Sample Header Ad - 728x90

What is an overview of doctrines from different Christian denominations/traditions regarding the existence of spiritual sense(s)?

4 votes
2 answers
237 views
I was looking at this question: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/16918/is-there-any-protestant-method-how-to-deal-spiritual-dryness . In it, the OP describes "spiritual dryness" as when a person doesn't feel the 'presence of God'. Let's pause and think about this. Feeling something entails perception—sensing something. In other words, it involves the senses: mechanisms that take in signals and convert them into conscious experience. But if we are talking about "feeling the presence of God," and if God is supposed to be a spiritual being, then unless God chooses to perform a miracle by intervening in the physical world and making his presence physically evident—by impacting our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste—the only other alternatives I can think of are: 1. God making his presence known through emotions (which makes me wonder: do we perceive emotions through our five senses—although [some estimate up to 33 senses!](https://www.senseationalspaces.com/blogs-1/re7az3aj7icnauvk324h5l5o0du6vz)—or are emotions perceived through a different sense in the brain?). 2. God making his presence known through our thoughts (perhaps by implanting spontaneous thoughts in our minds?). 3. We actually have a spiritual sense or senses, but these are dormant in most people. For example, an atheist, naturalist, or physicalist who denies the existence of the spiritual might be "spiritually blind" because their spiritual senses are inactive. However, if their spiritual senses were activated, they would be able to have spiritual experiences, just as most people are able to have auditory, visual, tactile, mental, or emotional experiences through the conventional senses. A whole new category of experience would be unlocked through the activation of spiritual senses. The third option reminds me a bit of the concept of the [third eye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_eye) , though that's an Eastern religious concept rather than a strictly Christian idea. Still, I wonder if Christianity teaches—perhaps with different terminology and nuances—about the existence of some kind of spiritual sense or senses, whether these can be activated (and if so, how), and whether, through them, we can perceive the presence of God (as a spiritual being), or even the presence of angels, demons, or the spiritual world in general. Given these considerations, I’m interested in how different Christian denominations and traditions address the idea of "spiritual senses." Do various branches of Christianity teach that humans have spiritual senses through which they can perceive God or spiritual realities? If so, how are these senses understood, and how do they relate to experiences like "spiritual dryness," the "dark night of the soul," or "feeling the presence of God"? I would appreciate an overview of how major Christian traditions—such as Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism—approach this concept.
Asked by user117426 (372 rep)
Jul 16, 2025, 05:37 PM
Last activity: Jul 26, 2025, 04:34 AM