There are the five classic senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch. There are also other physical senses, like balance or hunger. Or you can choose something more abstract, like a sense of compassion or justice.
Say why if you wish.
Asking — and answering — life's interesting questions
There are the five classic senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch. There are also other physical senses, like balance or hunger. Or you can choose something more abstract, like a sense of compassion or justice.
Say why if you wish.
I’d have to say it is a tie between taste and smell since they are so intertwined with each other. They trigger memories for me in a way that the other senses don’t.
How’s your sense of humor? Around our house, without it life would get pretty boring.
Next is smell. I love the smell of something good cooking or the scent of orange and clove in the defuser.
This is a tough question, primarily because the things that we think of as senses are actually combinations of senses.
For example, let’s take the sense of taste. People clearly love their sense of taste, as eating is a joy for many many people. Savoring a delicious meal is a sublime pleasure. However, actual taste is only a small part of that experience. Sight plays a big part: “That looks unappetizing!” As does touch. How many foods do we not like due to unpleasant texture, or bad “mouth feel”? And then there is smell. People who have lost their sense of smell are more depressed than those who lose their sense of taste, because a large percentage of what we think of as taste is actually smell.
The senses all meld together and combine together to create experience, and so it is really difficult to single one out above the others.
I read an essay recently about a concept called the “umwelt” which means the theater of experiences that we have. What I find fascinating is that humans seem to adapt to whatever we are born with. People without sight, for example, don’t miss it. Their life, with their other senses, is what they know.
It makes me wonder what senses we don’t have that could enhance our experience of the world. For instance, we know there are sounds that are beyond the ability of our ears to hear, or “colors” our eyes can’t see like ultraviolet or infrared. We can’t, with the senses we have, “feel” magnetic fields. What would life be like if we had sensory organs that allowed us to experience them like we can with light waves (sight) or audio waves (sound)? We could be missing out on a joy of experience, akin to watching a beautiful sunset.
Imagine that you loose your sense of touch for a moment.
You reach into your pocket and you can’t tell the difference between your list and your money. Or you can’t feel the warmth of the person who you are hugging. Or even the softness of your favorite blanket.
When neuropathy strikes your hands and the sense of touch is gone, you do loose these moments that have been taken for granted. This has happened to a loved one in my life and it is difficult to watch Him struggle to hold a fork, or even a few cards.
I take a lot for granted that I can reach into my pocket and find what I want without looking.
Value all of your senses.