Perspective of scientific parapsychology and social reality

Clairvoyance scientifically studied:

Throughout history there has been some strange events where people seemed to have information that would have been impossible to acquire the usual means (eg the five senses), and could even relate to the future. Parapsychologists scientists have identified during the twentieth century tens of thousands of cases of this sort, including Louisa Rhine, U.S. researcher at Duke University, who published a famous casebook: "Hidden Channels of the Mind". One example among many others in this collection: an executive of a company recovery of metals has a premonitory dream while he is on vacation. He sees an accident where a crane tips over into a river, and where the crane operator manages to jump in extremis. The next day, back at his work, he learns that the accident occurred two hours after the dream. The probability that this dream is just a coincidence are very small.

Joseph B. Rhine, the husband of Louisa Rhine, he has developed rigorous experimental methods to demonstrate this phenomenon, but this time in the laboratory and using sophisticated statistical treatments. For example, he asked a subject to guess the order of cards in a card game special. Sometimes the results were very significantly better than chance alone could have produced, the subjects had therefore clearly had a "psychic".

Parapsychologists scientists have distinguished several types of phenomena:

telepathy, direct communication of thoughts between two or more persons.
clairvoyance, acquiring information about a place, object, event, person, without sensory mediation.
precognition, knowledge of future events. In practice these phenomena overlap and were collected by Rhine to as ESP (Extrasensory Perception).

Rhine has demonstrated experimentally the existence of ESP. Reference may be made to one of his books, translated into French: "The dual power of the mind". After Rhine's work, thousands of experiments have been done with many successes, and published in books or journals (ASPR, Journal of Parapsychology ...) However, one of the most interesting results concerning the ESP that this phenomenon is not obtained at will. We can never guarantee that there will be a good test score, or that this subject will succeed every time a psychic. We will see later in the importance of this discovery.

Famous seers:

Stephan Ludwig Ossowiecki and Kahn studied by scientists in the 20s, were like the famous "sleepwalker" Alexis Didier, the unquestionable right to read the sheets contained in sealed envelopes. These cases were detailed in a book by Robert Tocquet. Gerard Croiset, in the 70's, was famous for his ability to find missing people, and he even collaborated with the police. Georges Bellerive was investigated by the university team of François Laplantine (see their book "A light in the city"). Today, Maud Kristen runs a website for information on clairvoyance: http://www.maudkristen.com

Scientists who have studied clairvoyance have been many since the late 19th century. However, few theoretical hypotheses have been advanced. These include among them the theory of "scopèmes" of Elizabeth Laborde-Nottale (see "The Tarot and the Unconscious").

The lights in the company:

There are now "professional psychic", who claim to have the gifts of clairvoyance and the ability to know information about their customers and future events. Some of these professionals are paid very expensive, up to 50,000 F series of consultations, as a psychic admitted in a television Mireille Dumas. In most "psychic fairs" where gathered many practitioners, the price of the consultation is around 300 to 500 F.

In practice, the lights alternated professionals telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition (that is to say in general ESP), tips, and simple conversations or listening. If one refers to the only scientific result cited above, namely that no one can be certain in advance to achieve a true clairvoyance, we can conclude that charging for such consultations is often to the scam. Particularly bad in this respect (and viewed with distrust) are particularly advertisements for clairvoyance on telephone 24 24 Minitel or worse: most of these consultations are made by persons having no particular faculty.

But we must qualify this position by a psychological standpoint. The service that the consumer buys is not necessarily pure clairvoyance, because most customers are looking primarily listening and consulting. In this sense they are willing to pay (low) to this consultation, and do not feel "ripped off". As stressed by Mr P. Gonzales (Branch Fraud) in the aforementioned TV show, we can not consider that there are scam that from the moment there are customer complaints, and there are ultimately few complaints.

LED technology to simulate a clairvoyance are multiple: they can figure out the details through verbal or nonverbal clues, eg. the style of clothing of a customer and can extract information to consultants and give them the latest information without clients being aware that they are the ones who gave the information, they can learn in advance about their customers thanks to directories or other tricks, they can reformulate the speech of the consultant saying exactly what he wants to hear, they can predict events that have a high probability of arriving, they can suggestionner the patient for persuade them to act in a way that will realize the prediction (predictions self-fulfilling) ... And of course, if some bits of pure clairvoyance are inserted, the effect will be even more convincing.

The sociological perspective:

Unemployment crisis, violence, emotional loneliness, crime etc ... form the bed of a social malaise that drives many to seek help and comfort from the LEDs. Especially in France, the use of professional psychology and psychotherapy in existential problems is very little entered in the customs (the general public knows that psychoanalysis, long known and extremely costly). Moreover, the alienation of religious institutions including the virtual disappearance of practices "confession" leave the person alone with his discontent, his unhappiness, his moral problems, his choice.

