God's Boxing Ring

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When I think of touch as a sense, pain is often not what comes to mind. Pain has such a negative correlation in my mind and the mind of most people in western cultures, and the senses to me are positive and powerful features that allow you to connect with the world around you. Glucklich makes the connection of sports to pain. Many sports to this day are about how long one can endure pain in some form, and this has become completely normalized. What even is the end goal of boxing? Two people just beat eachother up until one of them gives in to exhaustion and we encourage and idolize those who can make it to the end without getting knocked out. In many cases, athletes are cheered on when they injure themselves and continue to play with their injury, seeing them as true devoted athletes who just love their sport. Why does one's ability to endure pain make them “strong” and “devoted”? Why seek out pain and torture?


Glucklich talks quite a lot about how many religious cultures have considered pain as transformative, strengthening, and even a healing experience. The idea that one is enduring pain or suffering for an evil they commited or as a test from God is then transformed into a necessary/deserved punishment. They suffer this pain to prove their devotion to God and their appreciation for the sacrifices He has made. So maybe this religious belief has trickled down into our normal activities and is the reason we connect strength with how much pain an individual can endure. Athletes are trying to prove themselves as the strongest and most devoted athlete, just as one would attempt to prove themselves as a devoted follower of God. God is meant to be a forgiving and loving being, so why would he want his followers to suffer in the life he has given them? In my mind, God has given you this gift of life, why suffer through it? You can devote your life to God without torture and self-hurt in the same way that you can show your strength through ways other than pain. Oftentimes I think the mental challenges that come with life and religion are the truest ways to show one's strength and devotion to their beliefs.

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