100 Human Ways of Experiencing the Universe

 by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Here is the second in my lists of 100. This list is based on the list of senses found in The Seven Mysteries of Life by Guy Murchie as well as on Michael Cohen's writings about our senses, based on Murchie's lists, which can be found at Project NatureConnect. However, I have veered from the idea of "senses," which feels limiting and subject to scientific argument about what a sense is, and instead have listed 100 ways that we humans can experience the universe in which we live. We are more aware of some of these than of others. I invite you to see what jumps out at you, and to take time focusing on ones of interest to you.

        1.          Sense of light and sight, including polarized light

2.          Sense of color

3.          Sense of moods and identities attached to colors

4.          Sense of awareness of one's own visibility or invisibility

5.          Sensitivity to radiation other than visible light: ultraviolet light, x-rays; night vision

6.          Ability to experience phosphenes (seeing light without light actually entering the  eye)

7.          Sense of heat

8.          Sense of cold

9.          Sense of temperature change

10.        Sense of seasons including ability to insulate

11.        Electromagnetic sense and polarity, including the ability to generate current in the  nervous system

12.        Hearing, frequency or pitch

13.        Hearing, amplitude or loudness

14.        Hearing, timbre, distinguishing one voice or instrument from another

15.        Hearing, direction of sound

16.        Hearing, resonance, vibrations, sonar frequencies

17.        Awareness of pressure, particularly underground, underwater, and to wind and air

18.        Sense of excretion for waste elimination

19.        Feeling touch on the skin

20.        Sense of sustained touch or pressure

21.        Awareness of dull ache

22.        Awareness of texture

23.        Distinguishing hardness and softness

24.        Distinguishing roughness and smoothness

25.        Sense of weight of external objects

26.        Kinesthesia - awareness of body movement

27.        Proprioception – awareness of relative position of body parts

28.        Sense of external motions

29.        Sense of gravity

30.        Cognition of heartbeat, breathing, blood circulation

31.        Sense of balance

32.        Space or proximity sense

33.        Smell with nose – camphoric (moth balls)

34.        Smell with nose – musky (perfume, after shave)

35.        Smell with nose – floral (roses)

36.        Smell with nose – minty (peppermint)

37.        Smell with nose – ethereal (dry cleaning fluid)

38.        smell with nose – pungent (vinegar, blue cheese)

39.        Smell with nose – putrid (rotten eggs)

40.        Hormonal responses, as to pheromones and other chemical stimuli

41.        Sensing chemical imbalance

42.        Taste – salt

43.        Taste – sweet

44.        Taste – bitter

45.        Taste – sour

46.        Appetite or hunger for food

47.        Thirst

48.        Sense of need for air, suffocation

49.        Urge to hunt or otherwise obtain food

50.        Sense of air humidity; water control, evaporation

51.        Response to pathogens

52.        External pain

53.        Internal pain

54.        Mental or spiritual distress

55.        Sense of fear, dread of injury, death or attack

56.        Sense of falling or potential of falling

57.        Procreative urges including sex awareness, courting, love, mating,

58.        Paternal and maternal instincts

59.        Sense of play, sport

60.        Sense of humor and laughter

61.        Sense of pleasure

62.        Sense of physical place

63.        Navigation senses including awareness of land and seascapes

64.        Sense of rhythm

65.        Awareness of weather changes

66.        Sense of emotional place, of community

67.        Sense of belonging, support, trust

68.        Sense of gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation

69.        Sense of power

70.        Domineering and territorial sense

71.        Compassion and receptive awareness of one's fellow creatures

72.        Sense of personal identity, including friendship and companionship

73.        Awareness of birth and death

74.        Horticultural sense and the ability to cultivate crops

75.        Language and articulation sense, used to express feelings and convey information

76.        Sense of humility

77.        Sense of ethics

78.        Sense of form and shape

79.        Sense of design

80.        Sense of reason, including capacity for logic and science

81.        Sense of mind and consciousness

82.        Intuition or subconscious deduction

83.        Aesthetic sense, including creativity and appreciation of beauty, music, literature,  and drama

84.        Circadian, or daily, rhythm

85.        Sense of time duration

86.        Awareness of past, present and future events

87.        The capacity to hypnotize and be hypnotized

88.        Relaxation and sleep including dreaming, meditation, brain wave awareness

89.        Sense of excessive stress and capitulation

90.        Sense of survival by joining a more established organism

91.        Spiritual sense, including capacity for sublime love, ecstasy,

92.        Conscience, including a sense of wrong and feelings of regret

93.        Experience of grief, profound sorrow and sacrifice

94.        Sensory memory

95.        Long-term memory

96.        Short-term memory

97.        Cosmic consciousness

98.        Muscle-motor memory

99.        Immune memory

100.      Sense of homeostatic unity, of natural attraction, aliveness as the singular essence

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the President of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.