Facial Unrecognition

Looking in the mirror these days, it’s not the happiest experience. I keep wondering how that old man got into my face. But the changes are mercifully small and gradual, giving me time to get used to them. And I can always recognize myself.

 

Not so my phone. Suddenly the facial recognition feature has no idea who this guy is and sends me to cumbersome numerical codes and passwords to simply open the phone, never mind, check out my banking statement and other features. Of course, I did nothing to suddenly make that stop working, unless a new additional wrinkle put me over the line of recognition.

 

Meanwhile, I arrived back home in San Francisco with all flights on time and lovely weather greeting me as I took BART from the airport, boarded a bus and walked eight blocks to my house. The pleasure of unpacking, a bite to eat of food still edible I found in the kitchen and thought I’d enjoy a bit of the new Ted Lasso before bedtime. 

 

But now the TV didn’t recognize me—well, the wireless connection —and all bets were off on Apple TV, Netflix, Prime, etc. Unplug the TV, unplug the router, plug them both in again and the same “Sorry, sucker! We’re just not going to work and you’ll have to spend hours figuring out what the hell is wrong.”

 

And so I think about how I stepped out on the Lake Michigan cottage deck every night to watch the sunset. Though there might be clouds or rain, in one form or another, it’s just there—reliable, dependable, nothing to plug in and not a single code to enter. And in the end, more spiritually uplifting than the next murder on the detective series. 

 

Sigh. Can we learn to just be content with the world at our feet, in front of our eyes, above our heads? Can we recognize “the face before we were born” (a Zen description of our true nature) that never wrinkles or sags? Can we change mirrors reflecting back to glass offering a view out? 

 

Note to self: yes, I can and yes, I should. And you should too. 

Meanwhile, enjoy the sunset!