Clairvoyance

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Clairvoyance is the psychical influence of a theoretical objective environment termed the universal information system capable of storing, retaining, and recalling information pertaining to the past and current states of objects and events, and probabilistically determining the potential trajectory of future events. It is also involved in the interim integration, processing, disposal, and retrieval of information pertaining to remote objects and events in real-time. This is all achieved through the act of an experient requesting and receiving information pertaining to past events via the systems long-term information storage, and pertaining to remote current events via the systems working memory or short-term information storage. This is also achieved through the computation of relative causal knowledge encompassing deterministic and random variables, which are theorized to be stored by the system and retrievable by the experient.[22]

Claims for the existence of paranormal psychic abilities such as clairvoyance are highly controversial. Parapsychology explores this possibility, but the existence of such paranormal phenomena is not accepted by the scientific community outside parapsychology.

Contents

Terminology

Clairvoyance (from 17th century French with clair meaning "clear" and voyance meaning "visibility") is the apparent 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. A person said to have the ability of clairvoyance is referred to as a clairvoyant ("one who sees clear").

Usage

Within parapsychology, clairvoyance is used exclusively to refer to the transfer of information that is both contemporary to, and hidden from, the clairvoyant. 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.[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).

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.

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. Year Belief 1990 26% 2000 32% 2005 26%[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.[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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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). 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. 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.

Some parapsychologists have proposed that our different functional labels (clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, etc.) 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. For instance, at the Stanford Research Institute, in 1972, Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ initiated a series of human subject studies to determine whether participants (the viewers or percipients) could reliably identify and accurately describe salient features of remote locations or targets. In the early studies, a human sender was typically present at the remote location, as part of the experiment protocol. A three-step process was used, the first step being to randomly select the target conditions to be experienced by the senders. Secondly, in the viewing step, participants were asked to verbally express or sketch their impressions of the remote scene. Thirdly, in the judging step, these descriptions were matched by separate judges, as closely as possible, with the intended targets. The term remote viewing was coined to describe this overall process.

In order to explore the nature of remote viewing channel, the viewer in some experiments was secured in a double-walled copper-screened Faraday cage. Although this provided attenuation of radio signals over a broad range of frequencies, the researchers found that it did not alter the subject's remote viewing capability. They postulated that extremely low frequency (ELF) propagation might be involved, since Faraday cage screening is less effective in the ELF range. Such a hypothesis had previously been put forward by telepathy researchers in the Soviet Union.[9]

The first paper by Puthoff and Targ on psychic research to appear in a mainstream peer-reviewed scientific journal was published in Nature in March 1974; in it, the team reported some degree of remote viewing success.[10] One of the individuals involved in these initial studies at SRI was Uri Geller, a well-known celebrity psychic at the time. The research team reported witnessing some of Geller's trademark metal spoon-bending performances, but admitted that they were unable to conduct adequately controlled experiments to confirm any paranormal hypothesis about them.

Electroencephalography (EEG) techniques were also used by team to examine ESP phenomena. In these investigations, a sender, who was isolated in a visually opaque, electrically and acoustically shielded chamber, was stimulated at random by bursts of strobe-light flickers The experimenters reported that, for one receiver, differential alpha block on control and stimulus trials were observed, which showed that some information transfer had occurred. In contrast, this person's expressed statements of when the stimulus occurred were no different than that which would be expected by chance. The researches were unable to identify the physical parameters by which the EEG effect was mediated.[11]

After the publication of these findings, various attempts to replicate the remote viewing findings were quickly carried out. Several of these follow-up studies, which involved viewing in group settings, reported some limited success. They included the use of face-to-face groups,[12][13] and remotely-linked groups using computer conferencing.[14]

The various debates in the mainstream scientific literature prompted the editors of 'Proceedings of the IEEE' to invite Robert Jahn, then Dean of the School of Engineering at Princeton University, to write a comprehensive review of psychic phenomena from an engineering perspective. His paper[15], published in February 1982, includes numerous references to remote viewing replication studies at the time.

Clairvoyance experiments involving Zener cards currently exist on the internet. One such online system, the Anima Project[16], 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[17] In 1988, the US National Research Council concluded that it "...finds no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years, for the existence of parapsychological phenomena."[18]

Skeptics say that if clairvoyance were a reality it would have become abundantly clear. They also contend that those who believe in paranormal phenomena do so for merely psychological reasons. 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.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.

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 is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of feeling.[19] The word is from the French clair, “clear,” + sentience, “feeling,” and is ultimately derived from the Latin clarus, “clear,” + sentiens, derived from sentire, “to feel”.

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 cannot have a vivid picture in the mind. Instead, a very vivid feeling can form.

