Is Reason a sense organ ?

Can Reason Take Man Beyond The Sense World? Or Is Reason A Sense Organ?

It has been believed with some certainty that the mind, the organ that man is bestowed with to deal with the world, cannot break the ‘world barrier’ and connect with reality beyond the sense realm (This is the phenomenal World.).

In the point of view of ancient philosophers;

‘There is nothing in the mind that previously was not there in the senses’

Which means that what ever the mind has, it has come via the senses hence it can not produce any thing of its own. It is a passive wax material, where sense experience has written whatever edicts it might want.   

Senses are never heard to cross the matter barrier, and conceive anything beyond its range of sight, sound, or touch. The mind can speculate anything by combining the information from the senses/ sensible information, but it cannot touch reality beyond the phenomena (The realm of sensible information or information from the senses.) barrier.

But man always had this lingering feeling about the inadequacy of his sense knowledge. Some mysterious doubt inside him has always teased and haunted him, about the hidden secrets behind his origin, life, death, and life after death. Hence, it is natural for him to continue his search for secrets beyond what   the senses provide. No one knew for sure from where such mysterious doubts and anguish had landed in the mind!

There is no doubt in any one’s mind about the inadequacy of science’s explanations too, about the universe, life and existence in general. The more riddles science solves, the more remain unsolved. Hence, man’s quest for what lies beyond the obvious, and beyond the range of senses is a reality of his life!

Either  he has to find a way out to take his ‘mind’ to go beyond the sense world, or he has to continue his search and enquiry, whether there exists any other internal or external source within him, other than the mind, that could connect him with the world beyond. The following attempt aims to provide a fresh enquiry into whether any such possibility exists for man to get to know the realities beyond the sense world. Has God kept any opening in the mind that could lead man one day to Him, and His secrets?

Many spiritualists and even few great philosophers spoke about the INTUITIVE faculty of the mind that could break the barrier.

Henry Bergson, a modern philosopher, defined INTUITION as the mind’s ability to contemplate on its own working. ‘It is the direct vision of the mind by the mind’ ‘this direct vision of the mind by the mind is the chief function of intuition, as I understand it’ (Book Creative Mind, page 42)

He says, what ever the mind has accumulated through senses, its data store, and the acquired habits of the mind through this route could be unwound, and the mind could regain its pure, virgin state, to know about itself. Furthermore he claims that through this virgin state of the mind, it gains intuitive powers to know beyond Phenomena. In this way he considered it as a different MODE of gaining (metaphysical development) knowledge about Existence.

Rene Descartes, one of the founding figures of modern philosophy, as well as that of modern scientific method, had vouched for the mind’s ability to concentrate and contemplate, so that it could realize many truths about God, and man’s extra physical origins. He says ‘I concluded that I might take, as a general rule, the principle, that all the things which we very clearly and distinctly conceive are true’. This is an opinion that is similar to what Henry Bergson had maintained, though he had not referred to it as INTUITION (His paper ‘Discourse on Method').

Albert Einstein, the most reputed scientist of our age also has said something that should compel us to conclude that he too had INTUITIVE knowledge, as what he said was beyond the range of understanding of his common perspective.

"Quantum mechanics is very impressive. But an ‘inner voice’ tells me that it is not the real thing. The theory produces a good deal but hardly brings one closer to the secrets of the Old One. I am at all events convinced that He (God) does not play dice".

So what was the ‘inner voice’ that told him about the nature of the great discovery, if not his intuitive faculties?

Emmanuel Kant, the most reputed thinker-philosopher of the modern age, revolutionized the above old concepts, and brought out his famous book 'CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON' on the science of man’s thinking process. He disagreed with the old schools, and said that the mind is not merely a passive wax material where senses write their edicts. He made the world believe that the mind has a certain ‘inherent structure’ that codifies the sense data into some intelligent ‘forms of conception’, or CATEGORIES, and this quality of the mind has made our science possible.

But he had made it clear that the ultimate reality, the ‘THINGS IN ITSELF’ about the world and its objects and events, are NOT within the reach of the mind.

But the mystery deepens as to how he could come up with these extraordinary REVELATIONS about the nature of the mind which has strong elements of IN ITSELF reality? What faculty of mind had enabled him to realize these limitations of mind ? He had even made sweeping declarations about TIME and SPACE, that they are ‘MODES OF PERCEPTION’, without which we can not convert our sense data into sensible thoughts!

The features of the mind that he had explained could never have enabled him to come up with such sweeping declarations about the mind, though he claimed that it is due to the mind’s ability to TRANSCEND its experiences. Such explanations are, at the bottom, not different from the ‘INTUITIVE’ explanations of other great thinkers that we have seen above. 

Hence, it is sensible to conclude that, man indeed possesses some inner faculty that helps him to sense reality beyond what the external sense organs provide, or at least to smell the inadequacy of the external senses and mind mechanism! A  faculty, or a mechanism outside the mind could only do such a job, hence our doubt about the existence of such mystery faculty becomes more valid.   

Mind, with its known features and faculties, and its usual course of operation, function and range, can not ever be imagined to generate such doubts, which are beyond its usual field of sense objects. Where could these senses ever have got such doubts? For the objective world has no business in producing such doubts on metaphysical issues in the human mind!

Hence, a truly enquiring mind, with its inherent sense of Reason, can not ever write-off the existence of some unknown mystery organ other than the mind within man, who castes these doubts, and compels man to seek more and more knowledge beyond his sense range!

 A true enquirer, who goes on with the mind method, as prescribed  by Bergson  or  Descartes, could realize, after repeated attempts running for months and years that, what the mind gives out as glimpses of spiritual knowledge, or INTUITION, is not the work of the routine mind, but that of some other, not yet identified, INNER ORGAN of man! Within the mind, thoughts are like the hammer inside the church bell: they are prisoners within, never able to escape beyond the metallic wall. Hence the mind can not ever throw  such surprises.

More over, act of ‘knowing’ was always through one or the other SENSE ORGAN, hence INTUITION, a kind of direct knowing, cannot be without the aid of some un-known sense organ. The mind is a processor of a kind for the sense provided data: we have never heard of it working as a sense organ, for acquiring the quality, or property of the external or internal world directly. So, the much heard of INTUITION cannot be a direct faculty of the MIND!

Could it be like the ‘ears’ taking charge when the light goes off in a room, as the eyes cannot do an effective job in the dark!  Or, like the nose helping the mouth, on what should be taken into the mouth when one eats in the dark? In other words, when the need arises to go beyond the sense realm some other internal organ might be taking charge of such specialised functions?

