--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our senses enable us to perceive only a…" description: "\"Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world. Our hearing extends to a small distance. Our sight is impeded by interveni..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/322/nikola-tesla-1383_body_our-senses-enable-us-to-perceive-only-a_470958.jpg" --- # Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of… ![“Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world. Our hearing extends to a small distance. Our sight is impeded by intervening bodies and shadows. To know each other we must reach beyond the sphere of our sense perceptions. We must transmit our intelligence, travel…” quote by Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/322/nikola-tesla-1383_body_our-senses-enable-us-to-perceive-only-a_470958.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/322/nikola-tesla-1383_body_our-senses-enable-us-to-perceive-only-a_470958.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/322/nikola-tesla-1383_body_our-senses-enable-us-to-perceive-only-a_470958.jpg) > “Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world. Our hearing extends to a small distance. Our sight is impeded by intervening bodies and shadows. To know each other we must reach beyond the sphere of our sense perceptions. We must transmit our intelligence, travel, transport the materials and transfer the energies necessary for our existence.” [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human senses capture only a tiny fraction of reality; communication and technology are needed to transcend these limits and sustain humanity. **In simple terms:** Our senses are limited; we need tech to go beyond. Key Takeaway Invest in communication and transport technologies. Themes human perception technology communication interdependence energy transfer Mood inquisitive optimistic cautious Type philosophical technical visionary When to use this quote - remote collaboration - global logistics - energy distribution - space exploration - education outreach Key Concepts cognitive science systems theory engineering sustainability Questions to Reflect On - How can we ensure equitable access to advanced tech? - What ethical safeguards are needed for global energy transfer? A Different Perspective Relying solely on senses can mislead; tech can fail or be misused. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Energy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/energy/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Outside world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outside-world/) [Perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Sense perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-perception/) [Shadow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/our-senses-enable-us-to-perceive-only-a-minute-portion-of-the-outside-2/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [The senses do not enable us to cognize any entity in its Being; they merely serve to announce the ways in which 'external' Things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-heidegger/the-senses-do-not-enable-us-to-cognize-any-entity-in-its-being-they/) [Martin Heidegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-heidegger/) > [To know each other we must reach beyond the sphere of our sense perceptions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/to-know-each-other-we-must-reach-beyond-the-sphere-of-our-sense/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [It will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages around the world so simply that any individual can carry and operate his own apparatus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/it-will-soon-be-possible-to-transmit-wireless-messages-around-the/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [We wind a simple ring of iron with coils; we establish the connections to the generator, and with wonder and delight we note the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/we-wind-a-simple-ring-of-iron-with-coils-we-establish-the-connections/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Ere long intelligence-transmitted without wires-will throb through the earth like a pulse through a living organism. The wonder is that, with the present state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/ere-long-intelligence-transmitted-without-wires-will-throb-through/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [During long periods of history, the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence. The manner in which human sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/during-long-periods-of-history-the-mode-of-human-sense-perception/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [If we try and direct our lives with only our limited rationalistic thoughts and our sense perceptions, then our actions and our activities will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/if-we-try-and-direct-our-lives-with-only-our-limited-rationalistic/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“What if insanity is just a heightened sense of perception?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ania-ahlborn/what-if-insanity-is-just-a-heightened-sense-of-perception/) [Ania Ahlborn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ania-ahlborn/) > [When our intellect has shaken off its many opinions about created things, then the inner principle of truth appears clearly to it, providing it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maximus-the-confessor/when-our-intellect-has-shaken-off-its-many-opinions-about-created/) [Maximus the Confessor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maximus-the-confessor/) > [The mind wants to land, to fixate, to hold a concept, but the only way you can be really free is by not fixating.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adyashanti/the-mind-wants-to-land-to-fixate-to-hold-a-concept-but-the-only-way/) [Adyashanti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adyashanti/) > [The brain is the highest of the organs in position, and it is protected by the vault of the head; it has no flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pliny-the-elder/the-brain-is-the-highest-of-the-organs-in-position-and-it-is/) [Pliny the Elder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pliny-the-elder/) > [It is one of the commonest of our mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-one-of-the-commonest-of-our-mistakes-to-consider-that-the-limit/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There is a single general space, a single vast immensity which we may freely call void: in it are unnumerable globes like this on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/there-is-a-single-general-space-a-single-vast-immensity-which-we-may/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [Sense-perceptions can only be indirect knowledge, and not direct knowledge. Only one's own awareness is direct knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/sense-perceptions-can-only-be-indirect-knowledge-and-not-direct/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) ## More by Nikola Tesla > [From childhood I was compelled to concentrate attention upon myself. This caused me much suffering, but to my present view, it was a blessing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/from-childhood-i-was-compelled-to-concentrate-attention-upon-myself/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [In a time not distant, it will be possible to flash any image formed in thought on a screen and render it visible at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/in-a-time-not-distant-it-will-be-possible-to-flash-any-image-formed/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Women will ignore precedent and startle civilization with their progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/women-will-ignore-precedent-and-startle-civilization-with-their/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Great moments are born great opportunity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/great-moments-are-born-great-opportunity/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [ If he \[Thomas Edison\] had a needle to find in a haystack, he would not stop to reason where it was most likely to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/if-he-thomas-edison-had-a-needle-to-find-in-a-haystack-he-would-not/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/man-like-the-universe-is-a-machine-nothing-enters-our-minds-or/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/the-day-science-begins-to-study-non-physical-phenomena-it-will-make/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [All knowledge or form conception is evoked through the medium of the eye, either in response to disturbances directly received on the retina or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/all-knowledge-or-form-conception-is-evoked-through-the-medium-of-the/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/every-living-being-is-an-engine-geared-to-the-wheelwork-of-the-2/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Perhaps I failed, but I did my best, These masters of mine may do the rest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/perhaps-i-failed-but-i-did-my-best-these-masters-of-mine-may-do-the/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Religion is simply an ideal. It is an ideal force that tends to free the human being from material bonds. I do not believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/religion-is-simply-an-ideal-it-is-an-ideal-force-that-tends-to-free/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/what-we-now-want-is-closer-contact-and-better-understanding-between/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [When a coil is operated with currents of very high frequency, beautiful brush effects may be produced, even if the coil be of comparatively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/when-a-coil-is-operated-with-currents-of-very-high-frequency/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance, what Buddha called 'the greatest evil in the world.' The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/of-all-the-frictional-resistances-the-one-that-most-retards-human/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [I am even grateful to Einstein and others because through their erroneous theories they lead mankind away from that dangerous path I followed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/i-am-even-grateful-to-einstein-and-others-because-through-their/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) [Explore all 248 Nikola Tesla quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) ## More Body quotes > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/most-of-us-are-convinced-that-we-are-our-egos-which-is-who-we-think/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [The very purpose for being in this body, for every one of us, is to live and rejoice in that virgin area, that untouched,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/the-very-purpose-for-being-in-this-body-for-every-one-of-us-is-to/) [Sri Sri Ravi Shankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/) > [Because of the womb being a central phenomenon in the feminine body, the whole psychology of woman differs: she is non-aggressive, non-inquiring, non-questioning, non-doubting,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/because-of-the-womb-being-a-central-phenomenon-in-the-feminine-body/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [I've used the Phoenix Centrifuge to replicate what the body's going to go through on the flight up. I've also done some gravity tests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/i-ve-used-the-phoenix-centrifuge-to-replicate-what-the-body-s-going/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [If the media is sending girls the message that their value lies in their bodies, this can only leave them feeling disempowered and distract…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-siebel-newsom/if-the-media-is-sending-girls-the-message-that-their-value-lies-in/) Jennifer Siebel Newsom > [Boys and boys' body image and clothes have become just as important an issue for boys as for girls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosalind-wiseman/boys-and-boys-body-image-and-clothes-have-become-just-as-important-an/) [Rosalind Wiseman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosalind-wiseman/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Racism is a cancer. You cannot ignore it and it'll go away. If you ignore cancer, it simply metastasizes and consumes the whole body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daryl-davis/racism-is-a-cancer-you-cannot-ignore-it-and-it-ll-go-away-if-you/) [Daryl Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daryl-davis/) > [America, you're sending girls a mixed message. On one hand, you're saying to have positive body image and love who we are; on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adora-svitak/america-you-re-sending-girls-a-mixed-message-on-one-hand-you-re/) [Adora Svitak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adora-svitak/) > [I read a couple of books about neuroscience and the relationship between the mind and the body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-kinnaman/i-read-a-couple-of-books-about-neuroscience-and-the-relationship/) [Joel Kinnaman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-kinnaman/) > [If japa is maintained, no useless talk during work will be possible. The mind will always remain peaceful. Modern day diseases are mostly psychosomatic.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/if-japa-is-maintained-no-useless-talk-during-work-will-be-possible/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [It is the incongruous thing in my entire life, this isolation.. ... My work requires it - but I myself have no need or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsden-hartley/it-is-the-incongruous-thing-in-my-entire-life-this-isolation-my-work/) [Marsden Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsden-hartley/) > [My friends, this body - perhaps more than any other gathering in human history - now faces that difficult task.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-dicaprio/my-friends-this-body-perhaps-more-than-any-other-gathering-in-human/) [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-dicaprio/) [Browse all 20,814 Body quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world. Our hearing extends to a small distance. Our sight is impeded by intervening bodies and shadows. To know each other we must reach beyond the sphere of our sense perceptions. 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