Acharya Prashant explains that there is fundamentally no difference between the five senses and the sixth sense. Just as the five senses constitute who we are, the sixth sense is also a product of the five senses. The so-called sixth sense is the mind. The ego-sense identifies more with the mind than with the hands, eyes, or ears, and therefore wants to give more weightage to it. We often hear people speaking of the sixth sense as intuitive or metaphysical, and there is a common belief that women have a more advanced sixth sense. Just as the five senses are external and dualistic, the sixth sense is also not what one truly is. There is a fascination for the paranormal because we want to prove that we, as we are, are still something beyond the material. The body appears so limited and weak that one likes to claim and attribute powers to it that it does not and cannot have. This leads to talking about things like intuition, conscience, and the sixth sense as if they are coming from somewhere beyond the body-mind. People pay a lot of respect to what they call their intuition, relying on their tendencies, inclinations, and proclivities and calling it the sixth sense. The ego has a fascination for the paranormal because it wants to prove that it is something beyond the material. The ego uses deceptive names to elevate its own functions. For instance, if you say, "This is my decision," it doesn't sound as respectable as saying, "This is the call of my conscience," because you are known to be flawed, while "conscience" sounds like it comes from a higher source. The ego wants to claim that the true center lies within it, so it gives the false true center deceptive names like conscience, love, and understanding. Man wants to claim that his ego itself has two centers, one of which is the true center. This is why a man will tell a woman his love is divine, rather than admitting it is lust for her body. He is dressing up a base instinct in a respectable name. The first element in spirituality is to have the honesty to see things as they are—black as black and white as white—and not to name things deceptively. If you have a doubt, call it a doubt, not a submission. If you are taking sides, clearly mention that you are partisan; do not say you want to understand the matter from a neutral perspective, as all perspectives are biased. The ego uses all means to be taken seriously because, deep within, it has an inferiority complex. It knows it doesn't deserve to be taken seriously, so it masquerades as something else.
