Being A Sensate

Reposting this just to see if it can generate any new ideas...

Being A Sensate
The first issue for a Sensate is "How do we know anything for certain?" For centuries people thought a reference to Aristotle or the Bible was "proof". Sensates are sceptics, they want to be shown, they want to see the proof with their own eyes. They don't want to hear about your vacation in Cancun, they want to go there, feel the sunshine for themselves. To the Sensates, the only proof of anything, even something that appears completely self-evident, is Direct Experience. No amount of expert testimony or reference to studies or ancient sages is going to convince a Sensate of anything. Sensates never jump to conclusions or rely on assumptions. They want Proof.

The second thing about Sensates is that are voraciously curious. They want to know EVERYTHING, and they want to know it in intimate detail. A Sensate must not be afraid to try anything or to learn anything. No idea or experience must be avoided as "too weird" or "too radical". There must be no limits to what a Sensate will do to gain more experience, short of obvious self-destruction. Get a broken heart. Stick a hand in the fire. Eat that foreign food. Travel off the beaten track. Bad experiences are often the most informative, and must never be shied away from. If one doesn't like an experience spend some time figuring out "Why?", really examine it without fear or hesitation.

Finally, there's the effect of exploring and savouring a lifetime of experience without fear or hesitation: An Open Mind. Its hard to be a prejudiced or bigoted when one's travelled the world, made love to men and women of every hue, eaten food from every country in the world, travelled in jungles and deserts and ancient cities, and participated in the cultures met along the way like a native would, dancing the dances and singing the songs of every people met,studying their traditions to add richness to one's own.

This is the path to real enlightenment and an appreciation not just of the universal similarities of all people, but for the real value of their differences. Furthermore, assimilating knowledge tends to make the mind more flexible and creative. The more one knows about the world, the more prepared one is to face obstacles, and the more one see connections between seemingly unrelated events, enabling one to be more creative and revealing hidden insights into the nature of reality. Sensates know that the more they learn the more is revealed to them. And knowledge is power...