I sit in the quiet of a restful Sunday afternoon. In my mind, I can feel a crocheted square in my hands. I place it on my lap. This turns into the crocheted square shown here.
Over the next few days, I’m listening to Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey on audiobook, when the musical elements in McCaffrey’s world drew me like a magnet. In my mind’s eye, I could picture myself trying to find a way to fix the crystal drive in the shuttle. Later in the book, When Killashandra learned how to tune and sort crystal, before going out onto the range, I imagined the sounds the crystals made when the characters tapped the crystal with the hammer.
I mention my ability to picture the sensations McCaffrey described in her book, because during that reading time, I made a fascinating discovery. God has given me a gift that I am learning how to utilize every day. God showed me that I “see” the world through touch and sound, more so than my senses of smell and taste. I have them, and yet they are quirky at best, but touch and sound are my dominant senses.
During a recent Wednesday night Bible study at my church, as we studied Jeremiah chapter 33:7–34:8, I heard a series of harmonic notes deep within my soul. These notes served as the backdrop to our communication and Bible reading. I could almost hear what sounded like a phone conversation with this harmonic chord resonating through me as the foundation that supported our harmonious and peaceful communion with God.
Unfortunately, I am unable to reproduce the harmonic chord I heard, but it stuck with me for a while after I got home from church that night, it also sent me down a rabbit hole to try and determine why I sense images through touch and sound the way I do. I didn’t gather much information based on my search criteria, but I did come away with the fact that writers who have these sensory experiences, can create a five-senses description that puts a reader deep inside his or her story.
This is true for me, and as I listened to this book, I came to understand that my heightened sensory awareness causes the boundaries between my senses to merge naturally. This natural merging of the senses allows one sense to compliment another. This heightened sensory awareness gives me the opportunity to write vivid five-senses descriptions that are both layered and authentic. These vivid sensory details pull the reader deeper into the heart of a story than descriptions written on the surface level. This is why I’m drawn to stories with musical elements in them, because the vivid descriptions mirror some of my own experiences and make me feel the story instead of merely observing it. This heightened sensory awareness is a special spiritual gift from God. The merger between my senses of touch and sound is God’s way of allowing me to see the world through the eyes of my heart
Now I want to hear from you. In the comments, describe a time when you’ve had layered sensory experiences, be they spiritual or physical. How did your heightened sensory awareness manifest itself? How has this merging of your senses become a tool to enhance your life through your own personal experiences?