Austin Barlow

Dr. McCorkle
LBST 2102
25 April, 2014
Sacred Pain
All over the world millions of people engage in various forms of extreme behaviors,
many religious and many non-religious. These actions can range from tattoos and piercings, to
body modifications, fire walking, and even piercing ones self with swords. These actions occur
all over the globe in various cultures, some occurring right here in the Americas, and others in
India and third world countries, and have been occurring throughout history. The question that
arises from these rituals is why do humans put themselves through these seemingly torturous
rituals?
In certain cultures in India, a town will gather together and throw a massive festival all to
see a man drive an unsterilized needle through his tongue. If the mans tongue bleeds, the town
believes that they will have bad luck for a year, but if the mans tongue does not bleed, the town
will have good luck for the upcoming year. Logistically a ritual like this could not actually
predict upcoming events for the next year, so why do people believe in this religious behavior
and this sacred pain? It may sound crazy to believe in this type of behavior in other cultures, but
in fact we do the exact same thing here in the United States. Every year on February 2
Americans will gather together to watch a rodent see its shadow. If the groundhog sees its
shadow, then we will have six more weeks of winter. If the groundhog does not see his shadow,
then it is a sign of early spring. It is impossible for a rodent to predict the future weather, so why
do people engage in this festivity?
Skinner theorized that religion is a way to try and control our environment. The less
control over our environment that we have, the more religious or ritualistic we seem to be.
Malinowski who was the father of anthropology, supported this concept as rituals are trying to
control uncertainty. There are two types of control, primary control, which are things that we as
human beings can actually control. And secondary control, which are things that we cant
control. Malinowski came up with this theory from studying the Trubaland Islanders. The
islanders that fished in the sea participated in more rituals, rather than the islanders that fished in
the lake. He concluded that the more stress and pressure that an individual is under by not being
able to control their safety or return, the more rituals an individual will be enticed to participate
in.