Mastering the Senses

Contents

e've got our own first-hand experience at being human¹, and sometimes subconciously, we've spent years observing how we and others behave in different situations. This makes us all amateur psychologists, in a sense, and this intuition fuels a "folk psychology" that can overlap with findings from scientific psychology, but often does not. Some erroneous psychological intuitions are particularly widely believed among the public and are stubbornly persistent, and when we mistakenly believe that these intuitions have a scientific basis, we enter the realms of psuedoscience, a subject laced with its own myths and misconceptions.

Pseudoscience is so named because its examples (such as homeopathy and hypnotherapy) lack the rigorous standards and evidence-based reasoning associated with genuine scientific inquiry, although are typically presented as scientific despite the absence of any real science. Followers of the psuedosciences might believe onions can relieve allergies by inducing tears, or that the use of magnets can cure ailments at a molecular level, but these are ideas that the hard sciences tend to critique as unscientific. They can stigmatise or dent the seriousness of allergies and ailments. Similarly, the existence of intuitions based on folk psychology can contribute to stigma and stereotypes, for example, the public perception that most domestic violence is committed by men, or that mental illness is an imbalance in the brain, but neither view is backed by quantifiable scientific research.

This is not about discrediting all examples of pseudoscience. I use some approaches I find useful and fun (like numerology and feng shui) myself, and we should certainly keep an open mind. There is space for every approach that works. In fact, some of them may end up being true (or at least having some tangible benefits to people's lives), for instance, like chiropractors or hypnotherapists, or even the use of psychoanalysis that aims to help people understand their unconscious thoughts and emotions (although long discredited). They tend to be categorised as pseudosciences because they do not currently have sufficient scientific backing or clear evidence behind them that is based on rigorous scientific research in scholarly settings. Some may work simply because of the power of belief.

The power of belief is important, but we need to be aware that our intuition about human thought and behaviour isn't always accurate, so it's important we keep revisiting the approaches that we believe benefit our wellbeing to stay current. What we think is a pseudoscience may not be, and what we think of as scientific may actually have no basis in science, but every approach we wish to utilise in our lives should be open to challenge, criticism and the collation of empirical evidence. Science doesn't steal the mystery, it grounds us to realise that our physical and mental wellbeing will take effort.

Psychological awareness, also known as self-awareness or introspection, is a critical aspect of mental health and personal development. It involves the ability to recognise and understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and behaviours, as well as the impact they have on oneself and others. This awareness allows individuals to navigate their inner world more effectively and make informed decisions.
Medium (2004)

As we delve into some of the approaches that can help us build an inner sanctum for ourselves in the following chapters, we need to highlight and challenge such interpersonal misconceptions so we can make informed decisions that feel right for us, but more so to deflect the misinformed dialogue it generates between our own mind and body, and the world around us, when we (often incorrectly) believe in them. Importantly, if we ignore rational thought, and treat any approach with absolute faith (or discount it out of hand due to fear or suspicion), then we will sooner or later create or cause harm.

An example of this is America's reversal of the so-called endangerment finding, a key scientific ruling that underpinned much of US environmental legislation. As a result, experts predict significant environmental impacts on the planet, while it also suggests that, when expedient to do so, American politics will believe the pseudoscience over the science. Another good example of this is the World Health Organization's announcement that the UK lost its measles elimination status in 2026. Failures from the government to counter wrong information about vaccine safety certainly will have had an impact, but whatever your personal belief about vaccinations, in this instance at least, the evidence that a country was declared measle free in 2017 to then see the disease return to high levels in its children nine years later cannot be ignored.

We need to remember that because pseudoscience is a presentation of concepts with an absence of scientific support, with no clear evidence based on the traditional scientific method, it will be the power of belief that plugs the gap. As long as we are aware which approach is based on what, then we can choose the right methods for us in an informed and safe manner. As an individual, you may not agree with the traditional scientific method, and that is your prerogative, too - but that method is one which has a long, historical precedence of working well due to the very reason it always challenges its results.

The Myths of Mastery

In much the same way, the approach to nurturing a healthy relationship between our body and mind should be open to challenge and discourse - finding out by trial and error what works for you is half the fun! After all, learning new things, revisiting the old, isn't that what a journey of self-discovery should be about? Of course, it is also a journey filled with toils and snares; there will be a minefield of triggers you may have to navigate through. But each one identified correctly, allows for the opportunity to train yourself how not to fear them, and with the right tools, to lessen or remove entirely their volatile impact on your life.

To achieve that aim, it is appropriate to add a caveat here: This chapter on that journey of self-discovery is titled "Mastering the Senses", but we need to take a look at the words "master" and "mastering". The word "master" evokes control, and not always in a good way, while "mastering" really means to become proficient in something. Thus, to become an advanced user of our senses, so to speak, is not only about being able to control the information we receive from our senses, but knowing when to allow our senses to take over us, too.

Sometimes mastery over our senses will mean utilising control for the sharp focus it provides, and sometimes it will mean learning the art of surrendering to those senses to experience the exhilaration of fearlessness it provides. Knowing when to do which, is when our personal wisdom and knowledge of our own psychology enters the equation; we can learn the scientific importance of our senses in relation to the dialogue between the mind and body, and we can learn the spiritual craft of focus and surrender, but the key to the secrets of how to build an inner sanctum with that knowledge can only be forged by yourself.

