Extrasensory Perception

The Phenomenology of Extrasensory Perception

	by Theresa M. Kelly, MsD
	Professor of Scientific Parapsychology, Researcher, Technical Author

Extrasensory perception (ESP) is defined as the reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed by the mind.

The phenomenological approach to (the study of) extrasensory perception developed slowly throughout many years of traditionally collecting case reports largely compiled for other purposes.  Through years of analyzing case studies of ESP, trends and characteristic of the various categories of parapsychological experiences were found.

These findings resulted in providing a direct access to the phenomenology of parapsychological experiences, or features of phenomena as they are experienced by an individual. Several categories were defined involving modeling features such as clairvoyance and telepathy, and temporal features such as precognitive (precognition), contemporaneous (remote viewing), and retrocognitive (postcognition/retrocognition) experiences.

In addition, several categories were defined involving the form of the extrasensory experience. Broadly speaking, every extrasensory case report can be categorized as an intuitive impression, hallucination, or dream (realistic or unrealistic).

Realistic dreams are defined as dreams that are not necessarily completely literal in context, but information does not include the quality of being conveyed in a disguised form. Typically, realistic dreams are more detailed in content than that of intuitive or hallucinatory experiences.

Unrealistic dreams are similar to realistic dream experiences, but here the imagery is more dramatized by fantasy. Important elements within the spectrum may appear realistic, but the scene or scenarios surrounding the elements appear disguised, as in symbolic form.

Intuitive impressions cover any extrasensory experience in which comprises of a general unreasoned impression or hunch. With intuitive experiences, there is no visual imagery, or auditory information in accompaniment, nor any conscious processes of linear coherent thought leading to the impression. The experient reports suddenly “just knowing” something, typically describing a vague impression, that upon subsequent investigation was supported to some extent. Intuitive impressions (involving only emotions) where an experient “feels” the emotions of another individual is today commonly referred to as empathy, or intuitive telepathy.
In hallucinatory extrasensory experiences, information is conveyed in the form of a sensory hallucination.

Hallucinations are reported as being vivid, substantial, and are perceived in a conscious and awake state. Hallucinations can occur in any sensory modality including visual (sight), auditory (hearing), olfaction (smell), gustatory (taste), tactile (pressure/touch), equilibrioception (balance), thermoception (temperature), chronoception (time), etc. Hallucinations involve images drawn from, or constructed from, internal representations of the world held in the long-term memory. Therefore, the more one has experienced, the more one will be likely to full construct, and therefore comprehend, hallucinatory psi-based information.

Source

(Adapted from the book “A Quantum Approach Series” by Theresa M. Kelly, MsD.)