Psychic Powers

Gillo

Two quick questions:
If one is psychic can you turn on / off your ability?
ie; if one didn't want to communicate with spirits at a particular could they just shut off the ability or is it like other senses, where there is nothing you can do?

Is it possibel to develope you psychic abilitie's or is it a case that you are either born with or without them?

GuanYin

gillo wrote:

Two quick questions:
If one is psychic can you turn on / off your ability?
ie; if one didn't want to communicate with spirits at a particular could they just shut off the ability or is it like other senses, where there is nothing you can do?

Is it possibel to develope you psychic abilitie's or is it a case that you are either born with or without them?

My understanding of the attempted scientific explanation of psychics were that they were sensitive to perceptions that normally people don't pick up.

Think of it as a radio that can pick up a higher frequency signal than normal radios. So as such, I'd say no.


Aside, alot of work was done trying to explain ESP and most researchers go with the idea that its an ability of "psychics" to pick up energy signals/signatures that originate from human brains. This is supposedly why highly emotional events tend to weigh more heavily on psychics.

solas

I can only speak from my own experience.
In order for me to shut down, (which is really difficult because) it requires me to not "feel" anything..and in order to do that I have to close my heart.
I don't know if that will make sense, but the best way I can describe it is, being compassionate and then shutting out that compassion and exchanging it for apathy.
Its like turning off my inner ears.

<edit> and you can develop them, for the most part they are usually triggered by some situation, (not forced) and some people are just born with "a veil".
I didn't become aware of them until I was in my early twenties.
just would add that I wouldn't promote the development of those abilities unless they have awakened naturally, most people will tell you that it can be very difficult to handle and like psi said, its like a radio signal and if you have little control over it, it can interfere with your everyday life.

ISAW

psi wrote:

My understanding of the attempted scientific explanation of psychics were that they were sensitive to perceptions that normally people don't pick up.

My understanding was there is no SCIENTIFIC evidence for Psychic phenomena. I would love to see any so called psychic pass a fair test which would show they have the powers they claim but I have not come across any yet. Please direct me to some if you know of any. It is extremly difficult to attempt a scientific explaination of something without any data on it. It isnt impossible though. I would really really love to find someone with a measurable psychic ability. Even if that ability was good for nothing like the ability to smell colours for example.

stevenmu

In my own limited experience, I can't really turn anything on or off because I'm often not fully aware of it. What happens me is that I "remember" something happening just before it happens. I feel that this memory is created somehow a while before whatever happens but it is possible I do just get it right before, either way I don't really know how I get it and therefore I've no idea how to stop it. It's only happened a few times that I've been aware of the memory of something a while before it happened.

Just like any other ability you have though it can be developed. Solas is obviously a bit more experienced than me, and can recognise and shut it out. There are also people much more experienced again who can turn it on and off at will. I suppose you could compare it to other mental tasks like long division. It takes me a lot longer now to do long division then it did when I was in school, when I was doing it regularly. I suppose if you did enough of it, you could look at any 2 numbers and divide them in your head.

Solas wrote:

just would add that I wouldn't promote the development of those abilities unless they have awakened naturally, most people will tell you that it can be very difficult to handle and like psi said, its like a radio signal and if you have little control over it, it can interfere with your everyday life.

Personally, I'd disagree with this, I can't imagine thinking I could do it and not trying. The only downside is see is the whole 'not-suredness' of it. I find it very frustrating that I can never be sure if something is genuinely psychic or maybe just coincidence or if I subconciously picked up on something I wasn't aware of. And nobody can give you definite answers about anything either, you really just have to look around at all the information out there and decide for youself what 'feels' right. All the different ideas and possibilities swirling around in my head can drive me a bit crazy at times :eek:

Nevyn

Yes it is possible and at times it is not easy. Some people use differnt things to do it, food, drink ( there are a lot of drunks who choosed to be that way then deal with physic stuff), excerise, anything that will focus you on something else.
It takes a a while and some practice to learn to do it with out any of the above,
but it is possible. But sometimes you are ment to have certain converstions,
be it with other people or spirits or your Gods.

Everyone has some abilty , some more the others. We can all drawn a flower but we arent all Rembrants.

