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barefootliam — for the Spirits to pass
Published: 2003-11-05 19:57:35 +0000 UTC; Views: 545; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 34
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This phrase leapt out at me from the dry and crinkled paper of an old old leather-bound book."Therefore Scaliger doth well, to make the Pleasure of Generation a Sixth Sense ; And if there were any other differing Organs & Qualified Perforations, for the Spirits to pass; there would be more than the Five Senses: Neither do we well know, whether some Beasts and Birds , have not Senses that we know not...."
This is from Francis Bacon's Naturall History. But the words could mean so much more.
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Comments: 4
what a wonderful phrase....
sorry for your loss...
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Thank you for your kind words.
Liam
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Interesting. Its deep and I can't really pretend I understand exactly what it means. Maybe something to do with evolution of mind? Who knows? Could have a hundred meanings.
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What Bacon meant is clear from the context, but that's another story
For what it's worth, here's a little more of it:
And if there were any other differing Organs & Qualified Perforations, for the Spirits to pass, there would be more than the Five Senses. Neither do we well know, whether some Beasts and Birds, have not Senses that we know not; And the very Scent of Dogs is almost a Sense by it self. Secondly, the Pleasures of Touch, are greater and deeper, than those of the other Senses.
The section is about whether sex (or masturbation) causes blindness; he notes that there are blind eunuchs, so clearly it's not the only cause of blindness!
Actually the idea of perforations for the spirits to pass, out of context, is even stranger than the worsd I used, but less ambiguous. I was thinking of death, too, with my mother dying at the time, a continent away.
Thanks for the comment, anyway, and for looking!
Liam
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