 It was this MYSTERY ORGAN that helped Bergson with his intuitions, and Descartes with his ‘DISTINCT and CLEAR understanding. It was this same mystery organ of man that caste doubts in the mind of Einstein about the inadequacy of the quantum theory, and that which helped Kant to know for sure that there exists a realm of ‘IN ITSELF’ reality beyond the phenomenal world!

Here comes the moment to understand our faculty of Reason in a very different light. Though man knew of this mystery faculty since the time he started realizing the power of thinking in formal ways, he had no clear insight into its real genus, nature, function and way of practical working.  It was often referred to as a synonym for the mind, or something within the mind with a difference, but never to mean anything beyond, though it was regarded as a highly revered faculty by one and all, in all the ages. Not much concrete studies were ever undertaken DIRECTLY on Reason, but only about various aspects of its faculties.  

A scholarly study (Prof. G. Williams, Lancaster University) on Kant’s account of Reason has a remark that ‘Kant rarely discusses REASON as such.This leaves a difficult interpretative task: just what is Kant's general and positive account of reason?’

Hence, it is evident that man’s mystery faculty Reason deserves every age’s further studies, research and probes, to throw more and more light upon it.

We are attempting here to introduce man’s faculty of Reason as his INTERNAL SENSE ORGAN that senses existential ORDER and CONSISTENCY, or a SENSOR that detects ORDER and consistency.

Like categories, or qualities of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste sensed by our external sense organs like the eyes and ears, the mystery of existential category of ORDER, or consistency, is ‘sensed’ by the internal organ of Reason !

Upon close scrutiny, and dedicated introspection, one would be able to realize the truth of this proposition. This finding was on the same route of how man discovered the function of his external sense organs (eyes, ears and nose) one by one, in the course of his intellectual advancement, by the process of sharp and close observation.

It will be useful to remind ourselves here that, we recognized very late in our knowledge advancement that it was the ‘eye’ that sees, the ears that hear, the nose that smells, and the tongue that tastes! Animals may not have this recognition yet, on the function of each of the sense organs.  Hence, man need not feel awkward in the late realization of the real genus of his SENSE OF ‘ORDER’ either!

Understanding Reason as a sense organ would better explain many of the mysterious faculties of the mind that we experience in the routine course of life.

What are the reasons for inferring that the faculty of Reason could indeed be an INTERNAL SENSE ORGAN that detects existential ORDER, consistency, and many other extra sensory intellects? Let us list a few of them:

1) Think of the undeniable certainty at which our mind gets locked when we come across logical conclusions such as, if 2 + 2= 4, 2million + 2 million should make 4 million! Similar certainty challenges us to refute, if possible, when ever such logical situations, inferences, and conclusions confront us. Man cannot refuse such definite assurances, without either refuting it intentionally, or out of ignorance. Such refutations will be like refusing to accept the reality of something in front of your eyes.

If a mystery sense of ORDER were not set up naturally in the mind, how would the mind have ever known of such complex relationships?

Hence, there is an inherent, 'IN ITSELF" ORDER around objects, facts and relations in existence, and REASON is the organ that SENSES this mystery ORDER, and conveys it to the mind. There is ‘SENSE’ in the scheme of existence, and REASON is the organ that senses it. It convinces the mind the same way the eyes and ears convince us with the certainty of their experience !

We do not know what is the ‘sense’, or the ‘phenomenon’, or the ‘mystery’ of sight, sound, touch or taste. These qualities, or categories cannot ever be the OBJECT of any of our external sense organ. We can merely experience what they sense, but can never define them. They are, as Kant says, objects of our sensible intuition, like concepts of freedom, divinity etc.

We do not know how many of more such QUALITIES or CATEGORIES might be there in existence, that we do not have  the required sense organ to ‘sense’ them! Or, we have not yet identified such hidden sense organs within us yet !

 However, we have now found that the category of 'ORDER' and 'CONSISTENCY' is a ‘distinct’ aspect of reality, that we can now attribute it to the sense organ of REASON. 

One should keep in mind that this sense of 'ORDER' is not there to reveal the ultimate reality to man instantly, ie. the moment one uses it! Like one’s eye, it gives out light only upon what ever is presented before it, that too, to the degree of attention one puts into the object.

Therefore, the working of the sense of REASON is closely, and undeniably similar to the working, and features of our external sense organs, such as the Eye, Ear or Nose. Each of these sense organ reveals to us only the naturally set, and desired range of reality. For example, the eyes and ears have their own range, beyond or below which they do not operate.

Such features of our sense organs compel us to believe that the secret directives of nature, as to what kind of reality man should have in the course of life, are pre-set in the sense organs, including in the sense of Reason. Therefore, the way Reason revels reality, could be the natural way, destiny, and reality of existence!  It could be the sole bundle of the ‘directives’ of nature, provided man realizes it, and makes maximum use of it. 

2) When man claims that he can see, or hear, he only means that he used the sense organs of sight and hearing the way nature has provided and set it.  He is only a passive user of such pre-set faculties. 

He can not interchange its particular field of specialization, like using the ear to see, or nose to hear. Similarly, man automatically uses the sense of Reason, when ever its use is called for.

Descartes had used the same example of the difficulty in interchanging our sense organs, in a different context, in his 'DISCOURSE ON METHOD’ – part IV. He talks about the inability of our routine mind to perceive ideas such as that of God, which was never in our senses before, and mentions the faculty of ‘UNDERSTANDING’ that does such jobs.

‘ …that the philosophers of the schools accept as a maxim that there is nothing in the understanding which was not previously in the senses, in which however it is certain that the ideas of God and the soul have never been; and it appears to me that they who make use of their imagination to comprehend these ideas do exactly the same thing as if, in order to hear sounds or smell odours, they strove to avail themselves of their eyes; . . .neither our imagination, nor our senses can give us assurance of anything unless our UNDERSTANDING intervene’ .

Hence, we need to treat the MIND and Reason as two different entities, or organs, with distinctly different functions.

Descartes mentions the usage of the 'FACULTY of UNDERSTANDING’ as if he was using it with the sense and meaning of the SENSE OF REASON mentioned here. It is certain that those old masters had fully realized the existence of such an inner sense organ, for specialized purposes, but thought it as an advanced function of the mind itself. As time has progressed, we are now in a better position to understand this mysterious faculty in a different way.

3) Unlike the eye, or ear which are dedicated sense organs for the external world of material objects, Reason is an internal sense organ that handles only ORDER or CONSISTENCY between what the external sense organs have provided, or  what mind has processed.  However, the ultimate similarity is clear. What ever sense organ the ENTITY (man, his EGO) calls for, it comes forward to apply itself to the job. Or otherwise, it automatically does its job, in the course of man’s life, like the way external sense organs do.

