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.