UPDATE 9/19 8:30 AM: Authorities in Palmdale, Calif. are searching for a missing religious group that they believe could be involved in a possible mass suicide plot, according to The Los Angeles Times. As referenced earlier, religious mass suicides represent the pinnacle of religious pain infliction in the name of salvation. Just another example of the battle between "Distraction vs. Reminder."
Today marks the holiest of holy days for Jews around the world. Millions of people have participated in a unique ritual that began last night and ended at sundown today. Yom Kippur, translated to the apocalyptic English of "day of atonement," consists of a daylong mass fast in which all Jews remember the assorted wrongdoings they committed against the world in the past year. It's a thousands-of-years-old-tradition that I, coming from the world's most lax sect of Judaism, loathe because of the 24 hours of food-less misery it puts me through. Despite my physical brattyness, I agree with the message of the holiday; its good to take some time and think about the effect I have on the world. But the question isn't about reflection; it’s about the pain.
Does inflicting physical pain in the name of social action force people to find clarity or forgiveness?
Does the pain serve as a distraction from the motivation for mutilation, or does it serve as a constant reminder of purpose?
Gandhi, renowned for his hunger strikes as he lobbied for political freedom in 1920's India, once said, "a complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer" (Dalton). Huh? Could the purging of food, the infliction of pain and the degradation of the body be the truest way to thank a creator? Would you slice a hole once a year in the Mona Lisa, turn to the heavens and say: "Thanks DaVinci!" Would I ever want children of mine to harm themselves in my name? Of course not. So what am I missing here?
As I spent the day dreaming of Chinese food and Twinkies, I couldn't help but acknowledge that my hunger was a distraction. Focusing on my hunger only made me hungrier, and if I was ever left with nothing to think about, my mind immediately wandered to my hunger. My uncle, a reconstructionist Rabbi in Philadelphia, Penn. offered this explanation for the fast:
We fast because we believe that our hunger provides us with a lens into the hurt that we have caused in other’s lives. It is a reminder of the effect that we can have on others, and so we fast as a part of a larger process of forgiveness.
This isn’t changing the fact that I am still very much distracted by my hunger. My mind doesn’t wish to connect my stomach pain with a metaphorical connection to my actions throughout the year. Hearing this explanation for the fast on more than one occasion throughout the afternoon, proved to be little consolation for my hunger. If that is the case, then does this fast wind up being a metaphor for my insolence? Am I this incapable of realizing my impact on the world?
No, I am simply hungry. Yes, there are people starving in the world and the fast was a stark reminder that much of the world goes for far greater stretches of time without food on a regular basis. It’s a terrible aspect of global civilization that should be remedied, but I am allowed to be hungry. I digress, and admit, I do find meaning in the fast. Where Yom Kippur does have an impact on my thought process is in its uniqueness. There is no other day that I partake in an activity like this. Ultimately, the fast is 100 percent tolerable and doesn’t threaten my health. Jewish tradition even forbids my participation should it be unhealthy. Therefore, I do remember my impact on the world, because I spend this day speaking of my impact in a synagogue or even just at home. And that time is galvanized into my memory because I am in discomfort.
But that explanation (one I enjoy) does not explain the extreme cases humanity has encountered with social action driven pain infliction. Instances like the cult suicide of more than 190 people in Jamestown in the 1980s and assorted other cult suicides show an ultimate commitment to pain infliction in the name of salvation. In these cases I believe that participants are simply expanding a version of my own explanation into oblivion. Could it be that their sacrifice is believed to be the culmination of their prayer for forgiveness? Gratitude? Knowing their true motivations is impossible for obvious reasons, but doesn’t it just seem like the ultimate distraction to end your ability to perceive your purpose by ending your cognitive functionality?
Food (no pun intended) for thought.
I appreciate your view on fasting and becoming conscious of people who go hungry constantly. I've never seen it that way. I see fasting as a method of discipline. If you can put your mind to praying or meditating without feeding yourself all day, just imagine what other things you can achieve if you put your mind to it. You could work harder to be a better (insert religious affiliation) and you could try to let go of some of your vices.
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