Coming to Our Senses in these Dog Years

My last post focused on some of the lyrics from the song Dog Years, specifically concerning how time rolls by all too quickly and, therefore, we ought to spend our time as best was we can. This post is also inspired by the song Dog Years, but with a little different twist. From the last verse:

It seems to me
As we make our own few circles ‘round the block
We’ve lost our senses
For the higher-level static of talk

Let’s zero in on that third line. We’ve lost our senses…. Now, let’s zero in on that last word of the line—senses. It is interesting that the song after Dog Years is Virtuality. We do live in a largely virtual world. From the attachment to those little screens on our phones to Zoom meetings and working remotely (especially after Covid), much of our lives are now spent in that fantastical land of Cybernia (this will be my term for the cyber world).

I am no Luddite. I am happy with so many of the conveniences that technology affords for human life. But it is difficult to deny that our lives are also shaped and ordered to a great degree by technology, mostly in ways we don’t even consider as we “Zoom” through life. One of the things we tend to lose in Cybernia is our senses.

A recent strand of thought in philosophical hermeneutics is referred to as “carnal” hermeneutics. Interpretation theory is often centered on texts or language, but carnal hermeneutics explores the role of the body in how we construe the world, the senses especially. And of the five senses, there is a large emphasis placed on the sense of touch. Richard Kearney, Professor of Philosophy at Boston College (and the leading thinker in the area of carnal hermeneutics), identifies three “senses” of the word sense.

The first is simply our five senses through which we receive the world—things we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. The second refers to meaning. For example: “I get a ‘sense’ of what you are trying to tell me….” The final is the root meaning of the word “sense” in many romance languages as orientation or direction, that is, how we are placed in relation to the world around us. In all three of these “senses” of sense, the common denominator is that we interpret and understand the world through and with our bodies.

Thinking back to my previous post drawing from the song Dog Years, the fundamental point is that life moves way too quickly. The lesson here is that we should savor every moment to the extent that we can. Even the word “savor” has a metaphorical connection to the idea of living in our senses. What is better? Greasy fast food that you consume for the sake of calories and feeding your hunger, or to enjoy slowly a thoughtful and well-prepared, flavorful meal, especially with those we love? Ironically, in a life that goes by so fast, the slower things are usually the better things.

So, yes, time moves quickly. But, as Neil wrote, it seems we have lost our senses. And for what? For the higher-level static of talk. Talk, or verbal language, is often considered “higher” than the base bodily life that we share with other animals. Speech implies rationality, which supposedly makes us higher live creatures. But so much of that talk is static. As many philosophers throughout the ages have said, all humans have the capacity to reason, but that doesn’t mean that we all equally use it well or even much at all. Many individuals, philosophers have also said (with a hint of sarcasm), consider themselves so amply endowed with reason and logic, that they don’t seek to have any more.

I am all for reason and logic, for talk and communication. I have benefited from the technological means of communication and information. These, used well, have been and can be good for human life. But not at the expense of our senses. We may be rational animals, but we are still animals. We live in our bodies among bodies. And we truly should live in our bodies and not just reside there as an empty shell. Since we don’t have much time and because what we do have moves so quickly by, I think it will do us immeasurable good to get back to our senses.

Take time so see the world around you. Take time to hear it as well. Listen closely. Take time to smell the flowers and everything else that is good to put your nose into. Take time to touch and feel the leaves or the water, and especially the embrace of a dear friend. Taste life and savor it, literally and metaphorically. I think it is long past time we come to our senses, don’t you?