Awakening the Spiritual Senses

Deep in the human heart, beneath the swirl of likes, shares, and infinite scrolling, there lies a quiet ache—an unquenchable longing. We were not made merely for superficial connection over a distance or comfort, but for transcendence: to break through the confines of ourselves and taste the infinite, the eternal, the sacred here and now in the present world.

Contemporary science is beginning to corroborate what ancient faith has always declared: that transcendence is not a mere poetic metaphor, but a built-in dimension of human experience. Recent psychological and neuroscientific inquiry points to universal impulses toward something beyond nature—toward freedom, meaning, purpose, and communion with what we cannot see or fully comprehend.

This insight serves as a helpful bridge for modern seekers: even when the buzz of social media or the logic of materialism dominates, something within us rebels. The human spirit senses there is more—not just more pleasure or control, but more reality. In that rebellion lies the witness of God.

Thus we arrive at a question that has always defined the spiritual life: How do we distinguish true transcendence from illusion? How do we awaken and calibrate the spiritual senses so that we don’t merely imagine God, but perceive Him? How do we navigate the difference between craving escape and responding to a divine Invitation?

In what follows, we’ll explore the “five spiritual senses” as a map of awakened perception. We’ll see how God designed us—not to always see by sight, hear by noise, taste by appetite, smell by aroma, or touch by contact—but to have inner senses through which He can reveal Himself. And we’ll learn how those senses are trained, tested, and sanctified so that we don’t mistake self-longing for God longing, but are drawn into authentic encounter with the Trinity.

Andre Pelser would explain the Spiritual life in Christ Jesus as "supernaturally natural"

AS WE CONTINUE to practice doing just as He tells us to do in His Word, life completely changes for us. We will gain a completely different perspective and develop an entirely new attitude toward life, things, and people.

The Bible: A Collective of Stories of People Encountering God

From Genesis to Revelation, divine encounters are rarely polite or purely intellectual.

They move people — literally.

When God reveals Himself, human beings don’t stay still; they tremble, fall, dance, or sing because the finite body meets infinite holiness. These biological responses to something beyond us are signposts of a transcendent reality that the spirit longs for, proving that the spiritual world truly exists.

• Abraham falls face down (Gen. 17:3).
• Moses trembles before the burning bush (Ex. 3:6).
• David dances with all his might before the ark (2 Sam. 6:14).
• Ezekiel falls as though dead (Ez. 1:28).
• Mary sings; Elizabeth and John the Baptist leap (Luke 1:41).
• The disciples at Pentecost appear drunk with new wine (Acts 2:13).
• John in Revelation collapses like a dead man before Christ’s glory (Rev. 1:17).

So physical manifestations — trembling, falling, weeping, shouting, singing — are not modern inventions. They are the natural overflow of finite flesh encountering infinite holiness. Whether it is goosebumps, our hairs standing on end, our heart trembling, or a sudden shivering down our spine, these are responses not to our body needing something or us being afraid of an existential threat; it is our bodies responding to something supernatural, transcendent, and divine.

In moments like these, the body is not the source but the sensor: a living instrument picking up a signal from beyond itself. Biology provides the wiring; God supplies the current.

When God's current flows, awe breaks through—peace descends, love enlarges, and obedience feels not heavy but natural. That’s how you know it isn’t mere adrenaline or ambience; it’s God's presence.

The Neuroscience of Encounter

Neuroscientifically, charismatic experiences involve limbic activation (emotion), prefrontal deactivation (surrender of control), and dopamine-serotonin modulation (pleasure and peace).

This combination creates what William James famously called “the noetic quality” — the sense that something is more real than real. In moments of worship or prayer, when attention is fully yielded and emotion fully engaged, the brain’s default mode network (the ego-system) quiets. That’s why many believers describe the experience as freedom, peace, or overwhelming love. In other words, the body is cooperating with the Spirit. We are not escaping embodiment — we are finally using it rightly, as the temple of divine indwelling.

