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| Picture credit: http://indrakrecere.deviantart.com/art/The-five-senses-254ff432088 |
Until we achieve an extremely high level of evolution, we each appear to exist as an
independent being separate from other independent beings and the world surrounding
ourselves. In other words, there’s a “self” and a “not-self”. The nature of perception
(and even the very nature of consciousness itself) is energies that influence the
self. These influences can be external impacts from the not-self upon the self,
or they can be internal processings within the self. Below are four different levels
upon which things can be externally perceived and internally processed:
Physical: senses (external) and urges (internal): The physical level means our bodies. On the physical
level, a sense is a bodily perception of something external which impacts upon it.
The classic five senses are touch, hearing, sight, taste, and smell. Some
physical perceptions come from within the body, and include urges such as hunger,
thirst, sleepiness, and so on. Physical pain often starts from an external
impact, but continued pain afterward is internal discomfort.
Astral: emotions (internal) and feelings (external): The astral level means attractions and repulsions. An
emotion is an internal reaction to a situation, which may manifest as a desire,
aspiration, or result in an outburst of some form. The term “feeling” is rather
general, and can be applied to everything from physical touch to spiritual
intuition. In this context “feeling” is defined as a psychic reception. It’s easy
to confuse emotions with true feelings. People sometimes call their emotions
feelings, such as “I feel angry”. However, truly feeling anger is psychically
picking up on anger outside yourself, which is actually quite rare. For
example, one can use physical senses to pick up on somebody’s non-verbal
expression, process that sense mentally and think that means they’re expressing
anger, and then have an internal emotional reaction that perceives them as an opponent,
but that’s different from directly sensing something astrally.
Mental: thoughts (internal) and receptions (external): The mental level means the level of intellect and the
mind. Thoughts are intellectual processings and judgments within the head,
analyzing ideas or memories within. As with the astral level, an external
mental perception is rare, which we'll define using the word “reception”. A reception
is telepathically picking up on an idea. Mental reception is rare because
usually we use our physical senses to pick up on printed words (such as what
you’re doing by reading this now :) and then mentally think thoughts and make judgments
based upon them. Internal thoughts often turn into internal emotions when
mental processings result in judgments, which create a positive or negative reaction.
Mystics who prefer the richness of feelings to the dryness of thoughts have a
important point, because a feeling is an external perception which brings in
something new, while thoughts are just one’s internal processings which are
frequently the same old tapes on autorepeat.
Intuitive (internal and external): Intuition is true spiritual perception, which takes
place on a level beyond matter, emotion, and mind. Being spiritual, true
intuition takes place on unified levels, so doesn’t really have external and
internal forms. When intuition is contacted, we often label it as external
channeling or internal knowing, but ultimately those are just labels for the same
essential concept. Intuition can only be directly experienced, and therefore
must be later reflected in mental thoughts, emotional feelings, or physical
expression in order for us to record it or share it with others. We often label
things as intuition that aren’t. For example, mental conclusions, psychic
impressions, and even physical “gut feelings” are mental/emotional/physical perceptions
on denser levels that sometimes get mistaken for true intuition.
Many situations take
place on multiple levels. For example, sexual arousal is a physical internal
state, but it often starts from being stimulated by external senses. It also
involves non-physical perception, such as horniness being an internal emotional
state of desiring sexual contact. Also, many perceptions result in others. For
example, an emotional desire causes one to internally think about how they may
satisfy it, which results in physical action. The reverse can happen too: Internal
thinking may cause one to make a judgmental conclusion and have a positive or
negative emotional response to it. Thoughts and emotions go back and forth so
often and are so intertwined that eastern religions have a term for it:
kama-manas or “desire-mind”.
