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Paranormal / Parapsychology
Terminology
An experiment in Sensory deprivation aiming to stimulate clairvoyance. A ganzfeld experiment (from the German for “entire field” is a technique used in the field of Parapsychology to test individuals for Extra-sensory perception
Details
Terminology:Clairvoyance
Definition:
Signature:
Misc
See Also:Telepathy
Anomalous cognition
ESP
Remote viewing


Clairvoyance (from 17th century French with clair meaning "clear" and voyance meaning "visibility") is the purported ability to gain information about an object, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses,[1][2] a form of extra-sensory perception. Telepathy ( Greek τηλε tele meaning "distant" and πάθεια patheia meaning "to be affected by" describes the purported transfer Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of Psychic abilities and life after death using the Scientific method Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous Remote Viewing (RV refers to the attempt to gather information about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means or Extra-sensory perception. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Senses are the physiological methods of Perception. The senses and their operation classification and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous A person said to have the ability of clairvoyance is referred to as a clairvoyant ("one who sees clear").

Claims for the existence of paranormal psychic abilities such as clairvoyance are highly controversial. Paranormal is an Umbrella term used to describe unusual Phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious Scientific explanation The word psychic (ˈsaɪkɨk from the Greek psychikos—"of the soul mental" refers to the claimed ability to perceive things hidden from the normal senses Parapsychology explores this possibility, but no evidence for such paranormal phenomena is accepted by the scientific community. Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of Psychic abilities and life after death using the Scientific method The scientific community consists of the total body of Scientists its relationships and interactions

Contents

Usage

Within parapsychology, clairvoyance is used exclusively to refer to the transfer of information that is both contemporary to, and hidden from, the clairvoyant. Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of Psychic abilities and life after death using the Scientific method It is differentiated from telepathy in that the information is said to be gained directly from an external physical source, rather than being transferred from the mind of one individual to another. Telepathy ( Greek τηλε tele meaning "distant" and πάθεια patheia meaning "to be affected by" describes the purported transfer [3]

Outside of parapsychology, clairvoyance is often used to refer to other forms of Anomalous cognition, most commonly the perception of events that have occurred in the past, or which will occur in the future (known as retrocognition and precognition respectively),[4][3] or to refer to communications with the dead (see Mediumship). Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of Psychic abilities and life after death using the Scientific method Retrocognition (also known as postcognition) from the Latin retro meaning "backward behind" and cognition meaning "knowing" Precognition (from the Latin præ- “prior to” + cognitio “a getting to know” denotes a form of Extrasensory perception where in a person is said to perceive Mediumship is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Louisiana Voodoo, and

Clairvoyance is related to remote viewing, although the term "remote viewing" itself is not as widely applicable to clairvoyance because it refers to a specific controlled process. Remote Viewing (RV refers to the attempt to gather information about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means or Extra-sensory perception.

Status of clairvoyance

Within the field of parapsychology, there is a consensus that some instances of clairvoyance are verifiable. [5][6] There is also a measured level of belief from amongst the general public, with the portion of the US population who believe in clairvoyance varying between 1/4 and 1/3 over the 15 year period from 1990 to 2005. (Of course, belief of the general public in the existence of a phenomenon does not mean that it exists in nature. )

YearBelief
199026%
200032%
200526%[4]

The concept of clairvoyance gained some support from the US and Russian governments both during and after the Cold War, and both governments made several attempts to harness it as an intelligence gathering tool. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the [7]

According to skeptics, clairvoyance is the result of fraud, self-delusion[4], Barnum effects, confirmatory biases, or failures to appreciate the base rate of chance occurrences. A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed False Belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false fanciful or derived from Deception The Forer effect (also called personal validation fallacy or the Barnum Effect after P In Psychology and Cognitive science, confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids For example, in a scientific experiment of clairvoyance, a purported clairvoyant participant will inevitably make correct guesses some of the time (i. e. , during some of the trials within the same experiment), simply because of chance. Furthermore, because of the nature of the statistical tests used by experimenters, a very small proportion of all experiments conducted will yield an overall statistically significant result (suggesting that clairvoyance took place at above-chance levels), again simply because of chance. A proper summary of the experimental evidence on clairvoyance should include a summary of all experiments that were conducted, taking into account their probabilities of turning out false positive and false negative results, and making sure that studies are not included in the review selectively. Some researchers on clairvoyance have tended to purposefully exclude negative findings from their reviews [8], thus biasing their own conclusions.

