I know a guy who has some pretty impressive abilities. He’s used them for years on investigations without the need to label or categorize them. Instead, he follows his instincts, and it helps him be a thorough and careful paranormal investigator. Once the label of psychic is applied to him, however, something changes. Suddenly those instincts, which have always flowed so naturally for him, seem to disappear.

I understand completely. I’ve used my own instincts on investigations for years, and doing so has yielded a ton of fascinating evidence. When people began suggesting to me I was psychic, I resisted the label. At most, I was willing to admit I had “spidey sense” where I could notice if something unseen might be nearby and thus turn on my recording equipment to ask a few well considered questions.

The label, “psychic” comes with all kinds of connotations ranging from incredible nutbag or delusionally self-important to wise, mystical, and all-seeing. I am not now, nor have I ever been, any of those things. I’m just someone who receives a little information here and there that I use to help me in my afterlife research.

Labels are powerful because we often buy into them completely. Humans naturally seek to understand the world in which we live, and applying labels is a way of categorizing people, places, things, and events into recognizable patterns. Unfortunately, complete acceptance of such labels also can be ultimately limiting to both the labeler and the labelee.

Quite often, you hear this concept discussed in the realm of child psychology. When you quickly label a child – whether it is with a “condition” such as ADHD or with a personality trait such as “shy,” the child frequently internalizes that label. It becomes a permanent part of his or her identity. Accepting such labels willingly, however, limits a child’s choices, behaviors, and self-perception as he or she tries to fit into the narrow scope such labels imply. Behaviors and choices also take on new significance when a the child views it through the filter of whatever labels others have applied. Ascribing labels to children can alter the course of a child’s life, both because of the child’s self-perception and because of the expectations of others who buy into such labels.

I think the same thing happens when we are adults. While we may be more likely to resist labels, once we accept them for ourselves we may feel an ego-driven need to behave consistently within the constraints of that version of self-identity. Thus the label psychic messed me up for a while. With it came a pressure to perform – a sense that if I actually allowed myself to be identified as a “psychic medium,” then I must meet a certain standard of performance in order to live up to that label.

The full spectrum of abilities lies in each human being on the planet. Each of us has inside of us the capacity to perform tremendous feats. We are far more powerful than anyone can imagine. However, we are quick to supply labels in our drive to understand and explain ourselves. Labeling is part of developing a sense of self-identity. Unfortunately, even the most positive of labels ultimately can become self-limiting or even destructive as we seek to confirm what we already know of who we are.

In a quirk of human ego, everyone wants to feel special. We use labels to confer a sense of specialness onto ourselves and others. We use them as a way to communicate how unique and different we are from the crowd around us. It backfires, though. Those labels don’t make us unique or interesting. They serve as a boundary to self-identity and self-achievement.

Part of the dichotomy of being human is this: everyone is special and no one is special. One particular example of this springs vividly to mind. My husband and I were explaining to my then five-year-old stepson that he needed to treat others the way he wanted to be treated.

“No, I don’t,” he told us. “People need to treat me better, and I can treat everyone else the way I want.”

Needless to say, Jim and I were both a bit surprised at this revelation.

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

“Because my mom told me I’m a very special boy.”

Imagine his shock when we explained to him that everyone was special in some way. That’s a lot of cognitive dissonance for a very literal five-year-old boy to process.

To read the rest of the blog, visit http://www.sspri.org/blog/on-b.....ng-psychic.

Why don’t self-proclaimed psychics win the lottery? Warn us of upcoming global catastrophes? Know when their family members and friends are going to die?

In being willing to delve into the world of psi (although a believer as I will assure you we are ALWAYS inhabiting this world, regardless of our “belief” in it), we must be willing to accept the same limitations in psi as we would any other scientific discipline. After all, despite myriad advances in the fields of biology and chemistry — two universally accepted “hard” sciences — there are still such ailments as the “common” cold, cancer, HIV, and a host of other problems that have yet to be fully solved. Hence, even the most adamant skeptic of the existence of psi would be forced to concede that it is only fair to judge psi as a human capacity, not a black and white ability.

Dean Radin, a prominent parapsychologist and Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), also points out that any skeptic’s argument about the burden of proof on scientists studying psi is unjust. The skeptic may ask, “If so many supposedly credible scientists are studying and exploring the existence of this “extra-sensory” capability they call “Psi,” why hasn’t it been universally accepted by now?”

This is a wonderful question involving multiple facets and requiring much attention. One simple response offered by Radin is the all-too unfortunate matter of funding. The funding for cancer research is not only double, not only triple, not only quadruple the funding for Psi research, it is exponentially higher. If the total amount of funding relegated for cancer research were converted to man-hours and compared with the funding for Psi research, the scientists focusing on psi would have a total of several hours to experiment with everything related to psi, while the scientists studying cancer have had several decades. And as of yet the “supposedly credible” scientists working to cure cancer have failed to do so, providing us only with diagnoses, prognoses, and treatment options.

