The Sixth Sense: Its Cultivation and Use

Long before modern psychology gave us emotional intelligence or mindfulness, Charles Henry Brent wrote this radical treatise on what he called the Mystic Sense: an innate perceptual faculty that connects human consciousness to higher spiritual realities. Brent argues that most of us move through life using only five senses, blind to the deeper dimension of perception that shapes our health, shapes our character, and shapes our very capacity for transcendence. This is not mystical hand-waving but careful, methodical exploration of how to cultivate this inner eye, to bring it into sharper focus until it becomes as natural as seeing color or hearing music. Written in 1914 by an Episcopal bishop and theologian, the book bridges Victorian spiritual inquiry with emerging ideas about consciousness. For readers drawn to the roots of the New Thought movement, or anyone curious about the spiritual philosophies that shaped early twentieth-century intellectual life, this remains a strange and compelling artifact: a book that takes seriously the possibility that we are more than we appear to be.