Clairvoyance and related phenomena throughout history

There have been anecdotal reports of clairvoyance and 'clear' abilities throughout history in most cultures. These episodes are often reported as being experienced through early adulthood. Often clairvoyance has been associated with religious or shamanic figures, offices and practices. For example, ancient Hindu religious texts list clairvoyance amongst other forms of 'clear' experiencing, as siddhis, or 'perfections', skills that are yielded through appropriate meditation and personal discipline. Not to be confused with the African-descended Siddi people of India (though sometimes spelled identically But a large number of anecdotal accounts of clairvoyance are of the spontaneous variety among the general populace. For example, many people report seeing a loved one who has recently died before they have learned by other means that their loved one is deceased. While anecdotal accounts do not provide scientific proof of clairvoyance, such common experiences continue to motivate research into such phenomena.

Clairvoyance was one of the phenomena reportedly observed in the behavior of somnambulists, people who were mesmerized and in a trance state (nowadays equated with hypnosis by most people) in the time of Franz Anton Mesmer. Sleepwalking (also called somnambulism or noctambulism) is a Parasomnia or Sleep disorder where the sufferer engages in The term's most common usage today refers to a person's sexual attractiveness or raw Charisma. Trance denotes a variety of processes techniques modalities and states of mind awareness and consciousness Hypnosis is often thought to be a wakeful state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility with diminished peripheral awareness Franz Anton Mesmer (born Friedrich Anton Mesmer; May 23, 1734 &ndash March 5, 1815) was a German physician and astrologist who The earliest record of somnambulistic clairvoyance is credited to the Marquis de Puységur, a follower of Mesmer, who in 1784 was treating a local dull-witted peasant named Victor Race. Although Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet Marquis de Puységur (1751-1825 was a French aristocrat from one of the most illustrious families of the French nobility he is now remembered During treatment, Race reportedly would go into trance and undergo a personality change, becoming fluent and articulate, and giving diagnosis and prescription for his own disease as well as those of others. When he came out of the trance state he would be unaware of anything he had said or done. This behavior is somewhat reminiscent of the reported behaviors of the 20th century medical clairvoyant and psychic Edgar Cayce. Edgar Cayce ( March 18, 1877 &ndash January 3, 1945) (ˈkeɪsiː was an American psychic. It is reported that although Puységur used the term 'clairvoyance', he did not think of these phenomena as "paranormal", since he accepted mesmerism as one of the natural sciences. Paranormal is an Umbrella term used to describe unusual Phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious Scientific explanation

Clairvoyance was a reported ability of some mediums during the spiritualist period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was one of the phenomena studied by members of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Spiritualism is a Religion founded in part on the writings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772 The Society for Psychical Research ( SPR) is a Non-profit organization which started in the United Kingdom and was later imitated in other countries Psychics of many descriptions have claimed clairvoyant ability up to the present day.

While experimental research into clairvoyance began with SPR researchers, experimental studies became more systematic with the efforts of J. B. Rhine and his associates at Duke University, and such research efforts continue to the present day. Joseph Banks Rhine ( September 29, 1895 &ndash February 20, 1980) (usually known as J Duke University is a private Research University located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Perhaps the best-known study of clairvoyance in recent times was the US government-funded remote viewing project at SRI/SAIC during the 1970s through the mid-1990s. Remote Viewing (RV refers to the attempt to gather information about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means or Extra-sensory perception. SRI International, based in the United States is one of the world's largest contract Research institutes. Science Applications International Corporation ( SAIC) is a FORTUNE 500 scientific engineering and technology applications company in the United States with

Some parapsychologists have proposed that our different functional labels (clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, etc. Telepathy ( Greek τηλε tele meaning "distant" and πάθεια patheia meaning "to be affected by" describes the purported transfer Precognition (from the Latin præ- “prior to” + cognitio “a getting to know” denotes a form of Extrasensory perception where in a person is said to perceive ) all refer to one basic underlying mechanism, although there is not yet any satisfactory theory for what that mechanism may be.

