Sixth Sense

[FaithLikeARock]

To the non-Christians/non-spirituals: Do you believe ESP actually exists and I don't mean hole-in-the-wall palm readers who charge you $10 to give you life advice or fortune cookies you get with your chow mein at Panda Express. Those are fun, but not quite the same. I mean actual, sixth sense, neurological ESP. Do you think there is any way to tell the future via whatever.

To the Christians: This is what I believe, God can use what the world perceives as "psychic" to get His message across. It was done in the Bible. God used a psychic AND a ghost to let the spirit deliver a message to Saul. That said, what keeps us so afraid of "psychics" when in fact God has messengers who are exactly like those: they're called prophets. Different name, same exact concept except prophets get their message from God. I believe that if a person is a gifted prophet (and I do believe there are real prophets still in the world), that they can tell through tarot cards, palm reading, whatever. Nothing super crystal ball obvious (unless you count tongues), but if that's how God sends His message, that would be more believable than other things.

That said, I have a tarot deck. I don't practice it as I'm not a prophet (as far as I know) but they are fascinating and most are very beautifully illustrated. I haven't be struck by lightening yet either.

To those who do believe in ESP/psychics: Just give your say on why. Not much I can ask as I don't know all that much about who believes it and what not.

 

[Vene]

You mean 7th sense, the 6th is proprioception.

 

[FaithLikeARock]

Aw, I can't count.

 

[ArchaicTruth]

I am wholly open to the idea of higher senses, and sometimes I have really weird deja vu, but that's probably because I almost never pay attention.

 

[Vene]

I am wholly open to the idea of higher senses, and sometimes I have really weird deja vu, but that's probably because I almost never pay attention.

Huh? I wasn't paying attention.

OK, serious answer now. I disbelieve in ESP because I have yet to see evidence for it. If somebody has some, I'd be willing to look it over.

 

[Bombila]

Short answer, no.

Longwinded answer:

Deja vu has been tentatively resolved as being, commonly, a glitch in short term/long term memory processing. You are in a place or situation, and have your deja vu experience. What may be happening is that your experience of that moment, which should be in your short term memory, is instead processed as long term memory, hence your perception that it happened 'before'.

I think most 'ESP' experiences are based on misidentified or poorly understood neurological processes that have nothing to do with ghosts, future telling, remote viewing, etc. You'll notice that as soon as ESP moves into the physical world, i.e., telekinesis, not even the most enthusiastic psychic researchers are able to identify any positive results in controlled conditions.

Our eyes do deceive us, our ears as well, and so does our fancy brain.

 

[CCGirl]

Yes.

 

[gwenmead]

Short answer: inconclusive.

Longer answer: Let's see some hard evidence of it, and I'll be more inclined to think ESP exists, as something independent of human intuition.

 

[FaithLikeARock]

You might as well ask for hard evidence of God. I know many atheists and one of their talents is coming up with explanations for everything. And I don't believe in telekinesis so I'm stuck on that one.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I'm not sure.

Generally, I'd say most claims are false. However the fact that we use about 3% of our brains makes me think that there's a lot of potential for powers we don't understand.

I never understand why some people find it so hard to consider that there might be more intelligent beings that exist in the same realm as us but we can't perceive. I mean, slugs don't know that we're here so why are we so arrogant to think that we're so intelligent that we understand our world fully? There's absolutely no reason, imo, that a superior being could't be standing right next to me at this very moment but the dimensions it moves in are beyond my perception so I don't realise.

 

[Vene]

You might as well ask for hard evidence of God.

Hey! I've done that too!

I know many atheists and one of their talents is coming up with explanations for everything.

I'm going to take this as a compliment

And I don't believe in telekinesis so I'm stuck on that one.

How about the other aspects of ESP?

 

[Vene]

However the fact that we use about 3% of our brains makes me think that there's a lot of potential for powers we don't understand.

I typically see this cited as 10%, but 3% is even more wrong. Humans use all of their brain. It's even on Snopes.

 

[gwenmead]

You might as well ask for hard evidence of God.

Many of us do, myself included. Why not?

I know many atheists and one of their talents is coming up with explanations for everything.

Sure. What's wrong with that?

And I don't believe in telekinesis so I'm stuck on that one.

Honestly, telekinesis (in the sense of being able to move an object with the power of the mind) never made much sense to me. I mean if you want to, say, pick up a pen, why not just walk over and pick it up with your fingers?

But that's just me.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I typically see this cited as 10%, but 3% is even more wrong. Humans use all of their brain. It's even on Snopes.

But I heard it on TV!!

OK, I stand corrected. I've googled it and I was wrong. I should really try to keep up with what's going on in the scientific community so I don't make a fool of myself!

 

[Ryal Kane]

I suspect that what we consider ESP is a combination of subconscious pattern recognition and confirmation bias.

People get a feeling about something. If it turns out to be right they suspect something supernatural, if it turns out to be wrong they ignore it.
I think our brains are probably capable of more processing than we are aware of in our conscious mind and may 'notice' things that we don't, thus giving us feelings. But beyond that, no, I don't believe in things like ESP or telekinesis.

Mentalism is a different thing, kind of psychology combined with performance magic. Cold reading is in a similar category. Both of these can be demonstrated but do not require supernatural skill.

 

[FaithLikeARock]

Many of us do, myself included. Why not?


Sure. What's wrong with that?



Honestly, telekinesis (in the sense of being able to move an object with the power of the mind) never made much sense to me. I mean if you want to, say, pick up a pen, why not just walk over and pick it up with your fingers?

But that's just me.

I was once told by a professor of biology (not specifically neurology but close enough) that in order for you to move something physically with your mind, your brain would be so big that in actuality you wouldn't be able to carry it meaning any child born who could do that would survive long enough for it to matter.

And nothing wrong with it, though it makes my job harder. How am I supposed to come up with evidence that way? -shakes fist-

 

[gwenmead]

I was once told by a professor of biology (not specifically neurology but close enough) that in order for you to move something physically with your mind, your brain would be so big that in actuality you wouldn't be able to carry it meaning any child born who could do that would survive long enough for it to matter.

Wow, yikes! Yeah - okay so that's way impractical right there.

And nothing wrong with it, though it makes my job harder. How am I supposed to come up with evidence that way? -shakes fist-

I dunno! It's kind of a toughie there...

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I have to say I'm quite disappointed. I honestly thought there would eventually be some technology that allowed us to do crazy stuff like teleporting and time travel by making us use all of our brains.

 

[stan1980]

To the non-Christians/non-spirituals: Do you believe ESP actually exists

No

Do you think there is any way to tell the future via whatever.

No

I was once told by a professor of biology (not specifically neurology but close enough) that in order for you to move something physically with your mind, your brain would be so big that in actuality you wouldn't be able to carry it meaning any child born who could do that would survive long enough for it to matter.

He sounds like a crackpot


Glad to be of help

 

[Vene]

I have to say I'm quite disappointed. I honestly thought there would eventually be some technology that allowed us to do crazy stuff like teleporting and time travel by making us use all of our brains.

Look into quantum physics. They are working on doing all sorts of crazy stuff.