It should be admitted here that, the correct classification, and the difference in the role of the ENTITY (the ego) and the routine MIND organ have not been clarified in this study. When many eminent minds work together on the present idea of Reason as a sense organ of ORDER, the world would be able to find a clearer picture of such distinctions in the near future, and make the story more sensible.

For practical purposes, we could assume that it is our mind that we recognize as our SELF, the ‘I’. When the sense of Reason becomes the CENTRE of the self, the ‘I’ instantly shifts to the new centre, identifying it as the new SELF. Then the canvas of ‘I’ too changes to a broader one, with a metaphysical touch. More on this theme is detailed -in one of the forthcoming portions, the ‘Transcending of the Self’.

A more central proposition here would be that man here in his life, as a whole, is not dissimilar from a GRAND SENSE ORGAN which undergoes the experience of life! - Naturally he is the more wholesome and the ultimate knowing 'ORGAN'.

He is not only a passive observer, using all his knowing faculties, but a responsible participant as well! In this special job, the sense organ of Reason would be his most trusted aid in knowing in the most appropriate way, making his participation most meaningful!

4) The entity, now in the story so far, the EGO, has the freedom

(The FREE WILL) to choose the sense organ it desires to apply to a chosen job. In a dark room, though the ears, nose and the sense of touch automatically get ready to serve, the ENTITY (the EGO) has the final option to apply what ever sense organ it opts to apply to that particular moment. He can call for the services of the sense of touch or smell, i.e. his hand to feel the objects in the room, or to smell each object to recognize them in darkness. 

Likewise, he can opt to think of the ultimate meaning and realities of existence and life. Here, his sense of Reason takes charge of his probe, since such objects of enquiry have nothing to do with the eye, ear, or touch.

5) The method of science to assume certainty of its findings is the test by EXPERIENCE. This test of experience is the test whether our external sense organs could verify the reality of such findings. But we always forget to give due credit to the role of the hidden sense organ of Reason in such tests, for without its specialized function of detecting the ORDER and CONSISTENCY of the theory, or findings, such certainty could not have been attained.

We must remember that our sense of Reason is the ultimate weapon man has for our science, as well as for any other endeavour for finding the TRUTH. There is no other magic formula, or first principle to aid man in the job. As our Ego is the RULER of the external, the sense world, we always attempt to submit the findings of Reason to the test of ‘experience’, a term we use to denote to the test of our external sense organs.  

External sense organs alone often misguide us. The best example is our seeing the sun orbiting the earth, and believing for centuries that the earth was at the centre of the universe, and the sun and other planets are orbiting it. It was the special features of the sense of reason that aided man to save himself from such errors of the external sense organs, and travel steadily in the path of more and more reliable knowledge about nature and life.

When some bits of opposite evidence about the geo centric belief was emanated in the mind of the great scientist Nicholas Copernicus, it led him to apply his Reason further, and it helped to reveal the truth of the Solar centric system. A new piece of evidence, collected by any of the sense organs, including that by the sense of Reason, makes the mind restless. Its much required sense of ORDER gets disturbed. It can rest only when Reason is put to the task of finding further evidences that support the new equation.

It is similar to our restlessness when we encounter any strange sound underneath our bed or out side the door during the night. We would be able to sleep peacefully only when we search and find the source of the sound- a rat, or a trapped butterfly that tries to fly out.

6)  When man uses his eyes exclusively as a probe, all the features of the eye organ comes into operation, like its faculty to look closer, or look at far away objects, or at different angles. . It can also be used to CONVEY an emotion to the onlooker, like in love, rage, or contempt. This faculty of usage for receiving, as well as transmitting signals is exclusive to the EYE organ.

This explains the exclusive design and function of each sense organ set by nature, for the specially set faculties of each of the sense organ, whether external or internal. 

We can attempt here to look into some special features of the SENSE OF REASON, as set by 'mother nature', similar to such specialized features of each of our external sense organ : 

a)                 Reason is what provides man with a sense of the ultimate ORDER inherent in existence, or nature, similar to the act of ‘SEEING’ that is done by our eyes. We have lost our power of distinction as to what is meant by ‘being seen’, due to over familiarity with the act. In fact, we cannot explain what the faculty of VISION is. We can only use it. Similarly, now we may find it difficult to recognize distinctly what the FACULTY OF SENSING ORDER is, as we have been using this ability for too long, without recognizing this special internal faculty. There are several associated features of the SENSE OF ORDER that we have been experiencing naturally, but without recognising it distinctly.

One of such mysterious functions of Reason is the emergence of the notion or the idea of 'God', an Almighty in the human mind.

The EGO entity of man, basically a synthetic entity, is built around the subjective sense inputs and a similar notion of an objective world in which it draws its own picture, as if on a canvas, (similar to space where matter requires to occupy itself) often goes wild on such IRRATIONAL (originated from no where !) foundations of its existence.

The Sense of Reason burns inside like fire to find ORDER within or to search out the IN ITSELF reality about the human self. Such an inborn quench for IN ITSELF reality had in fact given birth to both religions and as well as the sciences! (The following blog link (by the same author) can offer more details on the role of the phenomena in the emergence of knowing entities in the existential scheme: http://philosopherskorner.blogspot.com/ )

Anyone who is able to free himself from his world entity, at least momentarily, could independently realize this sense of ‘burning’ of his Reason inside. It is a SELF-EVIDENT quest hence it can never be set around any formal syllogism.

When our eyes see, or ear hears, the reality of such objects are self-evident experiences, the test of the certainty of our sciences. When we understand REASON also as a similar internal sense organ, its findings could be termed as SELF-EVIDENT. In fact, it is not our eyes or  ears that certify the final certainty of scientific theories, but our sense of Reason, aided by its inherent faculty of ascertaining the ‘ORDER’, and ‘consistency’ factor of  such findings.

Man uses LOGIC, in order to link such findings with some already known fact of the world, to prove its veracity to others .

In addition to this job of sensing and projecting ORDER in existence, Reason also gives hints of DISORDER, when man tries to take erroneous conclusions. This mysterious function is what taunts the scientists about the inadequacy of their knowledge, irrespective of the mighty advances in every field of science. This includes Reason’s ability to sense ‘NON-SENSE’ too, that is, the absence of the element of ORDER in our beliefs, or conclusions.

This feature of Reason is what helps man to have the much required universal CERTAINTY of the observed facts. Certain things he concludes as universally true, and certain other things as false. If REASON was not a SENSE ORGAN, but a subjectively operated faculty by each one as he opts, man would not have been able to arrive at such universal conclusions. 

