Longmire

My wife and I watched the latest Longmire episode tonight where Longmire (because his adult daughter has been hit by a car and is in the hospital and might die puts Eagle Talons on Rawhide strips through the flesh in his chest in a type of Sundance Prayer.

I was interested in this because even though I have done a 4 day vision quest without water or food while praying I never did a Sundance Ceremony like you see Longmire doing on the TV show. I liked the way they time his daughter coming out of the coma to his penance and the Eagle talons ripping out of his chest muscles.

The whole point of the Sundance is to pray and help members of your family. So, you aren't torturing yourself needlessly you are being put in an alternate state of consciousness in penance for anything wrong you might have done in order to save members of your family. The pain puts the person in the right state of consciousness (hopefully) to accomplish their prayer goals. Though it might be alien to people of other religions it makes perfect sense within the culture it arose out of.

So, whether it is useful or not can only be found in the hearts and minds and spirits of those who do this sometimes many times in the course of a lifetime.