I take a long time trying to understand my emotions and why I feel like I do, and I feel like that's a really important process to do every now and again, to check in with yourself and work out why you're feeling like you do.
The Prince of Wales in a conversation about mental health (BBC News, 2026)

My own connection and pathways to the self are through the mindful and physical pleasures I find in reading, writing, exercising, good food and being out in nature, and I utilise my senses in a spiritual (albeit psuedoscientifical way) to reach - for want of a better word - my soul while pursuing them. Why, for want of a better word? Simply because soul for me means the self, my innermost "me" for which I try to build a protective inner sanctum; for others it will hold more beautiful concepts, wrapped within their own personal humanist or religious beliefs. Generally, it will mean the very core or undefinable essence of who we are, and which we hope will continue long after our physical presence is extinguished.

Here, what I believe in is outside the remit of this article, and for your purposes doesn't matter; what matters is what you believe in. Whether you believe the sense we have of a "self" or "soul" is an illusion by the brain to give meaning to our life, or a very real religious script that provides evidence of higher planes of being, the focus should be on this: That the dialogue spoken between the mind and body is open, in the same language and on the same page. Only when the conversation between them is aware and constructively critical will the mind and body have a healthy relationship. Our mental and physical wellbeing depends upon it, and at the same time it means that the inner sanctum we build for our self will be one in the truest meaning of the word, and not a place where we imprison or lock ourselves away out of fear.

Know Yourself to Heal Yourself

The Delphic maxim "Know thyself" is apt here, an ancient Greek inscription at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. It encourages individuals to understand their own nature, limitations, and place in the world, and stresses the importance of self-reflection and self-awareness in personal growth and understanding. It can also be read as emphasising what your understanding of "self" is. Attempting to find an answer to that question, for some of us, will be a part of that journey of self-discovery - who are we building our inner sanctum for? Again, this is where a proficient understanding of our senses will come in; it will help us have open dialogue between body and mind so that we can get to know our "self".

In this self-narrative, for me, is a triumvirate of actors, where I narrate my journey as a generic romance, and where I am both protagonists and the matchmaker in my own story. I do not search for a soulmate; I am my soulmate. I arrange my mind and body to meet, get to know one another and form a union of love, and in doing so, to build a beautiful place for the soul of their relationship to reside. As I am the one that initiates and propagates their meeting, I also observe them separately and together, to see what brings pleasure and joy to them apart and - more importantly - to both of them together, and how those shared pursuits reflect the soul of their relationship.

This approach of looking at one's journey through a third party narrative is a well known mindful technique. It is the recognition, too, that such inner storytelling can give our ideas shape and focus. During my own journey, I discovered that, as boring as this will make me sound, wholesome pursuits and those with an altruistic focus worked best to marry my mind and body together, with creativity as the fuel for its internal engine of learning and fused in a loving relationship - a gentle soul that favours kindness, understanding and openness above all things. For my inner sanctum to feel like a home, then, it must reflect this; it must be built and furnished according to the architecture of my soul, and any attempts at self-improvement need to incorporate this shape for any successful outcome.

Another major benefit of marrying the body and mind is that mindfulness will elevate the physical, while the physical will anchor mindfulness techniques. Simply using mindfulness techniques will not entrench their positive benefits in our bodies without employing the physicality of our bodies, namely using the physical experiences our senses provide to connect the mind to the body. On the other end of the spectrum, merely pleasuring the physical senses, it is believed, can provide instant gratification but ultimately down our mood or create negativity. Enhancing the physical with a spiritual connection can elevate its function and raise its vibration, to create euphoric states of positivity.

Looking to achieve this balance will teach us not only how to reach a compromise with the components of one's self, but it will help us reflect on how we must achieve that same balance with the world around us. It follows on, then, that achieving proficiency in understanding how our senses work will not only allow us to harmonise our mind and body to strengthen their union, it will also help us to look for new and shared pursuits that both will enjoy in the process of self-improvement. Eventually the story begins to write itself as a win-win scenario.

But before this begins to read like a "happy ever after" fairytale, be aware that mastery over our senses will take effort and practice, learning to observe as objectively as possible and to listen to our body; for the body speaks to us through every pore in the skin, with every joint creak, every heartbeat, its machinery is loud with the ticking timbre of its language specific to you. Mastering your senses, in a way, is learning your mother tongue, and this will need to be a blend of your own unique folk psychology, alongside tried and tested science-based methods to help you build an inner sanctum where mind and body become one.

Is this the meaning of life? Who knows? We are alive, so we might as well live it, and learning how to live it well should be our main concern. Thus, while learning to becoming sensory aware and sensory intelligent may or may not give you the meaning of life, it will help you create a meaningful life. In pursuit of this, moving on from the esoteric to the practical, in the next chapter we explore self-help techniques that can aid us to become sensory proficient, and better understand the dominance of our senses.

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1. Christian Jarrett, 10 of the Most Widely Believed Myths in Psychology, BPS, 2016

Published 19 November, 2018 19 February, 2026

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