It is therefore a strong need for both listening, individualized care, and also "guidance", psychological counseling. Consultations of clairvoyance, a relatively low cost at the base, and without commitment, seem to represent the general public attractive offers in this regard.

The psychological perspective:

What motivates most common clients of lights?

curiosity, amusement, the taste for things mysterious
the need for listening, sympathy, recognition of his individuality, or even a narcissistic need
despair before a stalemate and the vital need to regain a glimmer of hope
hesitation before a choice of life (love, health, labor, money)
the need for understanding of a difficult situation where it seems to "be lost", to ignore important details to be able to sense the events
the desire to regain control over the course of his life course

Go see a light is not a trivial matter, even if the motivation is simple curiosity. It should be remembered that the spring the more effective consultation of clairvoyance is still the suggestion, and suggestibility is very important in all of us, much more than we think.

The motivations of the lights, they can be very different depending on the individual:

make a living by helping, relieving customers
have a very lucrative job with no prior training
exercise some power over people, by frightening or impressive, or by persuading them that they absolutely need you.
carry out a practice that we feel predestined, called to exercise forever.

In interpreting a living, the light gives a meaning to the events of the patient. This one is in a state of submission that makes it more permeable to the suggestion. When a lamp makes a psychic, he identifies himself more or less to the patient, allowing it to "feel" and to guess things about it. But the process of real ESP requires a great expenditure of energy from the light, and also weakens. That's why the lights that are "real clairvoyance" can not work on the chain and therefore are few customers and charge high consultation. The high price of a consultation is therefore not necessarily an indicator of quackery (but not a guarantee of "serious").

Weddings and scams:

Obviously, there is currently no degree of clairvoyance, anyone can be called light. We saw earlier how much he had to be wary of clairvoyance by Minitel. Sometimes a client is in such a psychological dependence that comes to spending a fortune on consultations.

But most of the "cons" to be clairvoyance actually extortion in exchange for magic or sorcery (although the words are not pronounced). Witchcraft or psychological influence on distant people have nothing to do with the ESP and have hardly been studied scientifically. They are mainly based on the belief or traditional practices (African marabouts). In the humanities, the few studies on witchcraft (see J. Favret-Saada) or magic ("Heal the soul and body", directed by P. Wallon), have especially highlighted the process of mental suggestion. Anyway these practices outside their traditional context, are extremely disruptive to the psychological level, and put the client in a state of absolute vulnerability. It seems prudent to carefully avoid any promises of "return of affection", "exorcisms", "Survey of fate", "unbewitching" etc..

Good indicator ... and others:

The "rationalists" crying foul, to hustling, and castigate the entire profession. But we must admit, on the one hand the social need, and secondly that there are good lights, professionals who provide real support and assistance to their customers, who know how to welcome suffering or despair, which know back on track people "disoriented" ... Thus I argue that the right light is not only one who gets psychic level performance. It is above all one who, by his human qualities, common sense, intuition, may enter into sympathy with his client and help it evolve or through a difficult period.

Subjects who have highly developed clairvoyant are not necessarily balanced people able to help others. Instead, they are often disturbed personalities, destabilized by their ability to capture the sometimes tragic events, and so returning to empathize with others that are struggling to find their own individuality. The approach leads to market this "gift" is also a long and difficult to accept. Being a "good indicator" does not of itself, even if we are honest, we do not aim to exploit the credulity and human suffering, and that we often clairvoyance or intuitions by compared to people.

How to make predictions or revelations is very important. For example: "beware of trains, I see an accident" risk angst around the customer, give him a phobia of trains. As the danger is not easily identified and should be avoided, this prediction is alarming and unnecessary. By cons, "Do not take the train next week" is a phrase that may come from a premonition prophylactic, that is to say that this statement will possibly avoid an accident, while terrorizing not only the client . The prediction should never be presented as inevitable, but as a proposal to accept in case of "inner resonance". Sometimes the light comes in, touching the unconscious depths, to resolve a situation psychologically blocked, to break the vicious cycle repeats chess.

The light does not project his own problems on the client's problem, and learn to resist temptation, always great, to exert power over him. A good indicator is also one who knows not to create a psychological dependence with his client, give it just the little push needed for its development but then let it continue its life course independently. The choice of indicator is therefore crucial, and we strongly advise you to inquire in advance before making an appointment with a psychic or a clairvoyant.

Conclusion:

The existence of the phenomenon of clairvoyance has been demonstrated scientifically. No lights can claim to have at each visit a psychic that will prove accurate. Some "professional seers" have very good natural psychic, others have none. However, especially for people in a state of psychological vulnerability, seeing the good that will be primarily with good qualities and really willing to help others. Given the influence that light can have on all of us, we must not underestimate the importance of the choice of indicator.