We are familiar with the fact that we have five senses that help us get through the day: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. That’s old news, dating back to Aristotle’s work “De Anima” (On the Soul) from 350 BC.1 Aristotle was wrong.
Not to criticize an early philosopher like Aristotle. He did his best with what he had to work with in the days before modern anything. Truthfully, even with all our modern knowledge and sciences, we still don’t know how many senses we have, and researchers are still debating the issue. The consensus seems to be that we have 8, 21, or even 33 senses depending on how you categorize them.2 Some of the new senses making the list are:
Vestibular Sense, a.k.a Equilibrioception. Watch a gymnast or a child walk on a curb. They use their momentum and arms to help keep their balance. This sense allows the rest of us to walk a straight line and to keep from falling over when we stand. Located in the inner ear, this sense can be affected by illness or age. Just watch a person with an inner ear infection, Parkinson’s, or Menier’s Disease. Starting around 40, this sense starts going haywire.
Proprioception. This is the sense that involves spatial awareness, making it possible to walk through a crowded room without knocking everyone down.
Inner Sensing (Interoception). Imagine not responding to a growling stomach or knowing when to STOP eating. What if we were tired but our body didn’t tell us we were tired and needed to rest or woke us up when we had enough rest? That’s what interoception does for us.
Thermoception. This works in conjunction with the sense of touch only rather than just feeling something, this provides the sense of temperature. As a little boy, I touched the hot stove burner and jerked my hand back quickly. I had a blister but without
thermoception, I might have experienced third-degree burns. The same is true with people who work in refrigeration. Without thermoception, they would freeze their fingers off!
Nociception. These are our pain receptors, sensing injury and letting us know when we need to stop before we damage ourselves beyond repair.
Time. We all have an internal clock. It’s just that some people’s clocks work better than others. And there are those who clocks are always running late!3
COMMON sense is the sense that often seems to be lacking! That one is getting worse. Nobody has been able how to fix this, either.
While the verdict is still out on the number of senses we possess, it’s fascinating to think about these newer ones that we’ve always had but maybe never thought about as a sense. What about the person who says they know something because “their gut” told them or the person who senses danger? There are probably names for those as well.
Interestingly, a form of the word sense only appears twice in the Bible. Both occurrences have to do with the Word of God. Nehemiah 8:8 says, “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” And in Hebrews 5:14, we read, “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Both uses of the word carry the meaning given by Thayer’s Greek Dictionary. It is the “faculty of the mind for perceiving, understanding, judging.” Through a study and understanding of the Word of God, we are able to “sense” God’s heart and will, discerning 
between right and wrong. This is all because of the indwelling Holy Spirit illuminating the Word of God to our hearts and minds. Without the Word of God, the Christian’s ability to sense these things is going to be severely diminished.
Allow ALL of your senses to enjoy the Word of God today as we see in Psalms 119:103. “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
1https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1404720/full
2https://www.twentyonesenses.org/about-the-senses/
3https://interestingfacts.com/six-senses-we-didnt-know-we-had/
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