When you and I agree on the universal premise that ‘ man is mortal’, Reason helps us to conclude that, ‘if Socrates is a man, he must also be mortal’, by the certainty of the inherent ORDER hidden between the two statements.  When we see that, the distance of every point on the circumference of a circle is equal towards its centre, Reason helps us to arrive at the universal conclusion that every circle of any radius would have a similar feature. The sensible ‘relation’ part that might lie between two or more objects, events, notions, and ideas is what Reason senses. 

Thus, it was this special sense of universal ORDER, i.e. the sense of REASON that has helped us to develop our science of physics and mathematics, though there is a question about how the Reason solves them at different levels or layers of the reality of life, cosmos and existence.

It is this bottom sense of ORDER in nature that helps him to conclude the certainty such as ‘2+2 makes 4; 2 million+ 2 million also would make 4 million; and 3 million+ 3 million should also make 6 million. This is similar to the eye’s or ear’s ability to recollect faces, and similar sounds, which have been seen or heard once before. What has been attempted here is to conclude that Reason never applies the formal syllogism to infer, but simply sweeps into the given subject matter to display the sought after details, like the act of other sense organs. Taking the help of formal logic is done only to convey such already known facts to others in the world.

b)                 In the act of arriving at inferences and conclusions, (or REASONING) what Reason does is to relate the sense observed, or Reason observed premises with the certainty of some already ascertained universal facts or reality. When such notions and ideas are mere mental products, external sense organs have no role here. It is the dedicated job of the sense of Reason. Hence, as once quoted before, when one observes ‘man is mortal, Socrates is a man', Reason brings out the natural conclusion, i.e. Socrates is mortal. Observing such an inherent ORDER among the premises and facts is the usual job of Reason.

But remember, it will base its conclusions only upon the then AVAILABLE premises in the mind. To come out with more deeper conclusions, one has to toil around with the sense organ more, and collect wider range of premises. It would be  a non-stop journey of its kind. 

c)                  Besides arriving at conclusions based on thought out, or gathered premises at a time, Reason also exhibits another CENTRAL character, which can be described as PRISMATIC function. This function naturally splits each given ray of thought or idea into its further possibilities and constituent sub-ideas. Such freshly found spectrum of evidences often makes his previous conclusions INCONSISTENT.  It then  compels him to re-think, in a non-stop course. Till one stops this process voluntarily, it will go on working further and further, till he reaches the realm of the ultimate questions, and even answers for the given subject.

It is not necessary that everyone goes as deep as required, every time on any given subject. Many men stop at middle points, and start believing the truth at whatever destination they have travelled.  This makes men having differences of opinion on many issues. This could lead to the conclusion  that if Reason travels at equal depth on any given subject, the arrived truths would always be similar and same.

This can be compared to swimming to the bottom of the sea, where all the ultimate truths lie. Those who terminate the act at various depths, fail to reach at the final truth. 

Reason does not analyse, as generally thought and believed, an act attributed to the ability of the person who does it. It works like the eye, or the ear. It plunges and sweeps deep into the subject, like the eye directs itself towards the infinite sky, and simply gathers new buds of ideas and premises. When applying itself continuously and repeatedly on a given subject, new ideas, or various aspects of the given idea get split into all its possibilities and options. The mind needs to only pick up whatever is useful to it, and bring back a new ORDER. What required is putting-in of uninterrupted attention.

 When a given thought or idea is fed to REASON, it splits it into all its constituent sub-ideas and possibilities as in a PRISMATIC action, as stated above. It is like eyes’ seeing, or ear’s hearing, an automatic, natural displaying, or revealing. We do not know why the eye reveals objects in its particular way, and the ears and nose reveals objects and qualities in the world in their particular ways. Our sense of Reason also reveals to us a particular aspect of reality in a similar way.

Effort is needed only to relate the ‘revealed’, or found facts to the world, by logically relating it to some already known fact of the world, as Descartes, and many other great men of science and philosophy had vouched. Descartes wrote in his ‘DISCOURSE ON METHOD’ (part-11) ‘I found that, as for logic, its syllogisms and the majority of its other precepts are of avail rather in the communication of what we already know. .’   This natural knowing is what facilitated by the sense organ of reason.

d)                 One of the central features of this internal sense of Reason is its metaphysical or SPIRITUAL link: its inherent mystery SENSE of existential ORDER and CONSISTENCY can not be attributed to anything received from the external world, through the usual sense organs! Hence, it needs to be considered as an organ independent of time and space. It is even capable of conceiving the infinite nature of TIME and SPACE, or any eternity related to concepts such as timelessness and space-less-ness, without self contradiction! Rather he always feels natural about it. These are POSSIBLE intuitions, if one wants to use Kant’s terminology.  It is quite possible to conceive the special ‘time realm’ in which the Ego realm operates, where he ‘experience’ phenomenon !

One thing deserves very special attention here: Every living being is given organs, including sense organs, as instruments to fulfil each species’ desired destiny. When some species are bestowed with an extra powerful eye sight, others extra powerful sense of smell (e.g. dogs) In the matter of the sense organ of Reason, without doubt, man is far ahead of the other species. Sense of Reason should compel man to infer that it might have been given to him with special intentions of NATURE that of taking him to the highest possible heights of the intellectual, as well as spiritual EVOLUTION with him being the most advanced species!

When he reaches the boundaries of thoughts using the objects of senses, in the effort to seek out ultimate truths, one can observe a withdrawal of the mind in the end, resigned to its limitations, by giving the job to some other inner organ. The pattern of the process of thinking suddenly alters, as if it has entered a different mode. Anyone can observe this phenomenon through dedicated attempts.

This feature of the mind is universal for any one who travels in this path. It is evident from the almost similar spiritual experiences felt by the ones who meditate, or the ones who have renounced the world, and adopted spirituality as their way of life. 

We should assume that the ones who go into deep meditation and trance must be entering this different mode of consciousness. This writer, who was into the study of Hypnosis for many years, had witnessed his experimental subjects showing ‘clairvoyance’ (witnessing persons and events at distant places in real time) abilities in deep trance. There can be no physical explanations to such abilities except attributing it to the mysterious faculty of the some mystery sense organ that could transcend space and time when called for. 

As the Reason’s job is not cognizing objects in the world, as it is in the case of the external sense organs, but sensing the inherent existential order, independent of time and space, such abilities should be believed natural.  

It could be hence inferred that, this mystery sense organ of ORDER may be linked to the ultimate reality behind existence, as it is highly improbable that nature has put a permanent blockade for man for understanding his spiritual root and substance. 

