Most scientists do not recognize telepathy, citing that there
is no compelling evidence that it exists and further suggest that there is no
physiological function in the brain that supports it. Critics cite poorly controlled experiments
and inconclusive results. [1,2] Jan Dalkvist writes:
"Within the scientific community
however, the claim that psi anomalies exist or may exist is in general regarded
with skepticism…the scientist at least officially requires replicable results
from well controlled experiments to believe in such phenomena - results which
according to the prevailing view among scientists, do not exist." [3]
William Drees adds:
"Let me
take the example of claims in parapsychology regarding telepathy across spatial
or temporal distances, apparently without a mediating physical process. Such claims are at odds with the scientific
consensus." [4]
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are two notable exceptions. Jung proposed the concept of synchronicity to
explain coincidences that are not explained by rational means and also
attempted to link synchronicity to quantum mechanics. [5]
Alan Haas further suggests there is little difference between
synchronicity and telepathy. [6] Freud speculated that telepathy was a form
of communication used in the early days of man prior to the development of
speech and believed that he could communicate telepathically with his fiancée.
[7] He further speculated on the
possible relationship between quantum physics and telepathy, and felt that
psychoanalysis could be used as a tool to study thought transmission. [8] His
scientific research did not pan out, but he still believed in the ability, as
shown in his comments on a case that he studied:
“The event
becomes perfectly clear if we are inclined to suppose that this knowledge has
transferred from him to her, presumed prophetess, through unknown ways and with exclusion of the
communication methods that everybody knows. Therefore, our conclusion should be
that thought transmission exists” [9]
Parapsychologists attribute the
following factors are present in persons who show success at telepathy and
other forms of ESP: belief in psi talents, success with psi talent in the past,
the practice of meditation or another similar discipline, creativity, artistic
ability, and emotional closeness with the sender. [10]
There are numerous experimental studies that have studied
telepathy. J.B. Rhine, often called the
“Father of Modern Parapsychology,” ran experiments at Duke using Zener cards. These are a 25 card deck with each card
having one of five different symbols. By
random chance, there is a 20% probability of obtaining a correct answer. His telepathy studies showed statistically
significant results, with one set of experiments showing a 40.3% correct guess
rate out of 2400 trials, a one in a million chance by random chance. [11] Ganzfeld
experiments, devised by Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s, are another technique
used in testing for ESP. In one version,
a subject sits in a relaxing position with a translucent shade over their eyes. The room is bathed in red light and the
subject listens to white noise. While in
this state of sensory deprivation, another person observes a randomly chosen
target and mentally sends this information to the subject. The subject is then removed from the ganzfeld
state, is shown the set of targets, and is asked which one most resembled what
they saw during the test. A study
performed in 1983 by Charles Honorton using a sound-proof chamber and four
targets demonstrated in 354 trials a statistically significant 34% hit rate vs.
the expected 25%. A follow-up study in
2010 of several different studies showed a hit rate of 32.2% out of 1498
trials, also statistically significant.
In this study, people who had traits conducive to psi performed
substantially better than others. [12]
Biologist Rupert Sheldrake also has studied telepathy. In a 2003 Journal of Scientific Exploration article, he looked at the ability of people to predict from whom an email was coming before they actually sent it. The subject had to guess from three possible senders. In Sheldrake’s study, a statistically significant 41.8% hit rate was obtained in 419 trials vs. the 33.3% expected based on random chance. In an earlier study on telephone calls where participants predicted out of four different people who was calling, a startling 45% correct guesses were obtained vs. the expected 25% based on random chance. [13] In the same study, an astounding 61% success rate was achieved when the caller was familiar to the receiver. [14] A similar study involving text messages was also found to be statistically significant. [15]
Sheldrake researched telepathy in animals and believed that
it was a normal talent in the animal kingdom, further extrapolating that belief
to humans. [16] Marta Williams also has studied telepathy
between animals and humans. At first
skeptical, she kept an open mind and now firmly believes in this form of
communication. She shared a story where
a horse sent her the feeling of grief over missing his previous owner. In another case, she was telepathically
communicating with a horse in Wisconsin – she was in California. The horse told her that he had a rib out of
place. A chiropractor examined the horse
later that day and confirmed the dislocated rib. [17] Others
also claim the existence of animal telepathy.
[18, 19]
There are numerous articles that demonstrate telepathy
between people, usually between people that know each other very well, such as
married couples and identical twins.
Kings College Researcher Dr. Lynne Cherkas performed a survey that found
that 20% of all identical twins and 10% of all fraternal twins have experienced
telepathy. [20] In his blog, Steve Pavlina reports telepathic
activity between him and his wife Erin.
