Forum

Beyond the Five Senses

Do you ever think that your hand feels odd because you have only
five fingers? Probably not. Although we can increase the range our
five senses perceive, we cannot really imagine what perceptions we
lack. It’s impossible to recognize the true reality because it isn’t
something that we feel the absence of any more than we feel the
lack of a sixth finger.
Because imagination is the product of the five senses, we
can never envision an object or creature that is not in some
way already familiar. Think of the most creative children’s book
illustrator or the most abstract artist you know. Do their designs 

in some way resemble things that exist in the physical world? Try
to imagine the wildest thing, and you will still create something
already known or that you can puzzle out from your experience
of everyday reality.
Going beyond the five senses doesn’t happen literally. It’s
more of a way to describe a higher level of perception where we
understand the interconnectedness of everything and our place
in this interconnected reality.
Quite possibly, you and I receive many sensations from
external objects. But because our senses do not have the same
qualities as those objects,
we do not perceive them.
We perceive only that part
of the object that resonates
to qualities we already have.
For a complete perception
of anything, we need to first
be complete within. In other
words, we have to be aware
of all the forms of reality
that exist in us, and then
our picture of reality will be complete.
So how do we attain the sixth sense that enhances our
perception beyond conventional reality? In fact, it exists in
everyone but is hidden. Remember the intention mentioned in
the previous chapter? With it, we can bring this dormant sense
into action.
Through persistence and study, we begin to gain perception
of the world of the Creator—the world of giving. In Kabbalah, that
world is called “the Upper World.” By study and development
of the sixth sense, we gradually begin to feel and to understand
the Upper World.