Article February 12, 1996 Issue

Five senses or one sense?

Salifu Usman

Some time ago a colleague in my place of work made a statement that caught my attention. After narrating an ordeal, he regretfully said, "I should have used my number six."

It got me thinking ... Mortals believe that man is material and that the five physical senses constitute and govern man's existence. Yet Christian Science explains that matter is inert and unintelligent; therefore the information gained from these so-called senses is erroneous from premise to conclusion. In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy brings out that mankind's belief in the testimony of these senses is responsible for all the sin and sickness that fetters humanity. She writes: "The corporeal senses are the only source of evil or error. Christian Science shows them to be false, because matter has no sensation, and no organic construction can give it hearing and sight nor make it the medium of Mind" (p. 489).

When my colleague expressed disappointment in not using his "number six," referring to what people often call their sixth sense, he was glimpsing the potency and reliability of spiritual intuition. The fact is, spiritual sense is really not a sixth sense at all; it is man's first and only sense.

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