Thoughts in pills

Thoughts in pills - 1
The kinds of perceptions in the human body

Prefaction : the 5 basic perceptions

I remember when I went to primary school that teachers taught us that there are 5 different kinds of perceptions, namely SIGHT, HEARING, SMELL, TASTE and TOUCH respectively.

Well, it's true, these 5 exist. Some, in certain cases, have a deficiency in some of these, such as sight or hearing... it's true...

But the truth is that there are also others, which in certain cases can simply be learned and understood immediately, and which I simply need to describe to probably make the reader understand better.

The perception of pain in the bones

It seems obvious, but it isn't. Even bone pain is a perception. For example, let's say you get a bump in the elbow, hitting a table, and feel a little pain in the bone. That pain we feel is a perception, which is conceptually separate from touch. Because touch, at least as I conceive the world, is that sensation of 'smooth', 'rough', 'touch on the finger' that we perceive for example with the fingers or in any case generally with the skin.

The perception of pain in the skin

What is it about? Suppose you slip while trekking in the mountains and scrape your knee on a rock. The wound that is created, with the presence of blood, causes a particular sensation in the body. It is the sensation of being physically injured on one's skin.

The perception of pain in the muscles

This pain is a different type of pain than bone or skin pain. Everyone will have had a cramp: you can feel the muscle pulling. Well, that sensation of pain is different from the other two types of pain.

The perception of temperature

This is easy to understand. Temperature, i.e. feeling hot or cold with your skin. Some might argue “hey, isn't that included in the perception of touch?” ... well, let's say that conceptually it is better to think of it as separate, because in reality we very often think of it as such. When we go outdoors and feel that it is hot or cold, we do not necessarily think of feeling it with a hand or a foot or with our face... of course, we can also perceive the perception of temperature in a particular part of the body by focusing our attention on that part, but not necessarily. For example, while feeling a surface as smooth, rough or "touched" also necessarily implies in our mind the concept of "position of perception", this does not happen with temperature: we simply think "it is hot" or "it is cold" without necessarily mentally associate a position of our body.

The perception of intestinal well-being/discomfort

We also have a perception of how well or badly our intestine is functioning. We can feel sensations of pleasantness, heaviness, no particular sensation, or even acidity, or even malaise, or even 'excessive quantity of liquids' or even 'excessive quantity of solid matter'. It obviously depends mainly on what and how we eat.

The perception of mental clarity

We also have this perception. For example, when we are very tired and tend to doze off, in a certain sense we perceive that our conscience is "switching off" a bit... whereas in the morning, shortly after waking up, it is normal to feel more mentally clear... conceptually, it is the perception of tiredness, drowsiness or clarity with which we perceive everything that happens to us. It depends on various factors, such as how well rested we are, how we eat and also how healthy or polluted the environment around us is, but not necessarily only this.

The perception of gravity

Do we also have a perception of gravity? Well, in a way yes. Has it ever happened to you, in a dream or even in person, to have the sensation of "falling", for example from stairs or from a sidewalk? Have you ever gone to an amusement park on a roller coaster or on those towers where you climb slowly, hooked to a chair, and then you are suddenly left in free fall? Here, that particular perception, which is generally perceived in the stomach, is a conceptually different perception from all those others listed, which I called "perception of gravity" but I could also have called "perception of falling".

The perception of danger

Some people also have this: a perception of danger. Some people, under certain circumstances, begin to feel that some kind of 'threat' that they don't exactly understand might be nearby, and, instinctively, they try to move away from it by mentally heading in an opposite direction. I also consider this perception, conceptually, different from all those others listed.

The perception of equilibrium

We know that balance is perceived thanks to small bones that are present inside the ears. Now, conceptually it is useful to separate hearing from balance, because they are two different concepts. Someone might ask: but isn't balance related in some way to the "perception of gravity" or "perception of falling" previously listed?

I thought about it for a while, pondering whether the "perception of gravity" or the "perception of falling" was nothing more than a perception of a very extreme value of the perception of balance. And after thinking about it, I thought it was better, on a conceptual level, to keep them separate, also because I know that, while balance is perceived thanks to the small bones inside the ears, the "perception of gravity" or "the perception of falling ” is perceived thanks to the intestine.

The perception in the heart

What is that? Well, in the heart you can perceive various sensations, such as joy, warmth (love), suffering, cold, greyness, desperation, brokenness, but not only... well, this is also a perception, and I believe it should be counted as such. Some of these perceptions I have listed are more or less pleasant, others are more or less unpleasant.

The perception of the need to ...... expel ...

This also a body perception too!!! Yes!!! When we need to urinate, or defecate... well, we have a particular perception, VERY DISTINCT from all the others. And to be precise, there are 2 different perceptions: one for urine and one for solid excrement.

The perception of sexual harassment

There is a particular meaning that we associate with the concept of sexual harassment. It does not necessarily occur with the physical interaction of a 'malicious' person who interacts with physical contact, in some cases it is sufficient that just a few words that 'mysteriously' make us feel sexually harassed.

The perception of psychological harassment

There is also psychological harassment. Personally, I have felt several of them over the course of my life, but I have not found them unpleasant: I could describe them as a slightly bizarre sensation that we feel inside our head, as if something was bending, twisting or mixing, right in the brain, and which tends to pass after some time.

The perception of spirit/prana flux

At the base of the spinal column there is a point, also described by Indian philosophers as 'chakra' (but not necessarily associated with vortexes, colors or similar concepts, as described by them) where a particular perception is experienced, which can be associated with a value positive, neutral or negative numerical (but this also applies to the other perceptions... like that of temperature, for example...). This perception, in the case of the positive one, as far as I'm concerned, I perceived it as a sort of hot flow, in the case of the negative one instead like a thorn that hurts. This 'spirit', 'prana' or 'energy' that we can receive or lose, is conceptually what we need to make the people we interact with feel good or bad. Without this spirit we cannot love others effectively.

The perception of hunger and thirst

We also have this perception: feeling full or hungry, and in particular also feeling like we need water or food.

And then?

The question arises spontaneously: are there others too?

Well honestly the answer is: yes. There are others too. Just to give an example, some people are able to perceive the 'weather' in some way a few days in advance (I'm not capable of this): that is, they know if it will rain, if it will be good weather, etc...

In addition to this, just to give another example, I know that there are people who are capable of stacking stones in perfect balance one on top of the other, placing them on the rounded or sharp ends. To do this, they probably possess some ability to perceive those stones that I am absolutely unable to describe (because I don't have that ability...). Mine is just a hypothesis, it doesn't mean that they don't simply exploit the feel of their hands, but let's say that it is a hypothesis that I consider quite probable.

At the moment, as far as I'm concerned, I'm simply interested in ensuring that these concepts that I have listed briefly are very clear in the mind of the reader, without making people fantasize too much about something else. Having these concepts clearly, having this small mental map, will be tremendously useful for you to be able to think better and put a little more order in your personal and professional life.

Conclusions

How many kind of perceptions are there in all? How many have I listed so far?

Wait while I recount them... the 5 'classics', plus another 16 in my list, plus the 2 in the "and then?" paragraph. ... we are at 23 ...

Considering that I know others that I prefer not to talk about at the moment but that I can at least quantify...mhhh.... (wait while I count them....)

...

...

...

I know 2-3 others, or maybe a few more. Some of which I am very unfamiliar with, others that I know a little better, but which I was still able to experiment with for a short time.

So at the moment I can say that I know about 26 different kind of perceptions. And these are the ones I know. Maybe, elsewhere, there are people who also have other, different ones, that I don't know. More than probable hypothesis.