TYPES OF ESP

ESP (Extrasensory Perceptions) refers to perceptions gained not by the recognized senses but through the mind. The term ESP was first used by Professor J.B. Rhine in 1934 Many types of ESP are thought to exist, but some major kinds are: • Telepathy: reading someone’s mind • Precognition: seeing the future • Psychometry: getting information about someone or some place by just toughing some physical object • Clairvoyance: seeing things happening somewhere else • Creative Visualization: Changing the physical world (matter) by thought (mind) Telepathy and Clairvoyance Telepathy is one of the most well-known forms of extrasensory perception. It involves the communication of ideas from one mind to the other without any sensory input. Clairvoyance is a similar form of ESP which refers to the ability to gain knowledge about a person, thing or event without any sensory input. There are many devices which are claimed to aid telepathy. The most famous of them are the Zener Cards. They include a pack of 25 cards, each with one of the five symbols; a circle, square, Greek cross, wavy lines and a five pointed star. The ‘receiver’ must guess which symbol is on the card the ‘sender’ has chosen. To prove telepathy the receiver must have a success rate significantly higher than 20%. Many people believe that telepathy truly exists and communication without sensory input or mind reading is true. Skeptics however argue that the techniques used by telepaths rely on pure chance and luck, and that with repetition Zener card experiments can have a higher than normal success rate. Precognition Precognition is another type of ESP and refers to the aspect more commonly known as future sight or premonition. Although generally rejected by the scientific community due to lack of demonstration, there are many scientific explanations that can be given to explain precognition. The most convincing being one related to human psychology. According to experiments conducted by the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University the human mind has the habit and ability to subconsciously predict the outcome of events by judging the present circumstances and situations. Such predictions, if they later come true, are then related with precognition by people. However as we know it is purely the advanced and complex human psychology at work. Creative Visualization Creative Visualization is by far the generally most accepted form of ESP. Creative visualization refers to changing the physical world by one’s minds and thoughts. The principle ‘Mind over matter’ is usually connected to creative visualization. Parapsychologists contemplate it as mind power which can be used to affect the physical matter in this world just by concentrating our thoughts. However modern day applications of creative visualizations have spread into the wakes of athletics, physical fitness and healing. Athletes spend some of their time focusing on their task e.g. visualizing the perfect shot to train the brain. In a study done by Russian scientists athletes who do physical AND mental training (i.e. creative visualization) perform better than those who just focus on hard-core physical training. Conclusion ESP is yet to be fully accepted as a true phenomenon by the scientific community. However taking into consideration the many types of ESP and modern day explanations that are being offered, the future view of ESP may well be different than it is today.