"There are several basic kinds of touch that
you may experience: Intimate -- Here, your pressure receptors
respond to a handshake, hug or kiss. If the person giving the touch is someone
you care about, you'll probably feel warm and comforted. Your pressure sensors
send the feeling of how hard the embrace is, and your brain interprets the
nature of the touch as soothing. Healing or therapeutic -- This
type of touch is often associated with massage or acupuncture. Sometimes, the
pressure is gentle and meant to soothe sore muscles. Other times, the pressure
is deep in order to work out knots. Despite differences in severity of pressure,
you likely to be aware that the outcome is healing, so your body allows you to
relax. Exploratory or inquisitive -- We all learn about the world
through our sense of touch. Many people test out foods, fabrics or other objects
by feeling different textures. Sometimes it's possible to rely solely on the
sense of touch. This is why it's easy for you to reach into your bag and find a
pair of keys without looking. You know the cold feeling of the metal key and
hard smooth feel of your plastic key chain. Aggressive or painful
-- Of course, we all know that touch can also equate to pain if the pressure is
too much and the intent is wrong. A handshake that's too firm can be
uncomfortable instead of reassuring."
-
Psychology of Touching
"The hand is so widely represented in the brain, the hand's
neurologic and biomechanical elements are so prone to spontaneous interaction
and reorganization, and the motivations and efforts which give rise to
individual use of the hand are so deeply and widely rooted, that we must admit
that we are trying to explain a basic imperative of human life."
- Frank R. Wilson, M.D., The Hand, p. 10
“If a thing can be said to
be, to exist, then such is the nature of these expansive times that this thing
which is must suffer to be touched. Ours is a time of connection; the private,
and we must accept this, and it’s a hard thing to accept, the private is gone.
All must be touched. All touch corrupts. All must be corrupted."
- Tony Kushner,
Homebody/Kabul
"Fine art is that in which the hand, the head,
and the heart of man go together."
- John Ruskin
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