We all know a great deal about our hands. We look down at the ends of our arms, and there they are. voilà! We do marvelous things with them. We touch the things that capture our attention. We pass our hands across the surfaces of objects to gain a better understanding of their qualities. We learn things about the world through our hands. We gain a sense of texture and temperature from our touch of things that can't be sensed as quickly or easily through the other sensory organs of our bodies. We discover the shape and weight of things through our hands, more quickly and efficiently than through our eyes. We connect with the world more deeply when our engagement is through our hands.

The world is close up and personal when within arms length, we take it by the hand. But the hands are so much more than just another sensory organ. We create through our hands, whether directly as we knead dough, or shape clay, or through our tools, which as extensions of the mind and hand shape the world to conform to our creative imaginations, our longings for comfort, security and even beauty. In essence, the hands are the instruments through which we define our human nature and continuously redefine, and re-make our own lives in reflection of our highest aspirations.