Tattoos and the Like

It's been an unusually warm week for the end of May in the south of England where I live. That, of course, means that all the tattoos are out. I asked myself why I find these so objectionable which, like any right thinking person, I do. The answer came. It's because they desecrate the body and the body is the image of the soul.  It is not to be despised or altered or rejected or deformed in any way, all of which a tattoo, regardless of subject, in some measure does. Nor is it to be given excessive attention because it is the soul that is principally important and hierarchically superior to the body which exists to manifest and glorify the soul. But the body is the vessel and outer image of the soul, and to mark it in a permanent fashion is to deface and defile it.



In fact many of the things people do to their bodies show disrespect for their Maker and that even includes such things as excessive use of make-up and the dyeing and altering of one's natural hair. Could it be that the roots of such practices come from a kind of self-hatred? The body is the temple of the soul and a temple should be treated with respect and presented or adorned in a way appropriate to its functions and calling.

I said that tattoos were spiritually damaging regardless of subject but it is certainly true that some images are worse than others in this respect in that they have a negative effect on the mind. Images are important and can elevate or debase. In today's world the power of the image is more than it ever has been which means we should be extra attentive as to what we admit into our consciousness. Just as one should be careful what one takes into one's body, so one should with regard to what is taken into the mind. To stamp the body with some kind of 'dark' or twisted image, as so many tattoos do, can only be detrimental to any kind of true spiritual development. And, at worst, it could even draw its possessor into the orbit of demonic influence.