Moshe Cordovoro teaches in Tamar Devorah (The Palm Tree of Devorah) that to be in the image of God means to be humble, for through humility we learn and practice compassion. There are eight ways to practice the attribute of humility and each corresponds to a place on the body.
The first practice is with the head, as he writes:
Lower your gaze, a person who raises their head upward glorifies himself.
Today I set out to practice humility by lowering my gaze. I saw the ground beneath my feet and I felt each step. I noticed that upon the ground there were prints of the rabbits, the tracks of a bird, maybe a robin and probably a sparrow. I saw a blood worm finding her way back into the richness of the earth. I saw the dandelions and I thought, though they are weeds, today I see their beauty. And then dignified, off to the side, I saw the white petals of the daisy and I asked to no one in particular: does she love me, or does she not? Then a buttercup plucked from the ground so that the bright yellow can be held under my chin and reflect beauty. All this meaning from a downward gaze. I took a breath as I started to look up and saw my shadow cast out before me. Isn’t it merely a dark outline of self that seems to run ahead, willy-nilly into the future, charting the way? I knew at that moment that I had a choice, to stay with the present gaze and behold the beauty of the earth, or to leap ahead, a bit too boldly, following shadows.
My son has a habit of always looking down. Lift your head Ilan, I would say. Meet the world with your head held high. But now I think he may be right to gaze downward. Maybe this is what the prophet Micah meant when he said… and walk humbly with your God.