In this time Covid-19 when the mask is in fashion, a meditation on the Face may be salutatory!
We have ample time during the enforced lockout to really look at the faces of those around us (both with or without masks), and we may discover aspects of character we may have failed to notice even though living in proximity and relating day in and day out for years.
The word "Respect" comes from the Latin "Re-Spicere," which means to take a second look or to look again. Let's us respect those around us, look and look (I prefer the word "contemplate) at the faces around and we may see very different person than those we thought we knew. Consequently we may develop a more respectful attitude toward these persons and relate more respectfully as well.
A face expresses the mystery of a lifetime! Unravelling it an be fun as well in the time of Covid-19.
Below are a few excerpts from Jungian Analyst James Hillman's , The Force of Character
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Does the face reveal character or hide it?
"I want to grow old without facelifts. They take the life out of a face, the character. I want to have the courage to by loyal to the face I've made," said Marilyn Monroe.
Joyce Nash, Ph.D, after her cosmetic surgery. " "What I saw was disturbing., and it didn't feel like me. something was lost. A sense of sadness welled up.... The frown lines, the sleepy look, the sagging cheeks and neck were gone."
The extravagance of facial musculature is all for expression of major emotions, yes; but even more for such peculiar subtleties of civilization as supercilious contempt, wry irony, wide-eyed fawning, cool unconcern, smiling, and sneering.
By means of these muscles, our faces make pictures. The psyche displays aesthetically its state of soul. Character traits become intelligible images.
Will his jaw quiver, a tear emerge? Will his eyes shift away or narrow slightly? We watch the face for tell-tale signs.
As we get very old, our mind wanders among images and we are brought back to our bodies by infirmities and the caring attention or neglect of others. As our bodies shrivel, we become our faces. Feet, hams, arms, and shoulders lose their shapeliness, while the face gains distinction, even beauty. The old naked body is unsightly, yet its naked face is a subject for long contemplation. The sagging skin and webbing veins on the body tell only of old age, while on the face they enter the composite portrait and contribute to its significance, sometimes its magnificence. The face makes visible the metamorphosis of biology into art.
"The face of a man is the medium through which the invisible in him becomes visible..."
According to Emmanuel Levinas, the most radical, soulful, and profoundly positive French thinker of the last fifty years, the human face as an archetypal phenomenon bears one message: utter vulnerability. Therefore, the face will be disguised, covered, decorated, surgically altered--or, on the contrary, deprived of all possibilities of hiding, as in the abject condition of prisoner, captive, and victim.
Even if gladdened and tautened and lifted out of its destitution, a face remains the visage of mystery. It is soul present as an image, soul in all its vulnerability. For Levinas, the face expresses a sacred power.
The accouterments of fashion are not merely fashion, decoration for attraction or even expression. Wigs, powders, veils and headdresses, well-groomed facial hair, beauty marks aid in keeping the face under control, lest inmost parts be seen.
A face is being made, often against your will, as witness to your character.
We have ample time during the enforced lockout to really look at the faces of those around us (both with or without masks), and we may discover aspects of character we may have failed to notice even though living in proximity and relating day in and day out for years.
The word "Respect" comes from the Latin "Re-Spicere," which means to take a second look or to look again. Let's us respect those around us, look and look (I prefer the word "contemplate) at the faces around and we may see very different person than those we thought we knew. Consequently we may develop a more respectful attitude toward these persons and relate more respectfully as well.
A face expresses the mystery of a lifetime! Unravelling it an be fun as well in the time of Covid-19.
Below are a few excerpts from Jungian Analyst James Hillman's , The Force of Character
***********************
Does the face reveal character or hide it?
"I want to grow old without facelifts. They take the life out of a face, the character. I want to have the courage to by loyal to the face I've made," said Marilyn Monroe.
Joyce Nash, Ph.D, after her cosmetic surgery. " "What I saw was disturbing., and it didn't feel like me. something was lost. A sense of sadness welled up.... The frown lines, the sleepy look, the sagging cheeks and neck were gone."
The extravagance of facial musculature is all for expression of major emotions, yes; but even more for such peculiar subtleties of civilization as supercilious contempt, wry irony, wide-eyed fawning, cool unconcern, smiling, and sneering.
By means of these muscles, our faces make pictures. The psyche displays aesthetically its state of soul. Character traits become intelligible images.
Will his jaw quiver, a tear emerge? Will his eyes shift away or narrow slightly? We watch the face for tell-tale signs.
As we get very old, our mind wanders among images and we are brought back to our bodies by infirmities and the caring attention or neglect of others. As our bodies shrivel, we become our faces. Feet, hams, arms, and shoulders lose their shapeliness, while the face gains distinction, even beauty. The old naked body is unsightly, yet its naked face is a subject for long contemplation. The sagging skin and webbing veins on the body tell only of old age, while on the face they enter the composite portrait and contribute to its significance, sometimes its magnificence. The face makes visible the metamorphosis of biology into art.
"The face of a man is the medium through which the invisible in him becomes visible..."
According to Emmanuel Levinas, the most radical, soulful, and profoundly positive French thinker of the last fifty years, the human face as an archetypal phenomenon bears one message: utter vulnerability. Therefore, the face will be disguised, covered, decorated, surgically altered--or, on the contrary, deprived of all possibilities of hiding, as in the abject condition of prisoner, captive, and victim.
Even if gladdened and tautened and lifted out of its destitution, a face remains the visage of mystery. It is soul present as an image, soul in all its vulnerability. For Levinas, the face expresses a sacred power.
The accouterments of fashion are not merely fashion, decoration for attraction or even expression. Wigs, powders, veils and headdresses, well-groomed facial hair, beauty marks aid in keeping the face under control, lest inmost parts be seen.
A face is being made, often against your will, as witness to your character.
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