A Psychic Primer

A psychic is someone with the gift of sensing extra sensory perceptions that most 'normal' people can't see or experience. Since the beginning of time, an ongoing debate has continued as to whether or not psychics are real. The field of parapsychology studies this, as well as the wide variety of psychic abilities that people have claimed for centuries.

Some experts feel that everyone has some psychic ability, whether you call it a sixth sense or intuition or gut instinct, but that most psychics are somehow sensitized to energy emanating from electrical or magnetic fields. Other psychics are able to tap into emotional or physical aspects of those energy fields. Unfortunately, there are no sure guidelines that can be followed to prove that someone is psychic or not. Other professionals, including physicians, lawyers and politicians, are held by certain ethical and educational standards that make it easier to determine whether they are capable of performing the duties that they state they can. With a psychic, it's not so simple.

Many parapsychologists believe that there is some scientific rationale of psychic abilities, though many others believe that paranormal activities are merely the results of more earthly, physical phenomena. Still, with millions watching weekly television shows on psychic phenomena, ghosts and follow ghost hunters as they send spirits to other realms, the subject will never be easily resolved. Many law enforcement agencies throughout the world employ the services of a psychic to help solve difficult cases. Is this hocus-pocus or reality? Television shows also abound on psychics who help solve such cases. Different cultures throughout the history of humankind each have their own beliefs about such claims, so do such seeds of commonality provide a sense of ethereal truth? Parapsychology is a complicated field, one fraught with dealing with and uncovering superstitions that have been passed down from one generation to another for centuries.

Parapsychologists have attempted to devise psychic tests in order to determine definitive answers to the question of veracity, while throughout the world, scientists have developed tests that hope to uncover the truth about powers that some people have, psychic or not, that can't be logically explained.

In the lingo of the psychic world, a sixth sense is divided into four different psychic abilities: Telepathy, Psychokinesis, Clairvoyance and Precognition. Telepaths have the ability to sense the thoughts and feelings of others, and sometimes even the ability to send their own thoughts into the minds of others. A clairvoyant has the ability to see things or find out facts about someone or something that others can't, without being supplied any prior information. A psychokinetic has the ability to influence physical matter, much like the Amazing Kreskin and his bending spoons. Someone gifted in precognition is able to see the near or far future and events before they take place, almost as if they're dreaming them.

Whether one believes in psychic powers or not, studies continue to offer a fascinating glimpse into the human psyche. We may never know whether or not psychic ability is fact or superstition, but as long as we continue to explore the field of parapsychology, we may eventually find the answers.