Perceiving the World Through the Five Senses – and Beyond
1. The Ancient Symbol That Maps Our Senses
At the top of the page sits the Eye of Horus, an Egyptian glyph whose six parts align with six human faculties:
| Eye-of-Horus fragment | Body part | Sense or faculty |
|---|---|---|
| Brow line | Nose | Smell |
| Pupil | Eye | Sight |
| Eyebrow | — | Thought |
| Inner corner | Ear | Hearing |
| Curved tail | Tongue | Taste |
| Vertical stroke | Finger | Touch |
Each fragment was once used in temple math to represent fractions; here it doubles as a mnemonic for remembering the ways we meet the physical world. The table reminds us that perception is not passive. Instead, every smell, sound, image, taste, and touch is assembled in the mind as a single, seamless picture of reality.
2. Electricity in the Flesh
The facing page (“The 5 Senses and the Mind”) reframes sensation in modern language:
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“The five senses are, in essence, electrical threads of light.”
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Pain is an “electrical overload” that makes the nerve “burn out.”
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Equilibrium (deep meditation, perfect health) is the absence of excess current – no sensation at all.
In other words, nerves behave like wires. When their voltage spikes, the brain registers the spike as yellow light, jasmine perfume, violin music, chili heat, or velvet softness. When the voltage steadies, the external world disappears and consciousness turns inward.
3. Why the Senses Are Limited on Purpose
The author stresses that our five senses “were intentionally crafted with these limitations.” They let us navigate matter but cannot grasp the whole of reality. The mind – pictured as a brain encircled by icons of the five senses – is the portal to deeper layers of existence. This framing echoes many traditions:
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Plato’s Cave: Shadows on the wall (sense data) vs. the sun outside (true forms).
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Christian mysticism: The via negativa that begins by silencing the bodily faculties so the soul can know God.
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Advaita Vedanta: “What is seen is fleeting; what is unseen is eternal.”
4. The Number Five as a Bridge
The page quietly celebrates the power of five:
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5 senses
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5 fingers / 5 toes
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5-pointed star (human figure)
Five marks the meeting point between spirit (the pentagram often encloses a hidden sixth point) and matter (four classic elements). When Jesus receives five wounds, or when a magician draws a pentacle, the same symbolism is at play: spirit working through flesh.
5. Merging Ancient and Modern Insight
Putting the Eye of Horus table beside the neuroscience prose unites two millennia of thought:
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Ancient Egypt: Sensation is sacred geometry; each sense is a slice of the cosmic eye.
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Contemporary science: Sensation is bio-electric coding that the brain deciphers.
Both pictures agree: the physical organ is only the instrument. Perception itself happens in the observer behind the eyes.
6. Living the Teaching
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Cultivate equilibrium. Practices that calm neural “overload” – breathwork, prayer, meditation – thin the veil between sense world and inner world.
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Honor all six faculties. Sight and sound often dominate; intentionally train smell, taste, and touch, and leave room for thought/intuition to complete the circle.
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Remember the fractions. The Eye of Horus parts once totaled 1 when the missing sixth fraction (thought) was added. Likewise, you perceive wholeness only when conscious reflection joins raw sense data.
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Transcend but include. The goal is not to abandon the senses but to see them as rungs on a ladder that rises toward boundless awareness.
7. Closing Reflection
Everything visible “exists first in darkness,” the text says. Just as the Eye of Horus gathers six shards into one vision, your mind gathers five sensory currents into a single, luminous now. Use that gift wisely: relish the fragrance of coffee, the rustle of trees, the glow of dawn—then, whenever you choose, step back into the stillness where none of these currents flow, yet all of them are known.