Do you have psychic powers


Psychic Abilities, Psychic Mediums & Science!

Much skepticism exists around the subject ofjust because you are performing the same
psychic phenomena, and this is probably notexperiment!
a bad thing, given its rather dubious past.
Fake mediums, bogus mind readers, magicIf, by its very nature, a experience is
tricks passed off as the real thing. Theextremely rare and unpredictable in nature,
list  goes  on  and  on  forever.it is very hard to use Science to say much
about  it  at  all.
Hence, the use of Science should be welcomed
in helping to verify some of the psychicScience has very little to say about rare and
community's  claims.unrepeatable events. Yet, these are the very
things that life itself is full of. The
However, this can also become unhealthy forScientific Method has little or nothing to
several reasons, and it is equally importantsay regarding rare or unrepeatable events.
to stand guard against these flaws. They tooNevertheless, these are the very things that
are  all  too  common.life  itself  is  filled  with.
(1)  Biased  scientists.It is for this very reason that, initially,
the theory that a meteorite collision caused
The unhappy truth is that the field ofthe extinction of the dinosaurs was met with
psychic research, with only very rarehoots of laughter by the scientific
exceptions, fails to excite or attract thecommunity. It was the very rarity of the
very scientific brains. Career-wise, theevent, and the fact that no evidence could
field of psychic research is extremely badlybe found, that caused anger and scorn to be
funded, is nearly impossible to make a solid,heaped upon the heads of the theory's
respected career in, and is the source ofproponents. Until, of course, the crater was
endless derision from mainstream scientistsdiscovered.
and  diehard  skeptics.
We now also know that the role of the
Therefore, there is always gigantic pressureexperimenter can drastically change the
upon paranormal investigators to justifyresults of the experiment. This may explain
their own existence. At the end of the day,why certain famed psychics seem to have their
they have to find something, somewhere! If,skills abandon them in the cold harsh light
from start to finish, their careersof the scientific laboratory. Yet, only a
consisted solely of disproving every singlemediocre scientist would claim that because
psychic experience that they were presentedthis is the case, it proves that there were
with, they would quickly give up the psychicno  psychic experiences  to  begin  with!
research field from sheer boredom or
depression. After all, from a purely personal(3)  Psychic  Skeptics.
standpoint, why bother? Hence, most of them
are intrinsically believers to start with.This may, in part, explain the James Randi
To put it bluntly, the probability is higheffect. This is a psychic investigator who
that they possess a strong in-built bias inis a total skeptic on the subject, and who
place.approaches the subject with this powerful
ingrained bias. He has issued a challenge to
This is not to imply that they would fakepay a large sum of money to anyone who can
results. However, we must be aware that, bydemonstrate psychic powers to him in a
their very existence in this much malignedscientifically controlled environment. To
field, there is an invisible pressure upondate,  he  still  has  his  money.
these people to produce something to
validate their own existence. Hence, thisNow, part of the problem may be that, even if
sort of science is extremely difficult tosomebody is genuinely psychic, the attitude
maintain  in  a  totally objective  manner.of the scientist is sufficiently negative to
completely extinguish whatever psychic
Regular academic scientists are always underabilities exist, as long as he is present.
pressure to justify their funding throughAgain, a true scientist of any caliber
their results. How much worse then forcannot  discount  this  possibility.
scientists who, for the most part, have no
funding, and who are often the laughingThis is a purely human factor we are talking
stock  of  the  scientific  community?about, a function of the human brain, and
not a measurement of the boiling point of
For all of these reasons, the profession ofwater. Hence, it is entirely plausible that
psychic research cannot and will not attractthe negative attitude of the scientist, plus
the very finest minds, at least not at thethe undue pressure that the psychic is
present times. This is not intended to be anplaced under as a result of it, could act to
insult to scientists involved in the field.diminish the  very  effect  being  measured.
It is just reality. The very best will tend
to gravitate towards "safe" fields whereHowever, the bias of people like Randi and
their talent will be recognized, and notthe organization of skeptics that calls
derided  and  scoffed  at.itself Psicop, is worrying for another
reason. These are people who, while claiming
It is a pitiful state of affairs, but that isto be scientists, are actually approaching
just  how  the  world  works  at  present.the entire subject with a deep bias that has
nothing  to  do  with  Science  whatsoever.
(2)  The  inadequacy  of  Science.
They are skeptical, because they are
The scientific method has served humanityskeptical. That's all. They are believers in
extremely well, but it has its limits. It"Disbelief". It's just the opposite end of
cannot  do  everything.the spectrum  of  Belief.  That's  all.
Hence, we must be careful of trying to applyThere is no scientific reason for it
scientific methods where they may not workwhatsoever. While they pretend to be
well at all. Such is the manner in whichscientific, their approach is more akin to a
science has been elevated to a religion inreligious dogma; that of treating Science
our world, this statement might seem almostlike a religion. It is often called
absurd."Scientism"  for  this  reason.
Yet, there are clear instances where scienceThey might claim that there is no proof that
cannot measure anything. You cannot measurepsychic phenomena exist. Yet, it can be
the emotions of love or anger withstated with equal validity that there is no
scientific instruments. Yet, few would doubtproof that they do NOT. That is a totally
that  they  exist.equivalent statement. As we have seen
earlier, Science cannot PROVE a negative
You cannot use instruments to provide astatement. It can only talk about
printout of what somebody is thinking. Yet,probabilities and likelihood. And, as we
nobody would deny that they DO think, andhave discussed, many psychic experiences are
they very  often  think  in  words.intrinsically rare or fragile in their very
essence.
You cannot prove scientifically that there
are NO toy airplanes in orbit around theLike any good zealot, these skeptics like
planet Jupiter! It might sound absurd, butRandi and Psicop have a hidden agenda in
no matter how much you search for them and"proving" that the world functions the way
fail to find them, you CANNOT PROVE thatthey think it does. Frankly, a major
they are not there. You can only say that youmotivation is FEAR. More people than would
have not found one YET, and that it islike to admit it are terrified of the
extremely unlikely that they exist. Youpossibility of psychic phenomena. What if
might be able to say that with 99.99999999%someone really COULD read your mind? Every
certainty. But you can NEVER say it with 100%dirty little secret. What if YOU too could
certainty.develop  psychic  powers?
Science  cannot  "prove"  a  negative.Just imagine what sort of world THAT would
be!
Thus, in the realm of psychic experiences,
science cannot categorically assert thatHardly the boringly predictable,
there is no such thing. You CANNOT PROVEultra-conservative, Newtonian "scientific"
that ghosts do not exist, for instance. Youuniverse that these people inhabit. For them,
can only say that, to date, there has beenit's a possibility too horrible to
no conclusive proof that they DO. That iscontemplate.
NOT  the  same  as  saying  that they do NOT.
In conclusion , it's vital not to be too
In addition, the scientific method itself hascredulous in examining a psychic
limitations that psychic experiences wouldexperience, or in rushing to accept the
definitely stretch. In science, somethingclaims of the "professional" investigators
has to be repeatable for it to have anyin this field. Nevertheless, we must also be
validity. In other words, other scientistsextremely careful of the skeptics who, while
have to be able to repeat your process andpretending to be scientific, are often
get  exactly  the  same  results.better viewed as ideological fanatics than
even  mediocre  scientists.
However, this is almost certainly doomed to
failure in the psychic realm. ImagineCopyright 2006 Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights
repeating your experiment in a haunted houseReserved.
and DEMANDING that the phantom appear on cue,



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