God and Our Five Senses A Brilliant Stroke of Insight?

I had what I think is a brilliant thought. Maybe not, but here goes.

All humans have five senses right? Sight, Smell, Taste, Hearing and Touch.

As far back as the 1760's, the famous philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed that our knowledge of the outside world depends on our modes of perception. In order to define what is "extrasensory" we need to define what is "sensory". Traditionally, there are five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Each of the senses consists of specialized cells that have receptors for specific stimuli. These cells have links to the nervous system and thus to the brain. Sensing is done at primitive levels in the cells and integrated into sensations in the nervous system. Sight is probably the most developed sense in humans, followed closely by hearing.

Human Sense Organs

All along we have assumed that since humans share the same 5 senses, our perceptions would naturally be common, similar, or the same.

What if our five senses (commonly shared) were consciously realized to be unique to the reciever/perceiver. (maybe they have and I'm just now figuring it out)

Just because we have sight does not prove that we "see" exactly the same way. Take color for example. I see colors and name them according to a universal color chart list. What about the people who are color blind. They still see color, but the hues and tones are not perceived exactly the same by individuals. We need a color chart, or box of crayons to determine the exact shade we are seeing in order to come to an agreement on the color itself.

And sound. Each one of us are capable of hearing. But the pitch and tone we hear is also unique to the perceiver. I can hear high pitched sounds that people around me can't hear. But we all share the sense of sound. Some forms of music grate my nerves yet another person will find pure joy in the same sounds. ???

Taste. Same thing. We all know that our sense of taste is common, but we have preferences for certain tastes. I hate the taste of beer. But many people love the taste of beer. Hmmm?

Smell. Last night after a heavy rain, I smelled a metalic, musty odor. My husband smelled earthworms. LOL I love the scent of patchouli, some people think it smells like lysol.

Touch. Can you really accurately describe the sensation you receive when you touch something? Or is our attemps at describing the sensation we experience when feeling an item exactly the same as someone else's description?

Now, I come to the reason why I put this in the conspiracies in religions forum. (which has now been moved to the proper forum by a moderator )

How simple is it to realize that we perceive our world individually through the five common senses? Attempting to describe a creator entity and its reason for being is as unique to the individual as our perceptions of our five senses.

Since we all share the five common senses, yet perceive the world around us individually through them, this would explain the thousands of interpretations of a creator entity.

What do you think? Have I explained this brilliant stroke of insight adequately? Do you see, hear, smell, taste and touch exactly like the person closest to you? Do you believe in the exact same creator as the person closest to you? If so, why? I mean really examine why you believe in your chosen religion so determinedly, is it because you have sensed God or is it because the explanations, traditions and rituals are comfortable to your sensibilities?

[edit on 20-8-2009 by Hazelnut]

[edit on 20-8-2009 by Hazelnut]

Its ok if no one gets it. I thought it was pretty simple once I thought of it but I suppose the theory is just too out there.

I know for a fact that everyone sees the world through a uniquely individual sense of perception and the five senses are our antennae enabling us to perceive the world we see and the one we can't.

God is everywhere, in us and all around us. Our link to our creator is honed through the senses. The five common senses and the lesser known additional senses. This explains why we have so many theories about our creator(s) whether they be God, Goddesses, or None of the Above.

I had been thinking something similar lately but not as in depth as you put it.......About how I perceive this existence and how somebody else does......

Also, ( this is out there) but I ( my soul ) could be much older than yours and has experienced more in it's existence then yours and therefore I see things differently in this life because of my higher self..

That is only a small part of it but I thought it was worth mentioning.....

Also frequency comes in to play..

What if, say my frequency is 110.0005mhz ( just randomly making up numbers ) and yours is 110.0001

We would not be on the same frequency and that could be what sets us apart individually. Also, because they are so close in frequency on the level that we experience, it would seem to us , that We are the same, but in fact because we know very little about existence and life in general we may be over looking that because of the difference in frequency, that I may experience the color red more vibrantly than you do.

This could explain why I am picky about certain foods, and why I like certain music or sounds or colors and sensations..


Then to add to that I thought that being born and your sign has something to do with it.

I'm a pices so maybe all pices are born to a specific set of frequencies and that is why they are all somewhat similar , while still being completely ( to us ) different from each other....

reply to post by LucidDreamer85


I'm so happy you replied! I think the same way you do about frequencies. The way you explained makes so much sense. I couldn't have done it as well as you did. So, thank you.

Everyone of us are born with most of the five senses. There are sicknesses and diseases that impair some of us, making us blind, deaf, unable to smell, etc. yet, the remaining senses become acutely attuned in place of the lost one(s). So we still perceive the world around us through our senses even when we don't realize it. So often we give our intellect credit for our perceptions when it may not be accurate to do so.

The fact that my husband is color blind and sees color entirely differently made me think of this theory. I must think too much!

interesting thread hazelnut.
this bought an old story to mind which may offer you some food for thought, perhaps.

Brain scans of nuns have revealed intricate neural circuits that flicker into life when they feel the presence of God.

The images suggest that feelings of profound joy and union with a higher being that accompany religious experiences are the culmination of ramped-up electrical activity in parts of the brain.

The scans were taken as nuns relived intense religious experiences. They showed a surge in neural activity in regions of the brain that govern feelings of peace, happiness and self-awareness.
*snip*
When the scans were compared with others taken beforehand, the scientists found electrical activity and blood oxygen levels had surged in at least 12 regions of the brain, and differed from other intense emotions.

old story

what if there is a sense of the divine, rooted deep within the brain and, in much the same way as someone can have poor eye sight or poor hearing, some people have an impaired sense of the divine.

there is also a few stories about epileptics that have a profound sense of the divine after having fits.

i mention this because the actual perception takes place in the brain.

[edit on 20/8/09 by pieman]

I've asked myself that question since I was a kid. What if my blue doesn't look the same as your blue? How would we know?

I think you finally are understanding the factor of perception. I have long tried to explain to people we cannot perceive what is un-perceivable, we cannot put explanations to things we know nothing about. The idea of an all knowing omnipotent god is ridiculous to me as man seems to be acknowledging certain factors of his ignorance but is still lost in trying to define something that we know nothing about. Doing that will just be speculation and create opinions.

At times when I will think upon the awareness of ones perceived existence and then compare my awareness of my existence to others objectively, I will go into a daze or feel I am on the verge of crossing some intellectual threshold but alas nothing happens further. Keep thinking objectively and think deep friend.

I'm not gonna get to far into this because I will eventually end up on a rant against religion.

But I think you are starting to understand and it is nice to know someone else see's things similar to me. S&F.

[edit on 20-8-2009 by N3krostatic]