The Spiritual Senses

Theologians throughout the centuries have described the “five spiritual senses” — capacities of the inner person that correspond to bodily senses but are tuned to perceive divine reality.

These are the inner faculties by which the soul perceives God — not fantasy or emotion, but a sanctified sensitivity.

The Razor’s Edge of Revival

Every revival and renewal movement walks a razor’s edge between encounter and excess.

Emotional phenomena are not proof of spiritual maturity. The Spirit’s purpose is not to entertain but to transform.

Unhealthy signs appear when:

• Experience is pursued for its own sake (“addicted to manifestations”).
• Leaders manipulate emotions or claim exclusive access to God.
• Scripture and moral fruit are sidelined.
• People measure holiness by intensity rather than obedience.

As Paul warned:

“The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets… for God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” — 1 Cor. 14:32–33

Authentic encounter leads to humility, repentance, love, and service — not pride or spiritual exhibitionism. The aim is not feeling God, but knowing Him.

Emotion opens the door, but formation keeps it open.

As one writer notes:

“While the body registers the holy with tears, chills, or a felt presence, multiple research streams—from veridical near-death reports and paradoxical lucidity to medically unexplained healings and mass apparitions—suggest that, at least in some cases, the signal exceeds the instrument, pointing to a transcendent Caller our spirits were made to know.”

Witness of the Fathers: Spiritual Senses in Church History

• Origen (3rd century): Spoke of “spiritual senses” that parallel bodily senses but perceive divine realities — spiritual sight to see the glory of God, spiritual taste to enjoy His Word, spiritual touch to feel His presence.
• Gregory of Nyssa: Taught that through purification and prayer, the soul gains new faculties to sense God, though never fully comprehending Him.
• Augustine: Distinguished between “outer sense” (bodily) and “inner sense” (the soul’s perception of truth, beauty, and divine illumination).

O God, what do I love in loving you? Not the sweet melody of harmony and song; not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices; not manna or honey; not limbs such as the body delights to embrace. It is not these that I love when I love my God. And yet, when I love Him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace that I love when I love my God. It is the light, the voice, the perfume, the embrace of the inner man in me, where there shines in my soul a light that is not bound by space; where melodies are heard that time does not drive away; where it breathes fragrance that is not scattered by the wind; where one tastes a food that is never consumed by the eating; where one clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire. This is what I love when I love my God. (St. Augustine, Confessions) — St. Augustine, Confessions

• Origen continues:

Christ becomes the object of each sense of the soul. He calls himself the true light, to enlighten the eyes of the soul; the Word, to be heard; the bread of life, to be tasted; he is also called oil of anointing and nard because the soul is delighted by the perfume of the Logos. He became the Word made flesh, tangible, substantial, so that the inner man would be able to grasp the Word of life...the eye, if it reaches the contemplation of the glory of the Word, the glory of the only Son coming from the Father, will not want to see anything else; and the ear will not want to hear anything but the Word of life that saves; and he whose hand has touched the Word of life will not want to touch anything fragile and perishable; and he whose taste has savored the Word of life, his flesh and the bread come down from heaven, will thereafter be incapable of tasting anything else. (Origen, In Canticum Canticorum)

• Bernard of Clairvaux: Described encounters with God as spiritual taste and fragrance — the language of intimacy and delight.
• Thomas Aquinas: Affirmed that though God cannot be bodily sensed, the intellect and will — elevated by grace — participate in divine knowledge and love. This “connatural knowledge” lets love sense God beyond intellect.
• John Calvin: Emphasized the inner testimony of the Spirit — an inward sense confirming the truth of Scripture.
• Puritan Tradition: Spoke of the felt assurance of God’s presence — “sweetness” and peace in the soul.
• Jonathan Edwards: Taught of a “spiritual sense” beyond reason — the difference between knowing about honeyand tasting it.
• Rudolf Otto: Called this the numinous — a mysterious experience of awe that is both tremendum et fascinans, overwhelming yet beautiful.
• Karl Rahner: Described humans as transcendent beings, antennas always tuned toward God.
• Hans Urs von Balthasar: Saw beauty itself as a spiritual sense — glory drawing us toward God.

