Blog 2: The Pain Scale

     It is known that one of the major beliefs in Christianity (and especially Catholicism) is the concept that Christ died for the sins of humanity when he was crucified on the cross. Many Christians seem to base their beliefs on the idea that Christ came down as fully man and fully divine to offer salvation for His people by putting their sins on His back and sacrificing himself so that they may be able to enter the gates of Heaven one day. Through this Christian teaching that Christ actually "died for our sins" we acknowledge the sacrifice that He made which allows all people to be forgiven for the sinful actions (i.e. killing their savior) they have committed and it gives Christians a hope that their is something greater for them to take part in as they venture into their life after death with Christ. While reading "The Pain Scale" by Eula Biss, the line "Zero is a number in the way that Christ was a man"sticks out to me because it leads me to question how Christ really "saved" His people by dying on the cross (171). Eula Biss relates the number 0 to Christ because she finds that, in both cases, humans cannot completely understand and explain how each are brought about to be uniquely what we make of them in real life. Zero is and is not a number; Christ is and is not a man. Biss is bothered by the fact that humans have tried to over-analyze and simplify the concepts of Christ and zero when, in reality, we are attempting to explain things that do not quite make sense. In class it was brought up by one of my fellow students that if "we multiple Christ by zero we get zero." I found this statement comical yet surprisingly revealing as Biss is connecting the two in her essay. Christ is like zero: hard to comprehend. How did Christ "save" us? What did Christ physically do that magically made us relieved from all our sins?  Sure, Christ may have saved us from our sins but we still sin. People still make the same stupid and wrong decisions every single day. So, did Christ really save us from our sins or were our sins just "zeroed" in the first place. Maybe "All our sins are for zero" and we just wanted to connect them to something to try to inspire ourselves to be better people so we made up a big long story about how we should feel bad for some dude named Jesus because He had to die for our sins and if we sin less we get to hang out with Him and have eternal life after we die (171). Cool story right? Who knows.
     Through reading "The Pain Scale" I think I've come to an interesting conclusion: people are obnoxiously self-conscious at times. We, as people, feel the need to be "measured." Everyone wants to know where they stand on the "life-scale" compared to everyone else. Biss writes in her essay, "To be normal is to be okay in a fundamental way- to be chosen numerically by God" (177).  In this line Biss is referring to the standard condition of humanity which God has intended and the need to be felt as "normal." Of course in the essay Biss is referring to the pain she feels when she is hurting as compared to how she feels when she is normal  but I believe the line applies to idea much greater than this. When given the option to rate one's pain from 1-10 many people lean more towards the 5 mark because they want to be given the label as "not normal." Bottom line humans are afraid of being different and the way this is combated is through actions that make one feel comforted and secure. I believe this is what Eula Biss feels about why people partake in religion (specifically Christianity). Biss states, "Christianity is not mine. I do not know it and I can not claim it. But I've seen the sacred heart ringed with thorns, the gaping wound in Christ's side, the weeping virgin, the blood, the nails, the cross to bear...Pain is holy, I understand. Suffering is divine" (181). The idea that pain can be viewed as something elegant or beautiful is something foreign to Biss and she disagrees with the techniques Christianity has used to make pain look desirable. Biss then goes onto say, "But in my worst pain, I've also found myself secretly cherishing the phrase, 'This to shall pass'"(181). Christianity has the unique ability to use concepts such as "the weeping virgin" and "the sacred heart ringed with thorns" to offer people a form of hope and security that their pain will one day be relieved after they die and go to Heaven. For Biss, merely believing that the suffering will pass gets her through the actual suffering. Here lies the connection with how religion deals with pain (or fear) and how Biss logically deals with her pain. Both are formed based on an underlying need for comfort and the desire to feel "normal' in one's own skin. That's why we need the pain scale: to express our need to others (doctors) about what's making us "not normal" so we can get back to "normal." That's why we need to be measured: to know how abnormal we truly we truly are. People are self-conscious....that's what Eula taught me.