Oryx

Yes, you can tune out the same as you tune out background noise in a pub I sometimes get images and stuff, but if Im not feeling ok, I just disregard it. If its important enough you will get it again at a quiet moment. I dont get precognition, isnt my knack I guess, so I cant really comment. There are a few good ways to 'ground' yourself such as eating (always a good excuse) but for me I focus on the here and now, and distract myself with whatevers going on, mentally saying 'im not listening!' Sounds mad I know, but do whatever works for you.

Likewise you can tune in, best done when youre quiet and calm and happy. (Otherwise your own mental cr*p butts in)

As has been said, we all have the potential, some use it, most dont.

ISAW

stevenmu wrote:

In my own limited experience, I can't really turn anything on or off because I'm often not fully aware of it. What happens me is that I "remember" something happening just before it happens. I feel that this memory is created somehow a while before whatever happens but it is possible I do just get it right before, either way I don't really know how I get it and therefore I've no idea how to stop it. It's only happened a few times that I've been aware of the memory of something a while before it happened.

I am astounded by this claim. I would love to see you do this. How can we do that? Say I pick twenty random numbers from a list could you "remember" them before I pick them. Tell me when you are about to PM me the first number and I will not look at the message until I pick it. then you PM the second number and then I pick that before I look at your prediction. I would really be amazed if you get more than three of the twenty right. If you do I really think you should go in for the million dollar prize for psychic ability.

If you dont like this way of doing it then please suggest some other way that we can witness the "remembering before it happens" ability. I really would love to witness it. Seeing claims happen in reality would be so much more rewarding than talking about them wouldn't it? On top of that I would be able to relate to others how I witnessed an actual psychic ability, something I yearn to do but have never witnessed.

GuanYin

Just before this develops further, I would ask everyone to make sure they have READ THE CHARTER and know what is and isn't acceptable in this forum.

ISAW

psi wrote:

Just before this develops further, I would ask everyone to make sure they have READ THE CHARTER and know what is and isn't acceptable in this forum.

I just read the charter and am particularly impressed by this part which was highlighted in bold:

While we in no way want this forum to become a place for flaming or abuse of those who believe in the paranormal or those who have had paranormal experiences, there is always some good in discerning true paranormal experiences from events which may have other explanations.

For the record, I have no problems or personal difficulties with people who claim to be able to see things before they happen. I happen to believe there are explainations for this. One way to find out what might be happening is to look for a way to test what abilities might be there in a fair test which measures the ability. It is really not advancing any understanding of the field if obtuse and obscure language is used. Abilities need to be defined and measured if any advance is to be made.

I havent flamed or abused anyone for their beliefs. To me such behavior is not acceptable just as someone claiming to talk to dead people but resorting to cold reading or other cheating is acceptable.

I will again add I have never seen any evidence of paranormal powers events or similar extraordinary events such as alien abduction. Possession by eviol spirits or demons would be one thing I accept may happen but again I have seen no evidence for it. I would be glad if anyone could help me out here.

stevenmu

ISAW wrote:

I am astounded by this claim. I would love to see you do this. How can we do that? Say I pick twenty random numbers from a list could you "remember" them before I pick them. Tell me when you are about to PM me the first number and I will not look at the message until I pick it. then you PM the second number and then I pick that before I look at your prediction. I would really be amazed if you get more than three of the twenty right. If you do I really think you should go in for the million dollar prize for psychic ability.

If you dont like this way of doing it then please suggest some other way that we can witness the "remembering before it happens" ability. I really would love to witness it. Seeing claims happen in reality would be so much more rewarding than talking about them wouldn't it? On top of that I would be able to relate to others how I witnessed an actual psychic ability, something I yearn to do but have never witnessed.

Believe me, I'd love to be able to demonstrate this reliably, I'd even be happy just to be able to use it reliably myself. Unfortunatly, as I said, it's not something I can switch on and off. Maybe I should have been a bit clearer about that above. The way it generally works is a find myself in a situation and get a feeling like deja-vu but stronger and I can vaguely remember bits and pieces of what's about to happen, like somebody saying something or just random sequences of events. It doesn't happen very often and it tends to come out of nowhere.

I know it's frustrating to have somebody claim they can do something, and then turn around and say they can't demonstrate it, it's even more frustrating for me. If you really want to try the numbers test I'll give it a go, but I've tried similar things before and always get roughly whatever the odds say I should, so I think we'd both be wasting our time.

Kernel

ISAW wrote:

I will again add I have never seen any evidence of paranormal powers events or similar extraordinary events such as alien abduction. Possession by eviol spirits or demons would be one thing I accept may happen but again I have seen no evidence for it. I would be glad if anyone could help me out here.

