Sixth Sense

Brian Ellis
Ms. Eren
Senior Project
May 21, 2013
Misconceptions of the Sixth Sense:
An Extension vs An Ability?

The senses are basic: hearing, taste, smell, sight, and touch. These are the given senses that are apart of every living creature on earth. People have always wondered about the existence of the sixth sense. A sixth sense is a power of perception beyond the five senses. Many have theorized that the ability of the sixth sense is a skill that can be gained by appreciating nature, similar to the innate senses of an animal. The idea of the existence of a sixth sense has been misguided. The sixth sense we all believe is there, does not exist, there are only abilities or enhancement that have been misunderstood. Animals for along time have seemed to have a sixth sense but in reality it is their already enhanced senses that we are seeing. Animals have been able to detect or even notice things that cannot possibly be known. These are the main instances where animals’ sixth sense is misconceived. They are from a completely different world than we are. Animals have gained abilities that have helped them survive in nature. These heightened senses are due to the lack of one of their already basic senses. For example a bat with its blindness relies on its ears to detect waves, vibrations in the air in order to see. Animals in turn of needing something to replace the lack of one of their senses gains an ability. Humans have this capability as well. The human body can enhance a sense giving its host an ability that compensates for something lost. Humans are just as diverse as animals. We gain different abilities that are based on different factors like gender, heritage, and even the environment that one has grown up in. These factors are what makes an ability or even an enhancement even possible. One ability that have still yet to understand is instinct, an inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environment, or can be defined as a powerful motivation or impulse. Every living creature has this ability inside them, it is just the matter of how in touch one is with the instinct that is inside them. Animals for some reason are more in touch with their instincts than we are as humans. Some believe it is for the reason that animals are more in touch with nature. Humans only seem to be really in touch with their instinct when they are in serious danger, when their senses are more focused because they know their life is threatened. Animals have forever been the thought to be the key of understanding what the sixth sense was. The fact that what they were observing was something other than a sixth sense lead their conclusions about the sixth sense to be misguided. There have been multiple events throughout history where animals have been noticed of having odd behaviors. In most cases animals’ behavior was due to a disaster or something strange they sensed. Most people have misunderstood there actions as something odd, different. People began to notice what was causing animals to act like this, when they found out why they wanted to know the how. How could the animals possibly know when there was a disaster? This is what lead people to believe there was a sixth sense. Their observations were not of a sixth sense but an animals heighted senses working in their favor. Throughout history animals have had weird behavior when it came to disasters occurring or even beforehand. The misconception of these animals is that these actions that they are exhibiting are due to a sixth sense. This is not the case, most scientist state that we are seeing the animals’ heighted senses at work. Animals have senses that are superior to ours as humans. Depending on the animals determines which of the senses maybe more enhanced. On February 4, 1975, an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck the Haicheng County, Liaoning Province. Before the earthquake hit local people saw hibernating snakes coming out from their holes into the snow. Through the period of the first three days in February the activity intensified even more, unusual behavior in larger animals such as cows, horses, dogs, and pigs was reported. (“The Use of Animals in Earthquake Prediction” 1) Events along this line is what people may misconstrue as a sixth sense that animals have, what people don’t really think about is the abilities or the heightened senses animals have that acts as a warning. Once we identify what abilities or senses that are enhanced, we can gain better understanding as to why these animals reacted the way they did in response to the earthquake. Snakes for instance, it is not surprising that they were the first to respond to this coming threat. They 'hear' by picking up vibrations through their jawbones. The part of body in direct contact with the ground has an incredible sensitive stereo hearing, which enables a snake to sense and detect the position of prey (“Facts about snakes” 1). This ability can logically count as an early warning sign to an Earthquake. Snakes are not native to the environment that surrounds them, they notice the slightest change. By them being able to feel the vibrations in the ground they could feel the slightest tremble in the ground. Dogs on the other hand can hear higher pitched sounds that humans cannot hear. They often bark at vacuums because they hear