Humans have five basic senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The sensing organs associated with each sense send information to the brain to help us understand and perceive the world around us. People also have other senses in addition to the basic five. Here's how they work:
Touch:
Touch is thought to be the first sense that humans develop. Touch consists of several distinct sensations communicated to the brain through specialized neurons in the skin. Pressure, temperature, light touch, vibration, pain and other sensations are all part of the touch sense and are all attributed to different receptors in the skin.
Touch isn't just a sense used to interact with the world; it also seems to be very important to a human's well-being.
For example- the touch has been found to convey compassion from one human to another.
Sight:
Sight, or perceiving things through the eyes, is a complex process.
First, light reflects off an object to the eye. The transparent outer layer of the eye bends the light that passes through the hole of the pupil. The iris (which is the colored part of the eye) works like the shutter of a camera, retracting to shut out light or opening wider to let in more light. Sight-Light …. 😊
Hearing: This sense works via the complex labyrinth that is the human ear…
Smell: Humans may be able to smell over 1 trillion scents, according to researchers
Taste: The gustatory sense is usually broken down into the perception of four different tastes: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. There may be many other flavors that have not yet been discovered. And here- spicy is not a taste. It is actually a pain signal, according to the National Library of Medicine.
The sense of taste aids to distinguish: A bitter or sour taste indicated that a plant might be poisonous or rotten. Something salty or sweet, however, often meant the food was rich in nutrients.
The sense of space: In addition to the traditional big five, there is another sense that deals with how your brain understands where your body is in space. This sense is called PROPRIOCEPTION.
“Man has Four points of contact with God; through Light, through Air, through Water and through Food” - The Teacher, Beinsa Douno- July 11, 1864 - December 27, 1944
Proprioception includes the sense of movement and position of our limbs and muscles. For example, proprioception enables a person to touch their finger to the tip of their nose, even with their eyes closed. It enables a person to climb steps without looking at each one. People with poor proprioception may be clumsy and uncoordinated.
As we presented the Five Senses brief explanations and understanding of how they base our perceptions, let us look at the 5 basic human psychological needs and how they affect our everyday lives.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs...
is an idea in Psychology proposed by the Russian-American Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation"
Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of developmental psychology some of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up.
Physiological Needs:
- Food, water, clothing, sleep, and shelter are the bare necessities for anyone's survival.
- Safety and Security. Once a person's basic needs are satisfied, the want for order and predictability sets in
- Love and Belonging
- Esteem
- Self-Actualization
The pyramid of human needs, which Maslow defined in 1954, shows our five basic needs in order of origin: physiological needs based on basic human senses, psychological need for security and protection, need for love and belonging, need for recognition and need for self-actualization (striving to develop your talents in different areas) and recognition.
The pyramid of human needs is like a house: to build a roof, you need a solid foundation and one or more floors. Keep in mind that everyone may experience several or all of these needs at the same time.
The original hierarchy states that a lower level must be completely satisfied and fulfilled before moving onto a higher pursuit. However, today scholars prefer to think of these levels as continuously overlapping each other. This means that the lower levels may take precedence back over the other levels at any point in time.
Let me explain this in a very simple way: If you are starving/thirsty – your first reaction, decision, action will be to satisfy the need of food/water. Once this need is satisfied you can focus on other things. But let us assume you are starving/thirsty and without a shelter? Which need comes first and which need comes second? - they are overlapping each other.
In order to advance higher-level needs in Maslow's hierarchy, physiological needs must be met first. This means that if a person is struggling to meet their physiological needs, they are unwilling to seek safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization on their own.
Physiological needs include:
- Air
- Water
- Food
- Sleep
- Sex
- Shelter
Safety needs include:
- Health
- Personal Security
- Emotional Security
- Financial Security
Social belonging needs include:
- Family
- Friendship
- Intimacy
Esteem Needs: the need of self-respect, respect from others, self-confidence, independence and freedom.
Cognitive and aesthetic Needs: the needs for creativity, curiosity, meaning, beautiful imagery and pleasant feelings.
Self-Actualization: This level of need refers to the realization of one's full potential. Self-actualization can be described as a value-based system in motivation. Self-actualization is understood as the goal or” What one ca be he must be”.
Self actualization needs include:
- Partner acquisition
- Parenting
- Utilizing and developing talents and abilities
- Pursuing goals
And at the top of the Roof or our needs according to Abraham Maslow:
Self-Transcendence
“The triangle's top to include self-transcendence, also known as spiritual needs. Spiritual needs differ from other types of needs in that they can be met on multiple levels. When this need is met, it produces feelings of integrity and raises things to a higher plane of existence. By these later ideas, one finds the fullest realization in giving oneself to something beyond oneself—for example, in altruism or spirituality. He equated this with the desire to reach the infinite. Transcendence refers to the very highest and most inclusive or holistic levels of human consciousness, behaving and relating, as ends rather than means, to oneself, to significant others, to human beings in general, to other species, to nature, and to the cosmos. “
PS: This article aims to present the knowledge- simplified and easier to understand in regard of better understanding of your own basic needs and the basic needs of the others – if we use our senses (including the 6th sense 😊) to feel/touch/see/hear/place these needs and they are met with respect and integrity for each member of our present society, we could predict a better, kinder future for the human kind.
A simplified summary of senses and needs;
A collective perspective presented with Joy,
A.A
Stob, Bulgaria