PERSPECTIVE ON THE DEBATE AS TO WHETHER CLONING IS "ETHICAL" OR NOT

(This article was published in The Star on the 20th May 2003)

A response to and comment on the recent Carte Blanche feature on Cloning:
It is only through man's ignorance that the question of ethics arises with human cloning.

Because we are not "the body", it does not matter whether the body is mass-produced, in other words cloned, or the unique version is manifested through the conventional channels of reproduction.

The important aspect is the Soul that inhabits the body. It is this aspect that is unique and divinely created, having all the individual traits and characteristics that Soul has developed during its eternal expression.

If there is no time and space and we are not our bodies, then we are obviously eternal creatures that were never born and can never die. Does it therefore matter where the body comes from? Just as today we have mass-produced motor cars and unique or custom-built ones. Although the mass-produced versions look identical, the driver inside is always different. Each vehicle can be used to its maximum potential, or only used occasionally to go to the shop, or it could be put in a showcase - that choice would be up to its driver.

Another analogy would be to look at a powerful computer which has a 30Gb hard drive, and its owner only uses it to type letters, whereas another owner could run a NASA space programme - all from the identical computer.

The message here is simply that the body is no more than a means of physical expression and experience for the eternal Soul who occupies it for a while.

Whichever way we look at it, God remains the Creator: He created the raw materials and the laws that govern them. He then gave us the intelligence, ability and free will to use such materials in any creative way we wish.

Anyone having a moral or ethical issue around the science of cloning has attached too much importance to the body which is impermanent, unlike the Soul which is eternal. Remember dust to dust…