The functions it handles, like sensing the logical relation between mathematical relations such as ‘if 2 million + 2 millions make 4 million, 3 million + 3 million also should make 6 millions’, or the universal applicability of geometrical formulas etc. are axioms beyond the constraints of time and space. Hence, it proves that, what the realm Reason handles is beyond the realm of time and space, hence, it is difficult to write off its metaphysical origin and connections. 

The ultimate reality may not be any object, but an emotion, or a relation. (the metaphysical link of Reason continuous )

Before we recognized ‘eye’ as one of the sense organs, we used to recognize its objects, say, an elephant, or a tree. The reality of the object has lead us to the sense organ that perceives the object. Hence, for understanding the new sense organ of Reason, it is better we first understand its typical objects, such as the ultimate realty, emotions involved in the inter human interactions, and the mysterious cosmic order- so that it could lead us to the sense organ that handles them. The logic here is, there can not be a shadow without a real object. We sense something un-explained, hence, it must have been caused by a sense organ.

Another central truth about the identity, or the nature of any object is that, more than its physical structure, what determines its reality is its DISPOSITION. The physical structure is always a means to achieve the dispositional functions. Take the example of any man made device, or structure, say, a car, or a building. The object is devised for a purpose. The purpose will only explain the structure. Same truth will apply to existence, or universe also. Man will not be able to understand it till he gets clues to its hidden disposition. This disposition is the ‘why’ question of science ! What this study attempts to convey is that, science must open its eyes on the ‘why’ factor also in order to lay hands on the final reality. No knowledge about the structure, or the energy dynamics will be complete without having some insight into the ‘why’ factor. This why factor can not be anything other  some kind of an emotional disposition. Man does not have any other means at his disposal than his new sense organ of Reason to sense this ‘emotional disposition’ of nature, or existence.

Unlike animals, man has the capacity to experience subtle emotions, such as LOVE, devotion etc. ‘Experiencing’ ultimately is an act of SENSING. Sensing is a faculty which belongs only to sense organs. Hence, we could logically attribute such capabilities of the human mind to this newly found sense organ; 'the sense organ of Reason'.

With the latest findings at quantum physics, the ultimate reality has been found dilly-dallying between matter and energy. The very concept of a purely physical ‘universe’ (an independent singularity) is an incomprehensible idea, as no material object could exist without some other object outside it, in the role of a perceiving subject. No object can ever be an object and a subject at the same time. Hence, universe can not ever exist as a sensible entity without pre-supposing some thing out side it, or else it will defy the very identity of it as ‘UNI-VERSE’   (the singularity of the whole)  Mere coining the word ‘infinity’ to describe and over come this conceptual difficulty will not solve the problem.

So, to conceptualize existence as a sensible whole , man has to pre-suppose some thing non-physical behind the story, at least its hidden ‘disposition’ as mentioned  above. Man has nothing at his disposal other than his ‘sense organ’ of Reason to find answers, or SENSE answers.

An element of CREATIVE CHOICE is well evident in many aspects of existence, something not attributable to a non-organic whole. Hence, it demands an element of EMOTION behind creation. Therefore, the ultimate reality could be an EMOTION rather than energy, person or a thing. Channel of  the Sense organ of Reason could be the natural means of nature to connect with man, conveying, or interacting with such COSMIC EMOTIONS with him. Our dedicated blog: http://thewhyquestionofexistenceanswered.blogspot.com/ handles the issue of the possibility of such COSMIC EMOTIONS in existence. The issue of such cosmic emotions could be the MISSING LINK that science is in the look out for!

Kant admitted that man has the innate faculties (aided by the mystery structure of mind) to understand the universal geometrical formulas, that evidently are

 ‘a priori’. We can not ever imagine such formulas about triangles and  circles, or the plain arithmetical sums such as 2+2=4 be proven wrong any time - past or future. It is clear to us now that, it is the sense organ of Reason that helps man in ascertaining the infallibility of such universal equations.  There is an element of innate ‘order’ in existence, and we have no better option  than to believe that man is bestowed with a sense organ to ‘sense’ this order. Reason is nothing but this sense organ that conceives, or detects this ‘order’.

Similarly intriguing is man’s innate ability to experience the above mentioned subtle emotions such as Love, benevolence, devotion etc, as once mentioned above. Besides the physical objects and the innate ideas like freedom, truth etc., ‘emotions’ are also central objects of our experience.  Emotions are not objects of man’s external sense organs, hence evidently are free of  phenomena. Hence, they deserve the ‘in-itself’ status, pre-set by nature in man’s system for directing its mystery course. In order to experience and make sense of these ‘emotions’, it is to be believed that man do have pre-set ‘experience buds’, similar to the taste buds of our TONGUE organ. This idea has been explained in more detail in the next article in this book.

Hence, the classic ‘opposite pole’ relation between Reason and Emotion requires a real review, as Reason does not seems to be a cold, analytical, mechanical faculty that it was thought earlier.  It does have something to do with our experiencing the  inherent emotions, that emerge from man to man relations, as well from man vs. the supernatural relation! Like the eye and ears, the non-closable openings for signals from the external world, Reason too seems to be an open door for experiencing emotions from both the worlds!  

When the ‘unit’ man sweeps deep into the depths of Reason, transcending his self in such acts ( see details of this act in a foregoing portion of this write-up) he gets to experience the mystery cosmic emotion that had caused life and existence to come to being!

          

The following examples of the other inherent functions of this mysterious sense organ will prove its metaphysical link more clearly.

If a painting on the wall is tilted on its sides slightly, or the stripes on the bed-sheet is not aligned to the boarders of the coat it catches the attention of everyone instantly. The DISORDER in it is evident, without any engineering knowledge. Music and art are said to be extreme expressions of ORDER. Even a layman enjoys music, beauty of paintings and other works of art. They are also generally able to distinguish a bad-tune from a rhythmically played piece of music.

When one attempts to jump over a hurdle or take a long-jump over a pit, most of the time, the pre-judgement about his capability to accomplish the task often turns correct. We may call such pre-judgments as ‘instinctive’, but no one could write-off its extra-sensory element. 

Every human being and even children often sense the inborn character of a person in front of them, by looking at his eyes and body language. It is not the eye or the ear that conceive such notions, but the inner sense of Reason.  

The famous psychologist Carl Jung had explained how gifted speakers experience ‘auto-speaking’, phenomenon, i.e. ideas and words flowing out of them without their conscious awareness at occasions. Gifted writers too often experience such natural flow of words and ideas at the peak of their creative moments. It all explains an unknown centre in man, who knows and acts without the conscious awareness of the EGO. Ego’s world is a parallel, synthetic world, where he raises his ‘PHENOMENA’, and enjoys its ownership. 