The most academic, sound conclusion is that there is no such thing as perfect science. Just as there is no perfect chemistry, there is no perfect psi — it is all about experimental data. And isn’t it easier to dismiss that which is already on the fringe of acceptance than to be the outlier who seeks the truth? If it were not for Believers, the Skeptics would still be busy assuring us that the world is flat, that gravity is nonexistent, and that the atom is a fictitious product of fantasy.

Back to the initial question at hand — why don’t people calling themselves ‘Psychics’ have it made?

Because psi is a facet of human capability, it is often likened to such gifts as musical ability, artistic ability, or mathematical ability. Each human being has areas of creative ability that can not be uniformly explained in quantitative measure. Just as a Picasso can not be analyzed as more or less artistically sound than a Monet or Cezanne, a person with one strong psi ability, let’s say telepathy (the ability to know the thoughts of another), can not be analyzed as more or less psychic than a person with another strong psi ability, let’s say precognition (the ability to know about an event before its occurrence). The argument becomes not about the strength of ability, but about the way in which to judge various aspects of ability.

Picasso artworks have salient strengths in composition and Monet’s works demonstrate light ingeniously. Both are considered art, but their styles can be infinitely discussed. A telepath and a person capable of precognition are both psychic, but their particular abilities can be infinitely discussed.

Believing that a psychic should successfully guess lottery numbers is as ludicrous as expecting a biologist to predict the precise moment an organism will undergo a genetic mutation. The psychic is limited by myriad elements of expectation, imagination, and intention, just as the biologist may have sampled a million of the same type of organism, only for one outlier to prove the exception. Just because such phenomena may fall under the category of each’s respective area of expertise does not mean that either could successfully pinpoint anything with perfect reliability. Put plainly, psi is as unpredictable and predictable as life itself.

To read the entire article, visit http://www.paranormalyte.com/w.....e-lottery/.

Ok I'm new here but I make no claim as to my psychic ability whatsoever. Lets see where I am in three weeks..............

Kind Regards

Baruc.

I almost feel that mental illness because of the genetic profile or damage leaves someone not quite here on this plane which is why you will find them sometimes functioning as a normal person and sometimes just not complete.

Everyone has psychic ability, we all know this its a matter of levels and understanding of self. Some have a great abilty to use their brain as its mapping out in that higher dimensional, any mental illness would not have that ability.

Telepathy/Empathy 08 Clairvoyance/Remote Viewing 10 Psychokinesis 06 Precognition 09 Channeling 06

Now I ask this not to put down anybody with a mental illness, cause I have dealt with many people who have had it. But I need to ask...can some reporting of the paranormal be unfounded because of a person's illness?

When we do a client intake for a paranormal investigation, we do look at potential psychological factors that may be contributing to the experience. It's one of those things I've always wondered about - the causality - i.e. could mental illness cause "paranormal" experiences, or do we mistake actual paranormal experiences for mental illness.

I personally feel that i have had spiritual encounters in my life and other things that cannot be easily explained but i also feel that I have had encounters with evil entities due to my family telling me of times when i could be sitting on the couch having a good time then become a totally different person and develop a darker personality. I personally don't remember these since it seems that i black out when it happens almost like I’m being suppressed while that energy takes over.

I leave you with this concept i'm intereste din knowing what others think on this topic.

I'm thinking the same as K. K. but understand what you are saying how they "may" think.

No, I never heard of this, but... if I had proof someone drugged somebody for any reason, I'd be all over it with a request for an investigation... reported to police, even if for an inquiry.

I read this and my mouth dropped open, I think these people may be watching too many movies, ex Organ Transplants etc.

I have a real problem with violation, of ANY kind, sexual, privacy, verbal, physical and so on.

This is rape, and very serious. It's not always women, as people may sometimes think.

Ditto.

K.K.

I have no answer for you - when this was told to me, I just, 'HUH? You've got to be joking??" But nope ... as far as I could investigate this ... it seems legit .... I think I understand the basic concept ... much like people who claim to 'inherit' certain donar traits .. when they receieve an Organ Transplant or Blood Trans. So I can only guess this is the "logic" they use???? Please note the " " ....

I'm thinking the same as K. K. but understand what you are saying how they "may" think.

No, I never heard of this, but... if I had proof someone drugged somebody for any reason, I'd be all over it with a request for an investigation... reported to police, even if for an inquiry.

I read this and my mouth dropped open, I think these people may be watching too many movies, ex Organ Transplants etc.

I have a real problem with violation, of ANY kind, sexual, privacy, verbal, physical and so on.

This is rape, and very serious. It's not always women, as people may sometimes think.

I don't know much about science, but isn't your DNA already complete when your born? How exactly could you add someone else's DNA to your own, especially through semen?

I could see going after psi men to have psi babies, but to add their DNA to your own? I just don't understand the logistics of that.

K.K.

I have no answer for you - when this was told to me, I just, 'HUH? You've got to be joking??" But nope ... as far as I could investigate this ... it seems legit .... I think I understand the basic concept ... much like people who claim to 'inherit' certain donar traits .. when they receieve an Organ Transplant or Blood Trans. So I can only guess this is the "logic" they use???? Please note the " " ....

I could see going after psi men to have psi babies, but to add their DNA to your own? I just don't understand the logistics of that.