The Sanctuary of Human Presence

D. H. Lawrence’s poems treat of the presence of nature: natural objects and creatures are not self-centred or self-pitying; they claim no privilege and do not intrude. It is the nature of humans to be present in a way that impinges on and engages others. Human presence is never neutral. It always has an effect. Human presence strikes a resonance. Colloquially, we refer to the chemistry of someone’s presence. When two people discover each other, the way they look at and talk to each other indicates that they are enfolding each other in a circle of presence. Their style of presence evokes an affinity and calls them towards a voyage of discovery with each other. The echo of their outer presence calls them nearer and nearer so that they can begin to reveal the depth of inner presence which illuminates their physical presence. The opposite experience is also common. Two people meet and find that each other’s presence pushes them away from each other. Outer presence has its own compass. Chemistry has a secret and powerful logic. We can never predict or plan whether we will move towards or away from an other’s presence. This is something that the occasion and the encounter will decide; it is a happening with its own freedom.

The human body longs for presence. The very structuring and shape of the body makes it a living sanctuary of presence. When a thing is closed, we only encounter its outer shell. The human body can never close off in such a hermetical way. The body is one of the most open and manifest presences in the world. Even from a person who is shy and always withdraws, presence still manages to seep forth. The human body is a language that cannot remain silent. The countenance is an intense and luminous icon of presence. Nowhere else in the world are you encountered and engaged as totally as by a human person. The human face is a miniature village of presence. Every dimension of the face expresses presence: the lines from which it is drawn, the curvature of the mouth, the shape of the face, the dome of the head and especially the eyes. All the aspects of the face combine to bring one individual life to expression. The face is the icon where all the atmosphere, feeling, and thought of an individual life assemble visually.

The days and nights a person has lived seep into presence in the countenance. It is interesting that the Latin root of the word face is “facies,” meaning the shape or form of the head, which is derived from the verb “facere,” which means “to make.” This background confirms the artistic and active force of the face. Neither a surface nor a cover, the face is a doorway to the soul. When you gaze into someone’s face, a pathway opens, resonant with his or her life and memory. You glimpse what life has made or unmade, woven or unravelled in that life. Each face fronts a different world. The philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty said, “My body is the awareness of the gaze of the other.” We are animated through the presence of the other. Every face is a window outwards and inwards on a unique life. Of course, in dance and in theatrical activity, the whole body becomes expressive. Because others can see us, our lives never remain merely ours alone. The openness of the face shows that we participate in the lives of others. Presence to each other is the door to all belonging. And nowhere in the universe is longing so powerfully present as in the human countenance. From here issues all desire for dwelling and community.