost completely blown off, Korea, 1951.
W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Caption from LIFE. In deep pain, the 17-year-old mother writhes, mumbling prayers while Mrs. Gadsden holds her hand ...
SUZANNE PLUNKETT--AP
Donna Hanover:
In obvious pain, she said her husband's affair with a staff
member damaged their marriage
FRITZ HOFFMANNDOCUMENTCHINA FOR TIME
FEEL THE BURN: A young gymnast endures the pain of training at the Weilun Sports School in Guangzhou
PETROS GIANNAKOURIS / AP
"Highly combustible" Greeks, like these firefighters protesting public-sector reform, are braced for pain
EUGENE RICHARDS FOR TIME
COPING WITH PAIN: Cummins' oncologist had prescribed analgesics as
an afterthought. Pain specialist Shaiova, right, focused not on
his cancer but on making Cummins comfortable
MICHAEL HALSBAND FOR TIME
A SERENER WILLIAMS: The singer-songwriter's new album brings the noise and the pain
China Photos / Getty Images
"Slice of life:" Despite the risks, large numbers of women are opting for C-sections to avoid birth pain and to control the date of their baby's arrival
David Hecker / AFP / Getty
U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn appears at a press conference in Vancouver to reveal that she is suffering from a bruised shin that causes "excruciating pain" and will have a difficult time competing in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games
Kevin Winter / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Chairman & CEO Brad Grey, actor Mark Wahlberg, and director Michael Bay arrive at the premiere of Paramount Pictures' "Pain & Gain" at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 22, 2013 in Hollywood, California.
Caption from LIFE. “Mary Ann de Mare, 19, winces in pain as she stretches during strenuous warm-up exercises with Sue Borin, 21, prior to rehearsal.”
Caption from LIFE. "Mary Ann de Mare, 19, winces in pain as she stretches during strenuous warm-up exercises with Sue Borin, 21, prior to rehearsal."
Illustration by Tomasz Walenta for TIME.
The Shadow Knows. I thought my life was pretty great. That was before I embraced the pain.
Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
John F. Kennedy discusses strategy during his presidential campaign, 1960. When out of the spotlight, Kennedy often worked while reclining -- a position that helped ease the chronic back pain the WWII veteran suffered as a result of a war injury.
Mark Kauffman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Mickey Mantle during Spring training in March 1967. A shoulder injury he suffered in the 1957 World Series would plague Mantle for the rest of his career, impeding his swing when he batted left-handed. The constant pain hastened his retirement, at age 36.
Everett
Steve Carell gets a wax in a scene from The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Scientists now say that swearing may reduce physical pain
Dominic Davies
Breakfast becomes dessert in "The Big Fat Duck Cookbook"
What's in it:
1) Candied Bacon
2) Nitro-scrambled-egg ice cream
3) Pain perdu
STEVE LISS for TIME
NO PAIN, NO GAIN: Whatever the diet, exercise helps weight loss
ALAIN DEX/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
NO PAIN, NO GAIN: Childhood shots get a clean bill of health
ROBERTO CASTRO/AP
FEELING HER PAIN: Lula embraces a supporter on his antipoverty mission
COURTESY ALIGNMED
An example of the type of garments being used by professional athletes, MS patients, back-pain sufferers and others to treat and prevent injuries and aches.
REUTERS / REUTERS
A worker touches a cannabis plant at a growing facility for the Tikun Olam company near the northern city of Safed August 22, 2010. In conjunction with Israel's Health Ministry, the company currently distributes cannabis for medicinal purposes to over 1800 people to help relieve pain caused by various health conditions. Picture taken August 22, 2010. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: HEALTH SOCIETY) - RTR2HGXZ
Eric Schaal—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Woody Guthrie entertains commuters, 1943. "There's a feeling in music and it carries you back down the road you have traveled and makes you travel it again. Sometimes when I hear music I think back over my days -- and a feeling that is fifty-fifty joy and pain swells like clouds taking all kinds of shapes in my mind." -- Woody Guthrie, excerpted from Pastures of Plenty, a 1992 collection of his unpublished writings
For all of the lighthearted and often downright frivolous material that appeared in LIFE through the years — and there was, thank goodness, a lot of...
Albert Einstein, whose theories exploded and reshaped our ideas of how the universe works, died on April 18, 1955, of heart failure. He was 76. His funeral and...
