Self-Harm In Religious Traditions

Throughout recorded history, it is likely that humans have engaged in self-mutilation. In ancient religious texts, accounts of self-harm exist. Within the Torah, references are made to the practice, as well as in the Gospels. Moreover, the Qur’an mentions self-harm to a limited degree. Thus, self-harm is not a new phenomenon. What is new is how we view it, what we label it and why it is practiced. This paper seeks to briefly illustrate and compare the manifestations of self-harm in certain religious traditions in comparison to modern modes of self-harm. It is important to understand the evolution of perceptions, especially in our culture, in which one who practices any type of self-mutilation might feel stigmatized and shamed.

In the Jewish

It could be said that even in the realm of religion rules are often made to be broken. One example is the flagellation that was practiced by certain Christian Catholic sects, or imitatio Christi. This kind of self-mortification is an example of mimetic behavior. The flagellants were attempting to imitate Christ by recreating the Passion, or the pain and suffering that he endured through crucifixion (Wilson: 245). Furthermore, by shedding their own blood, salvation was

In these cultures, self-mutilation is a symbol of power. To become a shaman, one must experience a crisis and sickness prior to embarking on the path to shamanism. Overcoming the crisis requires a set ritual, and if completed successfully, symbolizes the passage into a new phase. Perhaps it is cliché, but is as if the person is “born again”. Per Eliade, this ritual leads to a new beginning, or “primordial paradise”, only reached through physical and psychic suffering. Eliade identified five required stages in the journey to shamanism: “torture and dismemberment of the body; reduction of the body to a skeleton by scraping away the flesh; substitution of the viscera and renewal of the blood; time spent in Hell, during which the future shaman learns from demons and from the souls of dead shamans; and an ascent to Heaven in order to be consecrated by God” (Favazza: pg. 25). Thus, for the new to emerge, the old must be eliminated through great suffering. In these traditions, the shaman is wise and powerful because of their extraordinary experience.

Several examples can be found in Obeyesekere’s essay titled Medusa’s Hair. One case, a woman named Pemavati (of Sri Lanka) found herself on the path to shamanism: she experienced personal crisis (called “dark night of the soul” in her culture), ceased normal intake of food, tormented