Yet picture-taking preceded both ancient idols and modern "selfies".
In fact, in its structure and action, the human eyeball is similar to a camera
and is controlled by similar rules. Like a camera, the eye has a shutter called the iris to
control the light. Like a camera the eye works automatically
and has a film which covers the retina for forming images. The eyeball darts
about all day long like a nervous photographer, scanning a vast array of
images, occasionally snapping a photo of a few images that become fixed in
memory. For example, have you ever left a family holiday gathering with a
variety of images and emotionally charged impressions? The aunt who drinks too
much, the cousin who has put on a lot of weight, the parent who suddenly looks
old, or the sibling with a new partner that you judge to be a disaster waiting
to happen? But why does "my" eye capture certain images and not
others--after all, how many thousands of images do we see each day? Each person
will leave that same family get-together with different mental photos and their
accompanying judgments and emotions.
I want to suggest that the Soul, not the ego, is the Wise photographer
(Psychographer) Who captures those striking images that are needed for our
personal soul-making. My memories are photos downloaded onto my mental and
emotional facebook page, taken all day long by my roaming
eye-camera, most often snapped without my conscious ego-consent. If we admit
the existence of a purposeful Self beyond our ego--a Self Who knows what we
need for further development, fuller joy and emotional healing--then we will
choose to explore more deeply those images that "impress" our
consciousness. I think this is what James Hillman is talking about when he says that one
role of Soul is "...the deepening of events into experiences." I am
not suggesting self-obsessed navel gazing, but rather a time of reflectively
exploring the numerous and varied implications of an embedded affective
memory-image. Ask the Soul (Divine Source), "What is it in this arresting
image that you want me to see regarding my current personality?" Remember--that
particular image actually chose you to make it a subject for later reflection. Images
do no stick in ones mental album randomly. I suspect that unexamined images
turn into semi-conscious obsessions, resentments or worse. It might do us well
to conclude each day with a few moments of remembering and reflecting on the
"image of the day". It might even keep us from having a bad dream.