Psychometry is related to clairsentience. 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. It is often considered to be a form of clairvoyance.[20] Clairaudience is essentially the ability to hear in a paranormal manner, as opposed to paranormal seeing (clairvoyance) and feeling (clairsentience). 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.[citation needed]

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.[21]

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. 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. 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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

According to many Taoist related practices, abilities such as clairvoyance and many other 'supernormal' abilities are by-products of spiritual awakening and the realisation of divine consciousness. Buddhist teaching says such powers may arise in someone who has developed high states of mental concentration (dhyana), but such powers are in no way seen to be a prerequisite to enlightenment. In fact, they can act an obstacle in that they may divert the practitioner from the goal.

Integral to spiritual and mind expansion is breathwork and meditation. 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. 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.'[citation needed]

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. 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. There are many abilities that can be developed in this way — telepathy, prediction, astral travel, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation and energetic healing.

Enhancing Clairvoyance

Working Memory

There have been correlates found between clairvoyant phenomena and working memory in experients. Experients of clairvoyant phenomena typically receive information pertaining to objects or events as visual flashes, or streams similar to streaming video. These flashes and streams are usually only produced once leaving the experients precision based on the efficiency of their working memory. With optimal working memory capabilities, experients are able to recall more information pertaining to flashes and streams resulting in more information pertaining to their search goal. Working memory is enhanced through exposure to excessive neural activation whereby increasing clairvoyance. Therefore, experients of clairvoyant phenomena should be encouraged to train their working memory regularly as a means of control and enhancement. [22]

Experients of visual flashes and streams in which include auditory or other sensory modalities, should be encouraged to train these other sensory modalities as well as the visual mode as a means for control or enhancement. Working memory exercises can include exercises similar to the classic game Memory. Experients can begin exercises with an amount of cards they deem appropriate and increase the number of cards overtime to increase the difficulty of the exercise. Experients will achieve enhancement in clairvoyance through any array of visual and visual-spatial related memory training which can be offered by modern digital games such as Nintendo’s Brain Age. The memory of experients can also be improved through simple lifestyle changes such as incorporating the aforementioned memory exercises, healthy eating, physical fitness, and stress reduction into their daily lives. [22]

Dream Journal

Dream journals are a useful catalyst for remembering dreams and should be implemented by experients of realistic or unrealistic clairvoyant dream experiences to aid in memory. This preserves the crucial details of dreams, many in which are otherwise rapidly forgotten no matter how memorable or intense the dream may have seemed. This allows for a later in-depth analysis of dreams after the experient is completely awake. The very act of recording dreams can have the effect of improving dream recall for dreams to come enhancing perception, interpretation, and predictive accuracy. To ensure as much information in regards to the dream is recalled, the experient should recall as much of the dream as possible once they begin to feel themselves wakening. [22]

Once they have recalled as much of the dream as possible, the experient should immediately write down all they have recalled. Dream recall at this stage is very time sensitive so experients should keep their dream journal and a writing instrument within reaching distance. Experients should journal all information recalled regardless of if the information is deemed literal or dramatized by fantasy. Experients will find more efficiency in writing down an outline of a dream first and then the details pertaining to each section of the outline. Experients should be mindful and write down elements of their dreams that may appear symbolic such as colors, patterns, shapes, and people, places and scenarios that may be disguised by fantasy with an underlying literal meaning. [22]

The Universal Information System

Universal Information System Model

The method utilized by experients of clairvoyant phenomena is comprehensible via the convergence of the mechanics and laws pertaining to the universal information system and the experient. Since the system is theoretical, so too is its and the experients natural laws and mechanics. The system appears congruent in respect to the ontological view of four dimentionalism, which is concerned with how objects persist in time. These proponents of four dimensionalism claim that both past and future objects lay equal claims to having the same level of reality as does the present moment. Therefore, if any object or event [x] is a past reality, then the past object or event [x] is equally as real as the present object or event. In addition, the equivalent idea applies for any future object or event. If any future object or event [y] is a future reality, then the future object or event [y] is equally as real as any present object or event. [22]

The system appears to order events into a single distinct mode. In this mode, events are ordered by way of non-relational singular predicates “is past”, “is present” and “is future,” which is similar to the A-series of temporal events, a type of ordered relation among events referenced in modern discussions of the philosophy of time. A-series suggests a series of positions, which run from the remote past through the recent past to the present and from the present through the near future, and continues on to the remote future. The essential attribute of this descriptive modality is that one must think of the series of temporal positions as being in a continual transformation, in the sense that an event is first a potential [future], then a part of real-time [present], and then the past. [22]

Conceptual Universal Information

Conceptual information is best defined as generalized information that does not involve specific events or objects. Conceptual information is likely acquired across various contexts and is able to be used across different objects or events, and is considered the sum of all information within the universal information system, or portions of the system. It is an abstract information subset that applies to a wide variety of experiential objects and events in which delineates categorical and functional relationships between objects or events. This subset is theorized to operate and organize based on networks internal and external to its locale composed of finite nodes connected by finite links. [22]

