For Socrates, and eventually for all of us, as his cultural heirs and whatnot, "knowing thyself" is one of the ultimate goals of our existence. Everything that happens to us teaches us something about ourselves, uncovers secrets even we were not aware of, shows both good and bad sides of our personalities. For Heraclitus "All is flux, nothing stays still", however, thus hinting on the constant change present both in the outside world and within us. If everything changes then, nothing is constant and knowing thyself becomes quite difficult a task, a never ending process facing us with new challenges and riddles.
At A Glance Author Ania Contact [email protected] IAM deadly pale When N/A Both these statements, "knowing thyself" and "nothing stays still", apply to all levels of human existence, no matter how sophisticated or mundane a given level might be. They also apply, in quite interesting a way I would say, to body modification.
It lays in human nature to divide, analyze and organize everything around us, just to make the outside and inside world a little more tamed and to get an illusion of having a relative control over it! It is also human to classify everything around us in our favor � there are activities, food, people etc. that enjoy more of our attention and emotions than the others. No wonder then that we also create similar divisions when body modification is concerned. (In)famous navel piercing is a perfect example of it � it is so popular that somehow no one actually takes it seriously even though, when looking at it from a practical perspective, it is one of those more difficult ones that heal quite a long time and need more attention to heal it well. Standard lobe piercing is another example of something perceived as a very easy, "vanilla" piercing that does not hold much appeal to those heavier involved in body modification. Whether we want it or not, somehow we managed to create a sort of system according to which some piercings are "better" while others do not deserve nor receive much of our attention and "coolness points".
The point, however, is that just as "nothing stays still" and everything changes, everything is also relative and its importance depends on a given person. For most people navel piercings are so "soft" and popular that even very young girls can get them done � obviously, navel piercing is not perceived that negatively as other piercings which is both good and bad. Good because it is one of the ways to have body piercing become more widely accepted and popular; bad because this particular piercing is sometimes associated with "preps" and a shallow or non-existant meaning behind it. Double-edged sword, one could say.
The first key point in this text for me is this "shallow or non-existant meaning" behind mods, not only those very popular and widely spread ones but behind any other mods in general. Obviously, there are billions of possible reasons why to modify our bodies in general or why to get a given mod done. All those reasons are valid for us (even though I still believe that, when confronted, "what" is more important than "how much") and we should keep it in mind at all times that for various people various reasons are important.
If "knowing thyself" is difficult, knowing others becomes (almost) impossible! If everything changes, our own thoughts, feelings and emotions included, taking anything for granted is unwise to say the least. In such a light, is there any reason to grade body modifications in any way except their difficulty level (and this should be left for the body modification artists themselves)? Since we cannot even be sure about our own emotions and thoughts most of the time, and since even our own opinions and feelings about everything change over the time, we should be aware that exactly the same state of mind is present in all other human beings and just like we, ourselves, have our own more or less important reasons to modify our bodies, other people feel about it exactly the same way. Thus, is there any reason to look down on such a "preppy piercing" as navel piercing or scorn standard lobe piercings? Hardly! Everything is relative and something that is totally meaningless and unimportant to us becomes a huge deal and act of bravery for someone else. Want it or not but for one person going for split tongue is totally hardcore while for someone else absolutely badass is going for the second holes in their lobes.
There is some apprehension present in people who are about to enter the world of body modification. Pretty often they are afraid of their soon-to-be piercer or tattoo artist's attitude towards someone who is not modified at all or modified only slightly. They are afraid of a reluctant or negative reaction to their "generic" wishes for a navel piercing, standard lobe one or any other that recently became very popular. At such times some empathy both from a body mod practitioner and any other more visibly modified person should be a must � we never know how huge of a deal a decision for going for a given, simple or not, mod was for a given person. In their minds a simple standard lobe piercing can become something very painful and difficult to get done. Thus some empathy, sympathy, imagination and patience should be present in all of us.
Just like we tend to classify some piercings as less important or less hardcore or less whatever, we also have a tendency to think that these piercings (or certain motifs as far as tattooing goes etc.) somehow are deprived of meaning. After all, what meaning can hold to us a navel piercing, right? Pure fashion, peer pressure, trying to impress friends etc. Nothing profound or spiritual, nothing difficult to get done, thus nothing important. And yet, since all of the reasons why we are doing what we are doing when our bodies and modifying them are concerned are valid, also here we should keep in mind how relative everything is and that everything changes over the time.
Seemingly unimportant piercings can mark an important step in our lives or any other, (quasi-)spiritual event we want to remember but even going for a given mod just for the heck of it is not deprived of meaning as later on it might become a symbol that is very heavy with meaning. This infamous navel piercing that I keep referring to over and over again here may become a symbol of our fight against obesity or a sign both to us and all others out there that we came to peace with our bodies and accept them the way they are; or, a few years after having it done, it can be a sentimental souvenir from the old, "wild" times or ... So many people and just as many reasons behind their decisions!
Standard lobe piercing, something that most of us take for granted and get it early in childhood, pretty often is a huge deal for young males as they have to face their families to convince them that getting this piercing is okay; they need to decide which ear to pierce (in case they want to get only one piercing done) as "the right is wrong" rule still seems to thrive in the society; finally, they also have to face their own fear, pain threshold and the image the society imposed on them (boys don't cry, so they better don't whine while getting their ears pierced, right?). Now, is going for a ear piercing really so easy and trouble-free? Not really! And again, something so simple, even when done just for the heck of it or because we liked it on our neighbor or friend, can be nothing now but can become something bigger and really important in the future.
Body modification is, obviously, focused on modifying, changing the way we look but also the way we think and feel about both ourselves and others around us. Since it is about changing, it is, quite often, about on-going changes, processes changing both our bodies and minds over time. Thus, not only our bodies change but also our attitudes and the ways we think. Since the meanings behind our mods are a very mental thing, they also change over time � some of them start as something playful, daring or unimportant, done just for the heck of it and yet, somewhere further down the road, they change, grow or diminish and we face them either with joy and enthusiasm or annoyance; we treasure them or decide to retire them, depending on whether their meaning for us increased or decreased over the time. Something that started as a spiritual experience might end as a totally mundane mod and something that started as a joke might become more important than we have ever thought.
There are no more and less cool body modifications just like there are no more or less valid or important reasons to get them done. Everything is relative and it is ourselves only who decide what is important and meaningful to us. And since everything changes as well, we should also be prepared for our reasons and feelings changing over time, both for better and for worse. Just like with body modification in general, our reasons behind it flow, are born, grow and die in the never ending process of living, feeling and thinking. Getting to know ourselves really is a never ending process that keeps changing all the time because we change constantly.Thus there is no reason to think that one mod is better/cooler/more hardcore/whatever than the other because we never know how important to someone is a mod that seems so unimportant to us.