Page 104 - Darwin's Dilemma: The Soul

Darwin’s Dilemma: The Soul

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T The Sense of Touch is No More Than Electrical Signals
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T Transmitted to the Brain
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The external world we perceive seems totally realistic.
Though it is a scientific fact that we inhabit a world made up of our
perceptions, most people are deceived by the perfection of these
perceptions. One of the most misleading factors is their sense of
touch. People may harbor doubts as to the reality of what they see,
smell or taste, yet being able to touch objects may mislead them in-
to assuming they have direct contact with the external world. But
in fact, information about the object touched is forwarded to the
brain as electrical signals, which entirely eliminates all such pre-
conceptions on the subject. As with all our other perceptions, the
sense of touch arises in the brain. Your feeling an object depends on
the information you receive regarding it in your brain.
Although you are touching an object, you cannot feel it if your
brain does not perceive it, as Peter Russell makes clear:
Our notion of matter as a solid substance is, like the color green, a
quality appearing in consciousness. It is a model of what is “out
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