"Two Faced"

 

      To call someone"two-faced" ranks high in the handbook of insults.  Among other things, it designates the person or thing as being   duplicitous, deceitful, and not to be trusted.  And, for most of the human race, there is often a gap between the person we prefer to be perceived as and the other side . . . maybe what Dr. Karl Jung called our  "shadow".  Perhaps the 'saving feature' is that it is usually not malicious... and more often motivated by a fear or anxiety about some insecurity. But, as the cliche has it, I digress.

   The  image above is of the Roman god, Janus.  He the keeper of  doors, of transitions, of looking both to the past and to the future. And, of course, our month  January is its namesake. Good old January !! Here in our state, the weather has had difficulty deciding the appropriate season.  On Sunday, January 2, local temperatures hovered around 70*. We even ran the air-conditioner. Next day the temperature had dropped and we had a couple of hours of heavy snowfall which accumulated; then two or three hours later . .  . gone like  Frosty the Snowman !  The top picture was taken at 10:57 a.m. on January 4, 2022; the bottom taken at 3:11 p.m. on the same day.  Talk about being "two faced"!

     

    Janus carries at least two interpretations: first, a keeper of doors . . . past and future, of being in a place  to  gaze at the past while anticipating the future . . . turning points, transitions. Secondly, deliberately 'talking out of both sides' of one's mouth  When the latter prevails, well, the past, present and the future are susceptible to many distortions and misuses . . .  dependent upon one's agenda and motives

   Opinions vary as to who  coined the phrase: " The future ain't what it used to be." That one is attributed to Yogi Berra. A more 'sophisticated' version : "The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be" originated with French philosopher Paul Valery. Regardless of who first wrote/said that and with 

whatever degree of grammatical correctness, examples abound of deliberately misusing (o.k.., lying about) the past and what that portends for the future.  When those distortions  occur,  "two faced" does not capture the cynicism of current  day 'Janus-es'.  

  "The times, they are a'changing".  May 'Janus' possess the clarity of vision and integrity to guide us through these transitional times.

    Satchel