Lego Bodies

Our current generation seems to possess the view that our bodies are like Lego blocks, with interchangeable parts and purposes, which can be constructed and swapped around according to present whims, moods, and dispositions. We do this in the miniature with body modifications, such as tattoos and plastic surgery, or even with hair styles and make up. Yet, these small adaptations merely adorn or tweak what is inherently consistent with what we already have. In other words, these changes do not detract from our base selves unrecognizably.  

Yet, when it comes to transgenderism or trans-sexuality, the changes are more drastic and do indeed reshape or repurpose the base models into entirely new constructions, much like taking Lego bricks that composed a castle and repurposing them into a starship. We now swap either gender roles or sex traits flippantly. And at the heart of the matter -- if I were to make a philosophical leap -- is a dichotomized or Platonistic understanding of personhood. Let me expound on this for a moment.

Much of the exchanges here have to do with the subjective feelings of individuals who see a disconnect between the body and mind. There is a sense of partialism here, that divides mind, body, and spirit into distinct categories and so there is a sense of cognitive dissonance between parts or dysphoria that develops over what is and what is sensed or believed ought to be emotionally. The reason this meshes well with Platonism (the philosophy of Plato that differentiates between physical reality and an idealized "real" reality) is that the body is viewed as subservient to the mind or spirit. The body is viewed only as a vessel or tool; it then becomes as Lego bricks that can be refashioned into whatever the mind or spirit conceives as more intrinsic, natural, or ideal. 

Yet, this is not how historic Judaism and Christianity understand body, mind, and spirit. If we have Lego bodies, we reshape them on the presumption that the human soul is gendered and/or sexed, and not the body. The true "you" is the mental or psychological you that you experience intellectually and emotionally. The body, as stated above, is merely the tool or vessel for the real "you." In Judaism and Christianity, the view of the soul is not divided or partial. The soul is who you are and it includes all its components -- mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, the body, which has the reproductive traits, is the portion of the whole that is sexed. In other words, the soul or whole person is sexed because of the body, not the spirit or mind. 

There really is not a binary or plurality on personhood. There is no necessarily mismatched part or disconnect between parts, because the parts compose a whole. We might recognize a body and spirit in our persons, but a person is not one or the other, but always both. And since the body is sexed, if the mind or spirit senses a disconnect, it isn't the body that is in err. Why then shape the body to conform to the mind? It's backwards. This doesn't account for inter-sexed or chromosomal mutations, because these are caused by gestational hick-ups. Inter-sexed people may have some gradation toward one or the other sex, but normally yield toward one primarily. There ought be no devaluing of their personhood because of their anomalies. 

At any rate, Platonism seeks to separate the body from the spirit and within this milieu is often a misplaced focus on either-or. John Calvin, who influenced Protestantism the most after Martin Luther, believed in a form of Platonism and has said that the body is the prison for the soul. This is a misunderstanding of humanness. We were created to always be both. This is why suicide is seen by Christianity as a severe sin. It seeks to escape humanity. The body is not a temporary staging place for the spirit. We are meant to be whole and not divided. We are promised a resurrection because of this. Physical death is a mere moment in passing. In Christ, all things are made new. So, we ought not treat our wholes as composed of parts like toy bricks. All parts are to be valued according to the whole.