My question is regarding instinct, sixth sense, dreams, a “feeling” - those uncertain but certain little “warnings” we heed in ourselves that our subconscious tells us about—-I am a little weary to trust fully in them due to the fact that I know I have had a lot of religious conditioning that could be motivating me subconsciously with regard to my situations in life…what do you think of on these things? Anonymous

The sixth sense, huh? Haha! I suspect that some Christian groups have blown this totally out of the water in one of two ways. On the one hand it will be demanded that such a sense is the Devil’s work, and that we should avoid it like the plague; on the other hand it seems to be the basis of what some of these same people will describe as being led by the Lord. Of course the whole thing presents one huge conflict of interest — and that is why we have been instructed to test the spirits through various methods, usually based upon a verification of Scripture. It’s a big mess, I tell ya!

What if we’ve made a huge mystery out of something that shouldn’t be so complex? I mean, do we have to attribute certain feelings to some mystical will-of-God kind of leading or even to the Devil? What if we were to realize that many of our senses should be expected simply because our bodies were designed by God so that we would pick up on almost indiscernible changes, movements, sounds or colors, etc, etc? In other words, what if we don’t have to make a big issue about trusting our senses just because we might have learned to not ignore our constant unconscious assessments of the world around us?

Let’s face it, some people hear better than others so that their “sixth sense” may have more to do with having learned to pay attention to certain sounds or certain frequencies than others. Many have learned to pay close attention to certain animals or plant life because they have a sense we don’t seem to. Some have far superior peripheral vision than others so that they will sense things before others so that it may seem they have eyes in the back of their heads (of course, some of that may just as easily be attributed to one having learned to assume that another is probably doing the same thing he or she used to do when no one was looking!) Maybe we should instead realize that the creation still retains an incredible dimension that is able to tell us many things by paying attention to it.

There are many senses I have learned to seriously consider without having to trust them. It’s more of a tentative heightened awareness I have learned to not disregard. And this awareness is made more acute when my own experiences have made it clear to me that my senses often pick up on almost insignificant details that I can’t really account for. To speculate that one might have ESP, or extra-sensory-perception, simply because he “sees” things others cannot may have more to do with an underestimation of the ability of the normal senses. I suspect many people are very easily inclined to boast in having advanced senses for the same reason people want to show themselves superior to others.

Jim