Beyond the Five Senses

What perceptions exist beyond our ordinary sensory information, and what meaning do these have in our lives?

Typically in meditation, we find a quiet place, close our eyes, and ensure that our bodies are seated comfortably. One of the reasons for this is to reduce the amount of distraction so that we can begin to focus on the more subtle nature of our existence that is often drowned out in the noise of daily life. This effectively puts us in the most advantageous position to work with the sensory perceptions that are beyond sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Herein lies the potential for powerful realizations through connection to these other perceptions.

To navigate through the world, we need the five senses (or as many as are available to us). They help us move our bodies, drive cars, go to and from work, and meet with other people. Because this is a physical world, our senses are built to operate in this physical realm. But keep in mind that these perceptions can only detect a limited range of the entirety of what exists.

For example, our eyes are only able to see a small band of the electro-magnetic spectrum that we have defined as light. We can see colors and shapes of objects that are illuminated by light. If we are in a darkened room, the furniture and objects in the room don't cease to exist. They are simply not reflecting the vibration of energy into our eyes that would allow us to perceive them with our sight.

Our eyes cannot see infra-red energy, yet this surrounds us all the time. Before the development of the technology used in night-vision, we could not make use of infra-red energy in our sensory awareness. But now we have these devices that translate the heat given off by objects in the infra-red spectrum. We simply turn on the camera, point it in the direction we want to look, and on the screen appear the glowing images of the shapes that otherwise would have been shrouded in darkness.

So if our senses can only take in a small percentage of the energy in the world, certainly our ability to perceive the Whole of existence is not possible. At least it is not possible to rely solely upon our eyes for making sense of everything that is available. For those of us who are searching a deeper understanding of ourselves and the universe we live in, we start to ask ourselves what lies beyond the limits of our perception.

Let's pause here for a moment and contemplate everything that is surrounding us where we are sitting right now. We have light, we have sound, we have objects we can see, and food to taste and smell. But we also have radio waves in the room, WiFi signals, cell phone calls, and GPS signals. And this is just naming the electronic signals that our devices use. What if your perceptions were built to "read" all of this information just as easily as you are reading the words on this screen? How would your life be different if you could access and digest all of this information with ease? In a way this is a metaphor, but it also is a serious contemplation.

Our opportunity in meditation is to access the perceptions and awareness that is not reliant on the limits of our physical senses. The act of closing our eyes is a signal to ourselves to turn off sight for a moment and allow inner sight to flower. The act of finding a quiet room is a signal to ourselves to turn off our hearing and allow the sounds within to move to the forefront of our awareness. The practice of sitting in a comfortable position is a signal to ourselves to shift our awareness from the physical body to begin tuning into the subtle nature of our existence.

If we know why we are doing these things in meditation, this can then help us to focus on where we are placing our attention and to prepare ourselves for the subtle perceptions that arise. I have described these subtle perceptions like a quiet radio playing in a loud room. These are with us all of the time, yet they are drowned out by the loudness of life. With cars honking, people talking, and activities to do, the quiet, subtle nature of ourselves is drowned out and often escapes our awareness entirely.

Contemplate what that metaphorical radio might be playing for you? What if it had instructions for you or recommendations for you about what to do next in your life? What if it had the wisest person you know speaking directly to you? If that were the case, would you want to hear what they have to say?

As we practice this in meditation, we may discover that we start to hear those quiet radio messages coming to us. Maybe they are sounds, or sights, or feelings, or some other kind of perception. The more opportunity we have to strengthen the signal, the greater access we will have to the full range of our senses and the richness of awareness that they bring.