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.
#3349682 in Books 2004-06-07Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 6.44 x 1.02 x 9.53l; #File Name: 0195157648336 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. It does an excellent job of describing the extent of that discrimination and ...By John L. Hodge; authorThis book comprehensively covers the history of affirmative action. It shows why affirmative action was needed to combat widespread racial discrimination. It does an excellent job of describing the extent of that discrimination and the shocking and devastating effects of Jim Crow. It raises but leaves open the question of its fairness going forward (from the date of its publication). I consider this book essential reading; along with Sheryll Cashin's recent "Place not Race;" for anyone considering the proper role of affirmative action today.5 of 6 people found the following review helpful. The origins of affirmative actionBy David A. WardThis is an important history of the origins of affirmative action as a social policy for remedying racial inequality in the United States. In contrast to popular belief; affirmative action did not emerge full-blown in the late 1960s; as Anderson demonstrates we can trace its origins to the 1930s and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal policy agenda. The book proceeds through the post World War II era to to show how thinking about such policy inititatives have shifted and changed up through the 1990s. Anderson concludes with the recent lawsuits filed against the University of Michigan and the Supreme Court's decisions on these two cases - Grutter and Gratz. The book tends to focus overly much on political history (as in politicians and the federal government) and less on grass roots social movements that forced such policy formations into the public domain. Nevertheless; it is an excellent resource for teaching undergraduates about the history of affirmative action in the U.S.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Half of the History of Affirmative ActionBy Icy DevilI thought this was an interesting book; particularly in its coverage of the early days of affirmative action; before the Kennedy years. The narrative of the later years tended to bog down in the detail and was frankly less readable. What was most lacking in the book; however; was any real coverage of the effects; positive and negative; of affirmative action and of the cynical polititization of affirmative action. This is part of the history; and its absence makes this only a 50 percent effort.
