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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by JohnDoenut on December 10, 2001, at 18:10:44
I just recently found out that in Africa, some of the soldiers there (and who knows who else) practice this kind of voodoo magic. One practice involves making incisions in the skin all over the body and then putting some substance in it to allow the incision to stay open. They believe this makes them invisible. Soldiers use it of course to avoid being hurt in battle.
I found this page about this type of magic, subculture etc. (may not have info about this specific practice)http://www.secularhumanism.org/ahal/religioncult.html
Just thought you might be interested to know.
Posted by Mitch on December 11, 2001, at 13:38:52
In reply to Cutting as a religion. , posted by JohnDoenut on December 10, 2001, at 18:10:44
> I just recently found out that in Africa, some of the soldiers there (and who knows who else) practice this kind of voodoo magic. One practice involves making incisions in the skin all over the body and then putting some substance in it to allow the incision to stay open. They believe this makes them invisible. Soldiers use it of course to avoid being hurt in battle.
> I found this page about this type of magic, subculture etc. (may not have info about this specific practice)
>
> http://www.secularhumanism.org/ahal/religioncult.html
>
> Just thought you might be interested to know.If my memory serves me right...there was something about a bizarre Christian cult that practiced self-mutilation in Dostoevsy's "The Idiot".
Mitch
Posted by kid_A on December 11, 2001, at 15:38:14
In reply to Re: Cutting as a religion. , posted by Mitch on December 11, 2001, at 13:38:52
in germany they used to slice each others cheeks w/ knives, the deeper the cut the braver you were, because you flinched the least...cutting is a ritual in and of itself, its self human sacrifice...
Posted by Simcha on December 12, 2001, at 12:23:42
In reply to Cutting as a religion. , posted by JohnDoenut on December 10, 2001, at 18:10:44
I heard of a cult that went down to South America where they all drank purple Kool-aid laced with cyanide and they all died.
Mass self-mutilation and mass suicide are perhaps similar in that they involve self-human-sacrifice and that they seem to be mal-adaptive behaviors. I hate to bring up Darwinism...that cult who went down to South America no longer have any followers.
Something tells me that self-preservation is a very healthy mindset. It seems that harming oneself knowingly is not so healthy in the long run.
I think I'll stay away from purple Kool-aid and razorblades.
> I just recently found out that in Africa, some of the soldiers there (and who knows who else) practice this kind of voodoo magic. One practice involves making incisions in the skin all over the body and then putting some substance in it to allow the incision to stay open. They believe this makes them invisible. Soldiers use it of course to avoid being hurt in battle.
> I found this page about this type of magic, subculture etc. (may not have info about this specific practice)
>
> http://www.secularhumanism.org/ahal/religioncult.html
>
> Just thought you might be interested to know.
Posted by kid_A on December 12, 2001, at 12:48:49
In reply to Re: Cutting as a religion. , posted by Simcha on December 12, 2001, at 12:23:42
> Something tells me that self-preservation is a very healthy mindset. It seems that harming oneself knowingly is not so healthy in the long run.
it may not be a healthy activity, but i dont think that it is detrimental to self preservation, the act of cutting is a pill, a poultice if you will to an intense ailment, it is a silencer to a great and imense feeling of anxiety, the anxiety becomes void because we focus on the cut... the cut overwhelms us and we are at peace for a little while, we have our wounds to tend, our battle scars...
this is my experience as a cutter, a cutter who is now, for how long? in remission...
Posted by tina on December 12, 2001, at 15:18:50
In reply to Re: Cutting as a religion. , posted by kid_A on December 12, 2001, at 12:48:49
Good description kid. Thanks.
> it may not be a healthy activity, but i dont think that it is detrimental to self preservation, the act of cutting is a pill, a poultice if you will to an intense ailment, it is a silencer to a great and imense feeling of anxiety, the anxiety becomes void because we focus on the cut... the cut overwhelms us and we are at peace for a little while, we have our wounds to tend, our battle scars...
>
> this is my experience as a cutter, a cutter who is now, for how long? in remission...
Posted by JohnDoenut on December 13, 2001, at 11:42:48
In reply to Re: Cutting as a religion. , posted by kid_A on December 12, 2001, at 12:48:49
> it may not be a healthy activity, but i dont think that it is detrimental to self preservation, the act of cutting is a pill, a poultice if you will to an intense ailment, it is a silencer to a great and imense feeling of anxiety, the anxiety becomes void because we focus on the cut... the cut overwhelms us and we are at peace for a little while, we have our wounds to tend, our battle scars...