Parapsychological research

Parapsychological research studies of remote viewing and clairvoyance have produced favorable results significantly above chance, and meta-analysis of these studies increases the significance to astronomical proportions. Remote Viewing (RV refers to the attempt to gather information about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means or Extra-sensory perception. For instance, at the Stanford Research Institute, remote viewing experiments undertaken between 1973 and 1988 were analyzed by Edwin May and his colleagues in 1988, and the odds against the results being due to chance were more than a billion billion to one. The SRI results were replicated at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory. [9] (Radin 1997:91-109)

Clairvoyance experiments involving Zener cards currently exist on the internet. One such online system, the Anima Project[10], gathers user results into a master database which is then analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques.

Skepticism

Parapsychological research is regarded by critics as a pseudoscience[11] In 1988, the US National Research Council concluded that it ". Pseudoscience is defined as a body of knowledge methodology belief or practice that is claimed to be Scientific or made to appear scientific but does not adhere to the . . finds no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years, for the existence of parapsychological phenomena. "[12]

Scientists say that if clairvoyance were a reality it would have become abundantly clear. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding They also contend that those who believe in paranormal phenomena do so for merely psychological reasons. Paranormal is an Umbrella term used to describe unusual Phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious Scientific explanation According to David G. Myers (Psychology, 8th ed. )

The search for a valid and reliable test of clairvoyance has resulted in thousands of experiments. One controlled procedure has invited 'senders' to telepathically transmit one of four visual images to 'receivers' deprived of sensation in a nearby chamber (Bem & Honorton, 1994). The result? A reported 32 percent accurate response rate, surpassing the chance rate of 25 percent. But follow-up studies have (depending on who was summarizing the results) failed to replicate the phenomenon or produced mixed results (Bem & others, 2001; Milton & Wiseman, 2002; Storm, 2000, 2003).

One skeptic, magician James Randi, has a longstanding offer—now U. James Randi (born August 7 1928 (stage name The Amazing Randi) is a stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of Paranormal S. $1 million—“to anyone who proves a genuine psychic power under proper observing conditions” (Randi, 1999). French, Australian, and Indian groups have parallel offers of up to 200,000 euros to anyone with demonstrable paranormal abilities (CFI, 2003). Large as these sums are, the scientific seal of approval would be worth far more to anyone whose claims could be authenticated. To refute those who say there is no ESP, one need only produce a single person who can demonstrate a single, reproducible ESP phenomenon. So far, no such person has emerged. Randi’s offer has been publicized for three decades and dozens of people have been tested, sometimes under the scrutiny of an independent panel of judges. Still, nothing. "People's desire to believe in the paranormal is stronger than all the evidence that it does not exist. " Susan Blackmore, "Blackmore's first law", 2004. Susan Jane Blackmore (born 29 July, 1951) is an English Freelance writer, Lecturer, and broadcaster on Psychology

Other related terms

The words "clairvoyance" and "psychic" are often used to refer to many different kinds of paranormal sensory experiences, but there are more specific names:

Clairsentience (feeling/touching)

In the field of parapsychology, clairsentience [From the French clair, “clear,” + sentience, “feeling,” ultimately derived from the Latin clarus, “clear,” + sentiens, derived from sentire, “to feel”] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of feeling. Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous The word psychic (ˈsaɪkɨk from the Greek psychikos—"of the soul mental" refers to the claimed ability to perceive things hidden from the normal senses [13] In addition to parapsychology, the term also plays a role in some religions. For example: clairsentience is one of the six human special functions mentioned or recorded in Buddhism. It is an ability that can be obtained at advanced meditation level. Generally the term refers to a person who can feel the vibration of other people. There are many different degrees of clairsentience ranging from the perception of diseases of other people to the thoughts or emotions of other people. The ability differs from third eye in that this kind of ability can not have a vivid picture in the mind. Instead, a very vivid feeling can form.

