... is a book by Milan Kundera. It's involves 4 characters, with Czech modern history as a background, and a lot of philosophical rambling. It has many awesome ideas in the book (and some not-so-great ones). I particularly like the following paragraphs;
"We all need someone to look at us. We can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under.
The first category longs for the look of an infinite number of anonymous eyes, in other words, for the look of the public. That is the case with the German singer, the American actress, and even the tall, stooped editor with the big chin ...
The second category is made up of people who have a vital need to be looked at by many known eyes. They are the tireless hosts of cocktail parties and dinners. They are happier than the people in the first category, who, whey they lose their public, have the feeling that the lights have gone out in the room of their lives. This happens to nearly all of them sooner or later. People in the second category, on the other hand, can always come up with the eyes they need ...
Then there is the third category, the category of people who need to be constantly before the eyes of the person they love. Their situation is as dangerous as the situation of people in the first category. One day the eyes of their beloved will close, and the room will go dark ...
And finally, there is the fourth category, the rarest, the category of people who live in the imaginary eyes of those who are not present. They are the dreamers. Franz, for example. He travelled to the borders of Cambodia only for Sabina. As the bus bumped along the Thai road, he could feel her eyes fixed on him in a long stare."
This is a fairly interesting way of looking at people, and in many ways, it is true ... the eyes are personalification of what is important in their lives ... The first category can represent power/wealth/being known, which is similar to the second category, except in the scale and the "controllability" of the eyes. The third group is love (in its various forms, be it the flickering love of a lover, the adoring gaze of a child, the approving nod of a parent), whereas the last group consists of those unknowns which we hold dear; the lost love, the One, the never-ending possibilities, God ...
Do people metaphoresis from one category to another, because of the changing nature of their beliefs and the harsh experience of life?
