Monday, May 23, 2005

A Hoe's Theory of Stuff (or A Regurgitation of All I've Ever Learned) part 1

Senses. Sensory. Sensuous. Sensual. Sentient. So-called Modern Man has 'integrated' his senses so much that he has forgotten how to focus on them individually. The average person looks without seeing, hears without listening, touches without feeling, smells without recognition, and tastes with only a third of their tongue. But we are sensory beings. That is part of this life's lesson. It's that whole 'spirits on a human journey' thing. We should be more appreciative of these senses we have only for the time we are here. We shouldn't be so quick to condemn our sensual natures. I think some people are so frightened and overwhelmed by their senses that they assume they are bad or wrong. But they are the very thing that make us human and give us our experience of life.

It all starts with touch. I'm a very visual person. Some people are very auditory. Some are more attuned to taste or smell. But if you think about it, all of our senses can be traced back to touch. One-celled organisms can only sense their environment through touch. As organisms get more advanced they add taste and smell. And then even more advanced organisms develop sight and hearing, which are the most complex senses. After that comes the 'sixth sense' which is intuition or intelligence to put it all together. So while I'm a visual person I am actually responding to my eyes feeling the light waves touching them. Then the nerve cells repeat that touch all the way to the part of the brain that processes vision. When I see something really beautiful it's like rubbing velvet, which I love. If you don't like rubbing velvet then think of doing something that you do really love. Maybe it's hearing music that sends you to some perfect place. The tactile origins of hearing might be a little easier to describe because we all know that the sound waves move the little bones in our ears which then send that percussion to the auditory part of the brain. It's easier to 'see' that the bones are touching each other and so on. Just think of light waves in the same manner and you can see that it all starts with touch.

When we integrate our senses we tend to dull them down to a point of not being very acute. I don't think it's because our brains aren't capable of handling all the senses at full strength. I think it's mostly laziness. I have more to say about this but I've lost my train of thought and will have to return to it later.

6 comments:

ghartstein said...

That's right on. Research actually shows that people retain information longer and better when they learn the info by interacting with it in some way (as opposed to just reading or hearing about it).

Good observations!

Rae Ann said...

Ooh, that's cool. And here I thought I was just full of b.s.

ghartstein said...

I would never assume a hoe to be full of shit...Now a shovel is quite often full of shit, and a cattle farmer's shovel is quite often full of bullshit. But generally not hoes...from my limited exposure to garden tools that is...

Rae Ann said...

mr_g, I really like you. you understand me.

ghartstein said...

Now if I could just figure ME out!

Rae Ann said...

Yeah, me too! Stinky diapers always were the worst thing for me.