Antenna
- a conductor by which electromagnetic waves are sent out or received, consisting commonly of a wire or set of wires; aerial.
- (Zoology) one of the jointed, movable, sensory appendages occurring in pairs on the heads of insects and most other arthropods.
antenna. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved December 25, 2016 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/antenna
I use the term antenna to describe our ability to sense or feel things. Our five senses are our antennas, but they are not all. I also include empathy, intuition and other harder-to-name spiritual senses.
The same two facets that apply to all our talents and abilities apply also to our antennas. There is the capability, and there is the degree to which we develop that capability. Even if you have a stronger-than-usual antenna, if you are not aware of it you may not be using its full potential. Antennas provide information, but it requires your attention or awareness to use it.
Let’s say someone has a stronger eyesight than I do, so can see details farther away. If s/he tells me something that I can’t see, I may have to take her/his word for it. I try not to jump to the conclusion that if I can’t see it for myself then it’s not true.
I believe that there is a gap between our mental understanding of our individual differences, and the reality of it. Because of how often we fail to accept the simple truth. We say we accept and understand our differences, but yet when someone tells you something we can’t sense through any of our senses, then we jump to the conclusion that it must not be true.
We rely on our antennas to gain information about our world, but we are not all given the exact same set of those antennas. Inevitably, our picture of the world differs from person to person. There are as many worldviews as there are number of people in the world. Some can see, some can hear, some can smell, some can sense better than others. Stronger antennas aren’t blessing or curse, though they can be interpreted as either. Some gain more information through one or more of the channels, that is all. But this is the key concept we all need to learn from this realization:
We can’t decide something is not true just because we can’t sense it ourselves.
Let us keep that in mind as we open our minds to hear what others tell us.
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