NationStates Jolt Archive

Okay we all know the 5 animal senses


Sight
Hearing
Touch
Smell
Taste

Then there is that illusive 6th sense of seeing dead people that few possess.

Now I imagine that Spirits must have senses too (even those Spirits that never entered the physical realm). What do you think those might be? It seemes that Spirits would lose more senses than they would gain when passing into the spirit realm from the animal world. Maybe the only thing on passing it would keep would be a sense of sight, but what could it gain otherwise? well the 6th seeing dead people sense of course. I know you are a creative bunch and I thought you might like to take a stab at some other ideas.

PLEASE: Don't flame if you don't believe in Spirit. This thread is just for fun and creativity.

first of all theyre not dead people--theyre disembodied people. ALso you can still be dead on the physical realm if your only stuck on the first level of existence. Id like to think spirits can have sex just by thinking things--I mean we can get hard just thinking things in the physical realm with no contact so clearly all pleasure starts in the spirit realm of our thoughts-Imagine of everything you fanatcize became a reality- senses are by no means strictly a physical thing

so noone has any comment on what senses a spirit might have?

You forgot those sense which are normally appended to the classic 5 senses by biologists:

6. Sense of balance
7. Kinaesthesia - the sense of where your limbs and other body parts are in relation to each other.


I have a feeling I have also forgotten #8 which is also usually recognised.

To keep this as something other than a pedantic post: I would imagine that a spirits, if they existed, would maintain these senses. We hear few reports of spiritual apparitions suddenly falling arse-over-tit or accidentally sticking their ectoplasmic hand through their ectoplasmic elbow.

I've personally always believed that the 6th sense is more about a gut feeling, you know when you walk into a room you can actually feel tension without any one saying a word and in my case I can usually not only feel it but know exactly who it's coming from. Or walking into a bar and having a bad feeling and you don't know why, so you leave and then read in the paper the next day the place was robbed or caught fire and every one died. This is what I consider the 6th sense. I believe we all have it, some of us are just more in tune to it then others.

There are actually somewhere around 11 or so 'senses' in the natural meaning of the word.

As far as dead people, well who knows. Here's an interetsing thought though; you know how people say that your life 'flashed before your eyes' when you die? And you know sometimes, when you're only alseep for an hour or two you sometimes have a dream that seems like it lasts for hours or even days? Well, what if, in the final moments, even seconds before we die, we relive our entire lives, as if they were actually happening? And, what if that's what's happening now -- we're seconds away from death but reliving everything we've ever done?

There are actually somewhere around 11 or so 'senses' in the natural meaning of the word.

Remind me how that total is reached: doesn't it involve splitting 'touch' and 'taste' into the different kinds of receptors that are triggered? Or, am I barking up the wrong tree?

There are actually somewhere around 11 or so 'senses' in the natural meaning of the word.

As far as dead people, well who knows. Here's an interetsing thought though; you know how people say that your life 'flashed before your eyes' when you die? And you know sometimes, when you're only alseep for an hour or two you sometimes have a dream that seems like it lasts for hours or even days? Well, what if, in the final moments, even seconds before we die, we relive our entire lives, as if they were actually happening? And, what if that's what's happening now -- we're seconds away from death but reliving everything we've ever done?


Ah, see, that really does happen.

Before dying, a person's life flashes through his head very slowly.

It's what we call "living" ;)

thanks for respoding.

I cant deny psychic thought or even premonitions because I had a dream that accurately predicited the EXACT future that I would be encountering, and I dont know what to call these senses but life amazes me. and I mean exact.

Life is amazing! I can see why peole would think that life is just some accident and we are all here because things happened to turn out right helping to create this super complex thing we call life (if you are lazy and dont really analyze life fully anyway. And let me be the first to admit I am very lazy), but dont you ever wonder how something so random coud create something so structured and complex. So complex that even we, humans that are supposedly so sophisiticated.

We can't even create something as sophisticated, complex and intelligent as the dumbest animal on earth. And Im not talking about George Bush. Life is amazing. I mean, if you try to even define yourself you should be at a loss. How can you define who you are or how you work? Do you really think that you know how you came into being or what your componentas are? Can you describe what your limitations or borders are? You are not separate from ANYTHING.

you are not separeate from the envoronment. It is part of your body. You cannot live without the envorinment. Oxygen is an necessary as your heart or liver or any other organ in your body. So there for the trees that produce the oxygen for your body are an extension of yourself. and how could the eivironment exists without the solar system. So the solar system must also be part of your body.

