I know of a woman who, not long ago, lost her
husband of fifty years. She is struggling day by day, as we all do, with the
absence of those we love but see no more. She is a woman of strong and quiet
faith and she spoke recently of hearing her husband’s voice calling her name as
he used to do when he would wake her from her nap. It was clear and
unmistakable to her and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Her daughter
suggested that it was the “sixth sense that we no longer use.” This statement
struck me as peculiar at first, as I had not heard it before, but I supposed it
to be a secular scientific explanation for such phenomena. I’m sure the woman’s
daughter meant well and was trying to be helpful but her statement couldn’t be
farther from the truth.
I have experienced such phenomena myself on several
occasions, as many perhaps have. Such things sometimes cause us to think of
Hollywood movies like Poltergiest, Ghost, and The Sixth Sense.
But these are Hollywood interpretations, entertaining and emotionally
stimulating though they may be, they should not be taken all that seriously. We
have an inherent curiosity about all things supernatural, which is quite
natural, but what we do not often realize is that there is only One Who is
truly Supernatural and it is natural for us to seek Him – we were made that
way: “You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our souls will never rest
until they rest in You.” (St. Augustine of Hippo).
In traditional usage, “supernatural” means divine: of
God. The supernatural is therefore totally separate from, superior to, and
in no way dependent upon what is created – what is “natural” in that sense.
Only God is supernatural in His very Being. He can act with supernatural power
upon all “natural” (that is, created) things and beings. He can communicate His
supernatural life and power to what is created, thus elevating it. But the
distinction always remains between what is created and what is supernatural.
Supernatural power can bypass all natural modes of operation and can act
directly upon spirit. It need not pass via the senses , or through the internal
powers of imagination, mind and will in order to reach the soul of a human
being. Only God and those who share in His supernatural power can do this.
Preternatural power, which evil spirits possess, is
superior to human power in its abilities. It is not bound by laws of physical
nature and of matter that govern all our human exercise of power in the
physical and psychic orders. By virtue of preternatural power, evil spirits can
manipulate psychic phenomena and produce psychic states. They are able to
produce fascinating effects in our human fields of perception and behaviour.
They may not be and probably are not responsible for all psychic phenomena, but
they are masters of this sort of behaviour and have the ability to stimulate
and entice us through our senses and imagination. But they cannot interfere
with our freedom to choose or reject, because that freedom is granted and
guaranteed by the Divine. God, for example, can “give” us grace, which is not
ours of ourselves. Evil Spirit can only act upon what it finds and only within
the limits of its knowledge. In other words, the preternatural power of evil
spirits can produce nothing in us that was not already there, actually or
potentially.
So what of the “sixth sense”? Is it a left-over
by-product of some primordial soup? Or is it something more? I believe it to be
a faculty God instilled in us from the beginning through which we are capable
of perceiving His Presence. This faculty no longer functions as it originally
did because of the Fall. Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect and constant awareness of
God’s Presence, and this is the “natural” state of things, the way God intended
and the way it will be again once the fullness of restored Communion achieved by Christ
is manifested. In the meantime, this perceptive faculty, or “sixth sense” if
you will, must be trained by the intellect, subjected to the Will and activity
of God, which is Grace. St. Maximos the Confessor puts it this way: “Cleanse
your intellect from anger, rancour and shameful thoughts, and you will be able
to perceive the indwelling of Christ. [] He who always concentrates on the
inner life becomes restrained, long-suffering, kind and humble. He will also be
able to contemplate, theologize and pray. That is what St. Paul meant when he
said: ‘Walk in the Spirit’ (Gal. 5:16).”
Everything that has living existence is related to spirit,
that is, it has a spiritual dimension. Therefore, everything has meaning and
nothing happens without a reason.
Hearing the voice of a deceased loved one may in
fact be a comfort and consolation allowed by God (for His own reasons) to those
who lovingly grieve as well as an affirmation of Christ’s words that, “God is not a god of the dead but of the
living, for all live to Him” (Luke 20:38). But we should always exercise
great discernment and discrimination when experiencing spiritual phenomena, as
the Adversary and his minions are ever and always seeking to deceive, mislead
and delude. If our “sixth sense” is trained and controlled by humility and
dispassion we will gain an awareness of God’s Love and Goodness, in proportion
to our faith and God’s Grace active within us:
“If, as St. Paul says, Christ dwells in our hearts
through faith (Eph. 3:17), and all the treasures of wisdom and spiritual
knowledge are hidden in Him (Col.2:3), then all the treasures of wisdom and
spiritual knowledge are hidden in our hearts. They are revealed to the heart in
proportion to our purification by means of the Commandments. This is the
treasure hidden in the field of your heart (Matt.13:44), which you have not yet
found because of your laziness. Had you found it, you would have sold
everything and bought that field. But now you have abandoned that field and
give all your attention to the land nearby, where there is nothing but thorns
and thistles. It is for this reason that the Saviour says, ‘Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Matt.5:8): for He is hidden in the
hearts of those who believe in Him. They shall see Him and the riches that are
in Him when they have purified themselves through love and self-control; and
the greater their purity, the more they will see.” – St. Maximos the Confessor.
Let’s stop giving our attention to the land of
thorns and thistles and false “supernaturals” and instead concentrate on
purifying our sense of awareness – our heart – for God is “… everywhere
present and filling all things” and He pours forth upon us His Love, His
Beauty, His Goodness, His Mercy, at every time and in every season.
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