Psychometry is related to clairsentience. Psychometry ( Greek: ψυχή psukhē, "spirit soul" + μέτρον metron, "measure" is a form of Extra-sensory perception The word stems from psyche and metric, which means "to measure with the mind".

Clairaudience (hearing/listening)

In the field of parapsychology, clairaudience [from late 17th century French clair (clear) & audience (hearing)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires information by paranormal auditory means. Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous Paranormal is an Umbrella term used to describe unusual Phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious Scientific explanation It is often considered to be a form of clairvoyance. [14] Clairaudience is essentially the ability to hear in a paranormal manner, as opposed to paranormal seeing (clairvoyance) and feeling (clairsentience). Paranormal is an Umbrella term used to describe unusual Phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious Scientific explanation Clairvoyance (from 17th century French with clair meaning "clear" and voyance meaning "visibility" is the apparent ability to gain Clairaudient people have psi-mediated hearing. Clairaudience may refer not to actual perception of sound, but may instead indicate impressions of the "inner mental ear" similar to the way many people think words without having auditory impressions. But it may also refer to actual perception of sounds such as voices, tones, or noises which are not apparent to other humans or to recording equipment. For instance, a clairaudient person might claim to hear the voices or thoughts of the spirits of persons who are deceased. Clairaudience may be positively distinguished from the voices heard by the mentally ill when it reveals information unavailable to the clairaudient person by normal means (including cold reading or other magic tricks), and thus may be termed "psychic" or paranormal. Cold reading is a technique used by mentalists and fortune tellers, Psychics and mediums to determine details about another person in order to The word psychic (ˈsaɪkɨk from the Greek psychikos—"of the soul mental" refers to the claimed ability to perceive things hidden from the normal senses Paranormal is an Umbrella term used to describe unusual Phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious Scientific explanation

Clairalience (smelling)

In the field of parapsychology, clairalience [presumably from late 17th century French clair (clear) & alience (smelling)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of smelling. Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous [15]

Claircognizance (knowing)

In the field of parapsychology, claircognizance [presumably from late 17th century French clair (clear) & cognizance (< ME cognisaunce < OFr conoissance, knowledge)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of intrinsic knowledge. Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of Old French was the Romance Dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous It is the ability to know something without knowing how or why you know it.

Clairgustance (tasting)

In the field of parapsychology, clairgustance is defined as a form of extra-sensory perception that allegedly allows one to taste a substance without putting anything in one's mouth. Extrasensory perception (ESP is the apparent ability to acquire information by Paranormal means independent of any known physical Senses or deduction from previous It is claimed that those who possess this ability are able to perceive the essence of a substance from the spiritual or ethereal realms through taste.

Developing clairvoyant abilities

Current thinking among proponents of clairvoyance posits that most people are born with clairvoyant abilities but then start to subliminate them as their childhood training compels them to adhere to acceptable social norms. Numerous institutes offer training courses that attempt to revive the clairvoyant abilities present in those early years.

According to many Taoist- and Buddhist-related practices, abilities such as clairvoyance and many other 'supernormal' abilities are by-products of spiritual awakening and the realisation of divine consciousness. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Integral to spiritual and mind expansion is breathwork and meditation. Breathwork refers to many forms of conscious alteration of breathing such as Hyperventilation or connecting the inhale and exhale when used within psychotherapy or meditation Meditation is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness By expanding lung capacity and learning to use the lungs as a 'bellows' to direct qi (Chinese: 氣 qì, meaning "air") around the body and open the subtle energy channels we also naturally expand the mind and refine consciousness. In traditional Chinese culture, qi (zh [[wikt氣 氣]] Pinyin qì, Wade-Giles ch'i Jyutping This is how these seemingly miraculous powers develop, though they are not truly miraculous. They are considered to be latent abilities that everyone possesses but need 'waking up. '

