Trusting one's senses

So back a bit, we had the story of Jacob stealing his brother Esau's blessing from their father Isaac, who at the time of the occurence was blind.

Gen. 27:18] Going then to his father, he [Jacob] said, "Father!" and he [Isaac] replied: "Here I am; which son of mine are you?"

19] Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your first-born. . .

21] "Pray come near me," said Isaac to Jacob, "so that I can feel you, son. Are you really my son Easu, or are you not?" 22] Jacob approached his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau!". . .

25] He [Isaac] said, "Bring [it] near me and I will eat of my son's game, so that I can give you my heartfelt blessing.". . .

27] As he came near and kissed him, [Isaac] smelled the scent of his clothes and blessed him, saying: "See, my son's scent is like the scent of a field blessed by the Eternal."

Humans rely mostly on our sight to get information, followed by our hearing. Smell, taste and touch come in a distant third through fifth. I find it very interesting that Isaac, deprived of his sight, then distrusts his hearing when he recognizes Jacob's voice, but trusts his other three, far less developed senses to convince himself that he is blessing Esau. Of course, there is a whole bunch of midrash around this concerning whether Isaac is really deceived, is he deceiving himself, or does he know all along that the blessing needs to go to Jacob?

And of course, much could be said about how we today so often manage to fool our own senses and blind ourselves what we don't want to see, but that's maybe for next year.