Spiritual senses do not awaken all at once. They develop slowly through attention, discipline, and desire. Practices like fasting, silence, and solitude clear the channels so that sensory noise doesn’t muffle spiritual perception.

The Five Spiritual Senses - Maximus the Confessor

1. Sight — The Intellective Faculty (Prophet)

• “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).
• Paul prays that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (Eph. 1:18).
• Elisha’s servant’s eyes were opened to see the heavenly armies (2 Kings 6:17).
• God asks Jeremiah, “What do you see?” (Jer. 1:11).
• “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18), yet “he who has seen (heōraken) Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
• “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see (opsontai, future of horaō) God.” — Matt 5:8

Definition:

Spiritual sight is the purified nous intelligence beholding divine logoi — perceiving God’s wise order and presence in creation, Scripture, and liturgy. It’s not imagination or fantasy; it’s noetic clarity born of purification and participation in divine light. Spiritual seeing is not just about visual imagery but perceiving truths, realities, ordering the soul, perceiving God’s patterns.  It’s not about seeing visions 24/7, but about looking at life with new eyes. When your soul is clear of junk, you start noticing God’s fingerprints everywhere—like when a song lyric hits you differently, or you suddenly see how a verse connects with your situation. It’s a kind of “holy clarity.”

How it works:

Through, meditation, contemplation, and focus the passions quiet and the nous becomes “simple,” capable of receiving God as light. This culminates in theoria (vision) and ultimately in the eschatological sight of the Trinity.

Examples:

• The “eyes of the heart” are enlightened during worship.
• Seeing providence in difficult events.
• Recognising divine fingerprints in creation or Scripture.
• A verse you’ve read 100 times suddenly bursts alive with personal meaning.

Analogy:

It’s like finally putting on prescription glasses and realizing the world was blurry all along — holy clarity replacing dullness.

2. Hearing — The Rational Faculty (Teacher)

• “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27).
• Elijah heard God in the “gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12).
• “Hear, O Israel” — to hear is to obey (Deut. 6:4).

Definition:

Spiritual hearing is the soul’s reason attuned to the Word — listening to Scripture, creation, and the Spirit’s inner address. The “piercing” of the heart to obey immediately. This is more than sound waves. It’s when you catch God’s voice through Scripture, prayer, or even a friend’s encouragement. Sometimes it’s like a lyric in your head that won’t go away. The key? It always aligns with God’s Word and draws you closer to obeying Jesus. In very few instances, people have reported hearing God's audible voice, where others could also hear the words. However, most spiritual hearing is about discerning and recognising His Word in daily life circumstances.

How it works:

When love and obedience unite with reason, truth becomes audible. The heart hears what the mind alone cannot. Spiritual Seeing or Intuitive Knowing — εἴδω (eidō) / οἶδα (oida)

“Hearing is a lost art in our generation because people dislike silence, are too busy with their own thoughts, have disorganized minds, are talkative, insubordinate, refuse authority, are disobedient, and are forgetful hearers deceiving themselves.” Andre Pelser

To perceive inwardly, to comprehend or see with insight.

Examples:

• A sermon or verse “pierces” the heart.
• A friend’s casual remark lands as a divine answer.
• An inner sentence during prayer provides direction.

Analogies:

It’s like catching a lyric written just for your life.

Like putting on “noise-canceling headphones for your soul” — blocking static so you can hear God’s playlist.

3. Smell — The Incensive Faculty (Pastor)

• “We are the aroma of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15).
• Incense rises before God (Lev. 16:12–13; Rev. 8:4).
• Mary’s perfume fills the house (John 12:3).

Definition:

Spiritual discernment is the ability to recognize the fragrance of holiness versus the stench of corruption or vice. (Holy vs Profane) The thymos (zeal) becomes purified, no longer reactive but perceptive. You can sense if something’s toxic, fake, or holy. It’s when you can “sniff out” whether a vibe, relationship, or teaching has the aroma of Christ—or not.

