Elizabeth, everyone perceives her or his own world and draws a personal mental map. How does this happen? We perceive the world through our senses. Sensual experience s?mulates intui?on: as beauty and mystery move and flow, seen and unseen, perceived and unperceived, we engage in the dance by way of a magical collabora?on between senses and spirit. Our senses are the interpreters of an experience that is never in the mind alone: we are awakened through what we see, hear, touch, taste and smell, and upon awakening, surrender to the mysterious presence. Thought, emo=on and senses become one as we experience the harmony of sensing and perceiving. We are then drawn into crea=vity and our fullest awakening.
We do perceive the world through our senses and our spirit. Is there something else that could help us in beCer understanding and experiencing the world?
Irish poet and author, John O’Donohue says “We live between the act of awakening and the act of surrender.” And in that ‘in between’ moment is the experience of the present, a present which is perfectly captured by the aromas and flavours of a living, authen=c wine. Wine opens us to the experience of beauty and places us squarely in the present moment. ’Wine tas?ng is the mee?ng of two living bodies, the human being and the wine,’ and the act of taking this communion is an expression of an ardent kinship with the universal spirit, God, Source or whatever name one gives it, which is at the heart of our love of beauty and our experience of the world.
Encounters with the numinous arising from sensual experience are a call and response dance between the human being and the divine. These experiences capture and entrance us as we become suddenly aware of the call which resonates with the sense of the numinous within. The dance between senses and percep?on is the ideal encounter: it touches immediately upon the ‘somewhereness’ within us -‐ the sense that we are not from here and our home is calling us. The aromas and flavours of the wine in the glass can evoke a glimpse into the ever-‐present Mystery, as the somewhereness of the wine meets the somewhereness of our essence. Our home calls out to us in a tantric mee?ng of spirit and form, of human and mystery. And in the mee?ng we are present, filled, complete, and blissful. The sensuousness of the wine and our senses dance together in a harmony making the numinous presence manifest.
Wine helps us to aSune to a deeper level of contempla=on and understanding of ourselves, humanity, and our mother earth. It offers an experience of the divine and opens us to one another. Maynard Keenan, in the documentary Blood into Wine says ’wine is a supreme being’ -‐ a being which leads us into a rich soma?c experience. Our sense of smell is our strongest memory trigger, evoking profound reminiscence and union with past emo?ons and awareness that is beyond ?me; the memory of the past moment, or of things deeply known, is united with the numinous experience of the present. In contempla?ve moments with a glass of wine one can feel as though one is swallowing the whole universe and the very moment of liWing the glass can be perceived as communing with eternity itself; in a moment of transcending ?me and space and uni?ng with the memory of the Mystery.
So, a quality wine can help in beCer perceiving the world. Does it evoke something else to
you? The aromas, flavours and sense of place of an ar?san wine evoke deep sensory memories of my childhood. I grew up on a farm surrounded by the beauty and quiet of nature and spent a lot of ?me in contempla?on -‐ which was always s?mulated by the senses…the the smells, the flowers, the green grass, the wheat and hay fields, the open space, the liSle streams, the solitude, the privacy. I would say that like Frank Lloyd Wright, “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.”
The energy of those earlier medita?ons on nature and beauty oWen seem to physically manifest by the act of taking into my body a living, authen?c wine with a spirit of its own -‐ and there is a union. This experience is not something that can be pursued or achieved. It cannot be found by grasping. One can only cul?vate presence, invite and surrender to it, and allow an experience of the numinous. Persian Sufi, Abu Yazid al-‐Bistami tells us ‘that which we speak of cannot be found by seeking; but only seekers find it.’
Oscar Wilde believed that to search for the beau?ful is to search aWer the secret of life -‐ and that this search is an aesthe?c pursuit. The word aesthe%c is derived from Greek aisth%kos, meaning esthe?c, sensi?ve, sen?ent (able to perceive, feel, or sense things) and aisthanomai meaning perceive, feel, sense. Thomas Aquinas spoke of ‘delecta%o', the surge of delight and joy we feel when we experience beauty. He said, ‘Pulchra sunt quae visa placent’ -‐ ’those things are beau?ful which please when they are seen.’ He would agree, one expects, that the beau?ful can also be tasted, felt and heard.
An American wine writer named Terry Thies, says “A beau?ful wine can be uSerly elusive to words...mysterious, infinitely varied, infinitely subtle, and perpetually inspiring’…and wine writer, Hugh Johnson, says that wine has a ‘strange ability to arouse the imagina=on’. So, part of the joy is that this experience of beauty can be elusive. Another great wine writer, Kermit Lynch, tells us that “Great wine is about nuance, surprise, subtlety, expression, quali?es that keep you coming back for another taste.” One thing is clear: wine, beauty, the numinous -‐ all are perceived through the senses. For Kant, beauty ‘must give rise to pleasure by engaging our capaci=es of reflec=ve contempla=on. Judgments of beauty are sensory, emo=onal, and intellectual all at once.” And the encounter leads to crea=vity -‐ a media=ng between the seen and unseen; spirit and form.
