Just Mindnumbing

I was reading around the web, and came across an article that speaks of a phenomena that I have heard about for years. In the Phillipines there is a ritual where several men quite literally "take up their cross to follow Jesus". What's more they seek to explore the pain and suffering of Jesus by being crucified himself (and then pulled down before death).
That is brutal. I can't fathom the kind of faith that would push me to suffer what Christ suffered. I am not one that believes that in order to identify with another I need to have been through their pain. I still think the Gospel can be recounted without that suffering. It applies to drugs addiction, sins of all varieties and even to Christ's suffering on the cross.
But, one westerner wanted to experience and the news story tells a little of that account.
Peace,