Re: The Agony Component -- Convulsionnaires, Paris 1731
(Sorry this is so long, I didn't have time to make it shorter)
apostate630 said:
I'm posting these pics of Makar's model Inga as examples of anti-agony. She's the one that Makar and I have mentioned before; at the 20 minute safety limit for hanging on the cross she didn't want to come down.
Makar insists she didn't achieve orgasm(s) up there, but she is plainly having way too much fun.
There is a phenomenon of human physiology wherein traumatic injury sometimes induces a massive endorphin release in the brain, substances that are chemical cousins of morphine and heroin. This erases pain and can induce euphoria. I first encountered this phenomenon in the memoir Go for Broke, by Senator Daniel Ken Inouye (D-Hawaii). With a slug in his gut and his arm nearly blown off by a rifle grenade, he killed a scheißload of Germans and knocked out a machine gun nest. His Medal of Honor citation reads "despite intense pain," but Sen. Inouye reported he felt no pain at all at the time.
But in the final analysis, I'm posting these because Inga has, IMHO, the most incandescently hot body of all of Makar's models.
Enjoy.
Yeah, there's something insanely hot about Inga's expression -- it looks like she is experiencing ecstasy, which may or may not include an orgasm. But I don't know whether she did or didn't have an orgasm without asking her.
A couple of people have said that you can't have an orgasm while being crucified. I believe I've heard someone say that they have. Look, anything is possible, especially when you're talking about an experience that's so extreme. Someone (maybe Willowfall or cmeinsen) said that the brain is the ultimate sex organ, and that's true. It can do that and more if we let it.
It's a fact, and not speculation, that a man can have an orgasm after ten very painful minutes being cruxed, with no physical foreplay or contact with the penis, and no fantasizing to build up to an erotic state, no extended oxygen deprivation, and no past history of having anything like that happen before. (I've experimented with being cruxed, because I'm fascinated with the concept of pain and cruxing and looking at pictures or reading stories is not enough -- as a total switch I'd rather do R&D from either perspective.) All that triggered it was a random thought, "Is it possible to have an orgasm while being cruxed, like someone thought Inga had?" The answer "came" instantly and very strongly without building up to it.
Endorphins? That isn't a sufficient theory.
Sure there's such a thing as "massive endorphin release in the brain" and it's pain-related. But the similarities end there. This theory just doesn't fit the evidence well enough. For starters, I really don't see any massive physical trauma in Inga's body up there. Nor can I imagine Sen. Inouye (or anyone for that matter) attacking and killing with extreme prejudice while showing such a happy, transcendently serene facial expression and fluid body language as Inga shows. And the agony of cruxing (with rope) builds slowly so there's no sudden shock to precede the action-packed fight-or-flight response that accompanies trauma-induced endorphins. And if pain caused Inga's reaction, then similar responses under similar conditions should be common -- but they aren't. This isn't surprising.
Wikipedia describes endorphins as the result of, not the cause of, orgasms. Endorphins produce analgesia similar to the action of opiates, and are produced during vigorous exercise -- being cruxed is certainly that; and perhaps scenes like that can be habit forming like opium use. But on the other hand, opiate users are known for their diminished sexual response; and opiate dependency is acquired and not present at an early age like the urge for bdsm play. Though endorphins produce a sense of well-being, it is biochemically induced and those biochemicals diminish predictably and don't last for days -- but the glow from a heavy scene can often last for days. Lastly, endorphins do not affect onlookers, yet onlookers are deeply, emotionally involved with heavy scenes and people in subspace, and even with pictures of it -- few if any have the same fascination with exhausted, sweaty runners loaded with endorphins. The endorphin theory is not all that is going on.
There's a better theory -- supernatural ecstasy. It's not the same thing.
Everyone's heard of the beatific, divine rapture, typically described in Catholic saints and martyrs. It is often accompanied by reports of miracles. Although the Catholic church tries to establish a monopoly on this exalted state, no religious creed has a copyright on it (though certain spiritual ethics seem to be required). There is a significant body of evidence passing rigorous and objective examination showing that miracles and ecstasy do in fact occur.
If supernatural ecstasy and miracles can be invoked, the best place to find them would be during a consensual cruxing (or similar event). The requirements are: consent; the plausible possibility of inescapable death; and the choice or consent to accept the possibility of the unusual, unexpected or impossible. By definition, the spiritual or supernatural part is simply the choice or consent to accept the possibility that something considered impossible might happen -- hardcore skepticism rejects everything outside of familiar known boundaries.
There's no logical reason why "supernatural ecstasy" cannot exist (even with impossible to explain events like healing chronic and severe conditions, and even with paranormal phenomena). After all, if someone is in a state where they COULD experience extreme transcendent bliss while the normal classical laws of physics were being suspended, then they can also comply with a cynic or skeptic by NOT feeling any ecstasy or pleasure at all with nothing out of the ordinary. That makes skeptics satisfied.
It is also possible to satisfy those who don't agree with this core belief of skeptics and cynics. This happened in Paris, France in 1731 with the "Convulsionnaires" and involved thousands of witnesses. The paranormal, miraculous events were witnessed hundreds of times by hundreds of witnesses, and this went on for many years. If you are unacquainted with this, it is because of the intense political rivalries at the time, and because it is too extreme to accept comfortably.
(I've got some amazing articles about this, it's very relevant to cruxing.)
The quality and quantity of the events that happened with the Convulsionnaires is very disturbing. Things happened to thousands that were extreme and repeated and witnessed by believers and cynics by the hundreds. These involved impossible physical feats, endurance of shockingly extreme torture and assault with ease and great pleasure and relief that would normally cause extreme harm or death, including crucifixion with nails for hours with no ill effects, with swift or instant healing of grave punctures from nails and swords, intense beatings with rods of iron and chains (and the recipients would be urging them to strike harder all the while); others safely expose themselves to minutes of being above direct flames. Events were observed and written about by people such as Voltaire and Blaise Pascal.
Even more relevant and disturbing is that this appears to be on the verge of happening again, right in front of us, during consensual cruxing, and we might occasionally be seeing some tiny part of what might happen. It's more than just pain, or relief from pain.
The only missing element is the acceptance of the possibility that there might be a chance, even a one in a million possibility, that we might be wrong to believe that some particular event is entirely impossible. This is more than imagination.
For instance, it is extraordinarily painful and stressful to be cruxed for nine or ten minutes. Twenty minutes means amazingly extreme agony. Yet, through the wall of deep agony, helplessness and humiliation, there might be the tiniest chance that someone might enter a state of supernatural ecstasy and feel a hundred times more pleasure than ever before, even beyond the pain, and be totally unharmed by the experience, even if they remained there for hours -- and if someone tries coaxing them down they might say, "Why so soon? Come back later!" Such things are possible, and more is possible, and it has happened in the past.
More on convulsionnaires later, Aaron
