You are not Your Shell

Society has interesting ways of classifying people. The two most common ones are social class and shell types. Class can be broken down into education, income, and profession. Shell types are broken into sexual orientation, skin color, and size.


It is clear that an individual may traverse across income brackets, so as a rule, people don't personally identify with social class. An ignorant man can become educated, a poor person can become rich, and an engineer can become a doctor. Hence, although social class can create friction, it isn't closely tied to identity.


When it comes to shell types however, people often invest their personal identity towards it. They believe their physical appearance is part of the I. DO NOT make this mistake. A close examination will show you that your body is something you own, not something you are.


Your body is a bag of chemicals. Depending on the chemical proportions, it will exude different features and pigmentation. In the past, this chemical proportion was rigidly controlled by nature. The environment regulated your biochemistry through a feedback loop. This bio-environmental loop has been going on since man existed and is still occurring today. It would be naive for you to think that the Greeks of Aristotle are the same as the Greeks today. What people call race is not static but rather an ever evolving thing, like all else on earth.


Other than the fact that nature is ever molding the human biological shell, there is another pressing and even more powerful factor we ought to consider- knowledge. It will not be long before technical innovation and scientific knowledge allows us to control and manipulate our body's chemical proportions and genetic sequencing.


In the not so distant future, a person will be able to choose his or her race at will and change it at any point similar to how we do so in video game avatars. Better yet, an individual will not only be able to choose his or her 'race', but they will be able to create new ones. People will experiment with different genetic sequencing, different physical features, and different character traits. Ultimately, there will come a point where humans will choose not to have a shell altogether. We will find its limitations too cumbersome for deep space exploration.


Now... I am not saying not to value your body. On the contrary, take pride in your shell, whatever it may be. Strengthen it, beautify it, improve its posture and countenance, make it more glorious! It is your duty to show how wonderful the human body can be. Push beauty to the limit! However... do not identify with the bioshell, it is not you. You are a spirit.


Observe your body over the years, it has changed hasn't it? Your body will continue to change... and one day, that garment will return to the host planet you're on- earth. Don't take the game of shell classification seriously. It is but a passing stage in human evolution no matter how untrue this statement may appear. Remember the glorious spirit that you are, and don't forget to play while you're here on earth.


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