Sensory Intelligence - 5: Your Skin

I've been sharing Tony Buzan's thoughts about sensory intelligence from his book Head First. We've thought about an amazing array of facts concerning 4 of our senses: sight, hearing, taste and smell. I'm finishing this today with some facts relating to our skin. Buzan writes,

Your skin is the largest organ of your body.
It contains 200,000 temperature receivers.
It contains 500,000 touch and pressure receivers.
It contains 2,800,000 pain receivers.
This total of 3,500,000 receivers over the surface of your body is in addition to the multiple millions of receivers for your eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

Touch is directly related to your emotions. Touch is also a life-giving ability. Young animals and human babies who receive little physical attention in the form of touch in their early lives become unhealthy and fail to thrive. (How do you feel when you are touched by someone you love? Or when you are not touched by anyone, in any way, for days on end?)

The paragraph above made me think of one of my favourite Bible stories - the story of Jesus healing the man with leprosy.
This man came up to him and fell at his feet.
"Jesus, if you want to, you can make me clean."
Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, "I do want to. Be clean!"

I've always thought that the compassionate touch of Jesus was just as signicant as the physical healing. I guess that it may well have been the first time the man with leprosy had been touched for a long, long time. Years even! How must he have felt when Jesus touched him?

I'm speaking about the transfiguration at ABC tomorrow morning. There, too, we find Jesus touching his friends who were cowering on the floor following a manifestation of the glory and power of God. It's obvious that the touch of Jesus was very much a part of his healing ministry.

Shadow of Death

Light of the World is the painting that most people associate with the pre-Raphaelite, Holman Hunt, but my favourite painting by him is Shadow of Death. We considered it during the message at Ampthill Baptist Church on Sunday morning. Apparently, Hunt travelled to the Holy Land to capture the light and atmosphere. Jesus is pictured as a young man. He pauses from sawing some wood and stretches himself. As he does so his shadow is captured on the back wall of the home, the middle-eastern carpenter's tool rack presaging the crossbeam of the cross. The weight of a plumb-bob hangs in the place of Jesus' heart. The skein of wool reminds us of the crown of thorns. This is dramatic imagery, and none more so than the figure of Jesus' mother, Mary, kneeling on the floor, her right hand holding open the lid of a chest which contains the gifts of the wise men. We cannot see her face but, as she looks to the back wall and sees the vision, we can imagine her catching her breath, and the sword piercing her soul afresh.......