Page 32 - Allah's Art of Detail
P. 32
30 ALLAH'S ART OF DETAIL
The Body’s Flawless Stimuli Signals
People’s skin is in constant contact with many things for var-
ying lengths of time (e.g., clothing, watches, and furniture), and yet
they do not constantly perceive their presence. There is a very im-
portant reason for this: after a certain length of time, the skin’s re-
ceptors grow used to whatever is touching the skin and stop send-
ing the relevant signals to the brain. This marvelous system, com-
prised of countless flawless details, enables people to live without
constant discomfort.
Were it not for this familiarization system, even such an ordi-
nary matter as wearing clothes would become a major concern.
The receptors’ constant perception would turn wearing clothes in-
to a torment, and we would find it hard to perceive the signals
from other things that we touched. People might concentrate for-
ever on how much their socks were squeezing their ankles or on
how their wristwatches were sliding up and down their arms. In
