Through the Wormhole - Is there a 6th sense?

person

This episode asks if there is a 6th sense. It uses scientific theories and actual experimental data to make an argument in favor of a 6th sense. It also asks what is conciousness in the process. You can follow the link to Top Documentaries to watch the series of 4 you tube videos in a playlist or just watch the videos here.

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/through-the-wormhole-is-there-a-sixth-sense/

Mr_Serenity

One of my past girlfriends had the extremely rare ability to visually see spirits in the living world. I thought it could be psychological delusion at first, but I didn't mention it. I was pretty open minded and didn't want to hurt her feelings because she trusted me to tell me. She knew I was into paranormal research, that is why she told me. And apparently it was part of the reason she went after me. So I had to be open minded to get to know her more closely before I could really judge it.

And well, every time I would spend a long amount of time with her I could see the signs. Doors knobs would move violently, leading to the doors to open by themselves at night while I stayed with her. You could hear them and see the doors open by themselves. Spirits would physically interact with her too, even once trying to strangle her. That's when I began researching the occult on how to defend oneself against a spirit when necessary. I learned how to exorcise them in many efficient ways. It all sounds like crazy stuff, but they were part of her reality.

She could describe them very extensively. They did not all look the same. Not always like people, some of them would be in the forms of smoke, blobs, shadow figures, people missing limbs, and even hooded figures. I never saw them, but they truly terrified her. And I could see how they affected the environment around her. So I believed that she was experiencing a genuine phenomenon, that she might of had an actual sixth sense for that.

When most average people encounter spirits it is never visually. For it to be a full on visual encounter, I would begin to put that into the category of a sixth sense.

Cloud

The sixth sense is the mind baby. All kinds of things going on such as "intuition" that are facets of the mind not on the conscious level.

bravehawk

I highly enjoyed this! thank you for the post. I especially loved the anti-matter part. It makes me curious, if antimatter is the reverse of matter, and matter is the point when something exists(or starts decaying)... then what is in the space between the two? meaning are all things in the universe either living in a state of reverse, and living in a state of decay, or is thier a state inbetween that is stable and just alive(more less a matter/anti-matter state of nirvana,if you will)?

bravehawk

I highly enjoyed this! thank you for the post. I especially loved the anti-matter part. It makes me curious, if antimatter is the reverse of matter, and matter is the point when something exists(or starts decaying)... then what is in the space between the two? meaning are all things in the universe either living in a state of reverse, and living in a state of decay, or is thier a state inbetween that is stable and just alive(more less a matter/anti-matter state of nirvana,if you will)?


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Would this be a consciousness that is able to peer to both forward and backwards, or merely is in a state that is able to choose one path or another like a crossroads?

I think it was Einstein that stated it's more probale that one can travel back in time because it already happend, and since the future is still in a state of creation it would be harder to travel forward. so let's say one can travel forward...would it still be the same future if he just have waited like the rest of us, or would it be different since "thoughts catch" in the morphic field. would that leave a void in the hive mind like-field and completely alter the train of thought of the bigger conscienceness aka morphic field?

zidangus

The sixth sense is the mind baby. All kinds of things going on such as "intuition" that are facets of the mind not on the conscious level.

@Cloud have you went all Austin Powers on us ?

thats just groovy baby !

Dakini

I'm so grateful for these occasional threads on the paranormal, and also science in relation to what is conventionally considered the paranormal. (I think that as science advances, some things that are now considered paranormal will become normal, or will be found to have a scientific basis, anyway.) I'm glad we can discuss these things on a Buddhist forum. And hey--if Cloud approved the topic, then it has the Good Buddhist Seal of Approval!

compassionate_warrior

:clap: Thanks, person! Do you think this might loosen up the opinions of our sceptic members?

ThailandTom

There are many more than 6 senses, take for example the animal world. Species that have a sense enabled to use infared, sharks have a special electrical sense, and the list really does go on.

As for human beings, I think this. We all live in the universe which it itself contains many laws, many things we cannot comprehend. We ourselves are equipped with 5 senses, in buddhism consciousness being the 6th, maybe all of us could tap into other laws or aspects of this universe we are ignorant to. All beings have different amounts of senses, differet sensitivities of senses and who knows what else.

Dakini

There are many more than 6 senses, take for example the animal world. Species that have a sense enabled to use infared, sharks have a special electrical sense, and the list really does go on.

Great point, TT! I didn't know that about sharks. I think we're all taking in information about the environment and people in our environment daily that we're not aware of. The brain is set up to filter out some of the input we get, so we don't get sensory overload. That's why we're not aware of the intuitive info we're taking in. I've had rare instances in which I've picked up on someone else's thoughts, but I thought they were mine. And yet, these thoughts were not at all typical of my thought process. So I stopped a minute to think about that, and I realized I was picking up on the thoughts of the friend who was visiting at the time. The film mentioned something about exactly that type of phenomenon; that unless we stop and make the effort to become aware of some of the input that we're getting, we don't know it's coming from someone else. The rare instances in which I've actually responded to someone about their thoughts before they expressed them verbally really unnerved the person.

I think if you keep up with scientific research, there's no room for skepticism about these things. I think maybe people resist believing in the possibility of ESP and other paranormal phenomena because it seems like if you do believe that stuff, you're regressing back to medieval times. But what people don't realize, is that that stuff was real, and science only in the 20th Century began discovering the basis for it.

In the beginning, it said that the mind has the capability to communicate over great distance. I've read accounts of people observing the Kalahari Bushmen doing just that. Of course you can't "observe" telepathy, but when someone in your clan comes running from a highly isolated locale hours away, saying they got your message that a hunter had brought food, the resident anthropologist is going to be pretty impressed.

Cloud

@ThailandTom
Not to be a stickler (or is it?), but "consciousness" isn't the sixth sense in Buddhism... "mind" is.

Dakini

@ThailandTom
Not to be a stickler (or is it?), but "consciousness" isn't the sixth sense in Buddhism... "mind" is.

Ah, but what is "mind"? IIRC, in TB they're used somewhat interchangeably. And if I have this straight, the alaya vijnana, the "seed consciousness" is what HHDL means when he discusses the "very subtle mind". I think this is one of those topics that can go on for pages, indefinitely. We've "stickled" away at this on this forum before. Sure you want to bring this up again, Cloud?

Cloud

That's opening up a whole can of worms I didn't sign up for, so no thanks. We just have to remember that there are five aggregates, one being form and the rest being mind-aggregates. Consciousness is only one of four mind-aggregates, not their owner. Not the "I" or "self". Not unconditioned, not separate, not permanent. All is empty, and emptiness is not born or reborn, does not age, get sick or die. Clinging is the obstacle to clarity.

person

If we want to get techinical about it, up to 10 senses can be listed.

Human beings have a multitude of senses. In addition to the traditionally recognized five senses of sight (ophthalmoception), hearing (audioception), taste (gustaoception), smell (olfacoception or olfacception), and touch (tactioception), other senses include temperature (thermoception), kinesthetic sense (proprioception), pain (nociception), balance (equilibrioception) and acceleration (kinesthesioception). What constitutes a sense is a matter of some debate, leading to difficulties in defining what exactly a sense is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense

I doubt that this video will change anyones mind on the subject, but for myself, I like it because it trys to explain, and give some validation to something that is a part of many people's everyday experience.

Dakini

oops.

Dakini

I think we pick up information via our electromagnetic field, too. But most of us have no awareness of our field, so we're not aware that we're taking in info with it.

I thought the Dutch study was interesting. And the discussion of non-locality of mind--that's always a good topic. We've had science articles about that on the forum before.

I would think that if skeptics see enough science programs on this stuff, it might at least make them think twice, or maybe realize that science has moved on since they last studied it.

@person I wonder if the sense of time passing has a name.