What exactly is the Sixth Sense? Is it intuition, an innate ability we all have should we choose to tap into it? Some would argue that it’s nothing more than common sense. A person isn’t psychic if they predict that they might get more phone calls than usual on their birthday but if they hear the phone ring and know who it is before they even answer, does that make them psychic? For the doubters, how many times would a person have to correctly predict who is calling before it would no longer be considered simple coincidence? The biggest question that comes up in a vast majority of conversations regarding a psychic or sixth sense is, what scientific validation is there to indicate that people have or are capable of tapping into a sixth sense?
First of all I will mention that the sixth sense and intuition can be seen as two different things, after all, there are two different names for them. However, the two can work in tandem. It’s like the brain sending a neurological signal to the hand to scratch an itch. The similarities are easier to point out than the differences and much of the resultant findings regarding them are debatable and depend upon too many variables to fathom. It is good to be as specific as possible and take all things into account; it is not good to delve so deeply into the specifics that the details are all one sees. In other words, splitting hairs over whether it was a sixth sense or intuition that caused a person to have a precognitive notion can take away from exploration of the notion itself.
In an article by Dean Radin, Colleen Rae and Ray Hyman, published on July 01, 2000 in Psychology Today, the authors pose that, “The scientific evidence is now stronger than ever for commonly reported experiences such as telepathy (mind-to-mind communication), clairvoyance (information received from a distant place) and precognition (information received from a distant time). Studies suggest that we have ways of gaining information that bypass the ordinary senses. The sixth sense and similar terms, like second sight and extrasensory perception (ESP), refer to perceptual experiences that transcend the usual boundaries of space and time.” The article demonstrates through laboratory experiments that people do indeed react in advance to the potential of negative stimuli. The potential of it, meaning that somehow, they were able to predict that the stimuli they were going to receive would be negative rather than positive. Other experiments demonstrate one person having an effect on another person even at a distance by sending them thoughts.
Of course "pure scientists" have ways of disputing these tests, have ways of arguing their efficacy while on the other side of the fence there are tarot or palm readers and psychics of various sorts, those whom the scientific community would call charlatans. At times it seems there is no middle ground between these two groups but as the idea of having ESP becomes more accepted over the course of time and as the pure scientists find more ways to do tests that are difficult to dispute, it would seem that proof of ESP is closer all the time. In the meantime, who has the burden of proof? How important is it to prove that these gifts are real and an inherent part of all humans, indeed a human right? What sort of impact would proving these abilities are real have on our society?
It just may be a good thing that most folks don't believe in "that stuff" or worse yet, believe it's sinful. While that sounds like backward thinking use your intuition for a moment to imagine what a world where psychic ability was commonplace would be like. We already live in a society where privacy is a thing of the past, why not allow people into our heads, into our thoughts. To some that might seem very connected, even hive-like. All of us knowing one another's needs and helping out. Now take away the part where it is all connection and apply imagination and intuition to the real world, the physical world, the way that it is now. The reality is that with the way people are now, the way they treat one another now it would seem that this particular time is not conducive to a majority of varied psychic abilities. Without going into a frenzied tirade about how we, collectively, all over the world, could be doing much better I will keep it simple, two words: epic fail.
As a final thought I will put this out there, moral standards. There are some who believe that to gain these abilities or rather, to tap into the innate abilities we all have, one must adhere to a certain code of ethics. I have come across many differing ideas about this code suffice to say that like the "golden rule" it exists in some form or another in every group that practices "magics" for lack of a better term regarding acts such as psychic ability among other things. I guess in an ideal world only people who had earned through good deeds and positive intent access to their "gifts" or "abilities" would be able to use them. As to what exactly that means, good deeds and positive intent, that is as much a choice as how to apply them in the real world. In the meantime, as to seeing those "charlatans" I say go for it. If you're paying attention you can learn from almost any situation. Again, choice.
In an article by Dean Radin, Colleen Rae and Ray Hyman, published on July 01, 2000 in Psychology Today, the authors pose that, “The scientific evidence is now stronger than ever for commonly reported experiences such as telepathy (mind-to-mind communication), clairvoyance (information received from a distant place) and precognition (information received from a distant time). Studies suggest that we have ways of gaining information that bypass the ordinary senses. The sixth sense and similar terms, like second sight and extrasensory perception (ESP), refer to perceptual experiences that transcend the usual boundaries of space and time.” The article demonstrates through laboratory experiments that people do indeed react in advance to the potential of negative stimuli. The potential of it, meaning that somehow, they were able to predict that the stimuli they were going to receive would be negative rather than positive. Other experiments demonstrate one person having an effect on another person even at a distance by sending them thoughts.
Of course "pure scientists" have ways of disputing these tests, have ways of arguing their efficacy while on the other side of the fence there are tarot or palm readers and psychics of various sorts, those whom the scientific community would call charlatans. At times it seems there is no middle ground between these two groups but as the idea of having ESP becomes more accepted over the course of time and as the pure scientists find more ways to do tests that are difficult to dispute, it would seem that proof of ESP is closer all the time. In the meantime, who has the burden of proof? How important is it to prove that these gifts are real and an inherent part of all humans, indeed a human right? What sort of impact would proving these abilities are real have on our society?
It just may be a good thing that most folks don't believe in "that stuff" or worse yet, believe it's sinful. While that sounds like backward thinking use your intuition for a moment to imagine what a world where psychic ability was commonplace would be like. We already live in a society where privacy is a thing of the past, why not allow people into our heads, into our thoughts. To some that might seem very connected, even hive-like. All of us knowing one another's needs and helping out. Now take away the part where it is all connection and apply imagination and intuition to the real world, the physical world, the way that it is now. The reality is that with the way people are now, the way they treat one another now it would seem that this particular time is not conducive to a majority of varied psychic abilities. Without going into a frenzied tirade about how we, collectively, all over the world, could be doing much better I will keep it simple, two words: epic fail.
As a final thought I will put this out there, moral standards. There are some who believe that to gain these abilities or rather, to tap into the innate abilities we all have, one must adhere to a certain code of ethics. I have come across many differing ideas about this code suffice to say that like the "golden rule" it exists in some form or another in every group that practices "magics" for lack of a better term regarding acts such as psychic ability among other things. I guess in an ideal world only people who had earned through good deeds and positive intent access to their "gifts" or "abilities" would be able to use them. As to what exactly that means, good deeds and positive intent, that is as much a choice as how to apply them in the real world. In the meantime, as to seeing those "charlatans" I say go for it. If you're paying attention you can learn from almost any situation. Again, choice.