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| What is extrasensory perception (ESP)? | |
| Extrasensory perception (often called ESP)
refers to the acquisition of information psychically, i.e., not through
the known 5 senses. In extrasensory perception, one has more or less a
clear impression of some event. It may even be so clear and specific and
intense as to be expressed in the form of a vision. "intuition"
and "hunch" are terms used in cases in which the information is
known less definitely. In case of some accident, for example, sone may
have only the vague idea or vague feeling that "something is
wrong." It's as though one is only partially aware of the full
message; some of the content is missing. Finally, the terms tend to apply
to different people who experience the phenomena; women have
"intuitions," businessmen have "hunches," laboratory
volunteers have "ESP." Really, these are simply different words
for the same thing. Can I develop my own extrasensory perception (ESP)? We believe that everyone has psychic abilities and that you yourself may be using these very often. But usually they escape your notice. The trick then, is not developing your psychic abilities but learning to notice them when they do occur. The best approach to this would be to pay close attention to everything that happens in your life. Pay closer attention to so-called "coincidences" -- they may have psychic components. Pay closer attention to your hunches and intuitions. If you have an experience which may be psychic, instead of pushing it aside, study it more carefully, discuss it with others and check it out. Accept your psychic experiences when they do arrive, both in yourself and in others. Don't be terribly concerned about them. Don't seek them out, but don't be surprised when they do happen. Flow with them, incorporate them in a balanced fashion along with other aspects of your life. Extrasensory perception (ESP) and dreams Psychic experiences seem to be noticed more readily in quiet moments when you're not distracted by other matters. Pay particular attention to the contents of your mind -- images, thoughts, feelings -- under quiet, relaxed conditions such as periods just before falling asleep or just after awakening. Pay attention to your daydreams, your fantasies, your nocturnal dreams. Keeping a dream diary or journal can be useful. SUggest to yourself before going to sleep that you will recall your dreams. Awaken slowly and don't move around much before writing an account of your dream in the notebook you've left within easy reach of your bed. As you write, more information will come to you. With practice, you will be better able to remember your dreams. If yu can't recall your dreams, a number of "tricks" may be helpful. Try moving your body into a number of different postures or positions in which you might have been at the time the dream occurred. This sometimes helps trigger dream memories. Or think about all the people you know. Sometimes free association to the parts of dreams you do remember will aid in the recall of more content. Observe your own behaviors Pay attention to the unusual, unaccountable changes in your behavior. If you find yourself doing things you normally don't do or vice versa or doing things in different ways -- maybe there is an unconscious psychic basis for these changes. Perhaps you avoided some accident or perhaps you found yourself in the right place at the right time and received some reward. Don't expect extrasensory perception (ESP) to always occur in visual images. Often the pictures are only incomplete glimpses. Sometimes distortions occur. Sometimes psychic impressions occur in the form of sounds or thoughts or vague feelings or emotional changes. Become aware of the variety of different forms psychic impressions may take and which forms are most likely for you. Our best advice is to simply work on yourself. Make yourself generally open to new experiences. Be confident in yourself and your ability. Try to become more open to the feelings of others, to alternative possibilities. Quiet your mind and body frequently. be calm. You'll be surprised at the subtle things you'll start noticing. The book The Mind Race by Russell and Keith Harary offers many excellent suggestions on developing psychic abilities, and hints on cultivating sane attitudes toward them once developed. Also read You Already Know What To Do: 10 Invitations to the Intuitive Life. What exactly is negative ESP? What does it mean to have it? In controlled laboratory experiments, volunteer subjects often score significantly above the performance level predicted by chance. In card—guessing experiments, for example, they correctly identify the symbols on hidden cards. In some cases, however, individuals score significantly below chance expectancy. Statistically, this "psi-missing" effect is just as unlikely on the basis of chance and just as good evidence for ESP as would be significant above-chance performance or "psi-hitting". It’s as though the individual knows what the correct target is, psychical ly, but rejects it or avoids it by describing what the target is not; and he does this consistently enough so that his score drops far below chance. If the individual is indeed unconsciously rejecting the correct target, we might expect that this missing tendency would be related to certain personality characteristics. And this is indeed the case. Psi missing or "negative ESP" tends to occur, interestingly, when there is some negative or undesirable aspect associated with an ESP experiment. Perhaps the volunteer is not interested in the particular task at hand, or is in a bad mood, or doesn’t particularly care for the experimenter - any of these factors could result in psi missing. A number of studies have been done in an attempt to define personality characteristics associated with above-chance or below-chance performance. This research has generally indicated that positive ESP (psi hitting) tends to be associated with spontaneity, extraversion, and good social adjustments; while negative ESP (psi missing) is correlated with rigidity, withdrawal, and defensiveness. Let me mention a case that illustrates what I mean. A young psychic from England, Matthew Manning, visited the Mind Science Foundation laboratory (San Antonio, TX) to participate in some experiments on psychokinesis. While there, he mentioned some experiments in which he had participated at the University of California at Davis. One of these experiments was to involve Matthew’s attempt to influence the investigator’s heart rate through psychokinesis. Each time that particular experiment was attempted, the apparatus used to measure heart rate stopped working. The same equipment worked fine for other purposes. It was as though that experiment wasn’t meant to be done. This seemed to happen too consistently to be merely a coincidence. It could be that Matthew’s own unconscious psychokinetic (PK) effect upon the experiment occurred because he felt, at some level, that the experiment might be unsafe, or perhaps it was the investigator who psychokinetically influenced his own equipment. Or perhaps it was a more general principle of nature that was being manifested here. In any case, I realize that there is a lot of concern about negative uses of ESP. I think that we have to be in a certain place, in a certain state of mind, state of being, for strong psychic events to occur and that place or state of mind or way of being is simply incompatible with ego—based, negative uses of ESP. Also, I believe that we create our own realities, and by dwelling on negative thought, negative possibilities, we may attract negativity to us. We all know of people who seem to carry around with them "black clouds of gloom and doom," and unfortunate things do seem to happen to them. Perhaps something similar happens in the psychic realm. Dwelling upon positive uses and effects of ESP may facilitate these very effects. Finally, let’s not use psychic possibilities as a scapegoat for our
own fears, apprehensions, and paranoia. Do women have more ESP than men? Contrary to popular belief, women do not have greater ESP ability than men. Perhaps, as a result of this myth, we expect more ESP in women, look for it more closely and more frequently and thus notice it more often. Laboratory evidence indicates comparable psychic abilities for males and females. Does having ESP ability show that you have a higher IQ? There is no simple relationship between psychic functioning and intelligence (as measured in lQ tests). However, there may be an indirect relationship in that persons who overemphasize logic and reasoning may feel uncomfortable with possible ESP impressions (which are frequently unreasonable) and thus pay little attention to them. They, therefore, may not recognize the ESP that they really have. I’ve heard it said that close friends or family members have much
more success with ESP than total strangers. Is that true? Is it necessary for you to
believe in ESP in order for you to be able to experience it?
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