The five senses.

As an aside, there is actually a sixth sense, called the vestibular. Not too well known, partially because it doesn't seem to do a heck of a lot. Basically, the reason why people can do tightrope walking while wearing a blindfold. Have a look if you like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system
However, I'm going to leave that aside for this, and just focus on the other five.

I believe I possibly did a post before on why I preferred hearing to vision. I'm expanding and changing a bit from that in this post, by giving you how I'd rate the senses, from fifth to first. As in, the one I value least to most. Anticipate surprise. Kind of a dichotomy, but anyway...

5. Taste.
This may seem a bit strange to some of you. I mean, without taste - well eating kinda loses all its flavour. Literally. :P But in comparison to the others, I'd probably prefer to lose this one. Though admittedly, this and the next one are pretty close. Which is...

4. Smell.
Partly because I know that most of taste is actually smell. So if you lost your smell, things would taste pretty bad anyway. But if you lost your taste, at least they'd smell pretty nice.

3. Sight.
OK, now you're really freaking out. Generally, people have sight at number one. Numero Uno. Which is fair enough to imagine; sight is such a prominent sense. It's quite in your face, something we use often exclusively. But I think the other two are more important. I'll detail why momentarily...

2. Hearing.
One of my arguments is this: sight you can stop by simply shutting your eyelids. You don't stop hearing. Earplugs generally don't even block it fully. As well as that, hearing is essential for communication. Changes in a person's voice tell you a lot; sometimes more than their face will. Also, I think I could live without seeing someone's face much easier than living without hearing their voice. But now for number 1...

1. Touch.
This is going to seem very weird for most people. But I think touch is the sense that I value the most. Without touch, heat, wet, smooth - none of these have any meaning. Other than numbers or letters on a page, memories in a mind. As well as that, when it comes to interaction - touch is extremely important. Otherwise, things like a handshake, a hug; again, they have no meaning, mere formalities.
Personally, I treasure these things. Probably more so because they aren't something I have too frequently. As the Romantic poet Coleridge wrote; "and sometimes /'Tis well to be bereft of promis'd good, /That we may lift the soul, and contemplate/ With lively joy the joys we cannot share." Or, to put it a bit more simply, as the singer Joni Mitchell sang: "Don't it always seem to go /That you don't know what you've got /Till it's gone," I guess that would be why I treasure touch a bit more than the other senses.


So there you go. That's probably a bit left field for some of you. I think I'll be putting up a post on here soon about planning/prioritisation/time management. Because I'm always doing too many darn things at once.