Being beheaded was an "
afflictive punishment" that could not be rectified.
As a student pointed out to me upon reading the book, Erzen, who was trained in American studies rather than religious studies, seems at times to believe that extreme religiosity of this sort is itself an addiction, or perhaps the spiritual methadone used to subdue whatever physical or emotional cravings one perceives as
afflictive. Yet Erzen's acknowledged critical distance from evangelicalism never leads to the sort of panicky dissociative techniques increasingly evident in studies of conservative religion, whose authors wink calculatingly at scholarly readers: really I'm one of you, not one of them.
afflictive punishments (for instance, physical mutilation) about which
Beings are prone to
afflictive emotions like hatred etc.
Such an approach would hold that virtue-acquisition involves more than undoing and positive thinking (decisionist methods), and prioritize that virtues are primarily acquired through 1) interactive experiences with and internalization of other persons, and 2) intentional working-through of vices (
afflictive emotions) that diminish one's capacity to express virtue.
Pain (and discomfort and anger and any
afflictive feeling) reminds us that we aren't in harmony with what is happening.
In the chapter 'Getting under Way' the editor thinks that Teufelsdrockh suffers from an '
afflictive derangement of head', since he reflects that:
Cognitive, physical, and
afflictive behaviors on fact-based search tasks.
Cyclic Existence</p> <pre> Once we finally recognize the suffering state we are in, the all-pervasive suffering that the
afflictive emotions such as attachment and anger inflict upon us, we develop a sense of frustration and disgust with our present predicament.
His Holiness's practice of nonviolence in extremely difficult circumstances over many decades bears witness to the power of the Buddhist tradition of training the mind to overcome
afflictive emotions and is a gift to the entire world.
Her work of healing illustrates the path of tantric Buddhism, in which the
afflictive emotions are not execrated, denied or repressed, but rather are clearly seen, fully owned, and deeply understood; in this way, negativity is transmuted into the compost out of which wisdom and compassion may grow.
In every single session after the initial peaceful one, I was under assault by
afflictive emotions--anger, fear, panic, and doubt--which were far more powerful than the run-of-the-mill distractions and disturbing thoughts I had encountered in the first few months of my practice.
It has been said, too, that so many
afflictive incidents happening to a slave are improbable, and present a distorted view of the institution." (20) Stowe insists that her portrayal of George has been drawn from "the continual living testimony" of fugitive slaves, including that of slave narrators Lewis Clark, Frederick Douglass, and Josiah Henson (Key, 19).