There are huge amounts of data on alien abduction, witness reports, hypnotic regression etc. I tend to look at things with a skeptical eye myself, but I wouldn't discount the data just because I myself have never experienced it. Much the same way as I have never witnessed swamp gas, ball lightning or volcanic eruptions. I accept that these things have been studied by science, and photographed, which makes them easier to accept.

One possible reason for steven's experience may lie in brain physiology. I'm not saying it is the only explanation (because we don't even fully understand time as a constant), but one possible reason is the explanation put forward for deja-vu itself, in the the wires (neural pathways) in different regions get crossed - so that what we are seeing now gets mixed in with what we have seen in the past, creating the sense of deja vu, which is often very tangible and strong in the mind of the person experiencing it - purely because the 1.4kg of grey matter determines our every perception of reality/experiences.

Scubadevils

My experiences are exactly as Steven describes. I can in no way control them and they just pop into my head at random. Some are simple seemingly irrelevant things and others can be of more significance. They can be in the form of a thought or like a deja vu but lasting longer than a normal deja vu. The thought aspect tends to be something popping into my head and then generally happening within minutes of the thought. The deja vu aspect is a bit more scary in that I get the usual feeling of having felt that it has happened before but it lasts longer and I know exactly what is going to happen next, the scary part is hard to describe - I just feel strange and kind of removed when it happens (if that makes sense!).

ISAW - in relation to your PM, I would love to be able prove this and make a million but there is no way that I can control or prove this. As already stated, it is completely random and weeks could go by without it happening. I have heard that regular meditation can assist the mind in developing this but I have not yet had the time or patience to meditate on a regular basis.

stevenmu

Kernel wrote:

One possible reason for steven's experience may lie in brain physiology. I'm not saying it is the only explanation (because we don't even fully understand time as a constant), but one possible reason is the explanation put forward for deja-vu itself, in the the wires (neural pathways) in different regions get crossed - so that what we are seeing now gets mixed in with what we have seen in the past, creating the sense of deja vu, which is often very tangible and strong in the mind of the person experiencing it - purely because the 1.4kg of grey matter determines our every perception of reality/experiences.

In one case I remember quite clearly, I was playing snooker with a friend. As he went to the table I got the deja-vu kind of feeling and could "remember" him mis-hitting the ball, it jumping over some other balls, landing on a red and cannoning it into another red which went into a pocket and the cueball carrying off to the right where it pocketed another red. The "memory" seemed very old, kind of like a long forgotten dream and it felt kind of like I couldn't remember it fully but that was just one part I could see clearly.

There's no "normal" way I can think of that could have let me predict this was going to happen, it's far too random for me to have just guessed it and it was before he even leant down to take the shot so I couldn't have seen the way he was lining it up and somehow subconciously done the math and worked it all out. I suppose it's remotely possible that my memory of what was in my head before the shot was changed after the fact. I don't know the biology of it but I'm pretty sure that psychologically that would cause me some severe problems (or severer problems depending on your point of view ). I do get regular deja-vu aswell which I'm quite happy to put down to neurons misfiring or stray chemicals or something similar.

stevenmu

Felixdhc wrote:

- I just feel strange and kind of removed when it happens (if that makes sense!).

I know exactly what you mean, it's almost as if you're not involved and events just unfold themselves without your participation. I've often wondered if I could try and change something but when it happens it's all too confusing. It's probably just as well, I don't think I'd trust myself to screw around with the time line

solas

For what it's worth, Katie organised the guessing game a little while back. It was really moreso for fun and while not exactly a scientific approach it does contain some analysis of psychic ability.
I recall steven guessed correctly some relevant information in particular a name that I would be closely associated with. I'm sure you could just put it down to chance or coincidence but I personally was quite suprised at the name comming up.
As these "games" are done via the internet, cold reading does not really apply. (no facial expressions or leading on)

..btw, I always find the term "psychic powers" a little misleading, it almost supposes some superhuman quality (can leap tall buildings in a single bound), I usually consider extra sensory perception an ability or an awareness that has been well developed to some degree..

ISAW

Kernel wrote:

There are huge amounts of data on alien abduction, witness reports, hypnotic regression etc. I tend to look at things with a skeptical eye myself, but I wouldn't discount the data just because I myself have never experienced it. Much the same way as I have never witnessed swamp gas, ball lightning or volcanic eruptions. I accept that these things have been studied by science, and photographed, which makes them easier to accept.