And how can the solar system survive without the galaxy? And so the galaxy must also be a part of your body.

I dont know how far this can be taken but this is an infinite process seemingly. I can find myself as being separate from anything except thru mental processes/imagination. We are all truely one.


{sorry I'm very drunk right now}

thanks for respoding.

I cant deny psychic thought or even premonitions because I had a dream that accurately predicited the EXACT future that I would be encountering, and I dont know what to call these senses but life amazes me. and I mean exact.

Life is amazing! I can see why peole would think that life is just some accident and we are all here because things happened to turn out right helping to create this super complex thing we call life (if you are lazy and dont really analyze life fully anyway. And let me be the first to admit I am very lazy), but dont you ever wonder how something so random coud create something so structured and complex. So complex that even we, humans that are supposedly so sophisiticated.

We can't even create something as sophisticated, complex and intelligent as the dumbest animal on earth. And Im not talking about George Bush. Life is amazing. I mean, if you try to even define yourself you should be at a loss. How can you define who you are or how you work? Do you really think that you know how you came into being or what your componentas are? Can you describe what your limitations or borders are? You are not separate from ANYTHING.

you are not separeate from the envoronment. It is part of your body. You cannot live without the envorinment. Oxygen is an necessary as your heart or liver or any other organ in your body. So there for the trees that produce the oxygen for your body are an extension of yourself. and how could the eivironment exists without the solar system. So the solar system must also be part of your body.

And how can the solar system survive without the galaxy? And so the galaxy must also be a part of your body.

I dont know how far this can be taken but this is an infinite process seemingly. I can find myself as being separate from anything except thru mental processes/imagination. We are all truely one.


{sorry I'm very drunk right now}


At least you're a philisophic drunk, and not a depressed one ;)

Ah, see, that really does happen.

Before dying, a person's life flashes through his head very slowly.

It's what we call "living" ;)
Terry Prattchet fan?

Terry Prattchet fan?

Ha! I was wondering if anyone would get that ;)

BIG Prattchet fan. I love the man :p

Ha! I was wondering if anyone would get that ;)

BIG Prattchet fan. I love the man :p
"Being a Discworld fan is like being part of the Masons. They all have secret ways to identify each other" - Terry Prattchet.

Hold true as well.

I read in an article somewhere a couple of days ago that actually seeing ghosts is either total fake OR the product of low frequency sound (15 to 19 Hz, inaudible for humans). They make brain membranes resonate (people start thinging weird stuff) and parts of the eyes resonate (people start to see vague shapes). Add those two and you´ll have a classic ghost appearance story.

BTW: IF it was an extra sense most people would have it and not just a few. There´s no sense of complex math because not the majority of people have it.

I read in an article somewhere a couple of days ago that actually seeing ghosts is either total fake OR the product of low frequency sound (15 to 19 Hz, inaudible for humans). They make brain membranes resonate (people start thinging weird stuff) and parts of the eyes resonate (people start to see vague shapes). Add those two and you´ll have a classic ghost appearance story.

Was that in "New Scientist?" I think I can remeber an article in it about a scientist discovering a 15hz standing wave in a 'haunted' laboratory.
It also said that tigers' roars have 17Hz sound waves in them.

This was a while ago though, so I might be mistaken.

so noone has any comment on what senses a spirit might have?

Maybe the same as we. As I understand the concept of spirits is that they are inorganic entities that somehow still have their awareness encapsulated inside a non-organic container, just as we humans have our awareness encapsulated in an organic container (the physical body). Who knows, maybe the non-organic container of spirits provides the same senses as our organic counterpart?

Maybe the same as we. As I understand the concept of spirits is that they are inorganic entities that somehow still have their awareness encapsulated inside a non-organic container, just as we humans have our awareness encapsulated in an organic container (the physical body). Who knows, maybe the non-organic container of spirits provides the same senses as our organic counterpart?

but the world for a spirit I imagine to be much different

I think that most of our senses are interpreted psychicly. why would a spirit need the sense of smell? or hearing? or taste? they don't have noses or ears or tongues anymore? What about spirits that never became humans? They never tasted food or undserstood what the meaning of "delicious" was. :)

but the world for a spirit I imagine to be much different

I think that most of our senses are interpreted psychicly. why would a spirit need the sense of smell? or hearing? or taste? they don't have noses or ears or tongues anymore? What about spirits that never became humans? They never tasted food or undserstood what the meaning of "delicious" was. :)

I imagine the world for Spirits to be basically the same as ours, it is just that their perception of the world is different from ours.

