An oubliette was a highly inaccessible small hiding place rather akin to our innermost thoughts. What really drives people to do anything they do?
When women say they want children are they following their rational, thought-out side or their hormones working on their rational thought-out side? When men get het-up about other men and want to fight is that a wish to fight or a hormonal rush clenching the fists? When someone wants to join a political party and run for office is that about serving the community or an ego trip?
For everything we do there always seems a lesser, potential reason. And the only person who really knows is us, but for whatever reason we say do it can we sustain the reality of that over the long-term or do our actions tell others the reason more clearly than our words?
It doesn’t take an anthropologist to study human beings. You can do it yourself. Just, as Collette said, regardez (look!). In our decisions, our daily life, our thoughts will always betray us. In fact to the trained eye we are all an open book. Oh we can hide facts, we can hide certain actions, we can even hide a mass of thoughts, but we can never hide who we really are because that isn’t held in what clothes we wear, what job we do, or what we say we believe.
What we are are is held in our choices.