Conflicted Pagan Values
Jun. 15th, 2009 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
perzephone
I ran into another snag, this time about plastic surgery.
Do I think it's a desecration of the body as a temple? Yes.
Now, what about body modification, like tattoos, scarification & piercings?
I have tattoos. I've had my nipples pierced & my ears are pierced. Do I think it's desecration? Wellll, yes, if I drew that line in the sand, I'd have to say yes, because tattooing, piercing & body modification could be seen as a shallow attempt to live up to media standards... if your media was solely based on fringe culture.
I think there are limits as to what I find to be edifying versus what I find to be desecration. There seems to be a different mindset that people who go for extreme body modification do not share with people who get facelifts, tummy tucks, boob jobs, nose jobs, etc.
Ok, so you get a chin-lift, maybe a size added to the boobs... not really too bad. Michael Jackson, on the other hand, has fucked himself up. There's a definite line that's been crossed there between getting some new window dressings and smashing the building with a wrecking ball. I've seen some people who have mutilated themselves for fun and pleasure, too. They split their penises in half, they get horns and ridges and things installed under their skin, get their tongues split, get whiskers and multiple face lifts so they look like some nightmarish version of the Cheshire cat... but for some reason I see this more akin to someone getting a gender reassignment. These people are trying to be more of who, or what, they see as themselves.
As for myself, I've hated my skin since I hit puberty. Honestly hate it. I wish I could peel it off - I've tried in places and it's horribly painful - I passed out a couple of times. A couple of my tattoos are to cover scars. I wish I scarred more extensively because even scarred skin is preferable to my own 'healthy' stuff - instead even deep burns heal up like nothing happened. I've always been accident prone, so there were never any awkward moments of 'How'd you manage to perfectly cut lose a strip of skin, Janelle?' - I always had a ready excuse. When I got hit by that car & had massive road rash over a good half of my body, I was hoping when it healed I would have skin that was soft & unblemished like a new born. Nope, no such luck. Acne, rosacea, it was all there all over again. I tried covering it with makeup through most of my teen years and it just made it worse. For me and my skin, there is no such thing as 'non-comedogenic'.
I like how my skin looks with the ink on it. It looks right. If I had the skill, I'd tattoo the rest of my body. There is a cleansing catharsis about the pain induced by a tattoo gun. I've experienced it a little bit when I had my nipples pierced, but it wasn't the same, it didn't work out well and I've come to the conclusion that piercing just isn't good medicine for me.
But it brings me to a point... If I see others who do incredibly damaging things to their bodies as trying to become the person they see in the mirror - maybe I'm too harsh on people who go for more traditional and mainstream surgeries. Maybe not all people who get cosmetic work are vain, shallow and addicted to biased media imagery. Maybe they, too, are just trying to be the person they see when they look in the mirror?
I guess this is an example of another one of my personal values. Many Pagan paths are paths of duality. Goddess and God, male and female, yin and yang, give and take, Sun and Moon, black and white, Fluffy-Bunny White-Lighter and Satanic Chaostician. I try to walk the 'Grey Path' - the Middle Road, trying to take nothing to the extreme and trying to see things in every direction. Part of being on the Middle Road means being able to see both sides of a story, even if it flies in the face of something I believe or hold dear. I never truly take sides. If a friend comes to me and wants advice because their relationship is falling apart, I commisserate with them and ask them how they think their behavior has made their partner feel. If a coworker complains about a boss, or a boss about a coworker, I sympathize and point out things that the complainer could have done differently. I believe in diplomacy and mediation. I never see anything as being truly evil or truly good - there is always a spark of light in the eye of evil, and a spark of darkness in the eye of good. Without the light, we would never meet our shadows, and without the dark we would never appreciate the light.
Do I think it's a desecration of the body as a temple? Yes.
Now, what about body modification, like tattoos, scarification & piercings?
I have tattoos. I've had my nipples pierced & my ears are pierced. Do I think it's desecration? Wellll, yes, if I drew that line in the sand, I'd have to say yes, because tattooing, piercing & body modification could be seen as a shallow attempt to live up to media standards... if your media was solely based on fringe culture.
I think there are limits as to what I find to be edifying versus what I find to be desecration. There seems to be a different mindset that people who go for extreme body modification do not share with people who get facelifts, tummy tucks, boob jobs, nose jobs, etc.
Ok, so you get a chin-lift, maybe a size added to the boobs... not really too bad. Michael Jackson, on the other hand, has fucked himself up. There's a definite line that's been crossed there between getting some new window dressings and smashing the building with a wrecking ball. I've seen some people who have mutilated themselves for fun and pleasure, too. They split their penises in half, they get horns and ridges and things installed under their skin, get their tongues split, get whiskers and multiple face lifts so they look like some nightmarish version of the Cheshire cat... but for some reason I see this more akin to someone getting a gender reassignment. These people are trying to be more of who, or what, they see as themselves.
As for myself, I've hated my skin since I hit puberty. Honestly hate it. I wish I could peel it off - I've tried in places and it's horribly painful - I passed out a couple of times. A couple of my tattoos are to cover scars. I wish I scarred more extensively because even scarred skin is preferable to my own 'healthy' stuff - instead even deep burns heal up like nothing happened. I've always been accident prone, so there were never any awkward moments of 'How'd you manage to perfectly cut lose a strip of skin, Janelle?' - I always had a ready excuse. When I got hit by that car & had massive road rash over a good half of my body, I was hoping when it healed I would have skin that was soft & unblemished like a new born. Nope, no such luck. Acne, rosacea, it was all there all over again. I tried covering it with makeup through most of my teen years and it just made it worse. For me and my skin, there is no such thing as 'non-comedogenic'.
I like how my skin looks with the ink on it. It looks right. If I had the skill, I'd tattoo the rest of my body. There is a cleansing catharsis about the pain induced by a tattoo gun. I've experienced it a little bit when I had my nipples pierced, but it wasn't the same, it didn't work out well and I've come to the conclusion that piercing just isn't good medicine for me.
But it brings me to a point... If I see others who do incredibly damaging things to their bodies as trying to become the person they see in the mirror - maybe I'm too harsh on people who go for more traditional and mainstream surgeries. Maybe not all people who get cosmetic work are vain, shallow and addicted to biased media imagery. Maybe they, too, are just trying to be the person they see when they look in the mirror?
I guess this is an example of another one of my personal values. Many Pagan paths are paths of duality. Goddess and God, male and female, yin and yang, give and take, Sun and Moon, black and white, Fluffy-Bunny White-Lighter and Satanic Chaostician. I try to walk the 'Grey Path' - the Middle Road, trying to take nothing to the extreme and trying to see things in every direction. Part of being on the Middle Road means being able to see both sides of a story, even if it flies in the face of something I believe or hold dear. I never truly take sides. If a friend comes to me and wants advice because their relationship is falling apart, I commisserate with them and ask them how they think their behavior has made their partner feel. If a coworker complains about a boss, or a boss about a coworker, I sympathize and point out things that the complainer could have done differently. I believe in diplomacy and mediation. I never see anything as being truly evil or truly good - there is always a spark of light in the eye of evil, and a spark of darkness in the eye of good. Without the light, we would never meet our shadows, and without the dark we would never appreciate the light.
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Date: 2009-06-16 03:33 am (UTC)The Great Ah-Hah
Date: 2009-06-16 04:26 am (UTC)