REFER TO GREY: Contemplations by Robert Greigos © 2007-2024

Do you remember playing in the mud when you were very young, feeling it squish through your fingers? Feeling its coolness, wetness, and smooth but firm texture? Do you remember its rich color? And its deep damp earthy odor? Did you taste it? Did you smear it on your hands and arms and face? If so, did you feel it dry and cake and crack, pinching your skin in the warm sunlight of the day? And later, do you remember your mother insisting that you wash, then feel the water melt the packed mud and leave your skin in a swirl of dirty water as your skin stretched free again, shining and glistening in the clean clear water?

And when you were older, do your remember your first experience at the beach? Do you remember the smell, the moistness in the air, the sparkle of sunlight on the water? Do you remember the sand between you toes, first hot and dry, then cool and grainy at the water’s edge? Do you remember the waves splashing, getting spray on your face, and feeling the breeze fluff your hair and caress your skin with little bits of moisture? Do you remember how fresh it all smelled, a little of fish, a little of algae? Do you remember how bright the sun sparkled upon the water, like glittering jewels everywhere around you? Do you remember the call of the gulls and seeing them soar in the blue air above you, and on down the beach, and across the rolling green and white waters? Do you remember wanting to enter the lapping water, feel it swirl around your feet and ankles and on up your legs? Was it cold, so very cold, or just cool and inviting? Your feet were cold or cool and the rest of your young body was warm from the heat of the sun all at the same time. Do you remember that, being two temperatures at once? And finally, do you remember walking farther out, feeling rocks and sand, both soft and hard and sometimes sharp, on the bottoms of your feet? And were you brave enough to walk out far enough so that the water and waves nearly covered your entire body with its cooler swirling caressing temperature? And at some point did you let go of the sand and rocks beneath your feet and float free in the glistening sparkling undulating waters? What a feeling. What a feeling. Do you, do you remember that?

Craving for those kinds of intense, memorable, clear and direct sensual experiences is something we do not outgrow. They challenge all of our senses in ways that stimulate our brains in ways many everyday work and life experiences leave dormant and atrophying. No wonder we crave escape in computer games, music, sports, vacations, vast quantities of food and drink, and even drugs. Our brains desperately need connection through all of our senses to the reality of the world in which we live. Coop us up in mundane routine and we either wither and die, or explode into disruptive violence. Neither is healthy for us, or for the society in which we live.

Do not neglect your sensual nature. And, do not allow responsibility to others to suppress your daily need for sensual growth. It is not healthy for you and it will not lead to better things for all involved.