The Sixth Sense

THE SIXTH SENSE

“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.” - Oscar Wilde

There are five senses that we all possess, namely: Sight, Smell, Sound, Touch, Taste. With the help of these senses we live our routine lives. Weakening of any of these senses can create havoc. Let's break these senses down: Sight is obviously through our eyes. Smell is through our nose, Sound through our ears, Touch through our skin & Taste via our tongue. So if a person thinks about them, the sense of touch extends to our whole body.

In 1999, a film by M Night Shyamalan created a staggering euphoria with his 'The Sixth Sense'. Not only did the film won several accolades including several Academy Nominations, but it also mingled with the minds of the audience. Horror-Thriller genre never seemed so alive before, not even at the times of 'The Exorcist'. The audience could easily relate to it as it played with our 'senses'. Whatever so-called 'gift' we possess is put under our 'sixth sense'. Some people claim to possess the sense of fore-seeing one's future by their hands, eyes etc. Some people possess an extra-ordinary sense of smell, sound/sight or taste. An over-powered sense also falls under the 'sixth sense' category.

As the top-most layer of our body is covered by skin, 'touch' sense is always in practice; be it standing, touching, touching oneself etc. Due to gravity & other scientific reasons, without touch, living is not possible. With our eyes we see the world. We can differentiate red from green because of our eyes. Some people possess extremely focussed vision i.e. they can see things far at distance which most of us can't. Through nose we smell thus helping us to either focus or identify an object or our surrounding. Again, extremities are there in our olfactory functions too. Taste helps us in distinguishing food from junk! 

These were the obvious senses but there also exists a sense that we 'feel'. Yes, feeling is our 'sixth sense'. We can empathize with others due to this. We are 'afraid' because we 'feel' something/someone will harm us. And we can also 'feel' when we are being watched. Whenever we 'feel' something that might change our lives extra-ordinarily, the tiny hairs on our back of the neck stand up, at least it feels like it! Our breathing rate increases, we might begin to perspire and that's not it. The rush of adrenaline in our body at that time, makes the whole scenario like we see in a typical horror/mystery/thriller movie. But sometimes just due to a gust of cold wind, they stand up. Try rubbing ice on the back of your neck & you'll know what exactly I mean. This sense helps us to tackle with the situation & 95 / 100 times it turns out that 'there was nothing to panic'. But our body does that in 'self-defense'. Extremists exist in this 'sense' too. But they are not welcomed. If a person is always under impression that he/she is under scrutiny & still nothing proves on, then that person is tagged as a 'psychological' patient. And it is always a 50-50 shot at the odds. But it can also not be denied that due to this 'sixth sense' many lives have been saved by oneself as they became aware of the situation in advance & acted accordingly.

We live our lives due to the combination of these senses. There are fields in which a person may express his/her senses completely like drawing, dancing, drama, writer etc. & once they strike a chord with the audience/viewer/reader, that means you've really 'touched' them from within.

"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science." - Edwin Powell Hubble