Now, man’s inherent sense of morals and justice should also be understood as part of this mysterious inner sense of ORDER, 'Reason'. Almost every one will feel the prick and pinch of injustice when a single man is attacked by a group, or the compulsion to save children and the elderly from dangerous situations.

Kant, though it never occurred to him that Reason could be a sense organ, he certified man’s sense of morals and ethics as INNATE. Here, we must go deep into the working of this sense organ to understand why he thought, the ‘practical aspect of Reason’ could only be applied in the realm of Morals and ethics.

Reason vs. 'Reasoning'

We have seen that the sense organ of Reason, like other external sense organs, will be applied only where man desires to apply it, and with the degree of keenness that he wishes to put in. Hence, many a times, man uses it only at issue based, or question based instances.

The best example is the field of science. It selects a filed, or a question, and calls for the services of reason. They test the veracity of hypotheses, or the scientific base of suddenly revealed pieces of truth and facts, like Newton’s waking up to discover GRAVITATIONAL energy upon the falling of the apple on his head.

We should know that even animals use Reason for drawing such universal conclusions, and using the result in the course of life. Capuchin monkeys keep specially selected stones as tools to break open hard shelled nuts (like coconuts). They run to the hill top and roll down heavy stones one after another, to scare off, and even injure predator leopards.

Lions and other predatory animals always go for the deadly bite at the neck of the prey, to ensure its quick death. We cannot refute that those are not rudimentary forms of the ‘scientific method’.

In each of the above case, what has been used is the act of Reasoning. Intelligence is in operation to decide on routine issues, based on a universal fact or truth observed earlier. There are millions of such middle layer truths and facts, in various aspects of life, where man uses for the purpose of Reasoning. Even burglars and other criminals use Reasoning for the smooth operation of their special course of life, or say, trade. Reasoning is, thus, the smart and intelligent act of RELATING an old UNIVERSAL premise, finding, or observed truth, with a current event, act, stand, social practice or opinion. The crucial aspect is the selection of such universal premise, based on which, REASONING takes place.

When wrong inferences and conclusions are drawn from any given universal premise, it should only mean IRRATIONALITY in this context. It is plain bad logic. Say for example; Cow A is black, and Cow B is also black, so all Cows are black etc. There is no logical ORDER between the universal, the premises, and the conclusion. The crux is the choosing of the right UNIVERSAL, and this is the ultimate job of the sense of Reason. 

It is like one’s swimming into various depths of the sea, and drawing inferences based on the depth one has covered. Only the person who has reached the bottoms comes out with a wholesome account of the truth. Similarly, those who apply reason to find out the ultimate truth about SELF, LIFE and EXISTENCE, over and above its routine aspects, (or the specialised aspects of life and existence that Science deals) would only come out with the laws and rules that wholesomely control life and existence. Morals and Ethics are at such bottom realms of life and existence, and only those who swim to such depths would encounter them.

Top layer and middle layer truths should never be allowed to determine wholesome laws and norms of life and existence, as now being attempted by our socio-political sectors.  Modern age suffers from this false perspective of Reason. For every fallacious opinion, conclusion, policy and stand, people bring in some argument, based on middle lying ‘universals’. We are going to see the example of underworld operators, robbers and predatory animals soon, to prove this point.

Kant could rightfully find this truth, hence he insisted that the only clear and practical use of Reason is at the realm of morals and ethics, as this realm is where man’s REASONING journey culminates when he is on the path of seeking the ultimate reality. All the rest is middle of the journey destinations, where the seeker has decided to end the task.

This simply means that, any genuine attempt to seek out reality naturally culminates at the spiritual realms, starting with morals and ethics. In other words, whenever man evokes the sense of Reason for seeking answers to his middle layer questions, like in matters of science, or socio-political dilemmas, the solutions thus arrived at are random events or a particular question based, and have nothing to do with the ultimate, all pervading principle foundations of life and existence. These are biological, or survival based uses of Reason, like that of the Capuchin monkeys, or many such uses of Reason by the members of the animal kingdom.

But man, the most enlightened of the species, should have applied the tenets of Reason that he had found at its end point- the realm of morals and ethics- for inferring principles, stands and decisions in the sub-realms of social and political institutions.

The word RATIONAL is often used as a synonym for the DOGMA of materialism the belief that nothing could be true that can not pass the test of sense experience. Such stands are like the stand of a person born-deaf, to who if there is anything called 'SOUND' should be brought to the test of his eyes, or nose!

Then, as already mentioned once above, there are many groups who use the word REASONING’ or RATIONAL to denote the LOGICAL relation of their belief, stand and opinion,  to some other well known, or well established stand, belief or opinion of their trade, practice, or the profession, to establish its legitimacy. For example, being rational for an underworld killer gang would be to annihilate witnesses to any crime committed by them. Otherwise, it would cause them to be caught one day. Hence, there is a cause and effect case of REASONING here.

Similarly, in modern day democratic politics, arousing communal passion in the country for the sake of polarising votes would be totally RATIONAL as such strategies are well established success theories in the profession, with a straight cause and effect relation.

Or in the case of modern day MEDIA enterprise, it is considered RATIONAL for them to choose and concentrate on ‘more curiosity’ arising news items than going for their natural responsibility of caring for the intellectual advancement and nourishment of the people of the world! The compulsions of their trade demand such convenient and practical shifts in the ideologies. Reason is often used as a synonym for PRACTICALITY, and common sense.

Reason, when understood as a sense organ by humanity, with inherent tenets of morals and ethics, as rightly advocated by the great philosopher Kant, its misuse by ignorance, and wilful deceit, might come to a stop. 

Reason and Logic

It was in the knowledge of many a great thinkers and philosophers that great pieces of knowledge first land-up in the mind as if from no where ! ‘Reasoning’ or Logic was the task of linking such knowledge to some other already known facts of the world, and conveying to others so that they also could believe it.  The sense organ of Reason is what SENSES the ORDER between such known pieces of knowledge and the NEW KNOWLEDGE has now arrived, and makes sense.

This route of the landing of knowledge directly into the mind first, is the most reliable proof that the faculty of Reason is indeed a sense organ. When the seeker applies Reason to a given thought, like he applies his eye closely to observe an object, the subject gets split into all its sub-thoughts, possibilities, relations and associations, in a sweeping action.

Reason here acts as a PRISM. The seeker suddenly gets to know the UNIQUE aspect of any newly observed relation or possibility. He simply gets to know it as the truth, or a possible truth. The way of arriving at such revealed truth is, for the moment, unknown to him, as it is the result of a sweeping action, like the EYE or the EAR which observe a unit of data.