Examples:

• “Sensing” in prayer that something carries the wrong spirit.
• Feeling immediate peace in a place of prayer.
• Detecting hypocrisy when words don’t match life.

Analogy:

Like walking into a room and instantly sensing if the “vibe” is off.

You can “smell” the authenticity or deception of a moment.

4. Taste — The Appetitive Faculty (Evangelist)

• “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8).
• Ezekiel eats the scroll that tastes sweet as honey (Ezek. 3:1–3).
• Communion is about tasting and remembering Christ, thus prioritising Him.

Definition:

Spiritual taste is desire reshaped — the will learning to delight in God. Salvation rewires appetite so the soul hungers for what is truly good. This is about what you actually crave. Do you “taste and see” that God is good (Psalm 34:8), or do you keep chasing things that leave you empty? Over time, God rewires your appetite so you hunger for things that actually give life. It’s like learning to love real food after living on junk.

Examples:

• Losing the taste for pride or gossip.
• Craving prayer instead of distraction.
• Finding joy in serving others instead of self-promotion.

Analogy:

Like switching from junk food to whole foods — at first you crave sugar, but real nourishment makes you feel alive again.

5. Touch — The Vivifying Faculty (Apostle)

• Isaiah’s lips touched with coal (Isa. 6:6).
• The woman touches Jesus’ garment and is healed (Mark 5:27–30).
• Daniel is strengthened by a heavenly touch (Dan. 10:18).
• John says, “Our hands have handled the Word of life” (1 John 1:1).

Definition:

Spiritual touch is the life-giving contact of grace — when divine energy strengthens and enlivens body and soul. This is when you actually feel God’s presence—peace flooding you in worship, courage rising when you pray, or comfort wrapping around you like a blanket. It’s the Spirit’s way of making God’s love real to your body, not just your brain.

Examples:

• Feeling peace flood you during worship.
• Strength to forgive an enemy.
• The warmth or steadiness that comes through prayer or the laying on of hands.

Analogy:

Like a weighted blanket calming anxiety.

Or like your phone suddenly charging after running on empty — life flowing back in.

God's omnipresence:

WHAT TO DO WHEN GOD FEELS DISTANT

We all regularly experience moments where God feels distant.  IT IS ONLY A FEELING GOD IS OMNIPRESENT. (God is everywhere present): 1 Ki 8:27; Job 26:5–6; Ps 139:7–12; Pr 15:3; Je 23:23–24; Ac 17:2)

So we are talking about His manifest presence: God making Himself visible to our senses. 

WHAT DOES BIBLICAL WAITING LOOKS LIKE?

It is more clearly seen in setting up an ambush for the one who promised, “I will be found by you” (Jer. 29:14). Like fishing or hunting, I am actively waiting with expectation.  

REST H1826. דָּמַם dāmam: A verb meaning to be silent, to be still; to stand still. It depicts the state of being motionless (1 Sam. 14:9; Jer. 47:6). 

Meditation: From Reflection to Revelation

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart…” (Ps. 19:14; 49:3)

David is not praying for information but for integration — for his mouth (outer expression) and heart (inner meditation) to move in harmony with God.

This is participatory cognition: the soul echoing the Logos.

Psalm 49:3 continues: “My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.”

The Hebrew hagah means “to murmur, to chew, to utter softly.” Like a lion growling over its prey or a cow chewing the cud, meditation digests truth until it becomes part of the self.

The True Aim of Meditation: To Bring Out (Ausziehen)

The German ausziehen means “to draw out.”

Study brings truth into us, but meditation draws it out — activating the divine life already implanted by the Spirit.

• Study downloads data.
• Meditation opens the app.
• Study fills the cistern.
• Meditation opens the spring.

It’s the movement from logos (concept) to energeia (participation) — from the letter that informs to the Spirit that transforms (2 Cor. 3:6).

Reflection vs. Meditation

• Reflection grasps truth intellectually.
• Meditation assimilates truth relationally.