Now hold on! I didnt claim I rejected anything I hadnt witnesses. What I suggested was that I dont go around telling people something is true if I dont have any evidence for it and I have not seen any EVIDENCE for paranormal events, powers, abilities (much as I would love to). To my knowledge science HAS studied these things but as I claimed above there is to my knowledge NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE which attests to these things. What studies and what photographs? Please point me to them and I will look at them and get back to you. you see the way I look on it anyone is entitled to an opinion. But one can not claim something is real based on their opinion alone without any evidence to support that claim. I am sure there are people who believe ther are WMD in Iraq but forgive me for saying that I want evidence for that before any invasion. They are welcome to believe in WMD if they want but they will not convince me what they believe is true until I see evidence. You may call me a doubting Thomas. No doubt I am. But I want to see WMD before someone invades.

One possible reason for steven's experience may lie in brain physiology. I'm not saying it is the only explanation (because we don't even fully understand time as a constant), but one possible reason is the explanation put forward for deja-vu itself, in the the wires (neural pathways) in different regions get crossed - so that what we are seeing now gets mixed in with what we have seen in the past, creating the sense of deja vu, which is often very tangible and strong in the mind of the person experiencing it - purely because the 1.4kg of grey matter determines our every perception of reality/experiences.

This is an explanation but I would also be interested in how one might go about testing how this idea is true rather than just accept it. You see I wont accept a so called plausible "alternative scientific explanation" without a way of measuring that and providing EVIDENCE for that either.

Otherwise the whole issue to me you believe this I believe that and we should respect each others views. I dont accept this in every case either. I dont accept some views that I find morally wrong, advocating child abuse for example. So my opinion/explaination is as valid as yours is not something I must subscribe to. On the other hand I will accept that people have views which differ from mine. as Benedict XVI might say "it is the moral relativity that bothers me"

I seem to be wandering but I think the point I am trying to make is that we can all have different views but we need a way to measure them and when we have that we dont necessarily have to award equal status to all views.

The problem I have is that while reason is a virtue reason alone is not sufficient. Religion may have reason but also requires faith. some might even claim science requires faith. However in my experience many paranormal claims lack reason and the faith is difficult to find since exactly WHAT is believed is not defined. This is partly why I suggest defining and testing claims of paranormal.

In any case please point me to the "huge amounts of data on alien abduction"

Kernel

ISAW wrote:

Now hold on! I didnt claim I rejected anything I hadnt witnesses. What I suggested was that I dont go around telling people something is true if I dont have any evidence for it and I have not seen any EVIDENCE for paranormal events, powers, abilities (much as I would love to). To my knowledge science HAS studied these things but as I claimed above there is to my knowledge NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE which attests to these things. What studies and what photographs? Please point me to them and I will look at them and get back to you. you see the way I look on it anyone is entitled to an opinion. But one can not

In the case of alien abduction, physical implants have been pulled from abductees nasal cavaties and various parts of their bodies. If it's studies you are interested in, the eminent (and sadly recently deceased) Professor John E. Mack of Harvard University interviewed hundreds of abductees, and after reviewing his data there was a real phenomenon behind it. He published a book on it, which I have read, called Abductions.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671851942/qid=1114067218/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_10_2/026-7717277-2726836

ISAW wrote:

This is an explanation but I would also be interested in how one might go about testing how this idea is true rather than just accept it. You see I wont accept a so called plausible "alternative scientific explanation" without a way of measuring that and providing EVIDENCE for that either.

In any case please point me to the "huge amounts of data on alien abduction"

See above for some of the data collected on alien abduction, John E. Mack is not the only researcher, but the most credible if you want to scrutinise scientific method.

The information on deja vu is a known scientific explanation to the phenomenon. It has been studied by using fmri (functional magnetic resonance imaging) on the brains of patients predisposed to it, which show to a remarkable degree what level of brain activity is going on in different regions of the brain. An explanation of it can be read in Dr. Robert Winston's excellent book, The Human Mind. There is evidence there. It's not pseudo science at all.

Now, try convincing me you scientist know what gravity really is?

^^ Kidding btw, i'm just being 'funny' in my own way.

GuanYin

ISAW, this isn't the skeptics forum. Noone here is going to be held to the task of proving anything to you or offering you evidence.

