Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-200.123.210.2-20151016175625/@comment-998602-20151022233813

I think the majority of us here can do some form of psychic ability - although it often varies. For myself, I had a levitation experience when I was a child and random deja vu moments (neither of which I can prove, I accept unfortunatley). A lot of times, believing that someone has a psychic power is exactly that; faith alone without sufficient scientific evidence to back it up.

In the time that has passed, however, curiosity and the insight regarding the potential of psychic abilites hasn't deterred people from investigating despite fear of ridicule. Empathy and Intution are classed by some as psychic powers, while a recent test provided more evidence towards the existence of telepathy and - on a video included on the game Psi-Ops - the game's creator's briefly revealed the research they undertook when creating the game; including looking at declassified government documents that showed that governments worldwide have been looking at developing such abilites like remote viewing or even pyrokinesis.



Hollywood has - in ways both good and bad - raised more awareness of the psychic in their movies but thrown in some bad myths too. For example, psychic abilites are like any other talent or ability you may have; they give you something that can help you, but you can still have off days where your ability doesn't work as well or even at all. For example, you may have a talent for bowling but that doesn't mean that every time you go to the alleys that you're going to bowl a perfect game - you're going to have days where it feels like you have two left feet and with psychic abilities, that truth is no different (contrary to Hollywood making out like psychic powers are 100% effective all the time).

I feel there are three main reasons many psychics don't reveal their abilities to the outside world or beyond a group of people who they trust. The first reason is fear of ridicule and the aftermath of that; such as becoming isolated, possibly losing their jobs and/or their credibility, etc. For many, that's not a risk they want to take - especially since there are many conmen and conwomen out there using the 'fake psychic' idea to profit off vulnerability.

The second is the stigmatization - in particular some people's association of psychic abilities as been related to witchcraft and the devil. In the book and film adaptions of Carrie, for example, when the titular character reveals her powers to her highly religious mother, she immediatley accuses Carrie of been possessed by the devil and using his power; so much so that she even tries to kill her daughter later on. In the Sam Raimi film The Gift, a woman uses her psychic power (reading runes) to help the people of a small town with their problems. However, she is tormented by one man who constantly accuses her of been a devil worshipper. Furthermore, when she uses her ability to solve a murder and her tormentor is accused of it, he loses it in court and accuses her of casting spells on people and - even as he dragged from the court room - screams at her "WITCH! WITCH!". Again, for many with psychic abilities, this is not something they want to have to put up with - especially as humanity can be very sadistic and murderous for little reason; regardless of the logic behind it. For example, I once read of a woman who killed her 10 month old girl because she thought her girl was autistic, while in a more recent news article a woman killed both her partner and her four year old daughter because she thought they were vampires.

The third reason is that even if you don't get ridiculed or stigmatized, there is the possibility that people will start coming to you for everything. In the book and movie adaption of The Dead Zone, the main character Johnny uses his power of 'second sight' to help solve the case of an elusive serial killer. However, following this, Johnny is forced to move away but is sent (via his father) hundreds of letters and other assorted mail asking for his help with lost animals, lost kids, etc. Johnny, however, doesn't even open them as he states that everyone of them is asking for something that he cannot give and that this is why he has to hide away.

Thanks to the internet, people with psychic powers are able to connect more with others with less fear of ridicule and stigma - especially as how sadly people can watch a video on YouTube of someone levitating or using telekinesis,etc. and - no matter if it's real or a hoax - many will constantly leave comments screaming that it's fake. Thanks to the relevant technology to fake this kind of thing been rather readily available, it often means that those who truly do have these abilities are 'swept away', so to speak, because everyone expects it to be a hoax or prank. For example, if you walked into a coffee shop and you saw this happen - with no knowledge that it was a prank - would you think it was real?



As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, most of this stuff relies on belief. If you don't believe it, then fair enough; that's your opinion and you've got the right to say so. Maybe in the near future, science will prove the existence of psychic abilities. Until then, we've only got people's word and the faith of others, which is never a bad thing. After all, how many people changed the way we think or live after going an idea with nothing but belief to back them up?