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Telepathy: Is Intent The Key?

gattino

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
2,517
Firstly a brief background:
1) I believe in/accept the existence of "psi", for the simple reason I experience it so frequently and casually - sometimes startlingly but never ever usefully! - that the reality of it is no longer a question for me. I believe minds are not confined to brains, and that's as much as I can conclude about its nature.

2) A couple of times over the years I've attempted brief bouts of experimentation with remote viewing/telepathy - specifically a correspondent at at distance concentrates on an image while I close my eyes and record whatever occurs to me. It has appeared to be succesful more often than not (the visions tend to be symbolic of the thing concentrated on, as they would be in a dream, rather than literal and precise), with one caveat - that it only ever seemed to be successful when I was the receiver rather than the "transmitter".

This last point is one easy explanation for the fact an experiment in recent days to "psychically will" a friend I've not heard from for a long time to phone me didn't work. The other explanation is of course that such a thing is impossible and don't be silly. But it was worth a go. :)

So that's the background. My question/point stems from a reconsideration of a double incident a couple of months ago which contravened this "I can only receive never transmit" assumption....an incident which might hold clues to how psi, at least n the form of "telepathy" actually works......

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Back in March I went on weekend trip with friends to Istanbul. It's my habit prior to a trip to go on local or international social network sites to try and chat with a local or two, or other foreign traveller, to ask advice or whatever. So it was that I swapped a few messages with an exotic mixed race type..half black spanish american ...He said he was "Cayetano". I started to type that for a moment I didn't know if it was a name (it was) or he was describing his ethnicity.. "like Mulato". BUT, suddenly being unsure if it was a racist term or not, I DIDN'T TYPE IT. I rewrote the message leaving that bit out. The word never passed my lips/fingers. So imagine my consternation when in his next message he talked about his next job assignment to Brazil and referred to the local Mulatos....This was startling, its hardly an everyday word, and its reasonable to assume that if psi was present it was passing from me to him, uniquely in my experience, as he would presumably not have pre-scripted his reply before he had anythng from me to reply to. He could not, in short, have had any reason to be anticipating referring to mulatos before I almost but not quiet referred to them first.

Very next day, the morning I was setting off for the airport my brother who was house sitting texts me on his way to ask if I need the morning paper. I text back, well if you're going to the shop we could do with some kitchen roll...and some tin foil... AND THEN I DELETED THE REFERENCE TO TIN FOIL because it sounded like I was sending him on a full blown shopping trip. When he turns up at the house shortly after with kitchen roll he reports - with no prompting of any kind from me - that for some reason he kept thinking the text message had said tin foil.... A second occurrence in two days of someone seemingly picking up words from my mind. An experience I've not had before or since. But it soon dawned on me both incidents had one thing in common....

In both cases I intended to say the thing, but abandoned sending it. I intended to write mulato...but then didn't. I intended to ask for tin foil..but then didn't. I started the process in writing then cancelled.

Intent seems to be the key. Perhaps specifically unfulfilled intent.
If so, it occurred to me, it presents an almighty problem....by its nature it makes it impossible to manipulate or provoke at will. If I were to start to write to someone then not send it, in order to see if it provoked a telepathic communication, then I clearly by definition did not really intend to send the message at all! You cannot plan unfulfilled intent! The advanced decision to abandon it means you never sincerely intended to send the message n the first place. So I may have finally understood how it happens, but can never intentionally make it happen... This would also account, perhaps, for the huge qualitative difference between "psi" as experienced in real life, and that detected, if at all, in the lab.

These, at least, were my conclusions until yesterday, when I gave it some more thought. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the "failure to send" aspect.
In both real life and experimental examples of the "knowing who was ringing before you picked up the phone" phenomenon, one is presumably detecting the intent of the caller to call, even though they go ahead - no failure to follow through was necessary for "psi" to - apparently - occur.

On closer consideration, of the two elements - intention to send and not going through with it - its reasonable to assume the intention is enough to trigger the "telepathy", and the unfulfilled aspect was merely the cause for the "telepathy" to be noticed. If I had sent my email with the word mulato in it, my correspondent would surely have taken any desire on his own part to employ the word as inspired by my message - even if it had entered his mind by other means simultaneously. It wouldn't be questioned and neither of us would ever be aware anything unusual had just happened..even if it had. If I kept the request for tinfoil then the text my brother received would have read precisely as his brain was telling him it did, and he'd never have been perplexed or drawn my attention to it. He would appear to have received the information by reading alone....even if he was also receiving it by other means at the same time.

And perhaps, just perhaps, that's what does happen, all fo the time...we recieve information by our ordinary senses and by direct mind to mind communication at the same time...only when there is a failure or delay in the first part does the second part become apparent and startle us when we notice.

Pardon the pun but....thoughts?

And how might an experiment be set up to test this?
 
