ESP (Extrasensory Perception)
The ability to perceive information without the benefit of the senses.
Such perceptions, collectively called PSI phenomena, are grouped in four main categories: telepathy, or mind-to-mind communication; clairvoyance, or the awareness of remote objects, persons, or events; precognition, or the knowledge of events lying in the future; and retrocognition, or the knowledge of past events in the absence of access to information about those events.
Scientific theory does not recognize modes of perception other than those mediated by the sense organs and other body systems, so ESP by definition lies outside the realm of scientific explanation. Claims for the occurrence of ESP therefore remain controversial, although the converse condition also holds, that the existence of ESP cannot positively be disproved.
In the twentieth century, attempts at controlled study of ESP phenomena have been undertaken by various persons and groups (see Parapsychology). Such researchers often claim that ESP experiences can be induced by hypnosis, chemicals, or other artificial means so that they can be measured precisely under laboratory conditions.
The scientific community as a whole does not accept ESP research reports, because it does not find them verifiable or reproducible. Parapsychologists and others, however, maintain that ESP exists and should be explored even should it remain beyond the bounds of scientific understanding.
The number of ESP experiments in modern times is enormous. Relatively few have been conducted under proper supervision, and it must be admitted that some have been found to have involved cheating. For example, one of the first properly recorded tests was arranged in 1882, soon after the formation of the British Society for Psychical Research, when its first President, Henry Sidgwick, announced that the five young daughters of an English clergyman had convinced independent investigators of their telepathic abilities. However, six years later they were caught using a code to communicate with each other.
A more successful experiment in telepathy was conducted in 1937 by Harold Sherman and Sir Hubert Wilkins, when Wilkins, an Australian explorer, was hired by the Russians to find a pilot who had disappeared in the Arctic. Sherman suggested to Wilkins that during his trip they should try to communicate by telepathy. Three days each week Wilkins sat down and reviewed the day's events; in New York, Sherman sat in near-darkness and wrote down anything that came into his head. Among other incidents, Sherman learned of a fire at a place called Aklavik before the news came by radio.
There have been some spectacular results under strictly controlled conditions. One of the most famous was reported in 1937 by Professor Riess of Hunter College, New York. On a number of evenings, Riess turned face-upward a series of cards from a newly shuffled pack on his desk, and his subject wrote down the cards that came to mind. Two packs of 25 cards were used each day. Gradually, the subject became more accurate; and on the last nine days of the experiment her score of successes was 17, 18, 19, 20, 20, 19, 20, 21 and 21 so far above chance as to be astonishing, and by far the highest score ever recorded in a series of ESP experiments.
An enormous amount is known today about the brain's complex workings, but there is a lot still to uncover. Isnt possible that, like other animals, we can detect vibrations traveling through Earth and changes in air pressure? Surely our brain processes these signals, whether or not it can make sense of them. . .
 | | | | |
| | |
| |
See Apparition, Altered State of Consciousness, ESP, Seance, Materialization, British Society for Psychical Research, Asport, Rappings, Automatic Writing, Findhorn, Glastonbury Scripts, Theosophy, Psychic Archaeology, Spiritualism, Poltergeist, Ghost, Parapsychology, Mystic Gifts and Charms - New Age Gift Shop & Wicca and Pagan Supplies, Love Spells -- Use these powerful love spells to help you find and keep your true love, The Tarot Store, Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies, Unique Amulets, Talismans, Good Luck Charms, and Love Tokens, Powerful Witch Doctor Spell Kits, Powerful Spells - Cast by Andreika the Witch, Webmasters Make $$$, AzureGreen - Celebrating All Paths to the Divine, ISIS - Tools for Your Soul's Journey, and The Pyramid Collection - Myth, Magick, Fantasy and Romance.
Sources: (1) Dictionary of the Occult, Caxton Publishing; (2) Spence, Lewis, An Encyclopedia of Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (3) Shepard, Leslie A and Melton, J. Gordon (Editors), Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, Gale Group.
| | |
.
.
.