It was through this route that Kant had confidently declared the impossibility of the Mind to know beyond phenomena, and Einstein found the in-completeness of the QUANTUM MECHANICS theory. Even Stephen Hawking, the greatest of the living scientists says in his famous book ‘ A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME ,that the more science advances in solving the mysteries of the universe one by one, the more it becomes aware of the underlying ever elusive greater ORDER, still far elusive of its powers to solve and de-mystify. Reason has always haunted man with such a mysterious sense of hidden truths and ORDER every time he tries to sleep on the already found knowledge bundles.   

A plain mind that could deal only with material objects, the observable, and the possible relation between them, could never have been able to come out with prophetic insights and delicate metaphysical observations, like in the case of above great men, without the assistance of some special FACULTY within man. Hence, it is high time that science admits Reason as a mysterious sense organ that could sense the mysterious ORDER in the universe.

The US philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce was the only one who had directly admitted the route of arrival of hypotheses in the mind, without the reasoning act.  He said, " Hypothesis simply lands-up in the mind from up".   

Descartes also had written in his ‘DISCOURSE ON METHOD’ (part-11) ‘I found that, as for logic, its syllogisms and the majority of its other precepts are of avail rather in the communication of what we already know. ’      

Hence, one need not toil any more in arriving at the conclusion that Reason works like a true sense organ, in line with the working of our external sense organs, eye, or the ear. What it helps to sense is not sight or sound, or taste, but the greatest and most central of all the qualities of existence: THE MYSTERY ORDER, OR CONSISTENCY in the fact of existence.

It acts as the only link between man and his origins. It is a sure medium that could take man beyond the wall of phenomena, but man is only able to convert and translate such knowledge in language form and this only represents his material world, owned by the EGO.

Reason vs. Belief

Like the opposite pole status of Reason and Emotion, Reason and Belief also are considered born natural enemies. Its fields and spheres were always thought separate and even opposite.

An in-depth analysis of the two, in the light of our finding Reason a SENSE ORGAN of ORDER, could reveal the inherent falsehood of such distinctions. As in Reason has been found a sense organ of inherent ORDER in nature, whatever it reveals is like whatever our other sense organs reveals to us. One believes whatever is in front of his eyes, and hears with his ears and touches with his hands similarly, in the case of Reason as well. If he finds some spiritual truth in the path of his seeking, he believes in his findings, like a scientist believes in his findings after experiments. Both have used the same sense organ, Reason, for finding the veracity of their respective beliefs.

In ancient times, when the upper hand in society belonged to the religious leaders, whatever spiritual truth they had revealed had become the BELIEFS of the followers. Similarly, in the modern day, such an upper hand is now enjoyed by the scientific community. Hence, whatever they say is believed by the followers. Imagine the many centuries wherein the whole of mankind had believed that Earth was at the centre of the solar system, a scientific belief of the time!

Belief is the culminating point of Reason. Wherever Reason carries us, there lies our belief.  Here, whatever it is a person's senses do not need to be converted into the realm of the mind (phenomena) for ascertaining its reality in the usual manner. This conversion part is what we usually call by the name REASONING.

It seems quite possible for seekers of the truth to live on with Reason alone, as his sole knowing mode. Such a life would require putting off his usual organ of interacting with the world, i.e. The MIND. This would weed-off phenomena altogether form his horizon. Such a life can be called ‘living by belief’, as he need not toil to convert his realities into the domain of the mind, by REASONING, as mentioned above. It is here that belief becomes the natural culmination of Reasoning, ending the proverbial opposite pole status of these two stages. 

The mandatory test through experience by science, so far was limited to the experience of the external sense organs. The new discovery, if approved by the world, would change the old differentiation between reason and belief.

Reason and Justice

One should be compelled to believe that concepts of universal FREEDOM and JUSTICE must have originated in human societies due to the work of man’s mysterious sense of Reason. Many a men fight against injustice and inequality, even at the cost of their lives. Many a wars were fought in the world around such causes. Even individuals, who have suffered injustice and cruelty from other individuals, or society at large, get compelled by their sense of Reason to take revenge against the oppressors. Some mysterious imbalance takes place in nature at such events hence Reason gets activated for bringing ORDER and balance. 

Reason’s inherent URGES for bringing in ORDER was even vouched for by Kant, in his ‘Critique’: ‘Experience tells us what is, but not that it must be, necessarily what it is and not otherwise. It therefore never gives us any real general truths; 'and our Reason, which is particularly anxious for that class of knowledge, is aroused by it rather than satisfied.'

When one reads Kant, especially his CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON, one tends to feel that he was falling short only marginally in pin pointing the SENSE ORGAN like the role of Reason, in sensing the inherent ORDER and consistency in existence! While discussing the mind’s ability in grasping mathematical equations ‘a priori’, he has given credit to the ‘inherent structure of the mind’ instead.

But if we agree with him on the special MODES of experiences, and the pre-structured nature of our mind that codify sense data into ‘sensible forms (or CATEGORIES) of conception’, a question naturally arises about such codifications of sense data in the minds of animals! Has nature altogether devised separate CATEGORIES for the animal kingdom?

Hence, it would be more sensible to consider the ‘faculty of Reason’ of man as a SENSE ORGAN, which detects the inherent category or the quality of ‘ORDER’ in existence. Every species uses it for evolving into its own destiny that nature has pre-set. For man, it was not evidently biological alone. 

If it had occurred to the great man in his time that faculty of reason could be man’s inner sense organ of existential ORDER, his great mind would have worked on the idea more meaningfully, and we would have had a more advanced book on the science of the mind! 

The origin of all our sciences and even religions for that reason can be attributed to the inherent URGES that Reason causes in the human mind. Both pursuits, as we should agree, were aimed at laying hands on reality, the ultimate ORDER behind all the disorders in life, and existence in general.  

Similar predilections can be found for man’s external sense organs too - -eyes have a predilection for enjoying  whatever is pleasant to the eye , and ears enjoy  orderly audio-signals than that irritate and depress it, the tongue mostly shows preference for sweet tastes, and the nose for fragrances than odours ! Children are believed to be born with an inherent fear for loud noises. Most of them cry when exposed to large sounds.

In the above scenario on senses, all the sense organs of man including our now found sense of Reason could also be treated as INSTINCTS, as directing man’s behaviour and attitudes. 

 A blog by the same author: http://thesparkleofhumanreason.blogspot.com/ gives more details on these special features of man’s mysterious sense organ of Reason.

The truth of the subjective bubble that each man lives in

As very brilliantly proclaimed by Immanuel Kant, or any seeker who dedicates their life to the cause of finding such truths like the great man himself, could find that our mind only perceives the ‘subjective image of the observed object. Such images of the same object, say an elephant, in the minds of a thousand people will be thousand different images if every minute graphic detail is observed. The word elephant when heard or read, brings only such subjective images  to the mind of each person.