If you wish to offer possible explanations for paranormal claims. Fine, if you wish discuss alternative explanations for events fine.
This is what we mean in the charter when we say debate is allowed.

What is not allowed is coming in and asking people to prove everything to you and demanding scientific evidence. Thats what the skeptics forum is for. there is a strict no tolerance for i here, its not that there's anything wrong with it, its just that everything has its right place.

So in otherwords, offer something positive to the forum in future posts or go back to skeptics.

stevenmu

ISAW wrote:

But one can not claim something is real based on their opinion alone without any evidence to support that claim.

Anyone can claim pretty much anything they want, it's up to everybody individually to decide if they should believe them or not, 'Caveat Emptor'

ISAW wrote:

I am sure there are people who believe ther are WMD in Iraq but forgive me for saying that I want evidence for that before any invasion. They are welcome to believe in WMD if they want but they will not convince me what they believe is true until I see evidence. You may call me a doubting Thomas. No doubt I am. But I want to see WMD before someone invades.

First of all the Americans and British knew Saddam had WMD in the first place because they (along with others) sold them to him in the first place, but that's probably going a bit too far off-topic. Secondly, it's important to remember that no-one is asking you to believe anything or to do anything based on what is said, now if you want more info please send €50 to .....

It's also worth pointing out that the original post was asking things about ,ahem, "psychic powers", not whether they're real or not. So no-one here is trying to assert that something totally unproven is true to them. We're just responding within the framework of the question. On the other hand you're coming close to making an assertion, that there is no such thing as "psychic powers", which is completely unproven and there's no scientific evidence to back it up

Zillah

Although I will point out as I have before that the default scientific approach is that something does not exists unless proven otherwise. If they didn't then every experiment would become farcical (and now to prove it wasn't Goblins...)

ISAW

stevenmu wrote:

I know it's frustrating to have somebody claim they can do something, and then turn around and say they can't demonstrate it, it's even more frustrating for me. If you really want to try the numbers test I'll give it a go, but I've tried similar things before and always get roughly whatever the odds say I should, so I think we'd both be wasting our time.

If you got a POSITIVE result you certainly would NOT be wasting your time! But i would predict you would do no better than chance. I would love if you got a positive result.

As to not being able to turn on abilities. to someone you are trying to convince what is the difference between no evidence for something and the something not being there? there is a good story on this called "I have a fire breathing Dragon in my garage" or suchlike.

And how is it that many claims of paranormal abilities are made but never seem to work when tested? I have no doubt you believe these things exist. I also believe that there are things beyond the physical world. But it is different when someone makes a claim to be able to do something that is not explained by science as we know it. Many of these people also charge money for their unproven "abilities". I must admit have BIG problems with that. I am certain you are not such a person since claims like knowing the time or smelling or hearing colour are not something people are drawn to (althought I AM). The claims I mean are the ones that exploit peoples emotions such as people charging money to cure others of an "incurable" disease or mental problem. Not only that that sort of thing is ILLEGAL in Ireland and most other places.

But the strength of charlatans rests on the belief of many people. I am only asking that we all give a decent effort into questioning claims when they are made and in measuring them. Parapsychology is one field that does this.

ISAW

Zillah wrote:

Although I will point out as I have before that the default scientific approach is that something does not exists unless proven otherwise. If they didn't then every experiment would become farcical (and now to prove it wasn't Goblins...)

This isnt really true. Popper's philosophy of science (and therer are others e.g Kuhn, Wheeler) was based on falsification rather than proving things!

Popper suggests that in order for a theory to be scientific one must posit a test which might falisfy the theory if the test is done. In that way many so called paranormal claimns dissappear as do other philosophies such as Berkley's since they are not disprovable.

The point you are making above is more to do with the fallacy of proving a negative than the scientific approach though I applaud you for drawing it to the attention of the thread. It is sometimes restated as :
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

I have elsewhere stated it is not true in all cases. Abesesnce of evidence is not PROOF but it is evidence.

Here is a list worth studying : http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/fallacies_list.html

ISAW

Kernel wrote:

In the case of alien abduction, physical implants have been pulled from abductees nasal cavaties and various parts of their bodies. If it's studies you are interested in, the eminent (and sadly recently deceased) Professor John E. Mack of Harvard University interviewed hundreds of abductees, and after reviewing his data there was a real phenomenon behind it. He published a book on it, which I have read, called Abductions.
[/qoute]

[snip]
Thank you for the Mack and Winston references. I will check them out and get back. I accept the deja vu had been studied and was going to refer to it. also past life regression has scientific explainations.

