| Countless movies, stories, and tales have | | | | abilities and many have come out shocked and |
| spun gold out of the concept of extrasensory | | | | amazed at the results. It seems that ESP may |
| perception (often referred to as ESP). | | | | be a little more likely than anyone |
| Consider popular television shows and films | | | | previously thought. In fact, some paranormal |
| like Medium and The Sixth Sense. People are | | | | studies have found that alleged psychics seem |
| fascinated with the paranormal Ouija boards | | | | able to foretell the contents of sealed |
| and tarot card readings, once considered | | | | envelopes and accurately draw images |
| taboo and even somewhat dark are now popular | | | | identical to those of people drawing the same |
| games sold in Toys R Us. But with all this | | | | image from a remote locale. Parapsychology |
| talk and publicity, much of the origin and | | | | (especially the area of extrasensory studies) |
| science of extrasensory perception has been | | | | has grown both in venerability and believer |
| obscured. The actual definition of | | | | population. In fact, many large universities |
| extrasensory perception is the ability to | | | | now have Parapsychology programs including |
| acquire information by means other than the | | | | Edinburgh University in Scotland. |
| five canonical senses (taste, sight, touch, | | | | |
| smell, and hearing), or any other sense | | | | Most claims of psychic readings and abilities |
| well-known to science (balance, | | | | are similar to the three most commonly |
| proprioception, etc), but there are several | | | | reported extrasensory happenings which |
| different types of ESP, as well as | | | | include telepathy, clairvoyance, and |
| interpretations of it. | | | | precognition. Telepathy is defined as mental |
| | | | communication between two or more people. It |
| Before getting into all the different ideas | | | | entails one person sending or receiving |
| and challenges associated with extrasensory | | | | thoughts to or from another person via some |
| perception, let's first consider the history | | | | sort of mental or emotional link. |
| of ESP. The concept itself goes way back, far | | | | |
| before popular culture turned it into a | | | | Clairvoyance is often called a second sight |
| cultural phenomenon of sorts. In fact, in | | | | or a sixth sense -- that is to say, the |
| many past cultures (i.e. ancient China and | | | | person perceives events happening in a |
| Egypt), it was simply expected that people | | | | location other than his or her present one, |
| could communicate mentally with others, | | | | without having any previous knowledge of the |
| including the dead, gods, and other | | | | event. For example, a clairvoyant person may |
| supernatural spirits. While this possibility | | | | sense that something is wrong with a friend |
| has been heavily criticized as, at best, | | | | or a family member to find that he or she was |
| speculation and at worst, pure superstition, | | | | in trouble. They also may know that their |
| plenty of accounts (both ancient and | | | | house is being robbed as they are out to |
| relatively recent) have described incidents | | | | dinner. Precognition, on the other hand, is |
| of extrasensory perception, as well as | | | | also known as fortune telling or foresight |
| everyday use of it for divination. | | | | and entails the ability to know or predict |
| | | | what will happen in the future. Many prophets |
| So, the big question is: Do people actually | | | | (including very false ones) have risen to |
| have ESP and can it be proved? Many | | | | fame and even religious worship -- through |
| paranormal scientists have run experiments to | | | | their apparent ability to predict the events |
| test the veracity of alleged psychic | | | | of the future. |