Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sensation

My senses are usually in a state of heightened awareness, feeling the honey rise from the droplets of imaginary mist that wrap around me and ground me. I feel my way through a department store, touching the material of different pieces of  clothing, especially the textured linens—they speak to the tips of my fingers and swirl images of the clothes and my body interacting. I usually have these highly tuned experiences, but now my perception and awareness is further heightened by Helen Keller’s book, The World I live In. We are reading it together and it further makes us appreciate our own senses as they dance together in the world and with each other.

Some time ago I read Keller’s The Story of My Life. I recall fragments of it and am moved by her overall story and what she accomplished in her life. I feel closer to The World I live In because she speaks to us on a more personal level, an invitation into her sensory world—her relationship to her environment. She writes poetically and stimulates the imagination.

4 comments:

Ashok said...

I checked into your blog after a long gap and was delighted to see you are posting again.

This is in reference to your previous post. Perhaps you need a place of your own where you can store all the books and things without having to discard them or move them ?

keiko amano said...

Rebb,

Years ago, I read one of those books. Yesterday, I went to listen to stephen Hawking. Yay! I learned that because he lost the use of his hands, he cannot write, and if he cannot write, he cannot solve problems. But because of it, he has developed using pictures and connection (I don't know right words) in his head to solve problems, and he became very good at this, and now he can solve problems faster using this method. So when we lose certain ability, we compensate by another. So, with strong will, the second ability becomes polished.

Rebb said...

Hi Ashok, I had read your blog on desire. I enjoyed it. It is still a feeling that I process daily. I have shifted between not being too taken by desire, to surrendering to it. I suppose too, there are different degrees and our relationship to desire itself probably changes its shape as we progress through life’s many changes. I enjoy pondering the question(s). It is an ever long and glorious process! Thank you for posting your thoughts on it at your blog :).

p.s. I also appreciated your blog, “Five Stages of a Human Life.”

Rebb said...

Hi Keiko, It must have been great to listen to Stephen Hawking in person! I’ve only seen little bits of him in interviews on television. These are great examples of how truly amazing the mind and body are at compensating where we lose certain abilities.