INVISIBILITY
Come, my son,
let us go look for a place where I may hide . . . . --Cervantes (Don
Quixote, 1605:565)
Keeping reflections to a minimum is necessary but not sufficient for
invisibility. Light must also pass unimpeded through the body . . . . --Sonke Johnsen (2000:88)
Not seen. Nonverbally, the condition of being difficult or impossible to see, as in the use of camouflage, concealment, flatness, thinness, hiding, or transparency.
Usage: Animals from jellyfish to humans have devised ingenious ways to be stealthy and to avoid detection.
Jellyfish. In the featureless ocean depths which make up ca. 99 percent of Earth's living space, jellyfish have no place to hide, and thus rely upon transparency to become "invisible." Their clear, gelatinous bodies (the interior as well as the exterior surfaces) allow from 20 to 90 percent of light to pass through, thus enabling these simple creatures to sneak up on prey while avoiding detection by sighted enemies (Johnsen 2000:88).
Human beings. 1. In the corporate world, humans may become
functionally invisible by keeping a low profile (e.g., by remaining silent), and by covering their bodily exteriors with
the uniform of the day (see, e.g., BUSINESS
SUIT, ISOPRAXISM). 2. In private life, human beings
spend a great deal of time in seclusion behind closed doors (e.g., in bathrooms
and bedrooms) and other partitions designed to shield their bodies from prying
eyes. Scientists have determined that too much visual monitoring can be harmful
to human health.
Hunter's camouflage. According to Konrad Spindler
(1994:147), the 5,000-year-old grass cloak of the Copper Age Iceman would have
provided "excellent camouflage" for a hunter.
Sighting distance. "At some distance, depending on the animal's
original contrast and how the water affects the light, the contrast drops below
what the observer can see. This distance is known as the sighting distance, and
beyond it the animal is invisible (and safe)" (Johnsen 2000:87).
Spy
Museum. So cryptic is Keith Melton's Florida-based Spy Museum--which houses
some 7,000 espionage artifacts (including concealed cameras and listening
devices, dead drops, and an Enigma decoder)--that its exact location is kept
secret. "'Dead drops are a way of separating the spy and the handler, by time
but not space,' he [Melton] explains" (Schlesinger 2001:53).
Underground. "Throughout history, tunnels hidden below the earth
were far from public gaze and thought" (Langrall 1994:4).
Copyright 1998 - 2016 (David B.
Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
Drawing of "Showing My Nonverbal Side" by my son Aaron Huffman (copyright 2012 by Aaron M. Huffman)