The entire capital letter has five
points. Apart from other meanings, I took these five points to be a
representation of the FIVE SENSES of man, starting at the top right. The point
of the “outward facing” part of the “I”, at 1, is the sense of sight,
open to the world, looking outwards, where the eyes transmit impressions of
physical objects, which the mind interprets as things external. Seeing material
things is a function of the body, one of the highest functions, as we have said
before, because the sense of sight is “on” all the time – you only have to
discount milliseconds of blinking throughout the day, which doesn’t add up to
much.
If this outward facing “I” represents the
external part of ourselves, our personality so to speak, then right at the very
base of this long flowing “I”, at 5, we have the sense of touch.
This is where we really fasten onto the physical world from outside to outside
(skin to material), in pure physicality. One of the roots of our memory bank.
Now go back up to point number 2,
which is the sense of hearing, because it is here, according to
tradition, that the “spirit” hears the Word of God, and doubles back on itself
to disappear at 3, which is the sense of smell, a much vaguer
kind of impression, typical of the “inner” world, because the things we see and
hear can be said to actually exist out there in the material world, but the things
we “smell” are totally invisible, highly spiritual in nature, as we said before
about this means of perception.
Point number 4 is the sense of
taste, where our soul develops a taste for discrimination, seeking out the
higher things in life. And taste and smell are brothers and so are placed
together, one above the other, in this masterful letter-symbol.
The whole ensemble is the SIXTH SENSE,
which is the mind itself, as we have declared, and as supported by the earliest
known treatise on the senses. In Tamil literature, the Tolkāppiyam is said to
be the first written text in the world to describe six senses which related to
external body parts (dated anywhere from the 3rd C BC to the 1st C BC). One of
its verses says "beings with one sense are those that have the sense of
TOUCH (5). Beings with two senses are those that have the sense of TASTE (4)
along with the above. Beings with three senses, have the sense of smell (3) in
addition. Beings with four senses, have the sense of sight (2), along with the
above. Beings with five senses, have the sense of hearing (1) in addition. Beings
with six senses, have a mind, along with the above."
So whether you interchange 2 and 3, or 3
and 4, the basic 1 and 5 seem very clear, and this was just one of the possible
interpretations that this marvellous letter gave me as I contemplated how it
had been created all those centuries ago…
(to be continued…)
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