The Morality of consensual cannibalism, its romantic view and how it affects art, literature and society.
Before we dwell in the deepest twists of cannibalism, I want to introduce us to its most basic definition. What is cannibalism? Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species, so it easy to concur that cannibalism is as normal in nature as it is the dynamic between prey and predator, yet to differentiate ourselves from common beasts, we have as a society classified human cannibalism to be apart from animal cannibalism.
Human cannibalism or anthropophagy is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings, no different from other animals, cannibalism is as common amongst as it is in any other species, whether we pride ourselves in a higher Morality or not, in dire situations we turn into hungry mammals just the same.
In early modern Europe, cannibalism was a common practice that involved eating body parts for medical purposes. During the 17th century, this practice was prevalent. In the 19th century, some peasants reportedly started collecting bloody ground by scraping it with their hands. They believed that this would help them get rid of their disease.
Even in modern times, people who are suffering from famine have occasionally resorted to cannibalism. Some of the most notable examples include the incident involving the ill-fated party known as the Donner Party and the crash of Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force in 1972. Individuals suffering from mental disorders such as Albert Fish, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Issei Sagawa have also reportedly consumed body parts for sexual pleasure. However, there is currently a resistance to officially labeling such behavior as a mental disorder.
These are all essentially, text book and Wikipedia definitions of how cannibalism is denounced and present in our society. But it's not all there.
The debate of consensual cannibalism became popular after the famous german case of the Rotenburg Cannibal or Der Metzgermeister (The Master Butcher). This however was purely an act of sexual gratification. As where non consensual and criminous acts of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
I want to talk about the purest form of consensual cannibalism, the need for humans to conjoin themselves body and soul.
Cannibalism has been often depicted in art, often even as the ultimate act of love. Perhaps one of the most commonly known acts of metaphorical (or perhaps literal at the time) cannibalism is the consuming of the body of christ transubstantiatied in his flesh and blood from bread and wine. It was a widely spread belief in old religion prior to Christianity and the coming of Christ that you could absorb someone's vitality and power through consuming their flesh and blood, it is only logical that the son of God would give up his body for consumption to his brothers and sisters so they too could become without sin like him. We are in front of the ultimate act of love. Giving up the flesh and blood that makes us to sustain, literally, another person.
As we differentiate ourselves from beasts for our free will, how does one become an animal after willingly offering their body to save another human being from hunger?
Choosing to die instead to save, or perhaps just to sustain for a few hours, another life?
To open a debate on the morality of euthanasia, is it not our own right to choose when and how to die?
Isn't perhaps living in another human being's cells and blood the eternal life and reincarnation society is looking for in religion?
The tragedic nature of the act of offering one's flesh to another, the act of welcoming another being into ourselves is by all definitions a purely romantic concept, often used in poetry to portray the need to be so intertwined and conjoined to someone that sex and platonic love cannot portray. The intimacy of the meal, a moment so essential to our existence, turns into the becoming of a new conjoined being made of two souls. A rebirth in death.
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