Sunday, April 7, 2013

Five Senses in Houses and Conversations


Ludovicus Finson: The Five Senses

An architect talks to a salonista.
Architect: A good house appeals to the five senses. In my time I’ve built six houses. Each time they got better. The first had a view. The second had a view and a fountain. The third had a view, fountain, and stones. The fourth had a view, fountain, stones and fruit trees. The fifth had a view, fountain, stones, fruit trees and flowers.
Salonista: So why did you build this sixth house?
Architect: The sixth house has all those things, too, but something else I can’t explain. Like a sixth sense. It feels as if it faces the right direction. Something like the Chinese call feng shui.
Salonista: I can understand. A good conversation satisfies the senses too.  Sight is the subject, sound is the words, touch is the pace, taste the politeness, smell is the atmosphere.
Architect: And the sixth sense?
Salonista: The sixth sense of conversation is the chemistry between the people.
_________
Voice-over


House
Conversation
Sight
View
Interesting subject
Sound
Fountain
Interesting words
Touch
Stones
Pace of talk
Taste
Fruit trees
Politeness
Smell
Flowers
Atmosphere
6th sense
Feng shui
Chemistry

The architect and the salonista have confined their metaphor-making to traditional Aristotelian senses. Modern analyses reveal other meanings of “senses” such as those of heat, movement, pain, time and many others also found in non-human species.

2 comments:

Diana said...

I love your post!,and I think you have a very interesating blog.

Do you live in Colonia del Sacramento? I would like to go there.

www.portaldecolonia.com.uy, do you know this page? It seems well.

Barry Natusch said...

Thank you Diana. Since I am at present travelling, I am not in Colonia del Sacramento at the moment. Will be back there when the travels end. It is a beautiful place and appeals to all SIX senses. The sights are stunning and the sounds are subdued and too loud. The textures of the buildings make you want to touch their walls. Scents and taste rise from succulent slow cooking. As you can see from the pictures on the website link you sent. Thanks for that. Happy Travels!