Of The Human Face
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One of the many benefits and pleasures we can get from TV is the great opportunity of being able to see people, especially their faces, who make big news. From the presidential candidates through the stars in the field of sports and movies to the criminals and murderers, we can see and recognize them, and can even read from their faces the inner mechanism of their thinking and feeling, and instantly make our own judgement of them. With TV all the viewers have become, without realizing the fact, judges of human characters and personalities. In the earlier times newspapers did the same job for us, but now they cannot compete against TV in the same service for an obvious reason. Seeing is believing. But reading is not.
Even from the time when there were no newspapers and TVs, the face of a man, more than any other part in our body, has provided a solid as well as a convenient basis on which the evaluation or confirmation of one's character, personality, or nature has been made. This conscious or unconscious habit and custom in our country and elsewhere in the world have produced the art of reading one's face, along with the art of reading man's palm. Physiognomy has not only tried to tell one's character, but also aspired to predict his or her fortune in the future. It starts from the assumption that face of a man is his destiny.
Apart from physiognomy, we cannot deny the simple fact that man's face is more conspicuous part in our body than others. It is always the face that appears in the newspaper or on TV when one is very successful in his life. It is also the face first that a man tries to hide or cover with his hands or anything available when he is brought to the police to be questioned or interrogated for the crime he may have committed, or when he is caught in a shameful or dishonorable act. It is the face that one anxiously tries to show to the world, while it is also the same face that he desperately tries to protect from being seen by others. Man is not only determined to save his life, but also his face. Face is the man.
Man speaks with his mouth, of course, but in fact we speak more and effectively with our face. Angry father does not say anything to his daughter who comes home very late at night without any notice, but just a glance at his face enables her to perceive everything. Not only anger, but also almost all of human emotions find their expression in no other part of our body than in the face. Face is the most sensitive part of the body to to tell tales about the owner of the face. Face does not tell lies.
I have heard there is such a thing as poker-face, but there must be a tremendous effort for a man to assume this kind of face for long, simply because it is against our good nature. If there be a person who could wear it all the time without effort, he must be a very wicked man, or a very dull and boring person. Man is man so long as he smiles when he is happy, laughs when he has fun, turns red when he is angry or in shame, pale when terrified, weeps when full of sorrow. Face is an index of humanity.
When we meet a person for the first time, it is always and without exception the face of the man that comes into our view. The other parts of the body come later. It is quite natural, therefore, for anyone to wish to have a good-looking and beautiful face. Being born with it is itself no small a fortune, blessing, and advantage in life. Like a beautiful landscape on the wall, the beautiful face is liked, loved, and admired. Just looking at it is a great pleasure for all. It is no wonder, therefore, that many young women and even some men of today are eager to undergo plastic surgery on their faces at the cost of enormous amount of money and risk.
But the problem with our face lies in its constant metamorphosis against our effort. Like the moon it changes constantly. You may succeed in having a lift or having your nose bobbed, but the surgeon's knife cannot stop the natural progress of the human face. Like the face of the earth, the face of man should suffer and bear all the heat of love and hatred, the rain of sorrow and death, the sunshine of success and triumph, the wind of defeat and despair, the snow of greed and worry, the storm of anger and jealousy. Unlike a genius, the face is not born. Unlike the polar star, it cannot be fixed. It is an endless as well as restless process of being made, molded, and formed in the furnace of life. The surgeon's success cannot but be a partly as well as a momentary one.
Recently I find myself more interested in human faces than ever before. One very surprising thing is that there is no human face that is not interesting. Big or small, black or white, ugly or beautiful, oval or rectangular, the infinite variety and infinitesimal difference of human face from one another, only with the arrangement of less than six objects--eyes, ears, eyebrows, hairs, nose, and mouth,-but permitting endless permutations and combinations, simply defies mathematical calculations. And behold the spirit, energy and possibility that hovers on it even on the face of a baby just born! I see divinity in the face of man.
Once there was a time when only young and beautiful women' faces attracted my eyes and attention, and when only the specially good-looking men aroused my silent admiration, envy and jealousy. Now, with the advance of my age I have come to appreciate more deeply and keenly all human faces in general, especially those from which the beauty veiled once by the attractiveness of youth has gone, and on which, instead, as the layers of old paint hidden beneath the old landscape come to the surface in time, the rough and hard history of the man has been written and engraved. Seeing them is like reading a book of history, or looking at a completed work of art.
