In recent times the
word mortification has come to mean something akin to severe
embarrassment or humiliation, but that is not what the word meant originally.
In the Oxford English Dictionary (first published in 1933 and
reprinted in 1961), we find the following definitions:
Mortify: To bring into subjection
(the body, its appetites and passions) by the practice of self denial,
abstinence, or bodily discipline. (p. 679).
Mortifying: Involving mortification
or repression of natural appetites and desires. (p. 679)
In earlier times, mortification was
viewed as a conscious process by which one constrained one's own behavior
within certain narrowly defined limits. Individuals actively searched for ways
to push away those natural inclinations which were not in keeping with group
norms. In particular, people felt that they had to keep a rein on their
"animal" impulses. These impulses came to be known as the seven deadly
sins: pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. These"
sins" might be seen as roughly corresponding to Freud's concept of the id.
Not surprisingly, skill at
mortifying oneself was most thoroughly developed in austere religious orders.
By becoming involved in large numbers of compulsively-performed rituals,
members of such orders had little time for self-indulgence. Even so,
the process of mortification through discipline, abstinence, and compulsive
behavior was deemed to be ineffectual. No one short of Jesus' could
be that perfect. For this reason, most of these groups also had some form of
confession - a ritualized self-denunciation in front of the group or its leader
- to cleanse the remnants of self-seeking tendencies from the soul.
Most people nowadays are not aware
of the importance of the process of mortification in everyday life. This lack
of awareness is most likely due to prevailing individualistic mores. The loss
of such understanding is, however, of relatively recent vintage. The Victorians
in England were certainly aware of mortification, although at the turn of the
century it was already the focus of some derision. It was satirized by name in
no less than three Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
In The Mikado, a
character named Pooh Bah has to "mortify," not only his own pride,
but his family pride. He does so, however, in order to save his own skin. It
seems that in order to save his town from losing its charter (something which
represents a collective need), someone has to volunteer' to satisfy the whims
of the Mikado (the king) by allowing himself to be executed. Pooh Bah declines
to volunteer, justifying his refusal on the grounds that it is necessary for
him to refuse to indulge his family pride, which would be served by his
accepting the job.
In Iolanthe, the queen of a group of fairies has to mortify her sexual attraction to a mortal man, and has a problem doing so after one of her favorite subjects has been caught marrying a mortal. This play satirized societal prohibitions against marrying across the rigid class lines present in the England of that day. In Princess Ida, women in a feminist school have to mortify their attraction to men in order to maintain their group identity. The mortification, as well as the group identity, dissolves when the school is infiltrated by some charming and handsome young men.
From my point of view, the impulses that are most often mortified by today's individuals can be conceptualized as being those inc1inations of their real selves which conflict with the roles that they have been playing within their families. People have acquired these roles because the roles seem to be required in order to maintain family homeostasis.
Here are several ways in which individuals mortify some of their own impulses. Some of the forms of mortification correspond to the psychoanalytic concept of defense mechanisms. In general, modern families and individuals have to do for themselves what was once done for them by the larger group. Where we once had group censure and political exile, we now have family invalidation and emotional cut-offs.
In place of fire and brimstone from a preacher, individuals create their own frightening, irrational thoughts in order to scare themselves out of this or that desire. Instead of going to the confessional, they criticize themselves for their base inclinations and find ways to loathe themselves. Rather than engaging in prescribed rituals, they form their own reaction formations, compulsively acting in ways that run counter to their underlying desires.
We have all devised ingenious ways to put
ourselves down, subjugate our passions, and force ourselves to conform to
collective standards or family needs.
