Mankind reaching into the heavens
Fresco by Giuseppe Bertini depicting Galileo showing
the Doge of Venice how to use his telescope

Human Imaination - mankind's "Special Sense" has allowed mankind to delve into the mysteries of its own creation - to behold the wonders of the universe. It is our seventh sense - it created the "MIND" of mankind! The power of people to communicate across time and space and build upon one anothers ideas. It separated the "Homo Imaginative Sapiens" from all the other animals on the planet forever.

We all know about the five senses but there is also the very important sense of balance which I always include as another of our vital animal senses, for a total of six senses. We share these senses; - sight, smell, hearing, feeling, taste and balance (the inner ear), with the other animals. These are the senses that are vital for animal survival. They are the vital contacts between our physical body and the environment that surrounds it.

They tell us what is happening to our body, they are our brain's contact with the outside world. They tell us of our spatial orientation, whether we are hot or cold, if the food is good or bad, sweet or sour. They help us hunt for food (see, smell, listen). They warn us of impending danger. All these senses are extemely vital for our well being and survival. We could not survive without them. We share these six senses with all the other animals.

Humans have all these senses, although they may not be as keen as some of the other animals. We may not be able to see as good as an eagle or is our nose as sensitive as a bloodhound, but our animal senses are sufficient for our survival. The higher animals also have a limited imagination, enough so that they may survive and prosper, but thats about all.

In addition to the animal senses, nature has bestowed a very special 'seventh sense' on human beings. This "seventh sense" is Human Imagination - an immensely powerful creative imagination. It is not vital to animal survival - the Neandertals survived remarkably well with a very limited imagination. Human Imagination, modern man's "seventh sense" is a very special gift however because it has allowed an animal, such as we are, to peer beyond the veil and see startling new worlds never before seen by any animal onthe planet.

The evolution of millions of new cells in the human brain created the potential of millions of new pathways to become possible. This 'final evolution' created a powerful new brain that allowed human beings to become aware of the wonders that surrounded them. We had become 'imaginative beings'. It was our "seventh sense". This 'seventh sense' has opened a whole new worlds for mankind to explore and comprehend. It has allowed mankind to reach out beyond the very narrow animal world into a vast new universe to "see" the wonders of nature.

Human Imagination has allowed mankind to climb from the valley ofthe ordinary to the peak of the mountain, where all of nature's wonders lie before it. Mankind's powerful imagination allows us to "see" deep into the secrets of nature, to think abstract thoughts, to associate marks on a paper with objects and profound ideas of other human beings, to communicate verbally with other people, to create and listen to beautiful music.

It has increased our cognitive powers enormously. It has given mankind a tremendous advantage over all other life on this planet - it has allowed us to take control of our own destiny to a large extent. We can look at a collection of colors dabbed on a canvas and perceive it as a beautiful painting, a work of art.

It allows us to 'see' into the past or project into the future. It allows us to perceive the beauty of nature's creativity. It has allowed mankind to create and progress, over the ages. It allowed mankind to discover other worlds that no one has ever even knew existed before - the telescopic world of astronomy and the miscrosopic worlds of germs and molecules, etc..

No other animal has this 'creative imaginative power' it is strictly a human sense. Its sensors are the billions of pathways located in the matter of the cortex of our enlarged brain. This seventh sense, "Human Imagination", has created the "mind" of mankind! - This "mind" is an extension of nature's power to create - we create things that nature cannot.

Donald L. Hamilton - author of: "THE MIND OF MANKIND, Human Imagination, the source of Mankind's tremendous power!"

The Mind of Mankind

Comment - Re: Mankind's "Seventh Sense"

I like the 7th sense analogy, our imagination certainly should not be discounted. without it, we would not have achieved what we have today. its funny that we humans, in our *naked* form, are probably the most vulnerable species on the planet. It is our MIND however which has enabled us to absolutely dominate the world.

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