by Greenpalmtreestillmine 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
The human face is unique. It is the window to the mind.
Dogs wag their tales when they're happy and down their ears when they're afraid or puzzled but people, by their facial expressions, are able to transmit much more subtle and/or complex messages and are capable of doing so at will if we so desire.
The transmission of emotional states through the human face is uniquely human and is not something that can be accounted for by evolution.
Sabrina
I agree with ya. Hadn't thought about it all that much but that is pretty interesting and amazing..and no..it cannot be accounted for by "evolution." When I hear someone say that we were created by evolution...I think...well where did anything at all come from...where did space come from and where did time come from? And where did the water come from to create the oceans?? That has to be the biggest factor that makes me believe in God.
Very interesting post
~Sarah
Hi Missy04,
Thanks so much for your reply on this thread and on the Bible thread. Keep going and do not let anyone take away your faith or your love for God. So glad to meet you!
Sabrina
The transmission of emotional states through the human face is uniquely human and is not something that can be accounted for by evolution.
I disagree ..
That has to be the biggest factor that makes me believe in God.
Where did God come from?
:Keep going and do not let anyone take away your faith or your love for God.
I agree. Much better to get rid of it on your own! Personally, I found that fervent, honest prayer, being totally open to whatever god might throw at me (including his own non-existance), was a big part of my leaving behind faith and losing my love for god.
Thru nature and overbearing status quo, god has consistantly sent mankind one message: I DON'T EXIST IN SPITE OF WHAT YOUR MOMMY TOLD YOU... and if I do exist at all, and I'M not sayin I do, it's certainly not in any form that you wankers, especially those of you wankers who wrote the bible, can even conceive of.
GreenPalm: Facial expressions are not uniquely human. For example, you can determine a cat's mood by the posture of the ears and whickers. Haven't you seen a dog snarl when it feels angry or frightened? Is it all that different than the snarl on a human's face during similar emotional states? Chimpanzees even smile when they're happy.
Really I can't think of any emotions that are uniquely human, and a trained eye would always be able to read an animal's body language.
The transmission of emotional states through the human face is uniquely human and is not something that can be accounted for by evolution.
Hey, greenpalm. Interesting thread, but I have to disagree with what you say in this statement on two counts:
First, as others have pointed out, it is certainly not uniquely human. For a more fully-developed example than the cats and dogs that a poster above mentioned, take a look at monkeys. They convey a large set of emotional states using expressions similar to ours.
Second, the development of facial expressions most certainly can be accounted for by evolution. Social creatures need a way of transmitting and receiving messages such as "I welcome you," and, "I am angry," etc. There is nothing mystical about human facial expressions - they are simply extensional developments over the body language that you can observe in almost every other species.
Just some food for thought.
SNG
Green...,
Yes, I agree, to some degree the face really does seem to be a window into the mind, and can be very beautiful (and sometimes frightening) to witness.
The face and the mind are ever changing, and give us what is known as character and personality. Both these words refer to something shallow: Character, as is a role in a play. Personality, which is based on the word persona, as like a mask. What is deeper and more substantial? What is the stage on which this dance is played?
The window for this is not the face, but rather the eyes. What looks out them is very intimate, yet pristinely endless; and it is This, that gives the face (and the universe) it's wonder and beauty, and room in which to play.
j
Hmm... I'll get back into a creationist's shoes for a moment: if God is the creator of everything, including every living being, why should the specific human difference (unprecedented development of the symbolical function in speech, facial expressions, gestures) be more a proof of creation than, say, the spider's web or the bat's "sonar"?
Now insisting on the human difference would make sense if one assumed, in a Gnostic way, that there is something in man which does not belong to the realm of creation. Unfortunately the many evidences of continuity between species in organic structure and function do not plead for regarding this theory as anything but a myth (a very interesting one though). Biologically man is a specific development, not something radically different.
Of course we feel different, because we have created our own symbolical standards according to which we are different. "God created man in his image." The only thing we can be pretty sure about this sentence is that it was not written by a giraffe...
Narkissos,
...if God is the creator of everything, including every living being, why should the specific human difference (unprecedented development of the symbolical function in speech, facial expressions, gestures) be more a proof of creation than, say, the spider's web or the bat's "sonar"?
Because the spider's web and the bat's sonar are needed for survival. Just as we and all animals must assimilate food to survive and we must excrete wastes to survive and reproduce for the species to survive and sleep to survive etc., but only we have a face that transmits emotions to a degree unprecedented among the other creatures. The communicative abililty of the human face is not something necessary to the survival of the species, it is an enigma. Its muscles and nerves transmit the emotional responses of the brain. Have you ever tried smiling while thinking of something extremely sad? It feels very uncomfortable, unnatural. The human face and human mind are connected in an extreme way not found in other living things. But those emotional responses are not necessary for our survival. They are an unexplained bonus!!!
The human face is unique and its so called "evolution" does not fit in with the models and mechanisms put forth by evolutionists.
Sabrina
