Leonard Feinberg PhD was a visiting Fulbright Professor to the University of Ceylon in 1956. While he was there he witnessed a major annual religious ceremony.

For three months, 24 hours a day, 80 people were strictly vegetarian and performed ritual worship and meditation on the god Kataragama. Their aim was to become so identified with the god that he would occupy their bodies, and enable them to walk a twenty foot fire pit without harm.

When the moment of truth came, Dr. Feinberg found it difficult to breathe within ten feet of the incandescent pit. He couldn’t stand near it either. To the beat of ritual drums the 80 people emerged from their preparation and walked the pit.