A human zygote
It is what it is.
If we are going to put so much mental energy into this, let's see it.
We cannot look at a photograph of a fertilized human egg or a zygote or an embryo without fitting it in a narrative. We don't see it. We see it in context. A zygote is a biological thing, a social thing, a personal history thing, a religious thing, a political thing. Amid all the narrative and complexities of thought around the thing, there is the thing itself.
Even that is false. The zygote isn't what we see. Everything important about it--the zygote--is unseen. It is alive. Living things are more than what we see physically.
Still, stripped of all the narrative and complexities there is a physical thing. Let's look at it as if we had no idea what it was, with fresh eyes, without context.
The photographs are from MYA Network, and The Guardian.
Five weeks:
Six weeks:
Seven weeks:
Eight weeks:
Nine weeks:
Composite:
No commentary from me. Just observe. Let the context and meaning that rushes to mind come independently. First, just see.