Looking at so many faces coming and going on TV every day, I wonder how my face would look in the eyes of others. I know my face is already clearly imprinted in the retinas of my families, friends, and many others who have been with me for long time, and I cannot help it. But I have recently discovered that our good face, like a magnificent building, so slow in construction, can be mercilessly destroyed overnight by a sudden and unexpected blow of misfortune. I sincerely hope and pray that my daily life in the future should not administer such a blow at me and ruin my face that has already been made over the past fifty years, for the worse.
(July 18, 1997)
Even from the time when there were no newspapers and TVs, the face of a man, more than any other part in our body, has provided a solid as well as a convenient basis on which the evaluation or confirmation of one's character, personality, or nature has been made. This conscious or unconscious habit and custom in our country and elsewhere in the world have produced the art of reading one's face, along with the art of reading man's palm. Physiognomy has not only tried to tell one's character, but also aspired to predict his or her fortune in the future. It starts from the assumption that face of a man is his destiny.
Apart from physiognomy, we cannot deny the simple fact that man's face is more conspicuous part in our body than others. It is always the face that appears in the newspaper or on TV when one is very successful in his life. It is also the face first that a man tries to hide or cover with his hands or anything available when he is brought to the police to be questioned or interrogated for the crime he may have committed, or when he is caught in a shameful or dishonorable act. It is the face that one anxiously tries to show to the world, while it is also the same face that he desperately tries to protect from being seen by others. Man is not only determined to save his life, but also his face. Face is the man.
Man speaks with his mouth, of course, but in fact we speak more and effectively with our face. Angry father does not say anything to his daughter who comes home very late at night without any notice, but just a glance at his face enables her to perceive everything. Not only anger, but also almost all of human emotions find their expression in no other part of our body than in the face. Face is the most sensitive part of the body to to tell tales about the owner of the face. Face does not tell lies.
I have heard there is such a thing as poker-face, but there must be a tremendous effort for a man to assume this kind of face for long, simply because it is against our good nature. If there be a person who could wear it all the time without effort, he must be a very wicked man, or a very dull and boring person. Man is man so long as he smiles when he is happy, laughs when he has fun, turns red when he is angry or in shame, pale when terrified, weeps when full of sorrow. Face is an index of humanity.
When we meet a person for the first time, it is always and without exception the face of the man that comes into our view. The other parts of the body come later. It is quite natural, therefore, for anyone to wish to have a good-looking and beautiful face. Being born with it is itself no small a fortune, blessing, and advantage in life. Like a beautiful landscape on the wall, the beautiful face is liked, loved, and admired. Just looking at it is a great pleasure for all. It is no wonder, therefore, that many young women and even some men of today are eager to undergo plastic surgery on their faces at the cost of enormous amount of money and risk.
But the problem with our face lies in its constant metamorphosis against our effort. Like the moon it changes constantly. You may succeed in having a lift or having your nose bobbed, but the surgeon's knife cannot stop the natural progress of the human face. Like the face of the earth, the face of man should suffer and bear all the heat of love and hatred, the rain of sorrow and death, the sunshine of success and triumph, the wind of defeat and despair, the snow of greed and worry, the storm of anger and jealousy. Unlike a genius, the face is not born. Unlike the polar star, it cannot be fixed. It is an endless as well as restless process of being made, molded, and formed in the furnace of life. The surgeon's success cannot but be a partly as well as a momentary one.
Recently I find myself more interested in human faces than ever before. One very surprising thing is that there is no human face that is not interesting. Big or small, black or white, ugly or beautiful, oval or rectangular, the infinite variety and infinitesimal difference of human face from one another, only with the arrangement of less than six objects--eyes, ears, eyebrows, hairs, nose, and mouth,-but permitting endless permutations and combinations, simply defies mathematical calculations. And behold the spirit, energy and possibility that hovers on it even on the face of a baby just born! I see divinity in the face of man.
Once there was a time when only young and beautiful women' faces attracted my eyes and attention, and when only the specially good-looking men aroused my silent admiration, envy and jealousy. Now, with the advance of my age I have come to appreciate more deeply and keenly all human faces in general, especially those from which the beauty veiled once by the attractiveness of youth has gone, and on which, instead, as the layers of old paint hidden beneath the old landscape come to the surface in time, the rough and hard history of the man has been written and engraved. Seeing them is like reading a book of history, or looking at a completed work of art.
Looking at so many faces coming and going on TV every day, I wonder how my face would look in the eyes of others. I know my face is already clearly imprinted in the retinas of my families, friends, and many others who have been with me for long time, and I cannot help it. But I have recently discovered that our good face, like a magnificent building, so slow in construction, can be mercilessly destroyed overnight by a sudden and unexpected blow of misfortune. I sincerely hope and pray that my daily life in the future should not administer such a blow at me and ruin my face that has already been made over the past fifty years, for the worse.
(July 18, 1997)
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