The Sixth Sense

By Anonymous -

          
          One of the most fun parts of this class has been entertaining the notion of a “6th Sense”. A subject which was jokingly breached on the first day for a laugh has now become the subject of some analysis by the class. This semester, we attempted to find an answer to the question, ‘what is the sixth sense?’. The answer to the classical interpretation of that question is ESP, or perhaps some form of supernatural extrasensory-perception. While this is an interesting subject worthy of much Kripalanalysis, what I find more intriguing about pondering the sixth sense is the idea that we may be lumping more than one sense into the five categories we’ve established. For example, the sense of pain is a very separate experience from touch. Although pain is exclusive to touch, it activates a unique part of the brain not engaged in experiencing ordinary touch sensations. For this reason, would it not be appropriate to call pain the sixth human sensory experience?
           My interest in the subject of pain’s qualification for being a sense came after I found a post on reddit describing the nature Leprosy. Leprosy is a bacterial infection which causes a host of negative symptoms which eventually conclude in death. However, a primary symptom of the disease is a deadening of one’s ability to feel pain. For those infected, the reason their condition becomes worse is not the disease, but the instead it is the fact that they are without pain. We do not realize it, but in our day to day lives we constantly are avoiding things that would damage our bodies. Pain is the guiding hand by which we are in touch with what hurts us. The example demonstrated by the victims of this disease is that one’s sense of pain is completely separate from their sense of touch, and that both senses are vitally important to one’s survival. However, I believe this also qualifies pain as a sixth sense because just like the other accepted senses pain is a conduit by which we absorb a specific type of sensory information from the world.

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