Does this make sense?

It's an excerpt from an essay I was throwing together about play piercing (and other things)… I'm not sure if it makes sense or not, it's just a “rough sketch” of what I'm trying to say. In the light that history casts on play piercing type acts, I think it's in the right realm…

I'm seeing play piercing submissions to BME more and more — that is, needles pierced through flesh, often by the person themselves, without leaving any jewelry in place behind it. It's very important that I first point out that these things are not being done in a self-abusive manner. There is little relation between play piercing and self-cutting related psychiatric illnesses. Play piercing on the whole is undertaken as an act of self awareness and self exploration. The end result is an individual far more in touch with both themselves — physically and spiritually — and the world around them.

At our core we are built on an instinct-driven foundation that for most people shakes in fear at the proposition of pain being inflicted upon it. We've proven over and over that we as a species are very good at inflicting pain on each other without really understanding it. So now we have to ask — what will a generation of young people that is in touch with pain (and not afraid of) turn into? How is a person who understands their body and the nature of its nervous structure different than a person who is ignorant to their own make-up?

Play piercing is an act of transcendence from the physical by indulging in the physical. Play piercing makes the statement that the body is a tool of the mind, or of the soul, or perhaps of the heart or even a tool of God, as ones personal philosophies dictate. The act of surrendering to the needle says to one's body, “Yes, tell me what you're feeling, fire up those nerves, but don't try and lie to me about it. I'm not an animal and I'm not a coward — I'm a human, and this is my decision.”

Oh, and so far the upload is going well — I'm at 10% so far (it's about 90 meg in size) — assuming that continues and the connectivity stays good on the dish, I should be able to unzip it on the server when I return.

Wow Shannon, that's really annoying! What is it, 1997 on Geocities? Retroweb is NOT cool!

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *
*
*