And how can you know for certain that the spirit's non-organic body doesn' t have a nose, ears, etc.? And how can you be so certain that spirits who never became human never tasted anything? Don' t all animals taste food during their lifetime?

I imagine the world for Spirits to be basically the same as ours, it is just that their perception of the world is different from ours.

And how can you know for certain that the spirit's non-organic body doesn' t have a nose, ears, etc.? And how can you be so certain that spirits who never became human never tasted anything? Don' t all animals taste food during their lifetime?

forgive me as I am drunk and can accept that I am not grasping things as fully as those of you who are sober .

:)

You are right that I do not know for certain but seemingly having left my body and having lived in a "spiritual state" for a small amount of time I became very confused as to what exactly I encountered.

I don't know what is happening to me and I dont think I am holier than anyone. I think that everyone is equal no matter if they are human, animal, insect rock or other wise. noone and nothing matters any mroe than anyone or anything else in my view.

I just have a deep feeling of love for all and feel connected to everything. It's not the vodka as I always feel this, but the vodka just makes me vocalize it :D

I just was hoping for some creative thought on what other sense spirits might have that humans arent normally aware of. I just enjoy discussions of this natuer and am not condemming anyone or ruling outanything. maybe spirits do have noses and ears and tounges but Having seen what I have seen I think otherwise personally. If you dont agree I will not say you are wrong.

You are right that I do not know for certain but seemingly having left my body and having lived in a "spiritual state" for a small amount of time I became very confused as to what exactly I encountered.

Did you have what is popularly known as an out of body experience?

I think that everyone is equal no matter if they are human, animal, insect rock or other wise. noone and nothing matters any mroe than anyone or anything else in my view.

I agree.

I just have a deep feeling of love for all and feel connected to everything. It's not the vodka as I always feel this, but the vodka just makes me vocalize it :D

This love you feel is impersonal? Abstract affection?

I just was hoping for some creative thought on what other sense spirits might have that humans arent normally aware of. I just enjoy discussions of this natuer and am not condemming anyone or ruling outanything. maybe spirits do have noses and ears and tounges but Having seen what I have seen I think otherwise personally. If you dont agree I will not say you are wrong.

I think that spirits may have a much longer lifespan. This because it seems to me that what wears us organic beings out is the energy that is needed to maintain our organic container. Lots of bad parts over time and not the energy to keep maintainance on par with the demand.

And thinking of noses and all that again. I don' t know, of course, if they have noses or not. How could I? I' ve never met anything that comes even close to the concept of spirit. So, I' m not saying that spirits must have all the senses that go along with having a nose, eyes, etc., just that its a possibility.

Thre's a question, I suppose, of how spirits/ghosts perceive time. I'm not sure whether a sense of the passage of time counts as a human "sense", but we all have it and it can be altered chemically. Some accounts of ghosts would suggest that they are oblivious to the passage of time: "walking through walls" could possibly be a result of the ghost(s) moving through doorways that no longer exist. There's a famous account of a group of ghostly Roman legionaries seen in York (IIRC) who were marching along a road but cut off at the knee, with their lower legs disappearing into the road surface. According to the story, when an excavation was done a Roman road surface was discovered a couple of feet below the modern one; the legionaries were just marching along their own road. Although this idea of dislocation in time, not space, doesn't account for the movement of the earth and indeed the entire solar system over the last 2,000 years. Maybe the handful of ghosts that are seen have somehow managed to keep pace with the earth as it moves: the rest might be left behind in a great looping spiral trailing back along the path the solar system has taken as the galaxy rotates.

Actually there are more senses than that, you've got the four centralized senses down. Those being auditory, visual, olfaction, and gustation. However the decentralized senses can be broken down to more than just touch. Because some of the time there doesn’t need to be any actual touching. This includes the sense of hot or cold, tactile, pain, and proprioception. Yes with thermal, tactile, and pain there is usually some touch involved but not always. However proprioception doesn’t rely on any touch whatsoever.