Now, try convincing me you scientist know what gravity really is?

^^ Kidding btw, i'm just being 'funny' in my own way.

Even newton couldnt do that! It is afor philosophy not science. hovever The effect Gravity can be described to as accurate as measurable. It is a bit like asking what is a photon. Nobody can answer that but we can explain how light behaves.

ISAW

Felixdhc wrote:

My experiences are exactly as Steven describes. I can in no way control them and they just pop into my head at random. Some are simple seemingly irrelevant things and others can be of more significance.[snip]
I would love to be able prove this and make a million but there is no way that I can control or prove this. As already stated, it is completely random and weeks could go by without it happening. I have heard that regular meditation can assist the mind in developing this but I have not yet had the time or patience to meditate on a regular basis.

You could keep a diary and then no matter what popped into your head you could list it and have a record.
The problem with a lot of these claims is that the relevance is shown AFTER the event and not BEFORE. It is human nature to try to fit a pattern. Say I have a dream that I was working on a piece of wood shaving it down to size and an arabic man took my tool from me asked me the time and I said just after ten past nine and he threw my plaining tool at a embankment opposite where I worked.

Now several weeks later I can state the bank where people worked was attacked by a muslim fundamentalist using a plane on 9:11 and it was all in my dream. The problem is this is POST FITTING the prediction. Nostradamus is one BIG example of where this is done. Indeed Nortradamus is frequently altered even BEFORE the post fitting.

One point I am making is that you are not making any clear predictions nor are you recording your "visions". It is possible that without being aware of it, you fit the "vision" to suit an event AFTER the event has happened. Otherwise if you NEVER know before something happens that it is going to happen then how can you say you knew? It is also possible that you think you saw something you really didnt. I really mean one here trather than you. That is one explaination for past life regression.

solas

ISAW wrote:

You could keep a diary and then no matter what popped into your head you could list it and have a record.

very good suggestion, this is one of the basics when learning to develop your own innate "psychic" awarness. Keep a journal.

ISAW wrote:

The problem with a lot of these claims is that the relevance is shown AFTER the event and not BEFORE. It is human nature to try to fit a pattern. Say I have a dream that I was working on a piece of wood shaving it down to size and an arabic man took my tool from me asked me the time and I said just after ten past nine and he threw my plaining tool at a embankment opposite where I worked.

Now several weeks later I can state the bank where people worked was attacked by a muslim fundamentalist using a plane on 9:11 and it was all in my dream. The problem is this is POST FITTING the prediction. Nostradamus is one BIG example of where this is done. Indeed Nortradamus is frequently altered even BEFORE the post fitting.

this is very true, but if you were to have told me about the situation afterwards, I would have believed it was some form of precognisance.

ISAW wrote:

One point I am making is that you are not making any clear predictions nor are you recording your "visions". It is possible that without being aware of it, you fit the "vision" to suit an event AFTER the event has happened. Otherwise if you NEVER know before something happens that it is going to happen then how can you say you knew?

I have recorded various events via journaling, or often via poetry as it seems to be an easier way for me to express what I am feeling, using analogy to describe specific details of situations. The difference is genuinely being "aware" that those sensations or feelings or expectations are meaningful in some objective sense.

dictionary.com:
aware:Vigilant; watchful.

I have a friend who taught me how to recognise this awareness. She contacted me recently to tell me about her prior awareness of the tsunami.(s)
As it is, she often notes her dreams as she has recognised from past experience that they often contain relevant external information, on having three dreams about a comming tsunami, she decided to draw some pictures in an effort to record what she saw. (she didn't understand initially that what she was dreaming had a literal interpretation as she understands the symbolisms on a personal level also, but knew it was relevant on a wider scale) She also didn't know where it was, but she drew what she saw anyway.
When the tsunami occured and she was watching the news unfold on tv with her husband, she recognised a scene that she saw in her dream, and it was one that she had drawn.
The scene depicted a boat, with specific colourings, laying on a road. The exact image was recorded on TV, so she went and got the drawing and showed her husband. (who is skeptical)
He himself was unable to deny that the two images were identical and is a lot more supportive of his wife when she is in "precognitive mode".

stormkeeper

Without reading the rest of the thread, I'll answer from what I know personally....

gillo wrote:

Two quick questions:
If one is psychic can you turn on / off your ability?
ie; if one didn't want to communicate with spirits at a particular could they just shut off the ability or is it like other senses, where there is nothing you can do?

