Ear stretching truly is such a spiritual practice, among those who stretch for beauty. To deliberately and incrementally stretch, painfully tear, and gradually widen the lobes in bodily transformation is a high symbol of the mind over matter, rather succumbing to the subduction of the material over the immaterial. The stunning jewelry which we adorn our ears with are honorable tokens of this process, to remind us of our gradual paths in life revolving death and rebirth, our often painful times, and our own spiritual transformation. To otherwise suggest of this spiritual and dignified practice is silly and ignorant of the deeper extraction beyond its apparent vanity.