Face to Face.

A few nights ago as I was trying to go to sleep, I was lying on my back and starring at the bedroom ceiling.

Pitch black.

I stretched out my hand to the ceiling and extended my palm upward. Even though I couldn’t see my hand, I knew it was there. I did the same with the other hand - both hands high up and fully extended. I closed my eyes, and somehow it seemed a little bit “brighter”, but not much. Perhaps it was my imagination. I then got up and walked around my room a bit, still in total darkness. I didn’t knock anything over, since I’m more than familiar with the surroundings of my own room. I then looked at where the dresser mirror was. I couldn’t see the mirror, but I knew it was there. I couldn’t see my face, but I knew it was there.

Pitch black, still.

After lying back down again on the bed, a few thoughts came to my mind. I knew about this before, but from what I know, pretty much everyone has never seen their own face with their own eyes. As a matter of fact, there are quite a few parts of our body that we can never see with our own eyes. We require another set of “eyes” or reflection or captured image to see ourselves entirely. I have never seen my eyebrow with my own eyes. The same can be said for the ears, nostrils, mouth, neck, top of my scalp, and chin. A mirror or photographs of ourselves are the normal conventions for us to look at our physical being. What’s more interesting is that most of these locations which are “invisible” are on our face.

This prompted three questions into my head. First, if somehow you could see yourself from a third person perspective with a chase camera*, what thoughts would come to your mind? Do you think you’d look different than what you see from a mirror? Again, what thoughts would come to your mind when you see yourself in a third person perspective?

*Think of the games Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and whole host of other third person type action games. I didn’t reference any movies, since most movies have the camera angle as static and don’t chase the character around.

Secondly, if we were to not be able to see our own reflection from a mirror or our own face in a photograph, do you think that we would be as self-conscious about our physical appearance? Let’s suppose that with your own eyes, you can see other people’s faces clearly, as you can do now. However, whenever you look at a picture or in a mirror, your face would seemed so blurred out that there wouldn’t be any distinguishable features that makes your face unique. However, there is a major “flaw” in this scenario. If I were to look at a picture of me and my friends together, my friends’ faces would appear fine however mine would be blurred. If my friend saw the same picture, my face would appear fine however his would appear blurred to his naked eye. This would certainly cause quite a feeling of absolute confusion and panic for the individual with their own face looking so “blurred” or generic. Neglecting this flaw, do you think you would be so self-conscious of the physical appearance of your face?

Thirdly, don’t you find it quite interesting that our face is probably one of the most distinguishingly unique physical features, yet we can never see it with out own eyes? I find it quite interesting that many people, including myself, strive to upkeep their face as clean and presentable as possible. Some even opt for plastic surgery to enhance their look. There’s nothing wrong there, however, it’s somewhat “sad” that we ourselves don’t get to enjoy something unique to us. Perhaps our face is not really meant for us to “enjoy” but it serves as a pure functional feature of the human body to allow others to identify us. Perhaps the human face is for others to take pleasure in.

Now, you don’t need to answer directly to these three questions which I asked myself, but give your thoughts if you have pondered this before. These three questions are independent of each other; treat them as isolated scenarios or situations. I am aware of quite a few flaws and holes in logic, such as the one suggested in the second question when I was writing this, but please don’t let them be the center of focus of the discussion.
I placed this topic in the quiet place as I thought it would generate some insightful replies and thoughts, and I personally find that this is one of those “deep ponder” type topics.

How ya doing, buddy?

Whoa! My hands can touch everything but themselves!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I remember reading a story back in sixth grade. It was a family who NEVER saw any of thier faces or bodies. Only saw what thier family members were. Thier dog thought it was a cat and the cat thought it was a dog.

Then a merchant came by and was offering things, though was too expensive he allowed the peasents(I think they were that.) family payment plan. Once they looked into hte mirror, they noticed all the faults of thier bodies and the cat and dog figured out who they were and started to attack each other. Then the house was in chaos till they got rid of the mirror.

It had a well, a meaning of, don't worry about your looks, atleast I think so.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm autistic [to some undetermined degree] and fairly faceblind [that is, not able to recognize faces]; if I saw my face from a third-person perspective I probably wouldn't recognize it, and if I was able to perceive it like I perceive others' faces, I wouldn't care very much about how 'presentable' it looked. ^^;

~Na-keya

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Wait a minute. What are you doing here spatty? HUH?! I thought you were voluntarily banned until April 1.
So, how did that GFFasting work out?

I was speaking idiomatically.

You do not like my prescence here on GFF? I'm dismayed.
I could ask to be banned again until April 1st. However I find it redundant as one extra month will not really help anyone, unless the general populace of GFF abhors my attendance. In other news, I like your av/sig.

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Thanks, I like your ava/sig too.
And no, I enjoy your presense. I was just teasing.

FELIPE NO