Sensitivity Vs Sensations

What do you live for? A more of sensitivity or a more hanker for sensations. What is the difference between the sensitivity and sensations? The Cambridge dictionary describes sensations as the ability of an individual to feel something physically by using all the sensory organs. The sensory organs are the eyes, ears, tongue, nose, and skin who deliver all the physical signals to the brain. On the other hand, sensitivity is the quality of being sensitive, it defines how best all your sensory organs are functioning. Now by being aware of the differences between the two terms, the question still stands about what you should go for and why?

Suppose we visit a garden and there happens to be a beautiful rose in that garden. We go very close to the rose so that the fragrance can be experienced. Now we move away from the rose, say about 1 meter, and feel that the intensity of the fragrance has reduced. Again, the distance is increased by 10 meters and the intensity is very minimal. Suppose we move out of that garden, will we be able to experience that same fragrance with the same intensity. Suppose we move out of the town where the garden was located, will we be able to experience the fragrance? Now Suppose we move out of the city, or the country, or we go on to some different planet, will we be able to experience the fragrance from the flower. Hence, we conclude that the flower has the maximum fragrance intensity within the radius of 1 meter. Do you feel our conclusion is right? The flower can send its fragrance up to the end of this universe, it is due to our poor sensitivity that we could not receive its fragrance beyond a certain point or distance. Just because we are not able to pursue something, doesn’t mean that it does not exist.

Throughout our life, we live for sensations, we crave for sensations and are not aware of our sensitivity. Our every effort is to experience more and more sensations, newer and newer sensations and in doing so, we go on losing our sensitivity. The sensitivity gets lost or diminished in this process. The more you try to seek sensations, the more insensitive you become. The relationship between the two is paradoxical, sensitivity is lost when we ask for more sensations, then to experience that level again, we again ask for more sensations and the process continues. This will lead to a point where all our senses become dull and dead. Humans have become more dull and dead today. In the past, he was more alive as there was no possibility to fulfill many sensations. With the advancement in science and technology, humans are being pulled more and more into the world of sensations. There are more beautiful things to see, easy to roam around the world, lots of music to hear, different foods to taste, stronger food and stronger taste. This leads to the loss of sensitivity of these organs. A person drinking alcohol for the first time will get high in hardly 1 or 2 pegs, while the person drinking regularly for years will not be satisfied with 1 or 2 pegs. His sensitivity has been reduced over the period. A person on a roller coaster in an amusement park for the first time will be very thrilled against a person sitting on the same ride for the tenth time. Even if we drive for more sensations towards love, when we change our relationships more often, changing boyfriend or girlfriend, wife or husband and the sensitivity towards love is dead. The person seeking more sensations always moves on the surface and cannot reach the depth. The more we experience things the less capacity of the experience becomes.

Sensitivity and sensations are a different phenomenon. When we ask for sensations, we ask for all the materialistic things, we try to accumulate more and more. When we seek sensitivity, we have to work on our senses and not on materialistic things. The more sensitive you are, the more alive you are. To experience the divinity within ourselves, we should be more alive, more sensitive. There is a saying that only a similar can seek a similar. If you want to seek the very live divinity, you have to be more alive.

Having understood all this, the next question that pops in the mind is how to increase the sensitivity? The best way to improve the sensitivity is to be quieter and more silent. Try spending one hour of the day with yourself speaking nothing. More often visit nature such as a beach, mountain or forest. Something very natural and not man-made. Try doing things slowly and in slow motion, you will be able to see the beauty of it. When you look or touch a tree, don’t just look or feel the gross or the body of the tree, try to feel the life within. Try to experience the energy within the tree which mixes with your energy when you touch a tree. You can experience the sounds of the birds chirping in the morning with closed eyes such that the sound is simply reaching your heart via the ears. When you make love with the person whom you love, don’t connect yourself only to the body of that person, try to feel the divinity within the person. Try to avoid the stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, tobacco, garlic, and asafoetida which increases the sensations and thereby reduces your sensitivity. The fewer things you accumulate, the fewer things you reach out for, the more sensitivity.

In conclusion, the sensitivity will get you to satisfaction, but the hunger of sensations is endless.

- Dr. Dhananjay Patel