Monster Called Man
More work in the vein of "Disperal of the Prince". This time, rather than some kind of divine punishment, I imagine a council with a new-age yogi of transhumanism.
Yeah, I know, too deep for someone who just wants to have a fox schlong and some boobies. What can I say?
"That's despicable. And you 'worship' this entity?"
"The concept, anyway. We worship the strength our animals provide us."
"And you... 'turn' yourselves into these things?"
"You would see it no differently; converting to any other faith."
"Few faiths though, that change people into animals, or that maim the human body."
"Is that so? Firstly--let me confront the notion that the human body is inviolate to religion. You already have rituals of dismemberment and reformation in common culture--castration, circumcision--how are these things, which alter the body's form and function, any different from what we are doing here?"
"But we don't castrate people anymore; circumcision is an optional thing, too."
"What we are presenting is no different, however. A way of altering the human body to show reverence. One more elegant and empowering than anything offered before in the history of man."
"And that's just the thing--it's such a radical change. I mean, a piercing here, or a cut of skin there, I can sort of overlook--but your people--you grow tails, you grow the horns of rams--you alter animal genetics to be compatible with that of a human's own. How do you even call yourselves men anymore?"
"But why should that concern you? What if we cease being recognizably human, altogether? Does that threaten you, if you would never choose to do the same?"
"It's just... not the world I'm used to seeing. You have enough hate for people based on the color of their skin, or the drawl they carry."
"And why 'should' we espouse that kind of hatred? To shun conflict--will that solve anything? Perhaps we should find a way to all become the same skin color, speak the same dialect and even language, by that logic?"
"I don't know. It just seems like too much change."
"I understand entirely. Humans have, in the short window of their existence, grown fond of what is familiar. They do not wish to see these things threatened. But you can be just as much of a person with fur, or fangs--even the acute reflexes, or desire for hunting, grazing, and foraging. Humans already understand and behave on the mechanics of an animal body. Is presenting control over these structures and functions inherently wrong?"
"It seems like people will always fear more control--coming closer to their ideal of God. First it was fire; Prometheus taking the power of the gods, or Icarus and Daedalus, both challenging man's place in the heavens. Even recent advances like surgery are sensitive in the eyes of the reverent and god-fearing."
"And just so, how is it correct to have power, and yet shun the understanding of it? We have the potential to reach and obtain; why then, should we deny ourselves the power our gods have allowed us to reach? This is even including the potential that there 'is' an entity who would sanction our acts. Failing that, what consequence is there beyond the obvious and physical?"
"I look at that girl, kneeling there, worshiping what, by a short stretch, is a vermin or mangy beast; herself dappled in the fur of a chipmunk--still wearing a blazer, styling her hair and face--a face that, even twisted as it is into a small snout, is expressive, and emotional. I wonder if her reverence is misplaced though, like a child following a celebrity, who has pierced or tattoo'd herself not out of her own choice, but momentary awe."
"Ultimately, our decisions must be made upon our own values, though. We can curb and stymy the existence of some values--like the power or beauty of animals, and we can espouse others like the human soul, or empathy, or progress, or patriotism--but it is not our place to dictate what grows any more than it is our successors' place to dictate which of our old ways dies."
"That's kind of in reverse of tradition."
"Quite so. Put bluntly, it 'is' an attack on old values; what we do. But it is also a reverence and a tribute to even older values. Remember that there are those humans whose gods are or were not even reminiscent of humans. The dragons of China; the Native American trickster, Coyote. Ganesha and Hanuman of Indian scriptures -- Even Zeus, father of the gods of the Greek Pantheon, enjoyed many non-human forms, from bull to swan. Contemporary Abrahamic religion may indeed state that man is created in God's own image--but even that is drowned within the sea of foreign faiths of equal legitimacy and relative value. Surely, if you choose one of these latter religions, you will find the notion of subservience to animals, or human effort to resemble one to be perverted. But it is far from the absolute truth--merely a difference in priority of reverence."
"It's hard to imagine... and even harder to support, that we would want to look or behave like wildlife."
"And how is it that we differ so greatly? We eat, we defecate, we lust for sexual intimacy and companionship--we have posturing and dominance and submission--it's all there. Masked in art and symbolism, hidden from view, but an integral part of our lives, nonetheless. What difference then, a hair here, a hair there--a binding of the upper lip and nose, a tail and upturned ears? We should not flee our nature, or fear the shape of other beings. We should experience these features for ourselves, and find a new identity aside the old."
"Change me, then. Show me that what you speak is not a lie--is not monstrous. And I swear that when you show me horror beyond reason--fear of being stalked and predated--fear of starvation, of outcompetition--of new disease... I will show you that you are wrong."
"You can never escape what is already a part of your life. What we have done is simply to unmask human beings, as the creatures they always have been. You may shift a circle; change the rules of the game slightly--go from being the apex predator, to the secondary, or perhaps the prey or producer--but those things are an inevitable part of life and death already. Why not venture outside your circle, for a time? When we have been given the way of upsetting nature--why not master it--shake that tree for what fruit it offers?"
"Your devilish offer well fits the image we have made of you. Very well. I accept. Show me this other world, atop my own, that I have chosen not to see. I will be your lamb--or guinea pig, or whatever you may have in mind."
"You will choose your own reverence, and consequently, your shape is yours to seek during your time with this sect. Until you have chosen, you will be no more human, and no less beast, than what you already are. You are here of your own volition, and your form must be your own, just as your spirit is. But come, and rest awhile on these notions. In time, you will shape your own body, just as you shape your purpose in life. This is the freedom that humans so cherish, is it not?"
Never had it hit so close to home, just what freedom could allow.