THE UNKNOWN ABSENCE
What if You Could Never Know What You’re Missing?
Have you ever wondered how it might feel to lack any of our senses? How would it be if we didn’t know what it’s like to see, hear, taste, smell, or feel anything?
Let’s explore this idea by considering the perspective of a person who has been visually impaired since birth.
A person who doesn’t know what “seeing” actually is. He might wonder how something like “color” may exist when it cannot be heard, smelled, touched, or tasted.
It is tough to imagine how strange their world must be.
Just turn off the lights…..
You can say:- “What's tough? I know how ‘seeing’ feels, so I can surely tell you how ‘not seeing’ would feel. I can close my eyes or turn off the lights for the same experience.”
But what if I tell you that the experience of “not seeing” would also require knowledge of “seeing”? How can you tell if something is not sweet until you know what sweet feels like?
Also, when you close your eyes or turn off the lights, you see the “dark.” You’re not “seeing Nothing.”
Try closing one eye with your hand and seeing what you see from that closed eye. It might help you imagine what eyelessness could feel like, but the world of blind people isn’t just about the absence of sight.
The most surprising fact is that they are unaware of the concept of vision, which makes their world so different from ours.
Of course he can think of a car.
To understand this better, let’s try an exercise:-
Close your eyes and imagine a red car.
Do you think a blind person would have the same perception?
You can say, “They might not know colors, but they can understand the car’s shape by touching it, which can help them create a colorless image in their minds.”
But how can someone build an image in their mind if they don’t even know what an image is?
Let’s give this world a new sense!
Well, no matter how hard we think, stepping into the shoes of a blind person feels impossible. It is the same with all the senses. We can never step into the shoes of anyone who lacks a sense we already have. After all, how can we un-know something that we already know?
No worries. There is a hack.
What if we imagine a sense we don’t have, yet everyone around us does? Adding an extra sense to the whole world seems more manageable than removing an existing one from ourselves.
Indeed, it wouldn’t give us a glimpse into the exact life of a person with an existing disability. But it would provide us with a glimpse into what disability in itself looks like. And this is precisely what our goal is.
Old is not Gold
Even though it may feel easy, coming up with a new sense is challenging. We can’t use any terms that we already know.
For example, I can’t just say “a sense to see emotions.” Because we already have some capability to do that. Also, we know what “seeing” is. So, it is just an advancement of an existing sense. It's not a new sense in itself.
We can’t borrow any tool from the existing sense to develop an entirely new one. We must also use some made-up names; your full attention would be needed. Otherwise, you may get caught up in words.
So, let’s come up with a new sense altogether. Seems fun, right?
The Sixth Sense
Even though we can’t carry anything from an existing sense, we can surely use an old sense as an analogy. I’m using the analogy from “Smell” to imagine what a new sense may look like.
Let’s call this sixth sense “Etho.” (made up name)
What is Etho
Like smell, which is a process to detect different “Odours,” etho is a process to detect different “Blorfs.”(made up name)
What is Blorf
Like Odour, Blorf is in everything. Every animal, food, object, and substance has its own Blorf. Every Blorf is different from one another. People can detect what the thing is by just knowing it's Blorf.
How does a blorf travel from things to us?
As we know, smell needs air molecules, hearing needs sound waves, and seeing needs light. Similarly, Blorf travels via Blorf waves(made up name). Unlike sound or light waves, Blorf waves are unique energy waves emitted by all objects.
How do people detect Blorfs?
Like we smell via the nose, people Etho via their cheeks. Like the nose catches signals for different odors, Cheeks have sensory tissues to detect different Blorf waves. Once detected, the sensory tissues in the cheeks send signals to a specific region in the brain dedicated to processing Blorf waves. This allows the brain to interpret and perceive the unique Blorf of each object.
A New Normal
Using our knowledge of this 6th sense, let’s imagine a new world where almost everyone possesses the remarkable ability of Etho, the sense of detecting Blorfs.
Blorfs are everywhere, shaping people’s feelings and choices.
Blourfull Nature
Nature is full of diversity, with different varieties of blorfs. Blorf is present in everything, like trees, rivers, mountains, etc., which trigger emotions like relaxation, excitement, etc.
Preference for different blorfs
People prefer some blorf over others. This preference is being shaped by Evolution. That means we like the blorf from those objects that help us survive and reproduce.