The intellect says, “I see.”

The heart says, “I receive.”

It’s the difference between reading a recipe and tasting the meal.

Between knowing the definition of “love” and holding your child.

Between hearing a score and joining the song.

True meditation engages will and affection, not just intellect. It is the heart turning toward God with His own Word — Christ in dialogue with Christ within you.

From Grasping to Being Grasped

“To grasp an argument, the intellect must exert itself,” you quoted.

But to grasp divine mystery, we yield instead of strain.

As Paul wrote:

“I press on to grasp that for which Christ Jesus has grasped me.” (Phil. 3:12)

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. NKJV

καταλαμβάνω katalambánō; fut. katalḗpsomai, from katá (G2596), an intens., and lambánō (G2983), to take. To apprehend, attain, obtain, find.
(I) To lay hold of, seize, with eagerness, suddenness (John 8:3, 4).

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is being forcefully advanced, and only those who press in with spiritual intensity take hold of it (Matthew 11:12).

Though John and Jesus had very different approaches—John lived austerely, fasting and calling for repentance, while Jesus ate and drank with sinners—both were faithful to God’s appointed mission. Their contrasting methods revealed the same divine wisdom: true faith is demonstrated not by style but by its fruit.

The expression “the kingdom is taken by violence” does not refer to physical aggression but to the spiritual urgency and determination with which people respond to God’s invitation. The Greek verb harpazō means “to seize, grasp, or snatch quickly.” It can describe both a reckless grabbing without thought or, more positively, a passionate eagerness to lay hold of what is precious. Jesus’ point was that entering God’s reign requires decisive, wholehearted commitment—not hesitation or indifference.

Just as some in the crowd could not decide—criticizing both John’s mourning and Jesus’ joy—many today miss God’s moment of grace. Like Felix and Agrippa, who were “almost persuaded” (Acts 24:25; 26:28), they sense the truth but fail to act.

Yet, as Jesus concludes, “Wisdom is proved right by her children” (Matthew 11:19). In other words, the truth of God’s way is vindicated by the results it produces—the transformed lives of those who truly follow Him.

The kingdom can not be forced or coerced; it can only be received, a receptive grasp — yielded attentiveness.

Consent and Co-Operation

Paul tells Philemon:

“Without your consent I would do nothing.” (Philem. 14)

God honours the same principle. Revelation requires consent of the heart — a willing yes that unlocks divine flow. God is not going to make you do anything! You need to work with God. "Willing to yield" (James 3:17)

Meditation, therefore, is not mechanical chanting but relational agreement:

“Lord, I consent to be taught. I allow Your Word to read me.”

Obedience Unlocks Revelation

“If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God.” — (John 7:17)

We don’t first understand in order to obey; we obey in order to understand.

In biblical knowing, obedience is illumination. This is how meditation turns into revelation — not by seeing more facts, but by aligning with the Fact of all facts: Christ Himself.

Meditation as the Womb of Revelation

If reflection is conception, meditation is gestation — the Word becoming flesh in you.

Mary “pondered these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

That pondering wasn’t anxiety; it was incubation. She didn’t dissect the message — she received it until it grew. Thus revelation is not lightning from above but blooming from within — the quiet flowering of divine truth in the soil of the soul.

Practical Tips to Reawaken the Spiritual Senses

1. Create silence daily. Even five minutes of stillness recalibrates your spirit.
2. Fast occasionally from media. Distraction dulls discernment.
3. Pray with your body. Kneel, lift hands, walk — engage physical senses in worship.
4. Feed your soul on Scripture. Read slowly; listen for God’s tone, not just His words.
5. Journal moments of awareness. Where did you “sense” God today?

Reflection Questions

1. Which of my spiritual senses feels most awake right now? Which feels dull or blocked?
2. What “noise” or habit most drowns out my sensitivity to God?
3. Where in my week do I truly see, hear, or feel His presence?
4. How can I practice one new form of sensory prayer this week—seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching God’s goodness?