To see with the eye is to be blind, for truth is easily hidden from the realm of sight with but simple chicanery and the art of disguise. To truly see a thing, one must draw in its truest essence, that unadulterated and revelatory vitality that declares its singular nature, and set it naked upon the stage so that it may be consumed with eyes closed. The tongue can do this in a fashion, but it is as a cudgel where a gentle touch is best, and subtlety, the key to identity, is lost in a crude flood of sensation. No, only the scent of a thing is capable of disgorging the truth, unblemished, raw, and possessed of all subtleties. To feast upon the scent of a thing — a living thing; it’s lifeblood — then, is to truly know that thing and to take from it its very soul. What passes later through the throat, though satisfying and even necessary, is but the muddy brine that remains behind after the true theft is complete. Even among our sensual kind most will never understand this and because of this they shall never know the depth of their loss.

— Gulikan