On Desirable Form

From The Shapeshifter Treatise, Part I: Three-Dimensional Existence.
  January 16, 2004

Consider the plane, the least complex (the point is simpler than the plane but cannot be considered a Form for whereas a plane projects itself in defined, though infinite, directions, a point hangs inert, taking no action, choosing no place, occupying no space; it exists but is excluded from being and therefore being is excluded from it; you cannot become it, for you are).  Being the simplest, it is the unit of building.  The intersections of planes create all other Forms, the first of which is the pyramid, and the last of which is the sphere.

Consider the pyramid, the first built.  It has three edges on each face, one for each dimension.  It has four faces, the fourth completing the other three like light completes darkness.  Its virtue is stability.  It rests with its bulk at the bottom, each edge counterbalanced by a summit, resisting motion imparted from without.  For this reason, pyramidal nature under unwelcome forces is sublime.  Yet its stability frustrates movements commanded from within.  A pyramid may will itself to move, but its will is futile.  For this reason, pyramidal nature under guiding reason is reprehensible.

Consider the sphere, the last built.  Its virtue is roundness.  Lying on a plane, it makes contact with only one point while the rest of its being recoils.  This is the root of the docility of the sphere, for an external force can impel it to go in any direction.  No point aids the contact point in resisting the force.  Therefore, spherical nature under unwelcome forces is reprehensible.  Yet no point opposes the direction given by the will within the sphere; it may roll any way it wishes.  For this reason, spherical nature under guiding reason is sublime.

Countless Forms lie between the pyramid and the sphere.  Their nature opposes or invites external force or internal will in proportion to the rank of their building.  A wise one asked: “If my will equals external force in strength and opposes it in direction, what is the rank of the Form which will hold me perfectly still?”  He offered no answer.

No Form's nature is sublime under both unwelcome force and guiding reason.  But on the one hand, a shapeshifter can assume Forms from the pyramid to the sphere to defeat unwelcome forces and advance the guiding reason.  Therefore, a shapeshifter's nature is sublime.  On the other hand, a shapeshifter's mind is feeble and cannot choose with precision the right Form to assume.  Therefore, a shapeshifter's mind is reprehensible.

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