16.TELEPATHY
************

There are two predominant factors in all forms of psychic science. One is “clairvoyance,” the ability to view the distant of unseen; the other is “precognition,” an awareness of the future. How consistently and how accurately these faculties can be demonstrated, has long been a matter of contention; but many skeptics who doubted the methods used in certain psychic sciences have been impressed by the results.

By that token, the correct reading of a horoscope, the interpretation of the lines of the palm, or the recognition of moods through facial expressions, could be due to clairvoyance or precognition on the part of a “gifted” demonstrator. The skeptics, having gone that far, tried to find a physical rather than a psychical explanation for such phenomena.

They decided that in a majority of cases, a clairvoyant gained thought impressions that were already in another person’s mind while a prophet frequently voiced someone’s unspoken hope or wish. Supporting this were many instances where a person had received a mental “Flash” from a distant friend. This was classed by Mark Twain and others as “mental telegraphy,” and students of the subject finally bundled it with other similar phenomena under the head of “TELEPATHY.”

Simply defined, telepathy is the “transmission of thought independently of the recognized channels of sense.” As such, it was studied and tested for many years, but no one was able to isolate it as a distinctive function. On the one hand, it seemed to be a “booster” to the faculty of clairvoyance; on the other, some supposedly telepathic results could be charged to “HYPERESTHESIA,” a straining or intensification of the normal senses, which through their concentration produced apparently supernormal results.

Thus the psychical and physical schools drew farther apart, until the subject of parapsychology was developed at Duke University during the 1930’s. There, telepathy was treated simply as one phase of Extrasensory perception, popularly known as ESP, which has long been under widespread survey and study. But it still stems from the telepathic tests of the previous century, which were highly convincing because they could be worked or demonstrated to some degree by almost anyone.

Indeed, many of the most Skillful operators in this field began as their skeptics or doubters, who were simply trying it out, like a game. When they found how well it worked and that their aptitude developed as they repeated the tests, they kept on until their ability became phenomenal. What was more, they were able to teach others the art of “MENTATALISM,” a word coined to include such tests.

One simple way to appreciate all this is to try it yourself. Some people are naturally good “demonstrators” who can pick up impressions intuitively. Others are excellent “subjects” who can subconsciously guide or assist in carrying a test to its climax. A combination of the two may bring about results that are almost uncanny. Like radiesthesia, telepathy is a highly demonstrable form of psychic science, suited to one and all.