Elizabeth, is there a Sense of Place, a Genius Loci inherent in authen=c wines? Can you experience a
Geography of Percep=on by tas=ng a par=cular wine?
Yes, there is a deep sense of place and connec=on to both the history of the physical place and the hands that midwifed an authen=c, living wine. The beauty you can taste in the glass is a revela?on of the numinous harmony of the universe; the beauty of the present; the mee?ng of the living wine and the living person communing with this divine harmony.
The ‘somewhereness’ you can taste in the glass is enriched by knowing the wine is made by a farmer you could actually embrace. It is these wines, this geography of percep?on, that is most likely to open us to aesthe?c, emo?onal and mys?cal experience; and in the midst of these experiences we have the immediate knowing that this is something we actually need. In fact, in beholding this beauty, there is a poignancy: it can feel as though the spirit of the wine has been wai?ng for us to recognize and witness it. The poet, Rilke, says: “Perhaps we are here in order to say: house, bridge, fountain, gate, pitcher, fruit-‐tree, window... To say them more intensely than the Things themselves Ever dreamed of exis?ng.
The invisible depths of Mystery, God, Source, Universal Spirit, arise in the passion of the sensing, perceiving human being -‐ an interplay in which the unknown is made known. Through our senses, we perceive that perhaps the Presence has been wai?ng for us. The aroma and flavour of an authen?c wine capture a sense of place, quietly drawing us in to its knowing and s?llness. Thoughts unravel and take rest in a sanctuary of knowing we too are from the ancient earth. The wine, so dis?nctly itself and unrestrained, is a reminder of unexplored territories of the mind and spirit; the experience of connec?on with the ancient, wild essence of the earth reminds us who we are and why we are here. These wines can give a sense of arriving; they can liW you up or evoke a beau?ful, sacred melancholy. Terry Thies says they can make you feel as though you ‘have passed through a membrane, and everything is suddenly and clearly divine.’
Such divine, sacred resonance evokes the beauty of the earth and the beauty of the deep mystery in an amalgama?on of presence. Both the perceived and the perceiver dance in par?cipa?on and expression of the numinous -‐ the source of all crea?vity, sustenance and acceptance. Indeed, when wine is the conduit, the threshold of presence is truly ‘the mee?ng of two living bodies, the human being and the wine, as they surrender to one another’; a threshold of presence which lives between the senses and percep?on. The awakening and surrender, the interplay of call and response through the senses leads to an inner beauty which illuminates the tantric sensuousness of our presence, so that we feel, as Rilke that ‘being here is so much.’
Finally, Elizabeth, can you explain to us what a “ceremonial tas=ng” is like and if this is the best way to experience the
Genius Loci via authen=c wines and food?
Since we perceive the world through our senses, the best way to experience sense of place is through an evoca?ve sensory experience which occurs in a place that has deep sense of Genius Loci. Belonging to a place and a community is also a significant part of the geography of percep?on. So, a ceremonial wine tas?ng would endeavour to create moments for par?cipants to engage in the act of companionship and communion through the inexhaus?ble beauty of wine. Wines are chosen according to a theme and tasted as an act of communion and contempla?on. There are readings of sacred passages or poetry; the experience of sacred music and dance; and the viewing of art. Most significantly the ceremony occurs at a sacred site or loca?on which has a deep sense of place and history. The ceremony concludes with the sharing of authen?c food of the place. These evoca?ve ceremonial experiences seek to provide par?cipants with an experience of place, beauty, joy, and the numinous by engaging the senses.
Possible themes include: • Wine and the Power of Terroir • Wine and Beauty • Wine and Longing • Wine, Wisdom & Beauty • Wine and Medita?on / Contempla?on • Wine and Philosophy, Poetry, Art, Music, Dance • Wine and Cul?va?ng Beauty • Wine and the Spiritual Life / Tantric Living / Authen?c Living
Elizabeth Clinton Elizabeth Clinton is a Canadian writer on wine and spirituality and has worked in the wine business for many years. Among other things, she’s Manager of the Ontario Market for Bertagni Consul%ng srl. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from Simon Fraser University, is WSET Advanced cer%fied, and is currently enrolled in WSET Diploma studies. She is also a graduate student at Pacifica Graduate Ins%tute, Santa Barbara, California, working towards a Masters of Counselling Psychology. Inspired by the inexhaus%ble beauty of wine and its ability to infuse present moments with the mystery of eternity, Elizabeth is passionate about connec%ng people with authen%c, intriguing wines and facilita%ng experiences that engage the senses. She lives in Vancouver, BC.