So I was just watching that new show, "Selfie," and it struck me, like it did when I read Stripped Down: A Naked Memoir by Stacey Keith, how all we really want is to be seen. Often throughout this book Stacey mentions wanting to be seen, or not actually wanting to be seen, despite everyone looking at her. So often we will put ourselves in places that people will look at us, but does looking at someone or something really mean you see it? Regardless of how many people look at us, how many people actually see us?
In a way, that's the point of the paintings by Rothko, there is a chapel with his work next to UST in Houston, and I went in with a friend one day, and his response characterizes this perfectly, "They're just black." Yes, when you first look at them, you see four huge black canvases, but when you see them, when you go and sit, and look at them, really look at them, you see them. Rothko painted with tons of color and then blacked out these paintings. So they are black, but as you gaze upon them and really look at them, you can see what is under the black, but it takes time and focus.
The same can be said about people, we all want to be seen. We want someone to look at us and see us for who we are, as a person, not just our body and definitely not our projected persona. This is where the "Selfie" part comes in, on that show, Eliza is a caricature, she is not a person, she is a projected image. She cannot be seen because there is nothing to see. She takes a lot of selfies, but she doesn't have a self. She has a ton of "friends," but no friends when she needs someone. So it begs the questions, what good is selfie with no self?
I just finished teaching a chapter about Original Sin, and one of the consequences of Original Sin is that we are ashamed of our nakedness, but I think the nakedness is more than actual physical nakedness. In The Theology of the Body, Pope John Paul II, emphasizes that prior to the Fall, to Original Sin, our bodies were meant to manifest who we are as persons. That is when you looked at someone you would know then, not just recognize their face, but you would see them, and know them as a person. So this shame at our nakedness is not just the shame of being physically naked, but as shame at who we are. No longer when someone looks at us, do they see us, but that is all we want to be seen, to be known.
In TOB, JP2 says that the problem with pornography isn't that it shows too much of the person, rather, the problem is it shows too little. When you are looking at someone or something in a way that objectifies it, you cannot possibly see it.
Maybe we should challenge ourselves to see people and not just look at them.
In a way, that's the point of the paintings by Rothko, there is a chapel with his work next to UST in Houston, and I went in with a friend one day, and his response characterizes this perfectly, "They're just black." Yes, when you first look at them, you see four huge black canvases, but when you see them, when you go and sit, and look at them, really look at them, you see them. Rothko painted with tons of color and then blacked out these paintings. So they are black, but as you gaze upon them and really look at them, you can see what is under the black, but it takes time and focus.
The same can be said about people, we all want to be seen. We want someone to look at us and see us for who we are, as a person, not just our body and definitely not our projected persona. This is where the "Selfie" part comes in, on that show, Eliza is a caricature, she is not a person, she is a projected image. She cannot be seen because there is nothing to see. She takes a lot of selfies, but she doesn't have a self. She has a ton of "friends," but no friends when she needs someone. So it begs the questions, what good is selfie with no self?
I just finished teaching a chapter about Original Sin, and one of the consequences of Original Sin is that we are ashamed of our nakedness, but I think the nakedness is more than actual physical nakedness. In The Theology of the Body, Pope John Paul II, emphasizes that prior to the Fall, to Original Sin, our bodies were meant to manifest who we are as persons. That is when you looked at someone you would know then, not just recognize their face, but you would see them, and know them as a person. So this shame at our nakedness is not just the shame of being physically naked, but as shame at who we are. No longer when someone looks at us, do they see us, but that is all we want to be seen, to be known.
In TOB, JP2 says that the problem with pornography isn't that it shows too much of the person, rather, the problem is it shows too little. When you are looking at someone or something in a way that objectifies it, you cannot possibly see it.
Maybe we should challenge ourselves to see people and not just look at them.