Each node may represent concepts, perceptual features, probabilities, or nothing at all. A node is directly linked to other nodes in which are either deemed a subclass or a superclass. This infers a hierarchical information representation in which high-level nodes represent larger categories with low-level nodes representing specific experiences. All nodes are linked together, which removes an adequate description of single nodes without the full consideration of the other nodes involved. This creates difficulty for experients with a single query rather than a series of queries. This includes individual nodes that are spatially separated in a spacelike manner, whereby possibly inferring the principals of quantum entanglement, or quantum non-local connections, which is a property belonging to the quantum mechanical state of the universal information system. [22]

Contextual Universal Information

Contextual information refers to historical events (times, places, associated objects or events, and other contextual information) that can be explicitly or implicitly accessed. The formation of new contextual information requires the utilization of several information structures. Without the utilization of these structures, the system would be unable to form new procedural processes. This subset stores new procedural processes without storing relative events during which the system learned these processes resulting in different experient search parameters for information regarding event and process. Information is stored in several different ways, and is moved from one area of the system to the other based on how long the system is aware of the information or what type of information it has obtained (probabilistic, real-time or historical). [22]

All information eventually is consolidated as historical information. This is due to the system requiring the removal of outdated time sensitive information from select areas to increase its efficiency to obtain and process new information. Experients of clairvoyant phenomena of a younger age bracket tend to access conceptual information more so than contextual information, while adults tend to access the two types equally. While research shows experients receptive primarily to conceptual information appear to obtain and comprehend conceptual information regardless of awake or trance levels, experients receptive primarily to contextual information appear to obtain less information as trance levels increase. Experients in higher trance states tend to receive only conceptual information void of any contextual information. [22]

Neurological Causation & Interpretive Processes

It was once thought that any indeterminism in quantum mechanics occurred at too small a scale to influence biological or neurological systems. Today there is evidence that nervous systems are indeed indeterministic. This could lead to discoveries pinpointing the nervous system as the means of receiving and transmitting clairvoyant-precognitive-based signals. There have also been correlates found between other forms of clairvoyant phenomena and working memory and long-term memory in experients. This may suggest a part played by the hippocampus, the basal ganglia, and possibly the temporal cortex in which play important roles in memory. These areas could be concluded as at least partially responsible for interpreting signals pertaining to recorded events as psychological and physiological conditions caused by injury to these regions of the brain are in correlation with several disorders reported by experients of clairvoyant phenomena. [22]

These conditions include dysgraphia [deficiency in the ability to write], dyscalculis [difficulty in learning or comprehending mathematics], left-right disorientation, severe depression, dementia, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, epilepsy, autism, ADHD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, interpretive subsystems are theorized to be external to the experient. Their objective is to mediate transmissions between the system and the experient by translating the signal for the receptor. In the case of an experient receiving information from the system, the information is deemed properly mediated and comprehensible to the experients mental interpretive processes pending the onset of mental interpretive processes. Information interpreted is either immediately accessible consciously by the experient, or in the case of subconscious reception, is delayed and results in spontaneous experiences. [22]

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. The ESP entry includes clairvoyance
  3. Glossary of Parapsychological terms - Clairvoyance — Parapsychological Association (2007-04-27)
  4. 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.45
  8. Tart (1983) Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
  9. Kogan I, "Information theory analysis of telepathic communication experiments", Radio Engineering, v23, March 1968, p 122.
  10. Targ R & Puthoff H, "Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding", Nature, 251, October 18 1974, pp 602-607.
  11. Rebert C & Turner A, "EEG spectrum analysis techniques applied to the problem of psi phenomena", Behavioral Neuropsychiatry, v6(1-12), Apr 1974 Apr-Mar 1975, pp18-24
  12. Hastings A & Hurt D, "A Confirmatory Remote Viewing in a Group Setting" Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 64, No 10, p 1544-1545, October 1976.
  13. Whitson T, Bogart D, Palmer J, & Tart C, "Preliminary Experiments in Remote Viewing", Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 64, No 10, p 1550-1551, October 1976.
  14. Vallee J, Hastings A, & Askevold G, "Remote Viewing Experiments Through Computer Conferencing", Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 64, No 10, p 1551-1552, October 1976.
  15. Jahn R, "The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering Perspective", Proceedings of the IEEE, 7 2, Feb 1982, pp 136-170
  16. "The Anima Project". Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
  17. Marks, D.F. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Ed.) New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1573927988
  18. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural James Randi
  19. Parapsychological Association historical terms glossary, retrieved December 17, 2006
  20. Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
  21. Supernatural Glossary
  22. Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach - Information Receptivity Pertaining to Past, Real-Time, and Future Events
    Charleston, South Carolina USA.

See also

External Links

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