Column by Dr. Ann Hollingsworth
In life, we think and act based on two things. The first concerns our five physical senses – sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel. The other thing is our instinct, which is often called a sixth sense. Even though we might say we need the tangible proof from our five physical senses, almost all we do still involves that sixth sense. We sit on a chair because we believe that it will hold us up. We walk under trees, expecting the limbs to stay up in the air and not fall on us. We order by phone or the internet, assuming that our credit card number won’t be stolen. Etc., etc., and etc.
Animals go by their sixth sense much better than we do, probably because they have not been overloaded with input the other way. They just live simply and don’t multi-task or over-task. Over the years, it seems that we humans have diminished our reliance on the sixth sense more and more. Here are some examples:
The Almanac and even folk lore used to be a gold standard to guide living – especially in farming. Many people still plant gardens on Good Friday. I have learned a few things that I still use, such as telling which way the wind is blowing by wetting a finger and holding it up in the air. However, more of us have to watch the Weather Channel and look at our Smart Phone weather app to guide our planning.
Medical personnel used to pay attention to the individual patient. But in the midst of the Covid pandemic, I know of at least one person who died per nurse and doctor negligence because they “had to follow protocol.” If practitioners do not have a laptop to boot up and tell them what to do, they are like a zombie.
Finally, our public school children are being developed into robots as “critical thinking” becomes a lost art. By the way, robots don’t have a sixth sense. Our current governmental lead likes this because robots can be programmed and without a sixth sense, just mechanically follow along.
What is the answer? I think it could be found in the animal lessons for us. Slow down and live more simply. Unplug from addiction to technology. Realize that tomorrow is another opportunity to do. If tomorrow doesn’t show up, then we no longer have a need to do. If we have a dependence on a Heavenly Father, then like the animals – we can trust that somehow our needs will be met.
