Learning to Love With One’s Eyes: A Theological View Of The Tango Lesson

Abstract

I developed throughout this book the thought—and the hope—that seeing may have a positive effect on a person. This hope grew out of the realization that seeing has destructive potential if human beings are looked at in objectifying ways. Seeing, as the philosophers discussed at the beginning of this book have suggested, can be objectifying, especially if it is a one-sided process of one person looking at another while remaining an invisible spectator. I have argued that the fi lm Artemisia suggests a way out of this objectifying look by showing how the young painter, Artemisia, is both seeing and seen at the same time. As McFague points out, seeing is objectifying if it results in a nonreciprocal relationship. She suggests that a more reciprocal relationship is achieved if people relate using other senses, hearing and touching, for example. In contrast to McFague, I proposed that seeing and being seen can mean being in a reciprocal relationship if people learn to look at each other in nonobjectifying ways.¹