First Sense

"Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved is devoid of sensation, and that which is devoid of sensation is nothing to us.”

Now, that is something called a maxim of the man named Epicurus who lived sometime around the 4^th century BC. This man divided his philosophy into three parts, the Canon, the Physical and the Ethical. As Diogenes Laertius later wrote, in his Canon which can also be described as his Truth, Epicurus said that the criteria of truth are the senses, their preconceptions, and the passions.

The Canon and the Physical concern how nature works and his ethical concerns were choice and avoidance, the good in life. Epicurus wrote 37 treatises on natural philosophy and numerous letters regarding his other concerns.

The senses were everything to Epicurus.

His preconceptions told him what to call things based on his sense of them. He knew the difference between an ox and a horse by his senses, and felt he only knew what to call them through his preconceptions of them.

His passions were pleasure and pain.

This is our first encounter presented with gratitude to the Sophia Project …

Look, I came as close to the end as a man can get. It doesn’t really matter how or when, or why. Imagine the worst. Gun shot, train wreck, falling from a rooftop, it all applies. Think of the most horrible event you can think of and plug that in. Take yourself right up to the edge of the soul’s doorstep. That’s where I was and that’s what I endured.

Where you conscious of your situation?

I was aware of the changes happening around me; let me put it that way.

What? Are you saying you had one of those out of body experiences?

You may laugh but that is not far from the truth. I suppose for me, though, that I have never left my body. How would that be possible for me anyway?

Did it hurt?

I have felt every pain imaginable.

They say your life passes before your eyes.

Yeah, the whole rapture idea, right? The visions, the bright light and all that; is that what you want to hear? Well, there’s some truth to that as well.

You don’t sound all that certain.

Oh, I’m certain enough. I would just say now that our words and our senses always leave us in somewhat of a gray area. Once the senses decay then the clarity or the fogginess of it are really just choices we make after all. Whatever makes you comfortable, you know?

But our senses are everything. That’s what you said. How would we know anything without them? How could you describe your experience without your sensation of it?

Well, it’s been a while but let me ask you, how do you now the difference between an apple and a strawberry? If I blinded you and put both objects under your nose or in your mouth, would you smell or taste the difference?

Yes, of course.

If I blinded you and placed both in your hand, could you feel the difference between them?

I expect so.

If I blinded you and held them to your ear, would you hear their difference?

No, certainly not. I don’t think so.

Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your senses are untrustworthy or that there’s no difference in the sound of a strawberry and an apple but it does suggest that not all of your individual senses are appropriate for every situation. This I had to learn the hard way. And, remember, if you had never tasted a strawberry before I put one in your mouth, how would you know what to call it in the first place? Do you see what I mean?

No, not really. Why can’t you just answer the question? Is it that hard?

Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, it is kind of a hard question. I mean, before I can describe to you my understanding of the soul, I have to set some ground rules on the words and our senses, how I came to my conclusions and so forth. Look, I once wrote some 37 volumes on natural philosophy, had numerous pages devoted to my maxims and Canon and so on. I should at least get a few select words on the subject now. Unless you’re willing to suspend your belief in all that, I can’t say that you will understand my answer anyway.

I am not tethered to those old definitions.

Ok, then, you know modern science, long after I kicked the bucket, mapped out certain parts of the brain in an attempt to visualize how much of the brain is devoted to our five senses. It’s all very curious and I wish I had more time to study it. But I now realize that if we were to magically reverse that image, give the sense receivers in our body a proportion similar to the work which the brain devotes to them, then we would look very odd, indeed.

Umm-hmm.

Well, take young Jay, there for example. You know him well, maybe you’ve known him as long as he’s lived and you have a fairly good idea of the way he thinks and how he senses and responds to things. Tell me, based on what you know of him, which part of his body should be the largest based on the effort you believe his brain expends toward sensing it?

Jay? Are you kidding?

Well, maybe he’s not a good example.

Jay is a dog, man! If his penis was as big as he thinks it is, we couldn’t get in here, we’d have to sit outside in the rain right now.

Yes, yes, a dog, excellent choice of words there, definitely not a good example, I’m sorry. How about Ruby there?

Ah, Ruby, she’s, uh, she’s all touchy and everything, constantly hugging everyone and all that. I expect she’d have hands the size of toasters.

Yes, something like that, a toaster, yes, I think I know what you mean. In fact, most people would have very large hands. And that makes sense now, right? Think where we would be without that fine sense of our hands and fingers. We couldn’t use the tools we have invented. We wouldn’t really be human, we’d be something else. Our brains are really focused and committed to a detailed sense of our hands.

So, what does that tell us?

Here we go. Maybe we should order another drink. It took me a long time to get here, my friend, but now I know it’s not what it tells us but what it doesn’t tell us that matters.

How’s that?

Look at your eyes, not your hands. We blindfolded them earlier but we haven’t talked about your eyes lately. Did you notice that? The sense of sight is so highly complex and developed in your brain that it’s really very hard to describe or talk about. This is astounding to me but what if I told you that from clear sun light you could see all the colors in the rainbow? Would you believe that? And, let me ask you, how would you go about slicing one individual color from that rainbow? Have you ever tried to do that? I’ll wager you can’t say you have but, in truth, you do it all the time. What if I told you that when you see the color green your eyes are actually seeing every color but green, would you believe that? What if I told you that in the same way when you try to see your unique soul, a sense that your brain is only barely committed to actually sensing to begin with, that then you are really sensing everything but your soul, would you believe that?

Wow, you are one screwed up dude, man!

Yes, easy to say now, but you should have seen me 2,400 years ago.

Cheers,

Mb