MC recently asked the question: What is the purpose of touch? When she first asked the question she was struggling with jealousy issues. I heard behind her original question a deeper pondering: Why do we seek touch from many different people? I think that the purpose of touch is more than evident: It heals, it suits, it comforts, it secures, it excites, it confirms, it inspires, it brings pleasure and pain etc… When we explore the topic of touch we come to realize that it makes no sense to touch one and only one person for the rest of our lives. Touch is in everything we do and it’s unfortunate that we are not more conscious of it. Perhaps it is because we are immature in our experience of touch that we fall in misconceptions and inevitably end up with jealousy issues. We are no longer a society of people who lives life with the help of our senses. We do see, smell, ear, taste and touch but we don’t depend on these senses to survive. I think that most of us take for granted our senses. Plus the less we use our senses the duller they become. Eventually our great-great-grand-children won’t have any access to the senses our ancestors once had. When we suddenly experience situations where one or more of our senses are on hyper drive we get scared. I get dozens of calls a week which are about people who
• Sensed their loved ones die before they even knew they were sick or had an accident.
• Sensed a burglar in their home while they were sleeping.
• Sensed there was something wrong with the people they met and later discovered they were con artists.
• Sensed a storm coming before there was any sign of it.
• Sensed the spirit of a departed loved one by their side…etc…
Many of these individuals get scared of these heightened senses and want to know why they felt these things and how come they felt these things. Most of these people want to be reassured that they won’t sense anything like this again… Ironically, in my line of work, and probably because of my personality and the way that I teach – I get lots more calls from people who don’t want to connect to the dream time and to Spirit than those who seek it out. In the 21st century we have the choice to live life the way we see fit. Who do you know that doesn’t want to be wealthy, healthy and happy? And for most people that translates to comfort, as well as very little work and responsibilities.
No matter how many hours we spend meditating at the end of the day it will be expected of us to pay our bills, care for our children, work at our relationships and face challenges etc… Life makes many demands and although we’ve invented tools to meet these expectations like electricity, computers, cell phones etc… we were born with five basic tools to get us through anything: Sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. We’ve asked ourselves the question: What would happen to the humans of tomorrow if they were asked to live on a Planet that we’ve destroyed? Well that question can take many different forms like what would happen to the humans of tomorrow if we started a process where they no longer had access to their five basic senses or to diminished senses?
Personally, I can already see answers to that question. When you sit down with children who are mentally deficient and you guide them to concentrate on what they see, hear, touch, hear or smell they suddenly become calmer, more aware, and happier. I’ve often solved situations that were emotionally explosive by getting everyone to center on a perception of the world around them. As soon as they captured a sound, a sight, a smell, a touch, or a taste they could suddenly be more practical, reasonable and adaptable. In a lot of ways we have no idea how much we can actually see, hear, smell, taste and touch. We use so little of our senses that what we can sensually perceive is very little at all.
Like anything else we can learn to develop our senses. Some people have lived experiences in their lives that have brought them to develop senses more so than others. And then, there are jobs, hobbies, passions that have brought people to unintentionally develop some senses above and beyond others. Sensuality does not mean sexuality. It means learning and developing our senses and of course, enjoying the journey.
Before my husband and I had children we had a dog. This dog was badly abused as a puppy by its previous owner, and we often noticed in its behaviours and reactions that it felt mistrusting, insecure, unsafe and afraid etc… For years we worked through many of these issues with the help of touch. We slept with the dog in our bed even though it wasn’t recommended by trainers. We petted and massaged the dog with positive intentions; spoke softly to it, and showed her in countless ways that we could be trusted. Eventually she felt stronger and came to protect our kids the way we had protected her. She would lick their necks and head the way we petted her to show them support as they learned to walk. It was quite uncanny to watch. When she passed away we cried for weeks vowing we would never get another dog. It hurt too much. We had put so much time and effort into healing this animal and touching it that in the end she had opened our heart to feel “too much love” (and so we thought). Two years later we had another dog…
My life is filled with intense experiences that show that touch is priceless and has the potential of incredible healing and miracle. Many of these experiences have changed my perspective on touch. For example, if you knew that your mother made the best pies in the world would you forbid her from making them or would you want to share them with everyone? From a Christian point of view, it has often been said that Jesus could heal with one touch. They spoke of crowds coming to him to be touched. Would you think it would be fair to stop him from touching people because you were his chosen mate?
What if you were married to someone who had this kind of touch…. And what is this touch exactly?
Comments