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SACRED PAIN:HURTING THE BODY FOR THE SAKE OF THE SOUL
Why would anyone seek out the very experience the rest of us most wish to avoid? Why would religious worshipers flog or crucify themselves, sleep on spikes, hang suspended by their flesh, or walk for miles through scorching deserts with bare and bloodied feet?
In this insightful new book, Ariel Glucklich argues that the experience of ritual pain, far from being a form of a madness or superstition, contains a hidden rationality and can bring about a profound transformation of the consciousness and identity of the spiritual seeker. Steering a course between purely cultural and purely biological explanations, Glucklich approaches sacred pain from the perspective of the practitioner to fully examine the psychological and spiritual effects of self-hurting. He discusses the scientific understanding of pain, drawing on research in fields such as neuropsychology and neurology. He also ranges over a broad spectrum of historical and cultural contexts, showing the many ways mystics, saints, pilgrims, mourners, shamans, Taoists, Muslims, Hindus, Native Americans, and indeed members of virtually every religion have used pain to achieve a greater identification with God. He examines how pain has served as a punishment for sin, a cure for disease, a
weapon against the body and its desires, or a means by which the ego may be transcended and spiritual sickness healed. "When pain transgresses the limits," the Muslim mystic Mizra Asadullah Ghalib is quoted as saying, "it becomes medicine."
Based on extensive research and written with both empathy and critical insight, Sacred Pain explores the uncharted inner terrain of self-hurting and reveals how meaningful suffering has been used to heal the human spirit.
In this insightful new book, Ariel Glucklich argues that the experience of ritual pain, far from being a form of a madness or superstition, contains a hidden rationality and can bring about a profound transformation of the consciousness and identity of the spiritual seeker. Steering a course between purely cultural and purely biological explanations, Glucklich approaches sacred pain from the perspective of the practitioner to fully examine the psychological and spiritual effects of self-hurting. He discusses the scientific understanding of pain, drawing on research in fields such as neuropsychology and neurology. He also ranges over a broad spectrum of historical and cultural contexts, showing the many ways mystics, saints, pilgrims, mourners, shamans, Taoists, Muslims, Hindus, Native Americans, and indeed members of virtually every religion have used pain to achieve a greater identification with God. He examines how pain has served as a punishment for sin, a cure for disease, a
weapon against the body and its desires, or a means by which the ego may be transcended and spiritual sickness healed. "When pain transgresses the limits," the Muslim mystic Mizra Asadullah Ghalib is quoted as saying, "it becomes medicine."
Based on extensive research and written with both empathy and critical insight, Sacred Pain explores the uncharted inner terrain of self-hurting and reveals how meaningful suffering has been used to heal the human spirit.
291 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2001
About the author
Ariel Glucklich
17 books4 followersAriel Glucklich is a professor of religion at Georgetown University. He specializes in Hinduism and in the psychology and biology of religion. He is particularly interested in what motivates people to become and remain religious and the various ways that religion makes people self-destruct.
Glucklich is the author of several books on Hinduism, including The End of Magic and Climbing Chamundi Hill, which was translated into many languages. His most important book was Sacred Pain (Oxford, 2001), written to explain the voluntary use of pain in religious life.
Currently Glucklich is researching the likelihood that Iran and/or Pakistan will use a nuclear weapon against Israel or India. He is attempting to devise ways of thinking about undermining the culture of collective suicide that makes rogue states so dangerous. November 3 is the due date for his latest book, Dying for Heaven, which explores this topic in detail.
Future projects include a close look at young religious prodigies and perhaps a project on the amazingly eventful annual International Bible Quiz held in Jerusalem.
Glucklich is the author of several books on Hinduism, including The End of Magic and Climbing Chamundi Hill, which was translated into many languages. His most important book was Sacred Pain (Oxford, 2001), written to explain the voluntary use of pain in religious life.
Currently Glucklich is researching the likelihood that Iran and/or Pakistan will use a nuclear weapon against Israel or India. He is attempting to devise ways of thinking about undermining the culture of collective suicide that makes rogue states so dangerous. November 3 is the due date for his latest book, Dying for Heaven, which explores this topic in detail.
Future projects include a close look at young religious prodigies and perhaps a project on the amazingly eventful annual International Bible Quiz held in Jerusalem.
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