~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I thought about discussing this topic last night, it is strange that I am feeling so keenly, but it just encourages me more that this is what I should discuss today. Let's discuss sensation, the six senses.
1. Sight.
2. Smell.
3. Touch.
4. Taste.
5. Hearing.
6. Spirit.
Most people only believe there are five senses, those are the ones medically listed as senses. Usually when one sense is taken away, say a little girl is born blind, those other senses will increase in sensitivity. This little girl will become better at hearing, she'll be able to smell better, she'll be able to hear more keenly, taste greater. It seems the lack of sensation heightens the rest.
I refer to six senses, I include spirit or the spiritual sense as something all humans and even animals are born with. The reason I say animals is because I have a dog of my own, I've noticed he is more aware of mood shifts, his own energy is influenced by my own, and how he behaves. It is said that animals or familiars have the ability to see spirits and beings from other planes and they react to them. It's been shown often enough in horror movies about cats or dogs going haywire around dark spirits or staring at them. In my belief there is always a grain of truth even in the most fabricated of tales.
My curiosity is stemmed in how the body reacts to sensations. Such as when the body is beginning to freeze, suddenly it registers the sensation as growing comfortably warm. Or how you can stub your toe and gain this strange sensation in your teeth. Or how you can scrape nail and feel it in your mouth. Or even for example, someone not used to sexual pleasure and how the body reacts to it almost in a sharp stinging sensation even, not attempting to be crude at all. There are even cases in which people are born without the ability to feel pain at all. Such cases are extremely dangerous, for a person could break a bone, cut themselves, and never know of such an injury.
Also there have been cases where someone is born in the conditon of Helen Keller, blind, deaf, and mute. Most of those cases eventually die, their brain activity ceases because of the lack of sensations and recognizes the person as dead.
Or they're the cases of shock, where the trauma of an event is so high, or perhaps adrenline is so high that a person is unable to feel the extent of their injuries, such can occur from a car accident, a fall, the list goes on and on. In most cases of shock, a person usually shakes and feels cold, but they don't seem to feel extremely bad injuries. There are some cases where people end up being horribly injured and not know it till later, usually this occurs in cases of impalement or gun wounds.
I've focused mainly on physical sensations, now I would like to bring up spiritual sensations. This happens to be an area I do not have much personal experience in but it intrigues me greatly. In Shamanic practices, usually a medicine man or woman of a tribe, they would pursue astral journies to gain wisdom. They would accomplish this process by overwhelming the senses. They would do this by chanting, drumming, burning herbs or incense, fasting, or perhaps other extreme methods I have not heard of. I haven't really heard any cases of them using extreme pain to gain enlightenment, but I have heard cases of painful rituals used to progress into adulthood. In some practices, I have heard of cases of people being suspended from hooks or impaled in which they gain a state of nirvana and serenity. I do not know if Shamans also experimented with this practice, that will require more research, but I will keep you informed on my journey to discovery.
Returning to Shamans, it was said that by overwhelming the senses by whatever method, they would be able to project their spirits from their bodies into other planes. I had heard rumor that this was very dangerous, as it left the body unprotected to be possessed by other spirits and sever the ability to return to the body. I have heard otherwise that it was impossible to do so, as even though projecting into other planes, the spirit or soul was still connected to the host body by a thin strand that prevented this.
The only experience I have had with an attempt of astral project still baffles me to this day. I'll share the story with you now.
It was during a time in my life where I was full of unrest, very chaotic in thought, stressed beyond belief, but I was extreme spiritual at the time. Even though I did not know the right path, I was praying constantly and seeking inner peace even then. This was during a day when I was extremely frustrated, I felt at a complete loss and I was unable to truthly understand anything. I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes, fully closed, no intent to sleep at all. I merely allowed myself to drift. This was the only time I can say I ever fully succeeded at complete mediation. As I laid there, I let the room fade from me, I let the sensation of my body fade from me. It got to the point where I could no longer even feel the bed underneath me, nor even move my fingers or legs to even feel them. I kept urging myself to wander, to escape my confinement and allow myself to go. I was allowing myself to drift further and further away, visualizing my spirit escaping my body and heading towards the forest, it was only when I touched the wall of my room, attempting to leave my home that my body jerked with alarm. My eyes opened and I was staring at the ceiling, and promptly fell about 2 feet downwards onto my bed. This absolutely terrified me, had I been standing up? My heart was pounding and I could find no explaination.
To this day I still have no idea what really happened, I can only assume I was starting the path to a successful astral projection. If anyone can come up with an explaination as to what happened, I would be more than happy to hear it. Since that day, I became fascinated with the fact that the shamans were stated to have a safe method to achieve astral projection, no matter how scary it seemed to me, it also intrigued me because of this experience.
The senses are part of our daily lives, but it is amazing how we tend to forget them. For just a moment, imagine not being able to see, closing your eyes to the room and not allowed to even peek...ever. To lose the sensation of color, the sight of trees, never again to see the face of your loved one. Perhaps to lose all hearing, to never again be able to hear a spoken word, to never hear the wind, the rain, to never hear music ever again...Imagine for a moment never being able to speak again. To never tell someone 'good morning!' To tell the people you cherish and care for the most that you love them. To never be able to ask for a glass of water, to never offer a word of comfort when needed. Visualize not having hands, not being able to touch the faces of your love ones, to never feel the dirt beneath your fingers, to not grasp a glass, to not be able to turn the pages of a book. Imagine never smelling the scent of roses, the smell of freshly cooked bread, the warming scent of your mother, father, a lover. Now...imagine never having the sense of spirit. To feel nothing when speaking to the Goddess. To never feel a twinge of intuition, to never perhaps feel emotions swirling in a room. It is little reminders like that, that remind me of how blessed we all truly are. Perhaps you know someone or you yourself even lack a sensation. Cherish what you have.
When I was three years old, the doctors informed my mother that since the nerve in the back of my eyes were shaped a certain way it was almost a sure fact that I would go blind. Every six months since THREE I would have to see a doctor, they would put drops in my eyes, and examine them. It slowly became a routine thing. As the years went on, my vision steadily grew worse. It finally came to the point at sixteen that if I knocked my glasses of my nightstand I would have to go get someone to help me find them on the floor. Even if my glasses were bright red frames, it was impossible to see them on my blue floor. It was at that year the doctors finally told me I had nothing more to fear. They had determined it was merely the shape of the nerve in my eyes, a uniqueness, and that I would not go blind. For years it had been a constant worry and it was a little reminder to cherish the sight I have for it could be so much worse. I see people who grow upset when their perfect vision alters slightly and they begin to need glasses. I can understand that it can be upsetting, but truly, I hope you cherish the sight you still possess, for there is also a risk some may lose it, and some are even born without it.
Currently to this day I can still see, I will lose my glasses if I drop them, so I cherish them. I value the fact that I can read the words I am writing, I adore seeing the faces of my loved ones, and I cherish the fact that I can see the sights of the world we live in. As it is though, I do lack one sensation almost completely. That would be the sense of smell. I can barely smell at all. I can almost smell no flowers, my incense has to be extremely strong to the point that my mate even complains sometimes. I cannot smell food cooking. The few scents I can smell and find pleasant are usually the smells that are overpowering and most hate -the smell of skunks and manure. But I cherish those scents because exactly that, they are the ONLY smells I can truly smell without straining really hard or sticking my nose directly in something.
So as strange as it is, I want you to cherish even the smallest of sensation. You never know that what you may be able to experience someone can only dream of feeling. Take the day and truly FEEL.
Not matter what your beliefs, I hope you enjoyed reading as always.
Blessed be.
-Kitsune
