Face, Others, and Ethics Before God

Soyo Philosophical Essays on Existential Ethics

Soyo's Proposition:

“Within Levinas, who profoundly felt and knew the existence of God, the conscious awareness of God’s love already began shaping his ethical perspective. All he needed was a single sentence, ‘Oh God, I am living your ethics through my conscience.’”

Face, the Language of Silence

Levinas said, “God is not an object of gaze. He comes only as a demand revealed in the face of the other.”

In his philosophy, ‘face’ is not merely an appearance composed of eyes, nose, and skin. It is the silent cry of an entire being directed toward me, an unspoken language demanding responsibility.

When I look upon the face of the other, I am not merely an observer. That face approaches me, and in its gaze I hear an ethical call I cannot refuse. It is not fear, but something closer to awe. It is akin to the trembling one feels when standing before God.

God is hidden in the face of the other.

We often seek God, looking up to the heavens, trying to explain through theological language. But Levinas rejected that path. For him, God is neither a philosophical concept nor a theological object. God is always hidden in the suffering and the eyes of the other.

The face of the other asks me, “Where are you?”

This question resembles God's query to Adam in Genesis. Yet it is, in truth, God's question hurled at me through the other's suffering. In the absence of the other, in the silence, God is present as an ethical demand.

Ethics is not a choice, but a responsibility already given

Ethics is not a choice I can or cannot make. The moment I face a face, I am already called into responsibility. As Levinas said, "God is accessible only ethically. Faith divorced from responsibility toward the other is empty."

Therefore, worship is not a ritual within a temple, but the encounter with the other itself. Before someone's eyes, I lose the name “I” and am given the name “responsibility.” This responsibility is precisely how God speaks most tangibly within me.

The Fundamental Proposition – Human Beings Are Not Orphans

Here, Soyo's Ethics of Existence adds the following proposition.

“Even an orphan has parents. The fundamental instinct is to seek the root from which one was born. Human existence is the same. Human beings are not orphans. Their root is the breath of God's love. The journey of human existence is the process of an orphan seeking their parents. To arrive at the parents' house, the answer of philosophy is for humans to live out love through ethics.”

This proposition leads Levinas's thought to an even more fundamental ground. Humans realize responsibility before the face of the other, but this responsibility stems not merely from social demands, but from a fundamental instinct of homecoming. Humans cannot exist apart from their roots, and those roots are God's love. Therefore, humans are not orphans. Rather, they are pilgrims standing on the journey of homecoming, seeking to return to their parents' house.

The face of the other is the signpost pointing to that homecoming, and the responsibility I bear before that face is the task of love given at the crossroads leading to God's house. To live ethics is to walk that path; to practice love is to draw near to the door of God's house.

The Face is the Flame of Truth, the Lantern of Homecoming

Soyo's ethics of being and wandering declares: The face of the other is not merely an ethical demand, but a lantern pointing to the root of being. That face prevents me from forgetting my origin. Like an orphan seeking parents, humans discover through others the root connecting to the breath of God.

Therefore, the face is not merely an exchange of gazes, but the mystery of homecoming. Within that face, I see the footprints of God, feel the flame of love, and remember the roots of being once more.

The Face is Prayer, and Ethics is Homecoming

Levinas saw ethics within the face, and the Ethics of Wandering Being sees within that face the path back to God's house.

We now understand. The face is not only an ethical call directed toward me, but also the language of God that evokes the roots of being. Humanity is not orphaned; it is one who returns home within God's love. The face of the other is the sign of homecoming, and responsibility is the covenant of love that completes that journey.

God calls me through the face of the other; and before that face, I no longer exist as "I", but as responsibility and the journey of homecoming.

Soyo and Levinas' Dialogue

Soyo:

When I first encountered Levinas' philosophy, I was astonished.

He did not define God as a philosophical concept; he said ethics begins in the face of the other. I felt it not as mere thought, but as a living tremor. When meeting someone's eyes, the experience of responsibility approaching me before words—that was not fear, but awe.

Levinas:

That is ethics. Ethics is not a matter of choice. It is a demand already speaking to me within the silence and absence of the Other.

“Where are you?” This question is God's word to Adam, and simultaneously, God's question posed to us through the suffering of the Other.

Soyo:

Then, the moment we encounter the face of the other, we stand before God. It is both frightening and mysteriously overwhelming.

Levinas:

I did not speak of God as an object of gaze. God is always outside of me, calling me through the face of the other. That is why I said, “God is only accessible ethically.” Faith divorced from responsibility toward the other is empty.

Soyo:

That means prayer is not merely a ritual, but occurs within an encounter with the other. Before those eyes, I lose the name ‘I’ and am given the name ‘responsibility.’ Perhaps that is the most real way God speaks within me.

Levinas:

Correct. God is not distant. God is hidden in the gaze of the other, in the wrinkled face, in the quiet touch. God is a being accessible only through love, not theology.

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of 『Soyo Existential Ethics』, Author of The Silence of Being, The Flame of Truth

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This text is the original work of philosopher Soyo (逍遙), created based on the philosophical system of ‘Soyo Existential Ethics’.

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