What is a Psychic?
I am continuing my exploration of my psychic abilities, although my apparent progress has slowed a bit. I suspect that because of a decrease in energy around me (see this post) I am experiencing an equivalent drop. It also feels like a break from all of that energy and activity is needed so I can be more refreshed for the next phase of development. In the meantime, I continue to ponder things, trying to make sense of what has happened and what abilities I have. As part of that thought I have had a question, what is a psychic?
For me, this is an important question and gets back to another question, are psychics real? Am I really experiencing things or am I delusional, making things up and fooling myself and other people? Because I am choosing to live a more positive life, with an emphasis on growing good in the world, this question concerns me. Am I doing harm to myself and others because of my delusional ideas? If so, I should not continue exploring these supposed abilities or would it be better if I stopped?
The nature of the delusion will have me not wanting to stop so do I need to make an effort to quit exploring these senses? After thinking this over, I came back to the question, what is a psychic? And I then found an answer that is broken into several parts. Here are my thoughts on what a psychic might be.
A person with psychic senses is delusional – This is the first thing that crossed my mind and is the one that has me worried about harm I might do. The next step is to examine what harm might be caused by believing in something that isn’t real. One harm might be that I might hear something or sense something that would cause me to physically harm myself. The idea of voices talking, telling me to hurt myself or hurt others is something that I would find unacceptable and that I would work to stop. If I could not do this on my own, I would seek help or hope that someone else would help me find help if I was reluctant to get help. So far, I have not had this experience. My experience has been with voices and presences that radiate love and caring for me and for others. There is a sense of humor at times that can be a bit wearing, think of that pesky younger sibling or friend that teased you growing up, but behind that there is a great deal of love. For me that has meant a feeling of support at times when I have been loneliest. There have been times when this presence has been overwhelming or scary but I don’t ever remember a feeling of danger. So if I am delusional, I have delusions that don’t guide me to hurt myself or more importantly to hurt others. If that’s the case and I’m not pushing my delusions on other people, I don’t see a problem with this definition of a psychic.
A person with psychic senses is faking it and trying to scam people – I have run across this statement as a reason why people claiming to be psychic should not be trusted. In this case, I agree, because there is an intent to harm another person. For myself, I strongly believe that I have some type of sense for things other people don’t normally see or hear so I’m not trying to fake things. I also have no desire to take money from other people for what I might try to sense. For one thing, while I sense things, I also know that I’m not always right and that what I sense isn’t always clear. At times I feel like a fake when passing on information but then I see how that information connects with the other person so I trust that I received valid information that could help them. But for myself, I have no desire to be paid for what I do and no interest what so ever in letting a broad group of people know about the things I might be able to do. In this case, other people might think I’m a fake but I am not trying to scam anyone or make a quick buck so this definition of a psychic is also not a problem for me and my situation. For other people who say they are psychic, I would have to evaluate that person to see what I think. I will say that I have seen one or two psychics on TV and thought they were not using psychic abilities to read people. However, I don’t feel that I can say they are or are not psychic, a judgement of that type is up to the person who might want to use their services.
A person has psychic abilities that are real senses that cannot be sensed with current testing equipment – In this instance, a person does have senses but they are tied to the physical world only. Everyone has the potential to develop these senses. In my case, this describes part of what I sense. I feel that I sense an energy that is associated with everything around us. Reading this energy can provide additional information that can be used to make decisions. I call this process going with the flow, which is following the flow of energy as it moves toward the most desirable, positive outcome. Based on reading and working with other people I think this sense exists and some people are better at using it than other people just like some people are better at seeing or hearing things. This definition gets closer to what people think of as psychic but there is a real, physical component that might be detectable at some point in the future. Think of atoms and molecules. These physical structures have always existed but it wasn’t until there was the right kind of equipment that people could actually see these physical constructs. In this case I can have psychic powers that at some point in the future could be proven in experiments. I could use these senses to harm someone but I could also use my sight to find something a weapon to harm someone too. I can make a choice on how these senses are used and I have decided that I want to use these powers to increase the good in the world. I again have no desire to advertise widely that I can do these things and I trust the people I have told to tell me if I am causing them harm in some way.
A person has physic abilities that are real senses and can sense physical things and things that are in the spiritual realm. – With this final definition, this is the one that I think causes the most fear in other people. In most cases, there is a physical object and an explanation for phenomenon that can be detected by current test equipment and explained fully. We can have a large amount of knowledge about something and with knowledge most fear is lessened and can go away entirely. With someone who claims to talk with spirits, entities, demons, astral travelers and other beings that don’t have a physical appearance, we don’t have a way to verify that information. We also become dependent on that person to provide us information and possibly protect us from mischief and malicious acts. There is no way to sense these beings, to gather knowledge and defend ourselves, and when there is lack of knowledge then fear grows. In order to fight that fear and dependency it becomes easier to say that the person is faking their communication, psychic abilities don’t exist and we are limited to sensing and communicating with only the physical plane surrounding us. It gives back control and erases the cause for fear. However, what if there is something else beyond this physical plane we exist on? Isn’t it possible that there are then people who can sense this other existence and occasionally communicate with beings who reside there? By denying this possibility, we deny the exploration and increased understanding of something that is part of our life, whether we believe in it or not. It’s like saying the earth is the center of the universe, disease is caused by foul swamp vapors, and that we will never travel to the moon.
At parts of our history these were beliefs that were later changed because of new information and exploration. How limiting to refuse to look at other possibilities because of fear and a loss of control. It is understandable but that’s why we have courage to use to find out about our world So here are the definitions of psychic that I have come up with and reviewing these, I have found various explanations that look at whether I am harming other people. I believe that I fall in with definition 4 but I understand if other people think I fall more into definition 1. I need open minded skeptics who cause me to review and question so that I don’t go too far into woo-woo land. Where I can, I prefer to work with definition 3, in finding things that other people can also sense and that can be verified with independent information. But occasionally I do find myself exploring number 4. I strongly believe that there is more to this life and that our journey here is taking us through a classroom of our design and plan. Walk in the light and find the peace to accept the good and bad that each day brings.
