The eyes are the windows to the soul, it is said. Some say you can tell when someone is lying by the look in their eyes. Fear shows in the eyes, as does confidence, love, and many other emotions.
Or do the eyes show these things? I no longer think they do. I think what we mean is the face around the eyes reveals these things. The eye itself has no expression, it is purely a reactive organ. It reacts to the amount of light to which it is exposed. Nothing more, nothing less.
We imagine more than we see, I'd say. We hear a subdued voice, we see a frown, the lids seem heavy, there are tears welling along the bottom lids, and we see "sadness" in the eyes. But if the lids seem heavy and there is no frown, maybe no expression at all, no tears welling then we see maybe sleepiness or maybe we think he (or she) is deep in thought. If the eyes squint, there's a turn up at the lips, dimples in the cheeks... why, then, we see happiness in those eyes.
Mona Lisa's eyes, Bette Davis' eyes (why is her named pronounced "bettie" and Bette Midler's pronounced "bet"?), Greta Garbo's eyes, and a few others have captured the imagination of people all over the world. Yet, is it really the eyes? Or is it the way they appear in the face?
I once met a young woman in Sherman Oaks, California who had the most beautiful green eyes. The color was magnificent, translucent, almost luminescent. Then I learned she wore contacts. I was crushed. But it was the color that did more than the eyes, same for Paul Newman's, I suppose, for the women.If the eyes were all then why would there be mascara, eyeliner, and eye shadow?
[875/876]
6 comments:
Interesting post!
www.freedoms-fight.blogspot.com
You hit that nail on the head, but is it really an issue, or just a matter of semantics? If the eyes are the windows to the soul, are the eyelids the curtains?
Pistolmom - Interesting nom-de-net. Welcome, drop by again.
Jonathan - It's no issue, it's just something we all accept as true. Yet, it isn't. I like to look at everyday things, seemingly mundane, that we take for granted as real or true. I think we should question these things as a stepping stone to questioning just about anything or everything. And, sometimes, closed eyes tell us more than the open ones did.
I knew eyes were incredible but now you're going to have me noticing them even more. A great exercise in photography for the future. Add it to the infinite todo list. Thanks for the post. I liked the first photo the best.
I knew eyes were incredible but now you're going to have me noticing them even more. A great exercise in photography for the future. Add it to the infinite todo list. Thanks for the post. I liked the first photo the best.
Pistolmom - Interesting nom-de-net. Welcome, drop by again.
Jonathan - It's no issue, it's just something we all accept as true. Yet, it isn't. I like to look at everyday things, seemingly mundane, that we take for granted as real or true. I think we should question these things as a stepping stone to questioning just about anything or everything. And, sometimes, closed eyes tell us more than the open ones did.
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