A Sense of Awareness

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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