force yourself to do everything that you would normally whine about.
Isn't that what modern life is about?
Hahaha, well said.
Unfortunately, all the above posts were more or less wrong.
This is actually a very good question.
Being tough/strength is connected to "doing what is right" - that means that, even in the face of hardship, personal discomfort, and pain you persevere and continue struggling. This does not mean sadism or purposely causing yourself pain. This does not mean "walking on a broken leg" or causing yourself unhealthy damage, this means not complaining/giving up when things become difficult. This is "being a man."
I disagree about "being a man", I think it's bullshit. We shouldn't complain about injustice? Come on.
In my view the path to strength is not through pain and suffering. Of course you will encounter severe suffering along the way, and if you're able to deal with it at a high level then it will build your character for the next time you experience severe suffering, or if you can't deal with it well then you'll be more of a victim next time (you can always break out of the victim mold but the chances decrease the more you fall into it).
In my view the path to strength is through weakness. We all start weak. If you want to be strong, you must devote yourself completely 100% to overcoming your weaknesses! Makes sense, right? Some weaknesses may be of a physical nature and you are unable to overcome them, in this case the human body is only so perfect and it's not a weakness, you just need to learn to specialize towards your strengths. In other cases, you may have difficulty overcoming weaknesses, because you can't mentally handle it... this points to the first and most over-arching weaknesses you should address in yourself in order to become strong - the mental ones!
Addressing your mental weaknesses does not mean you must endure pain, in fact people who talk about enduring pain are usually trying to overcompensate for their failure to overcome their mental weaknesses. If you want to be strong you must learn to be honest with yourself and to trust yourself, so that when the shit hits the fan you will not find unwanted surprises in yourself, you will know where you stand, what you stand for and why you stand for it. If you refrain from considering your philosophical base, then when the shit hits the fan you may not know where you stand, you may not know if your position is the right one, you may not have rise up in you the aggression and passion resulting from dedication to heartfelt truths. If you have doubts in your philosophy and world view then these doubts will crack into where you stand and make your fists tremble.
PS2: I don't want to put myself in risk of dying, mutilation, crippling.
There is your problem right there. Are you sure there is nothing worth dying for? Surely you would die for your nation, if you knew it was for the greater good of your people and not in vain? Men die, thats what we're here for.
We are here to live, now and perhaps forever if possible (for me in my view I know I am immortal beyond reincarnation). In a way courage is besides the point, because you must be able to live with yourself forever, so you must make the right actions, you must be smart to recognize this, you must be wise. But courage is needed at first, as you confront your mental weaknesses, because the *only* thing maintaining your mental weaknesses in place is fear! If you get really deep into conversation about your feelings, and you say you don't want to talk about it anymore because it makes you uncomfortable... the true master will never feel this way! You have to understand how the human mind works, that when you hide part of yourself from the rest of yourself like this, it produces a ripple effect that influences all aspects of your being and contorts you in very deceptive, unhealthy ways.
Excruciating pain can serve as a kind of test or confirmation, but it's difficult to test for it outside of a real-life context as you're not motivated by an important cause or philosophy; you can't just randomly take a lighter to your hand (something I have tried, by the way, well it was my arm not hand). You should have some knowledge of physical pain from physical pain you experienced in the past, and if you are impeccable in knowing yourself then you know how you'll react. The experience when / if it comes may solidify something in you to a more concrete state, but really nothing changed, it was there before and you know it. I am rock hard not only from the battles I have fought so far, but also from the battles I will fight in the future. I am already as ruthless towards reality and towards myself as I possibly can be.