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