Pain and Devotion
Pain and Devotion There are many different kinds of devotion, not all involving pain, but in many instances it seems the greatest acts of devotion for any entity is the suffering of pain in the name of something other than yourself. As Diane Ackerman states in A Natural History of the Senses , " Religions have always encouraged their martyrs to experience pain in order to purify the spirit. We come into this world with only the slender word 'I,' and giving it up in a sacred delirium is the painful ecstasy religions demand ."(Ackerman, 130) As seen in the painting on the right ( The Crucifixion (1762) by Pompeo Batoni), Jesus is said to have been crucified, both as a sacrifice for his movement, and so he could die in the place of mankind and take on the spiritual burden of their sins. This act is one of the most famous acts of ...