Did you have what is popularly known as an out of body experience?

This love you feel is impersonal? Abstract affection?

I think that spirits may have a much longer lifespan. This because it seems to me that what wears us organic beings out is the energy that is needed to maintain our organic container. Lots of bad parts over time and not the energy to keep maintainance on par with the demand.

And thinking of noses and all that again. I don' t know, of course, if they have noses or not. How could I? I' ve never met anything that comes even close to the concept of spirit. So, I' m not saying that spirits must have all the senses that go along with having a nose, eyes, etc., just that its a possibility.

Yes I had an OOBE. I know others who have had quite a few of them, but I have only had one.

The love I feel for all things is this feeling that I am a part of everything and am not separate from it. So it is like a love for myself.

I dont think spirits have senses like humans because I dont think that they live in a environment like ours at all. There is no ground or sky (I am not speaking of ghosts as I dont believe ghosts are fully spirit until they can give up their humanity). they dont have body parts to say this is my so and so. I also thing they have a greater feeling of unity with each other, rather than the separation we feel in physical bodies with definite borders... although in abstract terms those borders kind of erase when you think of everything as your body. I see it this way because my body cannot live without the environment.

Remind me how that total is reached: doesn't it involve splitting 'touch' and 'taste' into the different kinds of receptors that are triggered? Or, am I barking up the wrong tree?

Sort of. Kinesthesia(sp) was already mentioned. Thi sis the 'sense' of, in short 'knowing' where your body is. If you close your eyes and raise your hand over your head, you 'know' that's where your hand is. There is also documentation of a sense of one's immediate surroundings... for example, if someone places their hand within an inch of your back, without touching you (not even touching any ahir or anything), many people will know that hand is there. It's hard to determine whether this is detected by normal touch receptors dtecting air currents or what, but it is documented.

Also, consider the feelings of hunger and thirst. These aren't 'touch' sensations.

Scientists disagree to the actual number of senses, but depending on who you ask it can be anywhere from 10 to 40. Certainly there are more than five, though.

----

Back to the original intent, spirits. I entertained this theory for a while:

When we see spirits, we are actually seeing odd occurences, call them 'anomalies' if you want, in time. What do most people see when they see a ghost? A human-like appearance doing something fairly normal, like walking down a hallway or turning on a light. What they are actually seeing is that person doing that in their own time. This 'warp' in time allows us to briefly see into the distant past - or possibly the distant future - and what we generally pick up on are people. It works the other way too; those who can interact with the spirits are actually witnessing the spirits seeing them through time... and the person on the end end sees them as a spirit as well!

It's just a theory, but I liked it.

I cant deny psychic thought or even premonitions because I had a dream that accurately predicited the EXACT future that I would be encountering, and I dont know what to call these senses but life amazes me. and I mean exact.

I know not a single person is going to believe me, but I swear on my children it's true.

During the 2000 election, I had wrote a journal entry in my journal, well before the election even happened. I just knew and didn't know why, but if Bush won he would start a war. I didn't know why or where, but I could just feel it. Every time I seen him on TV or a picture of him, the only thing that ever came to my mind right away was "This man is going to start a war" I know it's hard to believe and it even freaked me out after 9/11 and I recalled that I had foreseen Bush starting a war way back in 2000. I know no one is probably going to believe me, but that's okay, I know it's true.

...

That's not really so remarkable. I'm sure many, many people thought he would start a war.

Now, if you would say hey, I wrote in my journal that I thought Bush would start a war over Iraq and it would be the most politically charged issue in recent history, well, then maybe there would be something to that.

It's all in the details...

...

That's not really so remarkable. I'm sure many, many people thought he would start a war.

Now, if you would say hey, I wrote in my journal that I thought Bush would start a war over Iraq and it would be the most politically charged issue in recent history, well, then maybe there would be something to that.

It's all in the details...

It was so strange though, I just knew, felt it. Given 9/11 had not even happened yet, you have to remember the mind set back before then, we were basically living in peace time. However, that's all I could see every time I seen the man "war" perhaps not earth shaking, but still pretty freaky.. and I'm also an atheist..so, it's not like I believe in any god of any type.. I just believe we all have a 6th sense, some people tune into it better then others. I don't really believe it's a "Spirit" or "Psychic" thing, I think we all have it. It's part of our make up.