As far as I know, you can possibly shut it off, or at least block it off for a while. In some people, it can happen randomly, if they're not aware of their abilities. You have to be careful about shutting it off though, as eventually, you may not be able to do it.

Is it possibel to develope you psychic abilitie's or is it a case that you are either born with or without them?

Everyone is born with "the gift", but some people choose not to embrace it, due to other factors. It is very possible to develop your gift as well, just like any talent.

That's my opinion on it all. I'm sure mine differs to everyone elses...

ISAW

solas wrote:

I have recorded various events via journaling, or often via poetry as it seems to be an easier way for me to express what I am feeling, using analogy to describe specific details of situations. The difference is genuinely being "aware" that those sensations or feelings or expectations are meaningful in some objective sense.

all this is fine as long as you give a solid definition of the poetry before the event occurs and do not leave it open to interpretation.

I have a friend who taught me how to recognise this awareness. She contacted me recently to tell me about her prior awareness of the tsunami.

Did she predict the tsunsmi? I am astounded! And you were aware of the tsunamiu before it happened? did you do anything to warn people. If you did then that is evidence that you have advance wawareness. If she has the ability to do that then she can do it again. How about the time and place of the next three earthquakes above 5 on the Richter scale?

I would love to see those predictions here.

As it is, she often notes her dreams as she has recognised from past experience that they often contain relevant external information, on having three dreams about a comming tsunami, she decided to draw some pictures in an effort to record what she saw. (she didn't understand initially that what she was dreaming had a literal interpretation as she understands the symbolisms on a personal level also, but knew it was relevant on a wider scale) She also didn't know where it was, but she drew what she saw anyway.

Oh so she didnt predict the type of disaster or the position. well then the time is good enough. when is the next one?

When the tsunami occured and she was watching the news unfold on tv with her husband, she recognised a scene that she saw in her dream, and it was one that she had drawn.
The scene depicted a boat, with specific colourings, laying on a road. The exact image was recorded on TV, so she went and got the drawing and showed her husband. (who is skeptical)
He himself was unable to deny that the two images were identical and is a lot more supportive of his wife when she is in "precognitive mode".

This is fantastic! Could you digitise the image and post it? Could you also post a frame grabbed from the video? We can then compare them. Should they be similar I think you have evidence for a million dollar chalenge. Far more important than winning the million dollars which should be easy if she can actually do as you claim is the evidence that someone can see into the future.

Please get your friend to post something here or post a prediction for her.

Scubadevils

ISAW wrote:

You could keep a diary and then no matter what popped into your head you could list it and have a record.
The problem with a lot of these claims is that the relevance is shown AFTER the event and not BEFORE. It is human nature to try to fit a pattern. Say I have a dream that I was working on a piece of wood shaving it down to size and an arabic man took my tool from me asked me the time and I said just after ten past nine and he threw my plaining tool at a embankment opposite where I worked.

Now several weeks later I can state the bank where people worked was attacked by a muslim fundamentalist using a plane on 9:11 and it was all in my dream. The problem is this is POST FITTING the prediction. Nostradamus is one BIG example of where this is done. Indeed Nortradamus is frequently altered even BEFORE the post fitting.

One point I am making is that you are not making any clear predictions nor are you recording your "visions". It is possible that without being aware of it, you fit the "vision" to suit an event AFTER the event has happened. Otherwise if you NEVER know before something happens that it is going to happen then how can you say you knew? It is also possible that you think you saw something you really didnt. I really mean one here trather than you. That is one explaination for past life regression.

Only saw this now, too tired now but will get back to you!

ISAW

Felixdhc wrote:

Only saw this now, too tired now but will get back to you!

there are two main points I am making. first that we should construct a way to objectively measure an ability. second that if we do not have such a measurement then we can't really claim to predict anything. We are back in the Nostradamus territory. One can claim that he meant something after the event happens but it really is no matter if we do that. Prediction requires saying it before the event.

Saying "I didn't really know that it was exactly that event or on that date or at that time" is not really making any prediction at all is it? Surely a prediction must say something before the event? Post fitting isn't prediction!