>To people who believe in black magic and joojoo or voodoo, they may account for this by saying that you are letting the bad spirits our of your body. That you are possessed and the act of cutting releases it. Sort of like what they did a long time ago by bloodletting to try to cure diseases. Get the bad blood out. Get the bad spirits out.
Posted by Simcha on December 13, 2001, at 12:30:34
In reply to Re: Cutting as a religion. , posted by JohnDoenut on December 13, 2001, at 11:42:48
I'm not trying to knock this for other people yet perhaps I just don't see the value in it. I see it as harming oneself. That is my opinion as someone who does not like pain, or to bleed.
If this is part of your traditional or religious practice then by all means, continue. Don't let my prejudices get in your way. Yet, if you live in 21st century America, this practice might not be a healthy thing, unless of course you descend from a tribe where this is the practice of course.
OK, basically all I'm saying is I DUNNO!
I can't imagine doing it to myself and yet there are many things that others do that I won't do...
> > it may not be a healthy activity, but i dont think that it is detrimental to self preservation, the act of cutting is a pill, a poultice if you will to an intense ailment, it is a silencer to a great and imense feeling of anxiety, the anxiety becomes void because we focus on the cut... the cut overwhelms us and we are at peace for a little while, we have our wounds to tend, our battle scars...
> >
>
> To people who believe in black magic and joojoo or voodoo, they may account for this by saying that you are letting the bad spirits our of your body. That you are possessed and the act of cutting releases it. Sort of like what they did a long time ago by bloodletting to try to cure diseases. Get the bad blood out. Get the bad spirits out.
Posted by Mitch on December 14, 2001, at 0:45:19
In reply to Re: Cutting as a religion. , posted by Simcha on December 13, 2001, at 12:30:34
Simcha,
I have never engaged in this, but I have a couple of family members that have and for some strange reason I think my *boss* does! I never pressed them about why they did it or not. It wasn't major, but they did seem to make a *point* about allowing me to be aware of it. I mentioned above about the religious cult in Russia (19th C) that practiced self-mutilation as a ritual of sorts. I don't know if Dostoevsky was trying to portray Christ's crucifixion as a form of self-inflicted injury as a *release* or *rite-of-passage* or not. It just seems to chime with a lot of the themes about cutting that have been posted in an absurd-strange way.
Mitch
> I'm not trying to knock this for other people yet perhaps I just don't see the value in it. I see it as harming oneself. That is my opinion as someone who does not like pain, or to bleed.
>
> If this is part of your traditional or religious practice then by all means, continue. Don't let my prejudices get in your way. Yet, if you live in 21st century America, this practice might not be a healthy thing, unless of course you descend from a tribe where this is the practice of course.
>
> OK, basically all I'm saying is I DUNNO!
>
> I can't imagine doing it to myself and yet there are many things that others do that I won't do...
>
> > > it may not be a healthy activity, but i dont think that it is detrimental to self preservation, the act of cutting is a pill, a poultice if you will to an intense ailment, it is a silencer to a great and imense feeling of anxiety, the anxiety becomes void because we focus on the cut... the cut overwhelms us and we are at peace for a little while, we have our wounds to tend, our battle scars...
> > >
> >
> > To people who believe in black magic and joojoo or voodoo, they may account for this by saying that you are letting the bad spirits our of your body. That you are possessed and the act of cutting releases it. Sort of like what they did a long time ago by bloodletting to try to cure diseases. Get the bad blood out. Get the bad spirits out.
Posted by JohnDoenut on December 14, 2001, at 11:05:42
In reply to Re: Cutting as a religion. » Simcha, posted by Mitch on December 14, 2001, at 0:45:19
Im going to tell you something thats rather disturbing. When I was young I lived in an institution for a short time. There was a guy there who when he got agitated or upset would either bang his head on whatever was available quite hard and repeatedly or punch himself in the face or invite others to hit him. The thing is the guy was built like a moose and somehow could take that punishment. Myself Id do serious damage if I tried it even once. He wasnt stupid either, he was extremely intelligent. He was just seriously disturbed. I dont know whatever happened to him.
> Simcha,
>
> I have never engaged in this, but I have a couple of family members that have and for some strange reason I think my *boss* does! I never pressed them about why they did it or not. It wasn't major, but they did seem to make a *point* about allowing me to be aware of it. I mentioned above about the religious cult in Russia (19th C) that practiced self-mutilation as a ritual of sorts. I don't know if Dostoevsky was trying to portray Christ's crucifixion as a form of self-inflicted injury as a *release* or *rite-of-passage* or not. It just seems to chime with a lot of the themes about cutting that have been posted in an absurd-strange way.
This is the end of the thread.
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