Why would I fear myself?
A clone, in the popular view, is an exact replica of oneself. Therefore the fear of cloning seems to ultimately be a fear of oneself. Not merely a fear of Frankenstein’s creation, the Golem or even a Doppelganger, but fear of myself, the fear of a replica of who and what I am.
If a perfect replica, my clone should act and react as I do in any given situation. But what if it didn’t? What if it did things differently than I would? Better, perhaps? More daring, bolder? What if my clone did all the things I secretly yearn to do, but don’t dare? What if my clone became Dorian Gray and I became the portrait, sitting at home in the dark, disfigured by fear and jealousy?
My clone is a product of my biology, not my environment. Like Eve, it is created from a piece of me, and like Eve it hasn’t had my social upbringing. And like Eve, perhaps it too will go straight for the tree of knowledge, leaving me cowering and mumbling about prohibitions and moral restrictions. Will my clone disallow me to eat from the tree of life? Will it show me my biological self, show me I’m flesh and bones and blood, and must die?
Would it remind me to hurry? Would it remind me there are plenty of things I haven’t experienced yet? Would it tell me to stop worrying and like a Viking berserker do away with fear of death and injury, illness and taxes? Would I be afraid to revel in the sensations of the flesh – and why? Would I try to tell it it was wrong? What if I tried to stop it? What if I pronounced it my white whale and so doing brought the mark of Cain upon myself? Could I destroy my clone without destroying myself?
What if I stop being afraid? What if I go to the mirror and greet my clone, look him straight into the eyes? What if I don’t flinch, but meet his gaze with a stern, determined look of my own; if I tell him that from now on we’re in this together, and extend my unshaking hand to him?
Would
he accept it?
website: www.runepeitersen.nl
kloone4000-weblog by Rune Peitersen:www.runepeitersen.nl/kloone