Yes - I've experienced telepathy too (I transmit, but AFAIK I do not receive) on a number of occasions.
As with you, it has happened when I've been about to say something, but stopped myself voicing it out loud. It's as if the intention to say rather than the act of saying is more important.
 
OK...

(1) When I was in my early 20s both my older sister and myself were still living at home. From time to time, as was her habit when she was bored, my sister would come into my room and try to goad me into a fight.
On one such occasion, she came in and did the usual annoying stuff.
I thought in my mind 'get out of my room, you bitch' - but stopped myself from voicing it, as we don't use that kind of language in my family and my parents were within earshot.
My sister stepped back, shocked, and shouted to my parents 'did you hear what he said? He swore at me!'.
Both my parents answered back that they didn't hear me say anything.
I said 'what are you talking about? I didn't say anything!' and my sister stomped off, confused and angry.
I was left with the thought that something unusual had happened.

(2) I was at work, chatting to the girl at the reception desk and the marketing manager. As we were talking, the marketing manager got her coat and keys and starting walking out of the office (with a slightly guilty look, as if she was sneaking off somewhere she shouldn't).
I thought in my head 'where are you sneaking off to, this time of day?' but didn't say a thing out loud.
Straight away, she snapped back, 'none of your business to ask where I'm going, I have somewhere to be!'.
I shrugged my shoulders and replied 'I didn't say a thing'. Then I turned to the receptionist and said 'did I say anything?' - to which she replied with a laugh 'no, what are you talking about?'.
The marketing manager huffed and walked out of the doorway, clearly a bit indignant that she'd somehow been rumbled and then outwitted.
After she'd gone, I looked at the receptionist and said 'that was weird'.

(3) On an occasion when I went out for a meal with my best friend (who is female), we were walking along the road somewhere. We came to a gap in the conversation while we were admiring the scenery, and (I don't know why) but I started thinking about how good a friend she was and whether I'd fight to save her if something bad happened. In other words, how much did I love her - would I die for her? I reached the point where I thought maybe I would.
I said none of this out loud.
The next thing I know is that she's saying she liked me a lot, but not enough to die for me!
Not only did this come from nowhere, but I was a tad disappointed by her saying out loud that she didn't like me enough to die for me. Pretty deflated, in fact.
We are still good friends to this day, but we've never had a relationship.
Somehow (it seems) she'd picked up my thoughts and responded to them as if I had said them out loud.


Also...on lots of occasions, I have been thinking of someone and sometime later they call me, completely out of the blue.
 
Have just found this fascinating thread from a few years ago - can i bump it up? Does anyone else have any experiences like this?
 
When I m with any of my daughters they will often answer something I've just thought but not said. Sometimes a thought will pop into my head about a relative or friend and shortly they will either ring or come to visit.
 
When my son was very small (under school age) he would pick up my thoughts regarding outings and activities, even when I most certainly didn't want him to! I had to deliberately STOP thinking whatever nice idea had come into my head ( as in "We might go to the park later today if there's time") to avoid being nagged non stop. I was bringing him up on my own, just the two of us, so it was a very close relationship. I still have occasional telepathic links with both my children.
 
I'm not really comparing your son to a dog, Recycled, but this does remind me of how some pet pooches can "know" if you want to take them for a walk, more than simply understanding you saying the word "walk", that is. Could it be some incredibly subtle signals you give off in your body language that are picked up in advance of actually speaking your thoughts? The equivalent of a spring in your step when you have a bright idea? I know mentalists are able to pick up on small behaviours and make it look like they're reading your mind.
 
I'm not really comparing your son to a dog, Recycled, but this does remind me of how some pet pooches can "know" if you want to take them for a walk, more than simply understanding you saying the word "walk", that is. Could it be some incredibly subtle signals you give off in your body language that are picked up in advance of actually speaking your thoughts? The equivalent of a spring in your step when you have a bright idea? I know mentalists are able to pick up on small behaviours and make it look like they're reading your mind.

What you are referring to is the "Clever Hans" effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans

It is known in psychology. I can read other drivers' micro-tells about what they are going to do next in their car, and everyone can read other people due to the effect of mirror neurons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron.

This isn't dismissing psi though, I suspect humans have an undiscovered capacity in this area too. I actually hope that some day we can use science to tap into Psi.
 
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How would you be able to tell the difference between the micro-tells and actual psychic powers, though? Wouldn't the former, being proven, dismiss the latter, which takes more of a leap of science to explain?
 
Removing the line of sight might be a start.

Yes, that would make a good start. You also need to remove any face to face interactions by an examiner. The gold standard would be a robot voice in headphones in an otherwise empty room, as even vocal inflection can serve as a give-away.
 
I suppose the ultimate test would to see if a human could detect when someone they love is on their way home without communicating with them, like dogs apparently can. Though even that is disputed.

Unless the dogs are psychically making their unaware masters and mistresses hurry home, and that's why they know?
 
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