I’ve a good blorf.
Since people have preferences for different blorf, people who have good blorfs are considered beautiful. Hence, people are conscious of the blorf of their bodies. They have started using multiple tricks to deceive others about their blorfs, similar to perfume or cosmetic surgery.
Market and manipulation?
Markets use cheap tricks to make their products more Blorful. These tricks lie about the actual blorf of their products. Some items and chemicals give the same perception of blorf as nature does.
Blourfician
Each Blorf makes people feel different emotions like music can make you happy or sad. Other artists create beautiful Blorf waves and are enjoyed worldwide, much like famous musicians. There are some worldwide famous Blorfs produced by legendary Musicians.
You can think about other aspects of this world, like how this 6th sense would affect their preference for celebrities, culture, regions(obviously, gods will have excellent blorfs), technology, etc.
Nothing makes sense
You may say:-
Nothing makes sense
All of this doesn’t make any sense at all. All this “Etho,” “Blorf,” etc, looks like a made-up thing to me. Even though you’ve written a lot about this Etho, you’ve not been able to describe what Etho is.
We can imagine people receiving different kinds of signals with the help of their cheeks. You’ve told us its mechanics, how people prefer one blorf over another, and how society has been structured around it. But none of it has been able to explain anything about this “Etho.”
You’ve not made it clear what Etho feels like. Is it more like a sound, a smell, or a light? So, even after so much explanation, you’ve not explained anything to us.
Bad news
Everything you’ve just said makes sense. But no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to tell you what Etho is. Do you know why? Because you’re an “AETHO” by birth, feeling sorry for you.
Oh, not another term. What is this “AETHO” now?
A person who can’t Etho by birth. Someone who doesn’t know what Etho feels like.
Since you’ve never had any experience with Etho, I can't tell you what Etho is. Similar to what we can’t explain to a blind person by birth, what “seeing” actually is.
Living a life of Handicap
I understand your frustration because you’re hearing about this natural phenomenon of Ethoing for the first time. But let’s imagine living in this world as an Aetho from the beginning, i.e., since you were born.
What would your experience be like if everyone around you knew how to Etho as naturally as we know how to smell?
A handicap
As we can assume, you’ll be considered as a “handicap”. You’ll get some social service benefits as well. There will be a particular category for people like you in various sports and competitions. If possible, there will also be sign language to translate different blorfs into one of the five senses you can access. There may also be medical research going on to cure this disability.
Your inner world
It is not difficult to assume how living in this new world will feel. Even though you’ll regularly use words like Etho and Blorf in your language, you’ll always wonder what this Etho is.
Even though you’ll not question its existence because you’ll see people doing beautiful things using it, things like Etho and Blorf would be mere words to you(as these are now).
You might feel like a human trapped inside an alien society, or maybe vice versa. No matter how hard you think, you’ll never understand what all the people feel when they feel a Blourf.
Even though you will be the same in the new world, observing other people will make you handicapped. You’ll curse god every day why he made you like that.
So, what do a blourf feels like?
You’ll frequently be asked these questions:-
- Can you describe the Blorf of your favorite food?
- What does it feel like to live without detecting Blorf waves?
- How do you decide what to wear if you can’t Etho the Blorf of your clothes?
- Do you experience Blorfs in your dreams?
- How do you choose your friends if you can’t sense their Blorfs?
- What kind of blorf is your trigger?
- Can you even enjoy nature without feeling the Blorfs of trees and flowers?
- Do you ever get curious about what a Blorf feels like?
As an Aetho, it is easy to see the absurdness of these questions, right?
Two different worlds
No matter how hard you try, as an “Aetho,” you can never understand this new world. You may study everything about it, but you’ll never understand it. You’ll always feel like it is a magical power everyone around you possesses.
Similarly, other people will never be able to understand your world. When thinking about you, they will always assume that somewhere in the back of your mind, you know what Etho feels like. Understanding a world of only five senses would be impossible for them.
Can we understand them now?
If this new world with Etho looks so strange, imagine what the world with “Light” would look like to a blind person. Seeing is 100x times more complicated than any sixth sense we can imagine with our tiny brains. What kind of magical powers do we possess in the imagination of a blind person?
No matter how hard we try, we won’t be able to step into the shoes of a blind person. However, as an Aetho, we might begin to understand the depth of the experience when someone with fewer senses than us shares their life with us.
