Stories of Your Life and Others

Alex Bibescu, professor of religious studies at Pembleton:
Some people have been quick to dismiss the whole calliagnosia debate
as superficial, an argument over makeup or who can and can't get a date.

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But if you actually look at it, you'll see it's much deeper than that. It reflects
a very old ambivalence about the body, one that's been part of Western
civilization since ancient times.
You see, the foundations of our culture were laid in classical Greece,
where physical beauty and the body were celebrated. But our culture is also
thoroughly permeated by the monotheistic tradition, which devalues the
body in favor of the soul. These old conflicting impulses are rearing their
heads again, this time in the calliagnosia debate.
I suspect that most calli supporters consider themselves to be modern,
secular liberals, and wouldn't admit to being influenced by monotheism in
any way. But take a look at who else advocates calliagnosia: conservative
religious groups. There are communities of all three major monotheistic
faiths— Jewish, Christian, and Muslim— who've begun using calli to make
their young members more resistant to the charms of outsiders. This
commonality is no coincidence. The liberal calli supporters may not use
language like "resisting the temptations of the flesh," but in their own way,
they're following the same tradition of deprecating the physical.
Really, the only calli supporters who can credibly claim they're not
influenced by monotheism are the NeoMind Buddhists. They're a sect who
see calliagnosia as a step toward enlightened thought, because it eliminates
one's perception of illusory distinctions. But the NeoMind sect is open to
broad use of neurostat as an aid to meditation, which is a radical stance of
an entirely different sort. I doubt you'll find many modern liberals or
conservative monotheists sympathetic to that!
So you see, this debate isn't just about commercials and cosmetics, it's
about determining what's the appropriate relationship between the mind and
the body. Are we more fully realized when we minimize the physical part of
our nature? And that, you have to agree, is a profound question.