a very loud annoying pitch. Dogs detect sounds in the frequency range of approximately 67 - 45,000 Hz (varies from different breeds), compared to humans with the approximate range of 64 - 23,000 Hz. Dogs have 18 or more muscles in their ears allowing them to be mobile, whereas a human has only 6. (“Understanding a Dog's Senses”1). These extra muscles allow dogs to move their ears specific directions as to better focus their hearing. Dogs with perked ears can usually hear well than dogs with hanging ears, especially if they can move their ears in the direction of the sound. This ability would also explain why the canine would be able to react to an earthquake or any disaster that affects the sounds waves in the air. By a canine directing and focusing it hearing on certain points, they would be able to determine if there is a threat coming. This is only one instance where animals abilities have save them or acted as an early warning sign from a natural disaster. What people have been seeing was the enhanced senses and abilities that animals have working in their favor. Humans on the other hand may gain an enhanced sense mostly in special cases. Scientist were working on determining what factors contribute to a blind person’s sense of hearing being enhanced. They know that it is possible; they did not understand why this was occurring. Some of their theories is that a sixth sense in the body could be acting on a blind persons hearing giving them a new way to see. After much research scientist discovered that it is the brain that is causing the enhancement of the hearing sense. When a human losses a sense a brain has to work harder in order to make up for what your boy has lost. We all know that the brain is a muscle and the more you use a certain area of it the stoner it will become. By a blind person losing their sense of sight their brain works their muscles in their ear more while makes the hearing capability stronger. This view of a sixth sense was proven wrong by that of science. The scientists determined that there was not a sixth sense that was working but, an enhancement due to that lose of another sense. A factor that people over look is that everyone already has a sixth sense. The only action that every living creature has is instinct. Instinct is the something that scientist have not been fully able to explain. A person’s, even an animal’s instincts are unpredictable because it depends on how in touch they are with this instinct that lives inside of them. My research has lead me to the conclusion that the closest we as living creatures have to a sixth sense is instinct. Instinct is an inward stimulator that affects our five basic senses. As we know a sixth sense is a power of perception beyond the five senses. By following this definition and the proof of the continued misconceptions of the sixth sense, the logical ideal sixth sense would be instinct. Instinct in some instances can be controlled by sheer will power or even through constant training. Instinct mainly relies on your brains reactions in order to be activated. Think of your brain as a trigger. Scientist have discovered that instinct is more often triggered when one is believe to be in danger (whenever life is threatened). The reason they believe animals are more in touch with their instincts is because since they live in nature their lives are constantly threatened. This in turn always keep them on edge. There sense are being constantly worked like a muscle, which allows them to get stronger. Humans on the other hand live a more comfortable life style. We have learned to make the environment around us work in our favor. We live a relaxed life, our lives are not constantly threatened, there are the instances where we get to a situation where our life maybe on the line which than beings out our instincts. To better understand the difference between the average human life style, compare it to a person who has been on the battle field for years. Their instincts have been working constantly. We notice the difference the people had n these environments when they return average society and try to return to their normal life style. They can’t turn it off because there body now feels, just like an animals, like there is always a threat that is about to pounce. There are more ridiculous ideas as to what the sixth sense could possible turn out to be with further study. Most people believe that we will be able to gain super human power like telekinesis. The power to move object without applying physical force. Being able to communicate without the use of talking but through thoughts. Scientist have not found any logical proof that this exist yet, they are continuing to do their research. This is only one of the possibilities that has been widely viewed as a possible sixth sense throughout the 20th and mostly the 21st. The misconception of the sixth sense are mostly simple. Most of the views on the sixth sense have been only enhancements and/or abilities. The fact that animals are so much different than us make it difficult to compare them to us. We live in completely different world so the sense that we have are different, the abilities we obtain are different, and the instinct we develop is different. Look deeper and you will find a true answer, there is always something under the first sheet that is laid down.