This theatrical prop (above), including myself in the foreground, is an introduction to my present series of paintings about the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.

It is about the mind and the five organs of sense–eye, ear, tongue, nose and skin–represented by the five painted portals.

“That call’d Body is a portion of Soul discern’d by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.”

–William Blake, from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

One portal is on the left, and one is on the right. There are three portals in back. The portal on the left is the ear, the portal on the right is the eye. The ear and the eye are cognitive senses, rich in information, and accessible to language.

The central portal in the back is skin. The other two are tongue and nose.

Skin, unlike the other sense organs, is all over the body–so it was called sensus communis in the Middle Ages. There is a reason skin is in the middle. It’s a unifier, in the same way that the mind is a unifier. There is a central axis between the mind and the skin.

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Here’s a passage about the transformation on Mount Tabor, from the gospel of Luke:

28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.

29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:

31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.

33 And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.

34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.

35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

36 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen

Luke 9:28-36