💀 “The Grinning Skull Beneath The Skin”

 I got to see my skull the other day. Not a skull, or a representation: my skull.

It was a dental x-ray for some minor surgery I had. A full view of the jaw and the skull up to the hairline (or so). The jaw and teeth were x-ray white, but the rest was sepia toned. Rather like you expect a skull to look when it hasn’t been bleached white by the sun. The view was similar to that picture, but with some color in it. Not the complete skull, then; but complete enough.

The curious thing was, it looked like a skull. Not like me, I mean, but a skull. Any skull. A human skull. I know artists and scientists can recreate a head from a skull. But to a non-expert, we really do all look (much) the same beneath the skin. Especially as far as our faces go.

We’re just not each that unique. That’s the sobering thing when you see your skull. You think you look like you, but underneath the skin, you look like anyone; and everyone.

Yes, we all know this, abstractly. But learning it in concreto is a much more interesting experience. The brute truth of your own mortality, as it were.

Or maybe it’s just because I’m aging.

☠️