The eyes are the windows of the soul (?)

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Modus.Ponens
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The eyes are the windows of the soul (?)

Post by Modus.Ponens »

Hello

This thread's title is a portuguese saying. I've spoken to people and some interpret it as meaning that you know the look on a person's eyes when they are in love with you. My interpretation is different.

I've met at least two other persons who, besides me, by looking at another person's eyes, can tell what are the core emotions on the observed person's mind. Most people find this is self deception but, of all the people I've met and analysed their eyes, I've never been wrong on my observation.

Now, what I want to know is if I'm alone in this. I don't claim that this is something psychic. But it is interesting that it is somewhat uncommon in a random sample. My question goes to a selected sample: buddhists.

I have a follow up questions either way, but let me see if I'm alone first _ and possibly fooling myself.

Peace
'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' - Jhana Sutta
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retrofuturist
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Re: The eyes are the windows of the soul (?)

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

Do eyes here count simply as the eyeball, or extend to the socket, or extend even further to the associated muscles etc. around the eyes which frame the way in which the eyes are presented?

I think if you're talking about interpretations of emotions at a mundane level I suspect you're more often talking about the latter, rather than the eyeball itself.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
SarathW
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Re: The eyes are the windows of the soul (?)

Post by SarathW »

I think this is just the ability to read body language.
Not only the eye, total body expressions, even smell of sweat, heart beat can gauge some ones mental state.
:mrgreen:
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manas
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Re: The eyes are the windows of the soul (?)

Post by manas »

Modus.Ponens wrote:Hello

This thread's title is a portuguese saying. I've spoken to people and some interpret it as meaning that you know the look on a person's eyes when they are in love with you. My interpretation is different.

I've met at least two other persons who, besides me, by looking at another person's eyes, can tell what are the core emotions on the observed person's mind. Most people find this is self deception but, of all the people I've met and analysed their eyes, I've never been wrong on my observation.

Now, what I want to know is if I'm alone in this. I don't claim that this is something psychic. But it is interesting that it is somewhat uncommon in a random sample. My question goes to a selected sample: buddhists.

I have a follow up questions either way, but let me see if I'm alone first _ and possibly fooling myself.

Peace
No, I don't think you are kidding yourself. There's a reason for that saying (as there are for most), and I always thought it was about seeing deeply into someone; I did not see it in a romantic context.

Two things can happen when I look into someone's eyes: one is that I can get an impression which, as you said, gets proven correct over the course of time. (I don't know if I get this quite as deeply as you seem to, though.) Another, though: sometimes I see what I want to see, or what I expect to see. Sometimes we humans do that, project qualities onto others, when really that quality we see in them is just our own projection, and might not actually be correct.

I've found one other thing about looking into someone's eyes, and that is how there is this initial expression there, but that as you keep looking more deeply, you can begin to see other expressions there as well, that you did not see earlier. It's like you get past layers of the persona; first the person might appear confident and strong, but as you look more deeply you begin to see, perhaps, some apprehension. Or someone might appear to be happy, but as you look more deeply, you begin to see an underlying sadness.

:anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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Modus.Ponens
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Re: The eyes are the windows of the soul (?)

Post by Modus.Ponens »

manas wrote: No, I don't think you are kidding yourself. There's a reason for that saying (as there are for most), and I always thought it was about seeing deeply into someone; I did not see it in a romantic context.

Two things can happen when I look into someone's eyes: one is that I can get an impression which, as you said, gets proven correct over the course of time. (I don't know if I get this quite as deeply as you seem to, though.) Another, though: sometimes I see what I want to see, or what I expect to see. Sometimes we humans do that, project qualities onto others, when really that quality we see in them is just our own projection, and might not actually be correct.

I've found one other thing about looking into someone's eyes, and that is how there is this initial expression there, but that as you keep looking more deeply, you can begin to see other expressions there as well, that you did not see earlier. It's like you get past layers of the persona; first the person might appear confident and strong, but as you look more deeply you begin to see, perhaps, some apprehension. Or someone might appear to be happy, but as you look more deeply, you begin to see an underlying sadness.

:anjali:
Exactly! Thank you. :) Especialy the last paragraph. The more you look, the more you see. I don't even like to look directly at people's eyes, partialy because of the intensity of the moment. I'm not talking about heavy intensity; what I mean is that if I'm chilling with my friends, I don't want to see that all the time. It would be very, very awkward for me to look at people's eyes all the time. Let me ask a follow up question, after adressing retro's question.
retrofuturist wrote:Greetings,

Do eyes here count simply as the eyeball, or extend to the socket, or extend even further to the associated muscles etc. around the eyes which frame the way in which the eyes are presented?

I think if you're talking about interpretations of emotions at a mundane level I suspect you're more often talking about the latter, rather than the eyeball itself.

Metta,
Retro. :)
There is certainly information around the eyes, all the way to the entire face. But that is not as reliable. And what I mean is the actual eye circle. And this is the funny part (please share if you have the same experience): blue eyes and green eyes are very, very hard to read. It's strange. I have no idea as to what it is, except for differences in accumulated experience _ I'm portuguese, so the overwhelming majority of people here have brown eyes. So what I'm saying is that the realy important part is the eyes circles.

So the first follow up question is the above one: do you find that blue/green eyes are harder to read?

Peace
'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' - Jhana Sutta
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manas
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Re: The eyes are the windows of the soul (?)

Post by manas »

Modus.Ponens wrote:
So the first follow up question is the above one: do you find that blue/green eyes are harder to read?

Peace
I don't think I'm as much into this ability as you are, Modus, but I can see what you mean...but dark eyes kind of appear to be more 'soulful' in general (or that is how I see them), so it could be that projection thing happening, at least in my case.

:anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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