Part 1

Courtney: So, tattoos seem to have become more of a popular and cultural fad these days, from the late nineties into the early 2000s. What about you, do you have a tattoo?

Michael: I do have a tattoo.

Courtney: You do?

Michael: I have a little scorpion on my left shoulder, which I got when I was seventeen.

Courtney: Okay.

This seems to be a ripe age for people to get tattoos, is it not?

Michael: Probably, I mean, definitely at the time I was feeling quite rebellious in getting it. It certainly was something against my parents' wishes. I know I had to hide it from them for years, and then, I think about two and a half years of hiding it later, my mother discovered it on my arm. I was on the phone at the time, so I just tried to insinuate that it was nothing, it was just something my friend drew on my arm.

Courtney: Okay.

Michael: So then another two and a half years pass before she finally figured out that it was a tattoo. But by then, it was too late. I guess she figured if I could hide it from her for whatever it was, I don't know-between three and five years, I can't remember now-why get in a huff about it? Courtney: Right, so that was a good approach by you. As you walk down the street here, or any street in any North American city, I think you can encounter many people with tattoos, and they're all over. It's just art, body art all over. You can see it everywhere. Now, what do you think about this, and this big, phenomenal explosion of tattoo art?

Michael: Well, it's a form of self-expression. But I also wonder why, in traditional Hebrew cemeteries, you can't get buried as a Jewish person if you have a tattoo. Courtney: Is that right?

Michael: So I've thought about this, just in terms of my theological work and what the divine implication of this might be, if there is any. So, I started thinking about electromagnetics, and space travel, and purity laws, and things like that. There's always, in every tradition-whether it is Hinduism or Judaism or early, ancient Yahwism, you know, not even Judaism but Yahwism-a lot of it was purity, and I think about how this modern religious movement leader, Rael, has talked about a few things too. And if it's true that there are these electromagnetic spaceships out there, and it's traveling at the speed of light-in my mind, the speed of light, you're sort of dissipating, you're not really in the same state of matter as you are on Earth if you're traveling at the speed of light. Like, you're probably pretty thin by that point. So if you're impure; for example, having a tattoo, I've come up with the possibility that perhaps it burns something in you, or you just can't-you won't make it if you have this foreign ink inside your system, somehow. Courtney: Interesting.

Michael: Because I guess the Jewish people say you won't make it to Heaven-they call it Heaven. But it's possible that you won't make it somewhere with a tattoo. I don't know whether it's Heaven, I don't know whether it's another planet. Courtney: But wouldn't that also be the same with fillings in your teeth, or extra metal screws holding your elbow together? Michael: Who knows?

Courtney: Impurities.

Michael: Possibly.

Courtney: An interesting perspective, an introspective look at that.

Michael: There could be nothing to it, I'm just trying to suggest possibilities for ancient rituals. But then again, in other cultures, you know, like a lot of Aboriginal cultures, it is a sign of your status, it is a sign of your experience.

Courtney: Right, and one thing that I have theorized myself is that tattoos are often thought of as being a symbol of expression. You put a mark on your body and you're expressing yourself through art on your body. However, I have contemplated that it is also a very conservative approach to life, to art, if you have it, because you are permanently marking something that you believe in at one point in time of your life onto your body. So often I associate conservatism with this. What do you think about that?

Michael: That's interesting. You sort of made me think about women-I guess men, too-people who tattoo makeup onto their face, like lipstick and eye shadow, and whatever, so they actually end up looking the same every day.

Courtney: Until the day they die.

Michael: Yeah, and never having to wear makeup. One, I think there is kind of a couple illnesses there-or symptoms of something there. The first being why are we forcing girls to wear makeup to begin with? Why can't we just love them fresh and natural? And the second is, well, even if you are going to feel the need to conform to that societal need for cosmetics, why would you limit yourself to the same look every day? I don't want to judge people, they're doing their thing, they're happy with it, but yeah. It could be a certain conservatism with your art, because- Courtney: It's a permanent gesture. Michael: It's the same thing every day. I mean, body painting, you can do a new-you can use your body to do a new expression every day, but with a tattoo, you're stuck. Courtney: That's right.