Ancient Churches Lexicon
Faces
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In most ancient times, a person’s face was in complete agreement with their internal state, so that anyone could plainly see the character of another person’s mind or disposition merely by looking at their face (AC 358, AC 3527). Because the most ancient people were celestial and possessed a united mind, whatever they willed or thought inwardly within the rational part of the mind made itself evident in the natural part of the mind. This in turn was evident in the face, because with these people the face was the outward expression of the natural mind (AC 3573). In other words, the faces of the people of the Most Ancient Church acted as representative mirrors of their interior parts (AC 5695). They considered it monstrous to express one thing in the face while thinking another; pretense, hypocrisy, and deceit were unknown (AC 3527, AC 358). Having this type of face also meant that the first speech was a facial type of speech; that is, ideas were vividly and completely expressed through the lips and the eyes (AC 8249). This facial speech lasted as long as sincerity and integrity remained with the human race. But as soon as the mind began to think one thing and speak another, which took place when man began to love himself and not his neighbor, then vocal speech began to develop and the face conveyed nothing or told lies (EU 54).
However, while among the most ancient people this involuntary expression of the mind happened in the whole face, in the Silver Age it was gradually limited to the left side. Finally, in the Iron Age, the involuntary expression of the mind moved away from the face into the region of the left ear. Since that time, the fibers coming from the cerebellum which flowed into the face have been placed under the control of fibers coming from the cerebrum, thus allowing voluntary expressions on the face (AC 4326).
See also:
Disposition, Four Ages,
Influx, Language,
Rational, Representatives,
Speech,
Will and Understanding
Passages relating to Faces and the Ancient
Churches:
AC 358; AC 3527; AC 3573; AC 4326; AC
5695; AC 8249; AE 412; CL 192; EU 54
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