The Spiritual Senses The very fact that great spiritual masters such as Saints John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Angela of Foligno, Thomas Aquinas, and Augustine have spoken of these "spiritual senses" makes it all the more necessary to define them in such a way as to bring them into our understanding. First of all, a precaution is being made not to confuse the purely sensual mode of knowledge presented to us by the natural senses in approaching the understanding of the spiritual senses. A poet or songwriter can speak of the presence of God in a flower or the face of a person. The same experience the poet or songwriters has cannot be compared to the experience a person has of God's presence felt. In one sense a poet, songwriter or artist, uses the senses of sight, sound, smell, and taste in order to communicate a natural knowledge of the object he is referring to in his art. It is said in the textbooks that "art imitates nature;" while the books of the spiritual masters say that "grace perfects nature." If the natural images communicated thru the sense can bring us closer to the reality of God how much more can senses which only operate under the inspiration of grace bring the soul to a more exact experience of the divine.