The Cruelty Exercise

I finished reading 'The Pilgrimage' by Paulo Coelho (the guy famous for 'The Alchemist') a few days ago. The story is about Paulo who's a follower of an ancient order known as the Tradition, and a pilgrim of San Tiago on an ancient road across Spain in search of his sword. He is guided on this journey by Petrus, another follower of the Tradition who during the course of the pilgrimage teaches Paulo some practices of the Tradition known as the RAM practices. Through these exercises Paulo learns the ancient wisdom of the tradition and the nature of truth through the simplicity of life.

One RAM practice that really catches your attention is 'the cruelty exercise'. Here it is:

"Every time a thought comes to mind that makes you feel bad about yourself - jealousy, self-pity, envy, hatred, and so on – do the following:

Dig the nail of your index finger into the cuticle of the thumb of the same hand until it becomes quite painful. Concentrate on the pain: it is a physical reflection of the suffering you are going through spiritually. Ease the pressure only when the cruel thought has gone.

Repeat this as many times as necessary until the thought has left you, even if this means digging your fingernail into your thumb over and over. Each time it will take longer for the cruel thought to return, and eventually it will disappear altogether, so long as you do not fail to perform the exercise every time it comes to mind."

The reason I’m mentioning it here is that we should try employing the cruelty exercise, not necessarily in this extreme but in some form that works, in our life. Feeling bad about ourselves won’t get us anywhere.

Here is what the book looks like: