The Sixth Sense
What does it mean to perceive the Creator in this life? Does it mean that I will perceive Him through taste, audition or color - that is, through the five senses? It is written: “Taste and feel how good the Creator is” (Baal HaSulam, Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot, Item 3). What does it mean to taste and feel Him?
In our world we taste and feel everything through our five senses.
There are five sensory organs and, through them, we receive information into ourselves. The eyes are for sight, the ears are for audition, the nose for olfaction, the fingers for touch and the tongue for taste. That is all.
Information enters into our internal computer, where it undergoes processing and results in our receiving a certain image of the world. We can say that there is a little projector inside of us. It projects an image of the world onto a screen and this is what we sense.
This is how we perceive our world. Besides this, however, there exists one more sensory organ called “Kli” (vessel) or “soul.” It perceives in the same way as do our five natural senses.
Our sensory organs are constructed in such a way that their internal vibrations coincide with the external vibrations, and we perceive the external perception according to this common frequency.
Let us suppose that the visual waves have a specific frequency, the sound waves have a specific frequency, the olfactory receptors are reacting to a specific frequency, and the same for the touch and taste receptors.
These frequencies, as well as my organs, are constructed in order to match my inner perception, frequency or attribute to the external parameters.
The same thing is true for the soul or Kli. If it equalizes its attributes or inner frequency to the external frequency, it receives and perceives that which is happening on the outside. That which it receives enters a person’s “projector” and it depicts a specific image for him.
What is the difference? In our world, we were already born with ready-made inner attributes. These inner attributes or vibrations are predetermined in advance; therefore we automatically perceive ourselves in this world and this perception enters us through our five sense organs.
This is not the case for our soul. With regard to our soul, we are not simply born as automatic animals or robots. Rather, we have to attune ourselves. We have to develop the frequency that corresponds to the external frequency, and we have to develop it gradually. At first we develop small frequencies; then bigger and bigger ones, and this continues until infinity.
(That is, my attribute is the greatest or maximum frequency my soul is able to reproduce. I am able to perceive the entire image to the corresponding degree. Naturally, I cannot perceive an image greater than my maximal attribute, or greater than my highest frequency.)
It is possible that there exists another realm I do not perceive, in the same way I do not perceive another huge realm of the universe with my five senses that dogs are able to perceive through their sense of smell, or what eagles are able to see with their sense of sight, or what dolphins can hear as well as other animals. I do not perceive these realms of the universe.
It is exactly the same in the spiritual worlds: I do not perceive any realm of the universe other than the one I can attune my sixth sense or my sixth organ to.
My task it to attune it as much as I possibly can. In addition nature compels me to do this.
Nature created me with five senses. It provided me with them for my current existence. The sixth organ, however, is located within me in the state of an “embryo” in order for me to develop it and to use it correctly over the course of my life.
If I begin to tune or fix this sensory organ, this process is called: I am beginning to perform spiritual work. Correspondingly, I already begin to slightly and gradually perceive some vibrations.
I perceive them as a “plus-minus,” and these pluses-and-minuses or vibrations gradually attune me from the outside in.
All changes that take place in the external space (as I perceive it) influence me positively and negatively. They influence me in such a way that, inside of myself, I discover immense abilities to change myself or to attune myself to a greater perception.
Nature, or the Creator (this is the same thing) compels us to develop this sense to the maximum. This is man’s task. When we maximally develop it, this is called: “the end of correction” (“Gmar Tikkun”). Being in this state means to perceive the external space called “the Creator.”
Why “the Creator?“ – because He created precisely this realm of the universe, and me as a sheer organ for perceiving it. So what is a human being? Very simply, he or she is the one who perceives the Creator. Nature, in its entirety, is the law of nature that exists within the entire universe, and it is called “the Creator.” He compels man to fully discover and grasp Him.
This is the meaning of “Taste and feel how good the Creator is!” That is: fully reveal all your feelings in such a way that you will taste this entire realm of the universe.
Why does this saying refer to taste? Taste is man’s most natural and most primitive receptor. You can see that a child will immediately place anything that comes his way into his mouth. Why? Because this is the easiest and optimal way for him to directly familiarize himself with every object. He does not yet understand what he sees, but immediately, even without seeing it, he places it in his mouth. Knowing this Kabbalists say: “Taste and feel!”
In addition to this, they are referring to work with the screen, because our screen consists of Peh de-Rosh, or the inside of the mouth of the spiritual Partzuf. Therefore it is said: “taste.” Another reason is that the light that enters through Peh de-Rosh, or that enters inside the Partzuf through this screen, is called “Taamim” or “taste.”
Therefore: “taste” means to take something into yourself, meaning to allow the Upper Light to pass through your sensor and to taste it to the degree of your screen or the degree of your sixth organ’s attuning towards perceiving the external manifestation. That is, it means to receive the Light of the Creator into yourself. This is precisely what the Creator is: He is the inner light that we attain and perceive.