For practical purposes this arrangement does not make much difference, but metaphysically this factor is a crucial element that throws light upon the working of the mind. It was this insight that made Kant declare the inability of the mind to know the ‘real’ thing. The mind can never get to know the real thing, whatever it may be. Every man lives within his exclusive world of ‘subjectivity’. It will be quite true if we state that ‘man is not living in the world, but the world is living in him’. In this meaning and sense, the reality of our sciences are also nothing but the ‘collective subjectivity’ of mankind. Whatever heights and distance man wishes to travel with his usual mind, and its sense contents, he can never break the above ‘bubble’, and taste anything that is real. But the sense of Reason, as found from the various evidences and signs described above, is a mysterious door connecting man with things and secrets ‘up above’.  

The transcending of SELF

When the seeker succeed in breaking the bubble of EGO, and taste the freedom of ‘no-mind’, (when he uses his sense organ of Reason for sensing metaphysical realm) what really happens is, he gets transformed into a non-ego entity. He could enter this stage as a result of his rigorous effort to go beyond the sense realm. Hence, it is not the sense ORGAN that gains entry into the realm of NOUMENON, (The world of reality beyond PHENOMENON) but the transformed seeker himself.   Or in other words, when the realm of experience changes, probably the ‘sense organ’ that handles such changed realms automatically takes over, giving the entity- man- a new centre for his self other than the routine mind.

Kant had hinted about ‘transcending of experience’. He said, the task of explaining how ‘sense-experience’ gets transformed into co-ordinated ‘knowledge’, by the inherent structure of the mind is called ‘transcendental philosophy’. But in our study, we try to understand the ‘transcending of the self’ in the above said act.  

This should be a very interesting subject for the true seekers. Upon close analysis one could observe that such transformations of the entity are usual when the CANVAS of the mind changes even at the ego realm. When the ego adopts ‘universe’ as its realm instead of the narrow world around it, the personality suddenly changes. His behaviour pattern and attitude too change as a result.

When such a transformation takes place, it could be believed that, the MIND becomes inactive, and its job is taken over by an organ OTHER THAN the MIND, the organ of REASON, as we have seen above. It takes charge of the interaction of the NEW ENTITY with the realm beyond the mind ( A person may call it the spiritual realm for convenience of easy understanding). Such a change over is natural, as an EYE will never be able to work as the EAR or NOSE, despite one’s best efforts an organ usually cannot change its destined function, as it involves breaking  physical laws.

This transformation of his SELF may not always be in his own awareness most of the time, as he switches back to the routine EGO –self when he comes out of the encounter, unless he is a dedicated observer of the change that happens to him. At least the science of Psychology is now aware of such personality transformations of man, but it down grades it as a mental abnormality.

Ego and its usual instrument, the mind, as everyone knows, is ‘object’ oriented. Reason functions in a non-objective sphere, where concepts, notions and relations reside. Hence, such natural transcending of the very entity of the seeker, from EGO to other entities becomes mandatory.

Ego usually attributes knowledge gained through this new source as its own, though such rich experiences transform even his worldly personality substantially. Those who are keen to remain forever as such a transformed personality, AS NEW BEINGS, choose to take up permanent spiritual vocations in life, and live in Monasteries, or Ashrams.

Here, the seeker chooses to live without his mind, but with his sense organ of reason alone, as mind is the dedicated organ for handling objects of the external senses. The famous Indian spiritualist OSHO often used the term ‘living without the mind’, and ‘living life like a fool’ to denote such stages. It is a life of ‘belief’, without the need of reasoning, the latter being the act of converting sense information into beliefs.

St. Paul, the spirited Biblical Apostle, must have meant such a life, when he wrote: ‘Offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God  . . . let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God’ (Romans 12-1and 2)

Hence, the route of gaining spiritual knowledge can be believed to be through the working of the other mysterious inner organ, REASON, as soon as the function asked for by the seeker enters the realm of such other ORGANS! It could be compared to the ear’s taking charge the moment light goes off in a room. Or, if you are eating in the dark, your nose comes to help to detect the right food that goes into your mouth.

The task here for the modern man is to leave his dogma about matter centric existence. As he does not know what matter really is, true scientific spirit must compel him to accept the new sense organ of Reason too as a natural aspect of existence and new reality.   

(More on ‘Transcending of the self’ is there in the next write-up in this book)

Concluding notes

We have a jungle of literature and studies on Reason and Reasoning in the world, but every author writes on Reason as if it is already clear to everyone what it is. The truth is different as we have seen above.

Understanding Reason as an internal sense organ that senses the quality of ORDER inherent in nature, and that which unites life and various aspects of existence in a mysterious way, makes good sense. All the above narrated supportive arguments should also help us to direct each one’s ‘sense of Reason’ in this direction!

This new acceptance could end the wide gap between science and spirituality. The source of both group is the same: when the former attribute all its revelations as man’s proud achievements, the latter realizes that he was merely helped by nature to be united with life and existence in a different way. Although the latter desires to remain as the ‘transcended self’, at the mercy of his sense of Reason, the former always returns to the phenomenal world as his EGO. The latter senses the ultimate relation that unites himself with the whole, whereas the former terminates his journey after finding his specialised targets.

Realization of Reason as a metaphysical centre for man, independent of time and space, could one day make him realize the ultimate relation that unites him with the hidden energies, and the core-centre of existence. It only makes sense to conclude that man is bestowed with at least a crude opening towards the ultimate reality, in the form of his sense organ of Reason.  As we have discussed above, man may not be able to conceive such an ultimate reality in all its intricacies, but his mysterious sense of order may help him to taste the directive EMOTION behind the existence.  Nature often instil and fill traces of this emotions into his system without his conscious awareness. She often instils strange doubts and insights also. Man has no control at this route, as it is outside the realm of his will. It is often a one way traffic route.

As we all know, man started using his independent mind organ only recently, after the merits of individual freedom and liberty was proclaimed and highlighted in Europe, post renaissance years. Men lived in larger communities, with one single collective mind, like that in the animal species that live in large herds. That single mind for all had given way for the independent mind for each in the modern era. New political and economic systems emerged around these new concepts of Freedom, like democracy and capitalism.

Now, it is the turn of Reason to gather relevance as a new core centre for man’s personality. Mankind can look forward to the emergence of newer systems of life and policies, around his newly found centre of personality in the future. This could result in a reinvented life for all men on earth, with newer values, better mutual relation and better international relations.   

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