i'm mortified...

One key element behind corporal mortification is to feel solidarity with the poor and the suffering, denying oneself some comfort, whether it be by fasting or wearing a cilice.

This is from an opinion piece in today's New York Times: Opus Dei's Box-Office Triumph by a professor in English who has been a member of Opus Dei since he was 18.

Personally, I think it's beyond sick, but as the saying goes Whatever blows your skirt up...

In the article he lauds the joys of celibacy, the cilice and sef-mortification. He says that the DaVinci Code has done a great service piquing the curiosity of people about Opus Dei. My response to him is, "Of course it has, silly!"

People are curious about the bizarre. They are drawn to freaks and sideshows. They slow down at accident sites to see if there is blood. They run to follow ambulances and fire engines to see someone burn. They play the game of Ain't if awful! with just about everything gruesome, gossipy, and gory. It's a major part ingrained in the human psyche and always has been. People love to see others suffer as long as it isn't themselves doing the suffering.

We watch television shows that have someone getting run over, shot, raped, and mugged. We play video games where we have to karate kick, shoot, or stab a character to get to the goal of "winning." We go to disaster movies that have buildings collapse, earthquakes that destroy cities, and cruise ships that capsize.

We are fascinated by someone else being harmed. We are enthralled with someone else being tortured. We are gleeful at others people's misfortune. As long it is not our own. The thought of someone inflicting pain and suffering on himself is probably the most intriguing to humans.

Why would someone willingly cause themselves harm? He says it is to "feel solidarity with the poor and the suffering..." I say it's to draw attention to the low self-esteem and poor view he has of himself.

WWJD? He probably would do something positive for the poor and the suffering. He probably would lament the fact that anyone would be inflicting pain on himself in his name. He probably would agree that contemplation is necessary but not at the expense of the self. He probably would remind them that he didn't inflict pain on himself. Others did!

Life's a bitch and then you die. Why make it harder?

just asking...