Beech Tree News Network

How do our five senses trigger our emotions and our actions?

Scientist tell us the brain has its own location, and the mind likewise has its own place:  One is physical (brain); the other emotional (mind).  But the brain and mind work in concert with each other.  The Bible tells us, “We are fearfully and wonderfully made.”

I had a great aunt still living when television first came along.  All the commercial products she saw advertised on TV, she wanted to buy whether she needed them or not.  No doubt her brain had began to be affected somewhat by senility, but her emotions still worked. 

I know in my own case at 85 I can be sitting comfortably; yet when I see cold and snow on TV, my feet and legs very often become chilled, and my senses tell my mind I’m cold; that I need to cover my feet and legs.

By the same token, on TV when I see a person struggling across a hot desert, dying of thirst, I’ll invariably reach for my bottle of water and take a drink.  

When Israel’s King David should have been out front leading his army in battle, for some reason he elected to stay back at the castle.  There he happened to see Bathsheba.  One of his soldiers wives, across the way taking a bath on her rooftop.

The emotion of lust came upon him; he went to see her.  You perhaps know the rest of the story. 

A normal man can admire a beautiful woman other than his wife.  Yet when his admirations goes beyond that, if not careful, his emotions could be bordering on lust.

Let’s go to the sense of smell.  They tell us this sense is one of the strongest factors of recollection of all the other senses.  

If I happen to smell gravy and tomatoes cooking together, my mind quickly goes back to my childhood and my mother fixing breakfast.  No matter what else we had for breakfast there was always tomato-gravy on the menu (always made with canned tomatoes in all seasons).

The sense of hearing can evoke emotions.  When I hear the old Irish song, Danny Boy, I almost always tear-up.  The hymn, Amazing Grace, does the same.

Sad old movies sometimes make my eyes wet.  One is, Heaven Knows Mister Allison, staring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr. 

As for tomato-gravy; pass the biscuits please.

Kindest regards…