Is Feel and Touch just an illusion?

Question

If I put my finger on the wall, do you really think Im making contact with the wall, Or is there a gap between the wall and my finger, and the feel of the wall is just an illusion?

Answer 1

Okay, let me put it to you this way... If you were staring at that same wall, and someone came right up behind you and intentionally slammed your head up against it, is your broken nose just an illusion...? ;P

Answer 2

Great question!

Based on my limited knowledge of physics (and biology), I would say that there IS direct contact between the atoms in your finger and the atoms in the object you touch. However, what you (as in your conciousness) feel is essentially an illusion; the physical contact fires the nerves in your fingertips, which send a message to your brain to say that you are touching that object.

This message is detailed enough to give you information relating to things like texture and heat, but what your mind 'feels' is a representation of what is there, formulated by your brain in response to the information it is given, rather than a direct link with it.

In this sense, your conciousness doesn't interact any more with an object when your finger physically touches it than it does when your eye sees it; in both cases what you experience is a representation of what is there based on the information fed to it by a sensory organ.

If your nerve endings and your brain were structured differently then I suppose any object you touch would 'feel' very different, but that feeling would be no less real.

EDIT: I stand corrected. So, the actual atoms don't come into contact, rather the electrons in the atoms of each surface repel one another (see above and below). I think the rest still stands, but now I understand that there is even less real contact between object and mind than I thought.

Answer 3

The energy fields set up by the electrons in the wall and your finger prevent your finger from passing through what is mostly empty space, so, in a way, it is an illusion.

Answer 4

Depends on how you define an illusion. Since feel is just electrical signals in your nervous system, yes. Or that perceptions aren't actually what something is, even the wall is an illusion.

Answer 5

The answer could go either way depending on how you define your terms.

Are you "feeling" with your finger or is feeling the PERCEPTION registered in your mind (not BRAIN, but MIND) when your brain receives electrical signals through the nervous system?

If we determine that we are talking about perception, then we need to determine whether we are talking about ILLUSION or DELUSION.

It is impossible to prove that your mind is not the only thing in the universe and that all of your memories and experiences are not anything more than tricks of the mind.

Welcome to the "Twilight Zone" between science and psychology!
i.e.; SENSATION v. PERCEPTION.
.

Answer 6

Simple answer, yes, everything you experience is an illusion. Consider this, your nerves are what supply the information about your surroundings. The data that they supply comes in the form of electrical impulses, this is the translated in your brain into something you can understand.

If we consider sight the analogy is easier to comprehend, what you see when you look around is image created in your mind in response to the electrical impulses from your retina. So when you are looking at a table for example, the table is not in your head, merely the image or illusion of the table. So in this way all our senses are illusionary. I study mentalism and NLP, this allows you to alter peoples illusions in the way you want them, for example making somebody see the colour yellow as red in their mind.

So, yes you are making contact, and yes it is an illusion.

Answer 7

And is there a gap between you and the loving hands that hold you in embrace... or... is that touch they make you feel merely an illusion too?

Trust me on this... it seriously ain't... and only when you lose it and live alone... and have no one to touch again... or be touched by... will you discover just how important is the sense of touch to all living things! Animals and even plants will prosper... if you touch them tenderly!

Answer 8

Finger and Bunsen Burner rings a bell.

Smell may be an illusion too, (burning flesh).

Pain may also be an illusion.

Sight too, (blackened flesh).

But then; we may be all part of a complex dream.

Good grass you are on though to think of a question like that.

Did I type the above?. No, totally illusory.

Answer 9

Rather than come up with a elaborate way to describe the interaction of the human finger with a wall to encompass your profound epiphany, it would be more semantically economical to broaden your concept of sensation to compass such subtleties

Answer 10

The atoms of your hand don't collide with the atoms of the wall. The electrons of each repel each other before this can happen. So you're feeling the electrostatic force of the wall I guess.