‘Body’ vs. ‘Self’ (with a bit on gender identity at the end)
My thoughts today on the 'body' vs. the 'self':
Having a physical body on this plane, a vessel, is sort of like slipping into a deep sea diving suit. It is not 'us' in our entirety but it allows us to exist on and interact with that environment or 'plane'. True, it is something we own and use and we might even become very attached to our diving suit. We can even decorate it in ways to please us and express our 'internal character' more. And yes, it is how we might be perceived initially to beings of that plane, the deep sea creatures. Yet, our internal nature and what we are made of--in other words, what our actual biological body is made of in this metaphor--is not the same as that suit.
Now just think of it a level removed. The diving suit is to the biological body as the biological body is to the astral body.
And there you have it.
And now imagine that there are MANY planes on which we can travel. Each requires a different kind of vessel. For space, we need a space suit. For the reef, maybe just a regular scuba suit will suffice. Carrying our previous connection forward, we can imagine that there are infinite planes of the Universe. Each might require a different 'suit' or 'vessel' to best interact with it. But each suit is not 'us' in our entirety.
. . . .
Even FURTHER, now getting into gender identity territory, so let's just focus on just the one suit--the deep sea suit, which in this metaphor we will equate to the ‘human’ form:
So, for a trans person for example (and this is not speaking for EVERY trans person, but this particular person rather feels their suit should be an expression of them). For you, hypothetical trans person, you might not connect to your diving suit so well. You WANT to. You truly WANT to like your suit. You truly wish your suit was a better expression of your internal self. But unfortunately it is just not the model you wanted. Or maybe it does not fit quite right. Like, you were given a model you did not prefer and you get tired of people assuming things about you because of your suit, or you just plain find it very uncomfortable. Like, you were given a model you did not prefer and you get tired of people assuming things about you because of your suit. And you get upset that it is not a proper reflection of you. In fact, it pains you terribly. It just feels so wrong.
Whereas me... I am agender and just not that attached to being a human in general. I am just tired of the suit altogether. I especially dislike people assuming things about me just based on my diving suit. Excuse me, I actually don't TRULY have an orb for a head, and I actually don't fancy it. Please don't assume about me based on my suit. I get really tired of it. I did not pick the suit. It was handed to me. Yet people treat me as though it reflects some choice I have made. A reflection of who I am. Like, maybe there is a group of people who prefer the rustic style suits and another who were given the newer models and they prefer having those. Both groups rather like their models. And they all seem happy with it, and love them very much. No issue there. But they see me with one of the rustic models and they think, now you are one of us! You love this don't you? And I am like, "Uh. Actually I really don't feel attached to my suit one way or another. Please don't force me to pick sides. They are all just suits and admittedly I don't really fancy any of them for myself but you all look very nice in them."
Admittedly, I used gender identity as an example. But you could keep running with this metaphor for other things. There you have it.
NOTE: I find that thinking in Alan Watts' voice about this sort of stuff to help tremendously. :)
