...more than other senses, the eye objectifies and masters. it sets at a distance, maintains the distance. in our culture, the predominance of the look over smell, taste, touch, hearing, has brought about an improverishment of bodily relations...the moment domin ates the look dominates, the body loses its materiality” -luce irigaray
Interpretation
This quote explores how visual perception influences our relationships and experiences, leading to a detachment from bodily sensations.
Luce Irigaray's quote highlights the power of the visual sense in shaping our understanding and interaction with the world. She suggests that in a culture where sight predominates over other senses, we risk reducing our physical experiences and bodily relations to mere objects, leading to a loss of materiality and connection with ourselves and others. This domination of the 'look' emphasizes distance and separation rather than intimacy and presence, ultimately impoverishing our sensory experiences.
In practice
During a lecture on sensory perception in psychology, this quote could emphasize the importance of experiencing life through all senses, not just the visual.
Your silence exists as does my self gathering. But so does the almost absolute silence of the world's dawning. In such suspension, before every utterance on earth, there is a cloud, an almost immobile air. The plants already breathe, while we still ask ourselves how to speak to each other, without taking breath away from them.
Each sex has a relation to madness. Every desire has a relation to madness. But it would seem that one desire has been taken as wisdom, moderation, truth, leaving to the other sex the weight of a madness that cannot be acknowledged or accommodated.
Like all people, we perceive the version of reality that our culture communicates. Like others having or living in more than one culture, we get multiple, often opposing messages. The coming together of two self-consistent but habitually incomparable frames of reference causes un choque, a cultural collision.
The fact that we're all here in these bodies means that we're not perfected.
Mind precedes all phenomena, mind matters most, everything is mind-made. If with an impure mind, you speak or act, then suffering follows you as the cartwheel follows the foot of the draft animal. If with a pure mind, you speak or act, then happiness follows you as a shadow that never departs
When you surrender completely to God, as the only truth worth having, you find yourself in service of all that exists. It becomes your joy and recreation. You never tire of serving others.
Fundamentally, footballers don't look around a dressing room and think, 'He's a black player... he's Japanese.' They don't think like that. They think, 'He's a good player; he can help. He's not very good.' I'm not trying to defend anyone's actions, but there are going to be isolated incidents because it's an emotive, passionate sport.
If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.
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