He alleges that they have to be careful when playing a trivia game not
to look at the answer when reading a question as the other often is able to
read the answer from the other’s mind.
They often send each other thoughts telepathically, for instance:
“…I may be out running errands and
have the thought to bring home take-out food from a certain restaurant, even
though we haven’t eaten there in months.
I may not even be hungry. But
when I arrive home with the food, Erin will say, ‘Oh good…you heard me.’ This sort of thing happens quite often with
us.” [21]
He suggests that telepathy works best when not forced and
kept in the subconscious. [22]
Stephen Wagner reports [23] on several examples of twins
exhibiting telepathic communications, especially with respect to feelings or
situations. In 2009, the Houghton twins
made news when Gemma suddenly felt her twin sister Leanne was in trouble,
rushing into the bathroom to find her drowning in the bathtub, apparently from
a seizure. She revived her, saving her
life. Wagner also shares telepathy
researcher Guy Lyon Playfair’s knowledge of three other examples of telepathy
leading to one twin saving another’s life.
In a less dramatic example, he reports the account of a mother of four
year old identical twins:
“One twin, Heather was with Paula
in the classroom while the other twin, Catherine was in the gymnasium on
another floor. Suddenly, Paula heard Catherine crying downstairs, and Heather
declared that it was because a certain person had just run over her with a
scooter. There was no way Heather could have seen what happened. Sure enough,
when Paula asked Catherine about what had happened she confirmed that that
certain person had run over her with a scooter.” [24]
In 2003, Playfair set up an
experiment between a set of twins, Richard and Damien, where one of them was
placed in a soundproof booth with a bucket of ice while the other was set apart
and hooked up onto a polygraph machine.
Richard placed his hand in the ice water and let out a gasp. When checking the polygraph, Playfair saw a
blip on the respiration line that indicated that Damien may have gasped at the
same time. The effect was confirmed in a
second, different test. Playfair
deliberately set up his tests to use the element of surprise as opposed to
communicating images under the assumption that "Telepathy tends to work
best when it is needed" and that emotions and physical response are easier
to transmit when in need. [25] Looking further at transmission of emotions,
Digby Tantam reports in Psychology Today that neuroscience is demonstrating
telepathic transfer of emotions and emotional attitudes, citing the spirit of
cooperation achieved by military groups in drill and march. [26]
This type of phenomenon through personal experience is also seen in musical
bands and sports teams.
The various talents and, in many
cases, the very workings of the human brain continue to be mysteries that elude
science. Although intuition is commonly
accepted as a mental talent, telepathy and other psi talents such as precognition
are considered enigmatic and are not understood, if not downright discredited
by science. However, between
experimental results and the numerous cases of telepathic messages that have no
other explanation, there does appear to be substance behind the presence of
telepathy in at least some people. People are often scared by these seemingly
irrational talents and find it easier to deny their existence rather than
exercise the talents. Recognizing and
embracing these abilities will potentially increase the ability for people to
evolve their mental capacity, facilitating the continued evolution of mankind.
References:
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy
3. Dalkvist, “Telepathic group communication of emotions as a function of belief in telepathy,” (1994), Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University.
4. Drees, “Religion, Science and Naturalism.” Cambridge University Press. (28 November 1998).
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_quantum_mechanics
6. http://psychobiophysics.org/HaasElectroFreudTelepathy.pdf
7. http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/t/telepathy/
8. http://www.psicoanalisi.it/psicoanalisi/psicosomatica/articoli/psomaing1117.htm Written by: Quirino Zangrilli © Copyright * Translated by Flavio D'Ambrogio and Linda De Nardo
9. Ibid.
10. See 1.
11. http://archived.parapsych.org/members/jb_rhine.html
12. See 1.
13. Sheldrake and Avraamides, “An Automated Test for Telepathy in Connection with Emails,” Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 23, No. 1 (2003), pp. 29–36.
14. Sheldrake and Smart, “Videotaped experiments on telephone telepathy,” Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 67, (2003), pp. 187-206.
15. Sheldrake, et.al, “Sensing the sending of SMS messages: an automated test,” Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, Vol. 5, (2009), pp. 272-276.
16. http://www.sheldrake.org/Research/telepathy/
17. http://www.martawilliams.com/WhatIsAnimCom.htm
18. http://www.animaltelepathy.com/about.html
19. http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Wittels1.html
20. http://paranormal.about.com/od/espandtelepathy/a/Twin-Telepathy-Best-Evidence.htm
21. http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/06/telepathy/
22. Ibid.
23. See 19.
24. See 19.
25. See 19.
26. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-mind-and-spirit/200909/can-we-really-read-minds
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