Body Play

One of the names in my Hall of Fame on the right there is Fakir Musafar. I learned about him from this book:

I first encountered this book in my favorite record & comic shop in the late 1980s — this book came out in 1989, so it was the very late 80s indeed. This is a perfect example of the long, slow awakening of my kink. I flipped through this book 100 times in the shop before I worked up the nerve to buy it. I don’t know what i was worried about.

It’s a great book full of all sorts of examples of body modification — mainly tattooing and piercing — but the long interview with Fakir is something special. This guy started playing with pain and other body modifications when he was very young, inspired by the images in National Geographic and other sources. Here’s a picture of a wasp-waisted Fakir in 1959:

Even better than these pictures is the text of the interview. Here’s a nice chunk:

Interviewer: People are always asking: why should you do things like get pierced or get tattooed? You gave us three reasons: 1.) religious/spiritual benefits, 2.) social status or for adornment, and 3.) sexual pleasure.

Fakir: Well, we’re all suffering from a lot of repressive conditioning which you can’t undo in just a mental way. Most of it has to do with sexuality and sexual energy. If you get into any practices of other cultures you’re bound to be involved with a lot of sexuality in other states and guises that aren’t even acknowledged as being in existence in this culture. And a good shamanistic answer to Why do these things? is BECAUSE IT’S FUN! It’s more fun than getting on a bus and going to work in the morning. It’s more fun than going to a college and getting a Ph.D. It’s more fun for you, and it can sometimes be a lot of fun for people around you. I mean: what’s wrong with that? Is there a law against having fun?

Experiencing ecstatic states: why would one want to experience an ecstatic state? Well, you might learn something out of it. You might be able to help others. You might see other worlds. There may be all kinds of reasons, but basically you do it because it’s fun! Why not?

…I know the idea is odious and alien to our culture that one would deliberately impose restrictions on movement and freedom of the body, but mankind throughout history has always done this. The lessons that can be learned and the life that can be led by doing this far transcend what can be learned by being comfortable. Being comfortable isn’t necessarily living a “good” life–that’s the myth, but it’s not true. Living an uncomfortable life is sometimes far more satisfactory than a placid, bovine existence.

To not have encumberments, to not have holes in your body, to not have tattoos may be debilitating–this is something that people have to consider. They may not be getting the most out of life because they don’t do these things–that’s the point. People may be missing beautiful, rich experiences because of cultural bias and conceit.

Elsewhere in the interview he talks about how everyone owns their own body and can do whatever the hell they want with it. I am totally sold on his notion that we can learn a lot more from discomfort and pain than we can learn from comfort and luxury. Which is where this ties back in with the zen/Budhist stuff I’ve been reading. Suffering is a big part of life. That’s noble truth #1: Life Is Suffering. Instead of expending all your energy desperately seeking comfort and avoiding pain, maybe there’s value in learning to experience the pain along with the joy?

I especially like Fakir’s statement “we’re all suffering from a lot of repressive conditioning which you can’t undo in just a mental way.” I have done several years of conventional therapy — the Talking Cure — and I feel like I have reached a limit on the progress I can make by simply talking about things. Talking through some issues has been a valuable experience, but right now I’m just beginning to appreciate the foolishness of ignoring the body.