With your eyes closed, where are you?

The uneven rocking and bumping offers a big clue: a train. The familiar ding-dong and announcement,” with diamond-sharp enunciation, provides the rest. This is the ‘L,’ the elevated train system in Chicago.

What else can you notice without looking? Steel wheels rumble and screech. Passengers chat. The hard seat vibrates. Fresh, cool air blows in from the ventilation system. Standing up in a moving train car challenges another sensory perception, the vestibular system, your sense of balance. That leads to proprioception, the sense of your body and its location, the means to remain upright and walk as your train sways.

But there are more senses: Are you hungry? Thirsty? In any pain? Tired?

Bigger questions: Where are you going? Who are you?

Here and now, where you actually are, with your eyes closed, what are the answers to those same questions?