Doubtlessly, you have heard and many times used the phrase, ‘coming to our senses.” If I use it, I assume folks know what I mean. Sometimes we might add some detail about what it means in a particular moment. After hearing it and using it all these years, I realized I had never taken any time to think about that phrase. Why is it so powerful and meaningful? And is there anything spiritual about it?
In this first place I think it is meaningful and powerful because it is rooted in our ordinary way of thinking about ourselves. Most of us learn early on about our senses. When we get to school, we learn there are five senses. At least there are five senses for most of us we learn. Occasionally, we come across someone who is deaf or who is blind and that makes us realize the five senses are not absolutely a given. But being normal means we have all five.
We may learn some things about ourselves such that we are more visual learners or that we learn better as auditory learners. Some folks are kinesthetic learners, but I am sure I did not know what this word meant in my early years of school! However, even with strengths identified, most of us probably just took our senses for granted. Only in those occasional situations, like smelling a skunk, were we blatantly aware of a sense. Oddly enough, smell and taste are more given to rude awakenings than sight and hearing.
As I think further into the matter, I realize that I really did take the senses for granted and this caused me to miss much of life’s experiences. For example, it is easy to recall all those times when I was seeing things, but not really conscious of what I was seeing. I was seeing without much---or any---awareness. I was not blind, but I might as well have been blind. Many times surely I absolutely missed what was going on. Other times, I “woke up” to what was going on. I mean by this that I came to see---really see---what had been passing by my eyes all the time.
The same is probably true for the other four senses. For example, how many meals have I wolfed down without actually tasting anything I put in my mouth. I filled my belly, but did not really have a tasteful experience. I now consider this an opportunity squandered. It is a minor example of being alive, but not appreciating living. Sometimes I articulate it as having something happen, but missing the experience. How many of my days are like this?
As I think about this, I realize two things. The first realization is how much more I can get out of my life if I were to come to my senses! To come to my senses means I would live with an appropriate awareness of what is going on anyway. To be aware typically does not mean new things are created. Rather it means that I can register and appreciate what is already going on. It sounds so simple and, in one sense, it is simple. But it takes some effort.
If awareness is the key to coming to our senses, then the task is to cultivate awareness---to cultivate living with awareness. To do this takes two things: intentionality and discipline. Of course, it happens here and there---haphazardly and accidentally. But cultivating awareness means I become intentional about the process. I have to engage and stay engaged. It is the opposite of sensual daydreaming. It is like slowing down the time frames. Make time go slower and you are more aware.
This is a form of discipline. In a sense, discipline is staying with it. Discipline is stretching intentionality over time. Discipline stays with the process and looks to make it into some kind of habit. If I can move it toward habit, then it takes less effort and is less tiring. That feels like getting into shape.
And now the question is whether this form of coming to my senses is---or can become---spiritual. The answer is yes! The easiest part of saying yes is recognizing nothing spiritual happens unless we are aware of it. Or something spiritual may happen and we actually miss it. It happens, but we have no experience. We did not get it! Coming to our senses is the only way we can become spiritual. So all we have just described must be in place to be spiritual.
Recognizing it as spiritual is more of an interpretation---an awareness there is an even deeper level. If we have these kind of spiritual sensual experiences, we will realize how inadequate our language is. And yet the language of the senses is some of the best we have. For example, we might have a significant sense of God’s presence. We say we can actually feel it. In fact, we might say we feel it deeply or profoundly.
Another good example is the sense of communion. That might be limited to a little sip of wine and the sense of tasting some bread. But when it becomes communion, it becomes spiritual. We can talk about savoring the Holy One, of having my soul fed with the sweetness of the Spirit, etc. The same can extend to the other senses as well.
I realize how easy it is to think about and write about this stuff. The real issue, however, is to put it into practice in my ordinary life. The desire and goal are simple” to come to our senses.”
In this first place I think it is meaningful and powerful because it is rooted in our ordinary way of thinking about ourselves. Most of us learn early on about our senses. When we get to school, we learn there are five senses. At least there are five senses for most of us we learn. Occasionally, we come across someone who is deaf or who is blind and that makes us realize the five senses are not absolutely a given. But being normal means we have all five.
We may learn some things about ourselves such that we are more visual learners or that we learn better as auditory learners. Some folks are kinesthetic learners, but I am sure I did not know what this word meant in my early years of school! However, even with strengths identified, most of us probably just took our senses for granted. Only in those occasional situations, like smelling a skunk, were we blatantly aware of a sense. Oddly enough, smell and taste are more given to rude awakenings than sight and hearing.
As I think further into the matter, I realize that I really did take the senses for granted and this caused me to miss much of life’s experiences. For example, it is easy to recall all those times when I was seeing things, but not really conscious of what I was seeing. I was seeing without much---or any---awareness. I was not blind, but I might as well have been blind. Many times surely I absolutely missed what was going on. Other times, I “woke up” to what was going on. I mean by this that I came to see---really see---what had been passing by my eyes all the time.
The same is probably true for the other four senses. For example, how many meals have I wolfed down without actually tasting anything I put in my mouth. I filled my belly, but did not really have a tasteful experience. I now consider this an opportunity squandered. It is a minor example of being alive, but not appreciating living. Sometimes I articulate it as having something happen, but missing the experience. How many of my days are like this?
As I think about this, I realize two things. The first realization is how much more I can get out of my life if I were to come to my senses! To come to my senses means I would live with an appropriate awareness of what is going on anyway. To be aware typically does not mean new things are created. Rather it means that I can register and appreciate what is already going on. It sounds so simple and, in one sense, it is simple. But it takes some effort.
If awareness is the key to coming to our senses, then the task is to cultivate awareness---to cultivate living with awareness. To do this takes two things: intentionality and discipline. Of course, it happens here and there---haphazardly and accidentally. But cultivating awareness means I become intentional about the process. I have to engage and stay engaged. It is the opposite of sensual daydreaming. It is like slowing down the time frames. Make time go slower and you are more aware.
This is a form of discipline. In a sense, discipline is staying with it. Discipline is stretching intentionality over time. Discipline stays with the process and looks to make it into some kind of habit. If I can move it toward habit, then it takes less effort and is less tiring. That feels like getting into shape.
And now the question is whether this form of coming to my senses is---or can become---spiritual. The answer is yes! The easiest part of saying yes is recognizing nothing spiritual happens unless we are aware of it. Or something spiritual may happen and we actually miss it. It happens, but we have no experience. We did not get it! Coming to our senses is the only way we can become spiritual. So all we have just described must be in place to be spiritual.
Recognizing it as spiritual is more of an interpretation---an awareness there is an even deeper level. If we have these kind of spiritual sensual experiences, we will realize how inadequate our language is. And yet the language of the senses is some of the best we have. For example, we might have a significant sense of God’s presence. We say we can actually feel it. In fact, we might say we feel it deeply or profoundly.
Another good example is the sense of communion. That might be limited to a little sip of wine and the sense of tasting some bread. But when it becomes communion, it becomes spiritual. We can talk about savoring the Holy One, of having my soul fed with the sweetness of the Spirit, etc. The same can extend to the other senses as well.
I realize how easy it is to think about and write about this stuff. The real issue, however, is to put it into practice in my ordinary life. The desire and goal are simple” to come to our senses.”
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