The five senses - part five

My last observation - for now - on the topic has to do with a question.

Which of the five is the most refined?

I found this quote by Robert Delaunay, a French painter labeled as Orphist:

"The eye is the most refined of our senses, the one which communicates most directly with our mind, our consciousness."

I am not sure I agree here. His paintings, for example are almost musical. Interesting that his work was called "Orphic cubism", being Orpheus son of the god Apollo (in Greek mythology - a fascinating tale, btw) and a fantastic poet and musician, who perfected the lyre created by Hermes.

Rhythm, Joie de Vivre

Seeing Delaunay's work is as if he was perceiving visuals as sounds. Which makes me think of synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is the ability for the senses to be mixed up in the brain, producing for example the perception of a sound as a smell, taste as touch, visuals as sound... or you name the combination. It is often present in artists and people that meditate a lot. Notice that I called it an ability and not something that's wrong with a person - modern psychology labels this phenomena as some sort of problem (sigh). It allows you to perceive your environment in a very deep and fascinating way, making it not just more alive, but also more rich and 'informational'.

So, in not agreeing with Delaunay, I would say that sound is the most refined of all senses. Why, because sound is one of those things that can become very, very abstract. Just think of the connection between music and mathematics...pretty abstract. The fact of not being completely aware of what is happening with the sense of hearing doesn't make it less refined than seeing.

A bit of a digression... Maybe the question here is what is my parameter to call something more refined? What makes something more or less refined? To me something refined has the ability for abstraction and a high level precision. So refined, in this context would equate with precision and abstraction.

Considering the above I'd say that a sound (coming from the external environment) could take someone deeper and higher into abstraction, out of their mind (ordinary mind: the gross block, the blahblahblah), closer to Reality than visuals (coming from the external environment). Since the five senses have to do with the information coming from the outside, I'd insist on saying that the sense of hearing is the most refined of them all.

But, that is just me... what do you think?

The five senses - part four

There is a paradox with the senses.

The senses are the ones that take people out of themselves and into the world. In meditation, for example, if one wants to go deeply and feel oneSelf, the less external stimuli from the outside, the better. I guess that's why in the past some hard core meditators would go into caves and why in the present real meditation means sitting in a silent place as to be able to go deep inside. This means no smells, no sounds, no movement. Stillness and silence.

Then, think of people incapable of feeling. Their minds are usually overactive, very, very noisy. You can almost feel the movements of their thoughts... it is painful. People like this are usually stressed, find it difficult to deeply relax and stay still. More often than not, people like this don't notice the birds sing, the smell of a rose, the sound of a faraway bell, the feeling of the wind caressing their face or how uncomfortable wearing certain synthetic clothes can be. I suppose this is a good thing, if, for example, we were locked in some torture chamber. In this case the mind would be a safe place to escape.

But back to the paradox, to counteract an overly active mind, the remedy would be to feel. Feel, feel, feel... don't run away, feel. Feel the wind, feel the floor you are walking on, feel your shoes... feel the flavor of that tasty (or disgusting) meal you are eating. Feel the sight of the waves crashing in the shore.
Feel what the world does to you, what all these stimuli is perceived by your body and how it makes you feel good or bad, or neutral. Feeling the world can be such a tool, particularly when we can disconnect the judgment and just feel. A tool for what? A tool to be more present.

Think about people that are depressed and unhappy. Most of the times their senses are numb. They have forgotten to feel. Just feel.


Photo by Tiago Fioreze

So, where's the paradox here? Well, when it comes to getting in touch with deeper aspects of oneself, the mind, not the senses, is the one that blocks the process. The senses are those things that take you out of yourself, but only through being aware of them, it is possible to go deeper inside, into the big Silence, far away from the stimuli of the world and into our real Selves.

Try it! Make an intention to feel your environment and see what happens. Do it for a few days, from morning to night... And if you do, let me know how you go. Would love to read your comments.

The five senses - part three

Photo from Wikimedia

A very interesting and beautiful experiment was held recently by The Washington Post in which they asked a well known violinist to play, pretending to be a as street musician, in a Metro station during rush hour.

The music is sublime and the article is beautifully written; the results quite interesting. It says a lot about how much people are really present:

Pearls before breakfast

Talk about feeling...

The five senses - part two

It is well know that sometimes when one of the senses is not functioning properly, other senses take over, becoming more sensitive. Someone that's visually impaired could perhaps be able through touch, sound and smell to recognize details of the environment that not even people with 20/20 vision can.


Photo from wikimedia

The senses are our main source of information when it comes to interacting with the world. If we were not able to see, feel, smell, taste or hear, then how would we know what is happening around us? If we were not able to know what is happening around us, then how would we respond?

Let's imagine a little experiment. Let's suppose we had a funky gadget that would shut off, one by one, our senses for a few days:

hearing -- gone
smells -- gone
visuals -- gone
touch and all sensory perceptions -- gone
taste -- gone

What do you think would happen?

What's one thing that without it people wouldn't be able to interact with their environment?

Actually it is not one, it's five: the senses.

I was walking yesterday trying to figure where an annoying sound was coming from. I first thought it was coming from one direction, but further tuning in showed the origin of that sound. My mind almost instantly imagined the device that could cause such an itchy noise.

This lead to another insight. Somehow I realized that because of the walls surrounding the place I was in, I could not see where the sound was coming from... of course I could not taste, smell nor touch it, either, which couldn't give me any more information on the source. Further into philosophizing about the topic I realized that of all senses hearing and the sense of smell are the ones that can locate things coming from further away. On the other hand touch and taste the ones that are more short range.

Photo from Wikimedia

Amazing what little attention does to our interactions with the world. How many people are actually aware, consciously aware of all the stimuli that the world is offering ALL the time. Maybe this point is the reason why so many aren't (aware). There is soooo much of it: sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, and unless you can't use your eyes, visuals. It's like a little machine working all the time (perhaps except while asleep), feeling, feeling, feeling. No wonder why some people are unable to feel... could it be too much?

I mean, some people just switch off and live automatically. Their minds are overly active, disconnecting the feeling. It's as if there was a little command that said... too much information, just grab what it is important and let go of the rest. But, what is important?

Have you seen people on rush hour... they barely look alive, you can feel their minds (ok, I've been there too) moving at the speed of light... blahblahblah... There's a world out there and most people barely notice... it's all in their heads!