Such abilities in some schools of thought are considered distractions from the true path of Enlightenment and can lead to the practitioner falling off the true path. The re-discovery of these energetic abilities relies on the activation of the 'Dan Tian,' (Chinese: 丹田 dān tián, meaning "energy field") or, the central energy reservoir located just below the navel. Dantian or Tan t'ien ( Chinese: Dāntián 丹[[wiktionary 田|田]] Japanese: Tanden 丹田 Korean: 단전 When the practitioner learns to 'turn' it and move it as if it were a fifth limb, then qi can begin to be pushed around the body. The Dan Tian is strong as a baby, but quickly slows to a crawl as one ages. A major part of Taoist and Chinese Buddhist practice is learning to activate the Dan Tian once again. This may also explain why such abilities are stronger as a child and quickly disappear as one ages, but can be awakened by the proper practice of arts such as neigong and qigong to expand the mindstream and spirit. Neigong, also spelled nei kung, neigung, or nae gong, is any of a set of Chinese breathing and Meditation disciplines Qigong (or ch'i kung) refers to a wide variety of traditional cultivation practices that involve methods of accumulating circulating and working with Qi or energy Mindstream is a compound Lexical item composed of Mind and Stream used to translate a term from Buddhist philosophy. There are many abilities that can be developed in this way — telepathy, prediction, astral travel, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation and energetic healing. Astral projection (or astral travel) is an esoteric interpretation of a type of Out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an " Astral The term pyrokinesis is derived from the Greek words πυρ ( pûr, meaning "fire lightning" and κίνησις ( kínesis Levitation (from Latin levitas "lightness" is the process by which an object is suspended against Gravity, in a stable position

See also

References

  1. ^ http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clairvoyance Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, Retrieved Oct 5, 2007 "1: the power or faculty of discerning objects not present to the senses 2: ability to perceive matters beyond the range of ordinary perception: penetration"
  2. ^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Retrieved Oct 7, 2007. Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of Psychic abilities and life after death using the Scientific method Astral projection (or astral travel) is an esoteric interpretation of a type of Out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an " Astral An out-of-body experience ( OBE or sometimes OOBE) is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and in some cases perceiving Paranormal is an Umbrella term used to describe unusual Phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious Scientific explanation Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of Psychic abilities and life after death using the Scientific method In Metaphysics and Esoteric cosmology, a plane, other than the Physical plane, is conceived as a subtle state of Consciousness that transcends This article is about postdiction in the criticism of parapsychology not about the scientific technique also called Retrodiction. Precognition (from the Latin præ- “prior to” + cognitio “a getting to know” denotes a form of Extrasensory perception where in a person is said to perceive Spirituality, in a narrow sense concerns itself with matters of the Spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and Faith, a transcendent reality According to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings living beings are constituted of a series of psycho-spiritual subtle bodies, each corresponding The third eye (also known as the inner eye) is a mystical and esoteric concept referring in part to the Ajna (brow Chakra in The ESP entry includes clairvoyance
  3. ^ a b Glossary of Parapsychological terms - Clairvoyance — Parapsychological Association (2007-04-27)
  4. ^ a b c Carrol, Robert (2003), "Clairvoyance" - Skeptics Dictionary, Wiley, ISBN 0471272426
  5. ^ "What is parapsychology?", FAQ - Parapsychological Association (2007-02-03)
  6. ^ "What is the state-of-the-evidence for psi?", FAQ - Parapsychological Association (2007-02-03)
  7. ^ Waller, Douglas (1995-12-11), "The Vision Thing", Time, p. The Parapsychological Association was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by J Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and 45
  8. ^ Tart (1983) Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
  9. ^ The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0
  10. ^ The Anima Project. Retrieved on 2008-04-08. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 217 - Roman Emperor Caracalla is Assassinated (and succeeded by his Praetorian
  11. ^ Marks, D. F. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Ed. ) New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1573927988
  12. ^ An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural James Randi
  13. ^ Parapsychological Association historical terms glossary, retrieved December 17, 2006
  14. ^ Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
  15. ^ Supernatural Glossary

Further reading

Dictionary

clairvoyance

-noun

  1. The power to perceive objects that are not accessible to the senses.
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