POP14 - The Senses
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Here now in the POP series
I am presenting
the Second Path to Truth.
Each of the Paths are preferred
by one of the Four Types of Soul.
But each type of soul
must travel each of The Four Paths.
The four paths develop in the individual,
somewhat in the progressive order
that I have named the four types of souls.
The second path is the path of the senses,
and is the one preferred by the Loving Soul.
It is expressed in their art and music,
in their love for nature and life
and yes in the expression of love called sex.
The senses are generally listed as five.
Sight, Sound, Taste, Odor and Touch.
If it were not for the senses,
we would be senseless.
Some are so convinced of this
that they think that when the body
ceases to sense,
we cease to exist,
or that we then become so nebulous,
as to be practically non-existent.
But, that is another matter.
In this world,
we test everything by the senses.
For the physical scientist
if it cannot be seen, or heard,
touched or tasted or smelled,
it does not exist.
Sometimes, oftentimes,
the scientist uses instruments
to extend his senses,
and there is no sense possessed
by humans
but that some kind of animal
possesses it 10 fold.
But no matter how refined the sense
or instrument
the senses can always deceive.
Examples can be given for each of the senses,
but I shall let one suffice here.
We look at the dawn or sunset,
and the sun appears to move,
but most people today believe
that it is the earth that is moving
and that the sun is standing relatively still.
Illusions, mirages, and their like are numerous.
No astronomer can see what is.
The observed pattern in the sky
is made up of light from the stars.
Some from stars at one distance,
and other from stars where the light left there
thousands of times earlier than from the first star,
but all the light arrives to the astronomer at the same time.
Not showing where it is,
relative to the other stars at this moment,
not even showing where it was,
in actual physical relation to the other stars,
of for that matter whether it even still exists,
but rather showing an illusion
of what could never have collectively been.
This line of thought extends
into the work of the physicist.
The psychologist knows that all we know
is perception in the mind.
So, while the senses are necessary to that perception,
we know that they are fallible,
and can never be considered
an infallible path to the Truth.
The world of sense
is what the Hindu religion calls Maya,
that is to say
the world of illusion.
In western philosophy and metaphysics
such as that of Immanuel Kant
it is recognized not to be the "ding ang sich",
"the thing in itself".
Advanced thinkers,
physicists,
philosophers,
all who strive to reach beyond illusion
from matter unto mind,
recognize the limitations of the senses
and the human mind.
While we could discuss this subject for hours,
and it is a very popular subject today,
our purpose here has been only to recognize
that the Path of the Senses,
is a fallible path
and that while we must travel it
we must still seek Truth elsewhere.
And thus,
tomorrow,
on to the Third Path.
Peace and love,
Bruce
DawnSayer@webpal.org