Philosophyopoly: Eyes that follow you

Dear J

Many’s the time in a job like mine when you are called upon to skip across the shop floor in the wee small hours for some small rea­son, dressed per­haps in noth­ing more than a nightshirt.

At such times, lesser peo­ple than I have been star­tled by the way in which the pairs of eyes on the faces of the mag­a­zine cov­ers fol­low you.

This, the old wives’ tales will have it, is spooky, but I’ve always been very scorn­ful about peo­ple who are spooked by this.

The pho­tog­ra­pher (or, in ear­lier days, the painter) hasn’t ren­dered the side of the eyes, right? The side image of the eye does not exist. It has not been printed or painted. There’s sim­ply no choice — the front-on view is all there is, right?

Right. So star­ing pairs of eyes are inescapable. It is not a rea­son for guilt.

Unless of course you’re look­ing at the top shelf. Then it’s not star­ing pairs of eyes that are inescapable… And it’s cer­tainly a rea­son for guilt.

jx

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