Multi-sensory perception

I think that one place that many instructional texts lacks is in approaching matters from a single sense instead of multiples. The vast majority of methods and practices I've read about, heard about or encountered favor sight over the other senses, to the point of exclusion. It is described in fairly great detail about what we should look for or see, but not what we might hear, or smell, or touch.

I don't really consider myself a sight-primary person. I used to think that I had good night vision, but I have come to realize that it is more that I don't feel 'blind' at night, even though I might not be able to see anything, because I trust my other senses. When trying to place something unknown, or get a handle on something new, I am much more likely to take in the smell (and sometimes taste) of a thing than to get a good look at it.

I sometimes wonder, how many people who feel they aren't able to do something, feel this way because their preferred sense isn't that of sight. And when they don't see what they are told they should see, they feel they have failed, even when their other senses are giving them the information they sought.

And more than that, I think that even when we are receiving information from one of our senses, we tend to move on instead of opening ourselves to the rest of our senses and getting a more complete picture of things.

I have also found that sometimes I get information in an almost non-sensory manner. I call it intuitive sense....it's just plain old knowing. A lot of the time when I visualize things, I'm not actually seeing them (at least not in a visual sense kind of way). I'll get a complete conceptualization of a thing, but it will be very different from some of the visual images I get (which can be just like seeing a picture sitting on the table in front of me).

It can be really interesting to test yourself, and challenge yourself to do things without the benefit of one of your senses. I am sure many of us have done things (or attempted to) with our eyes closed, but you can also restrict your other senses. The world is quite different with a good pair of ear plugs in. How disoriented are we when we have a cold that plugs up our nose (and makes nothing really taste good!). Have you ever tried to grab something or write when your had was asleep (functioning without the sense of touch is really bizarre!). After an experience in this manner, I appreciate my senses even more than usual.