Why can't you immediately believe in esp or in psychic abilities?

Question

Why can't you immediately believe in esp or in psychic abilities?

Answer 1

If you can immediately provide valid evidence which I can immediately evaluate, then I may immediately believe in at least a tentative claim to esp or psychic abilities. As it stands, valid compelling evidence is still not available and it's been decades.

Answer 2

We don't believe because we have free will which allows us to doubt freely.  People want 'scientific' proof that is repeatable.  In most cases what is experienced as esp comes in a natural setting where one 'knows' something of use to their life at the moment.  Those having felt a gift of esp experience suggest it may well not be intended to be given on command in a lab experiment.   If such phenomenon were observed in many labs, with totally consistent results, of course more would believe.

Answer 3

In fairness I think most people don't immediately believe because it defies their understanding of what they were taught in basic science classes.

Also, in science providing evidence for claims is important.

This has been done with ESP and psychic abilities like Remote Viewing and people still refuse to believe because it defies their belief system.

This is a well known and understood psychological phenomena called the "rational man mistake" where one would think that evidence would cause a person to change their belief system but in reality it causes a person to dig in and defend their beliefs even more intensely.

Of course others say things like "I don't believe anything I don't see with my own eyes" and yet have never been in space and accept the Earth is round.

Some people believe in their experiences while others seek to explain away at all costs experiences that contradict their beliefs.

Here is some of the evidence to demonstrate the point.

"Rosenthal, after considering the possible influence of various flaws upon study outcome, concluded that the overall hit rate of the studies could be estimated to be 33 percent, whereas chance expectancy was 25 percent."

(link below)

"Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies examined are far beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. Effects of similar magnitude to those found in government-sponsored research at SRI and SAIC have been replicated at a number of laboratories across the world. Such consistency cannot be readily explained by claims of flaws or fraud."

(link below)

Psi

Answer 4

Because there must be repeated results and moreover occult knowledge even on scientific basis can accept or not the esp bearers.

Answer 5

I believe in them because i have abilities, but whenever i try to tell somebody about them, they look at me like I'm crazy! Yet, they believe that some invisible guy lives in the sky and sees and knows everything you think do or say. Go figure!

Answer 6

Hello

Who says that you can't?

A struggle to believe anything comes from the subconscious minds preprogramming, so anything is possible, but the mind has to be retaught first that it can be a possibility.

Pam

join ~ Practice Tarot. Psychic Development.

Clairvoyancy. Hypnotherapy. Meditation.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/holisticpa...

All Like Minded Folk Welcome

Answer 7

I can and I do believe that we have psychic abilities that are difficult or impossible to measure scientifically.

It's sad that some people limit themselves to ideas and facts that can be proven without a doubt scientifically. That's scientific reductionism. It's also boring.

Answer 8

chibi..I was brought up in a Catholic school. We DID automatically believe in these things..although we didn't call them "paranormal"...they were the "normal " things that "saints" could do. There are lots of things like this in the Bible...so we were used to hearing about these things. I'm not sure about "hauntings"...but people DID appear to people after they died and there were near death experiences (like St. Augustine's). To us...we knew these things wouldn't happen to us ..because we thought they only happened to "holy" people.  If I stopped believing in them...it was because nothing ever happened to me. I remember when I took my son to CCD (Catholic Sunday School) I told them not to teach him about miracles etc...because I knew they weren't true..because they never happened to me. (no matter how many times I had cried out to God for some sign or proof or answer)

And then something DID happen to me years later..and I believed again!

PS...Maybe spirits are stubborn. Maybe they don't come "on demand"...Maybe that's why they 'll NEVER "perform" for Randi.(If they feel the mediums need a million dollars..I'm sure they (the spirits) could give them winning lottery numbers..or even have someone walk up and hand them a certified check for a million dollars. I don't believe they think Randi is their only means of getting money.)

Answer 9

Because there is no evidence that these abilities exist.

And when I say "evidence", I mean something that stands up to close scrutiny, and can be replicated in subsequent tests, the way all scientific evidence must.

Answer 10

Well, there you go - at least 5 people already have claimed to have or have witnessed this ability in someone.  But no one EVER has been able to do this under controlled conditions - that means, when they couldn't be cheating.  People believe in things like this because they don't understand how to test these things to see if they actually exist.  When you test it, it turns out not to work.  Every time, ever.

Answer 11

Who is 'you' and why not believe in them later? Or maybe you once believed in them and now you unbelieve. I seem to recall a guy who could bend spoons with his bare mind. Never underestimate the power of suggestion. Have a freind go through a deck of playing cards and not show them to you, but try to project into your mind which ones they are looking at. Besides everyone knows that Betazoids can read your mind.

Answer 12

I couldn't immediately believe in ESP because it didn't make sense or seem probable. It looked like a make believe or even scam subject. Then I had just one real ESP phenomenon happen to me, and I had to rethink the whole thing. In my case it certainly isn't a common occurrence, and proving it under laboratory conditions would be a long wait that could end in disappointment. It's strange how an experience lasting less than a minute changes everything. I would like to be able to cause this to happen to a few skeptics, and who knows? Maybe their minute of amazement will come. Don't sell this universe short, and don't overrate human understanding. There are some very real mysteries we don't have the answers to. If someone doesn't believe, great! Whatever gets you through the night.

Answer 13

most people think esp is just a quirk, or dont believe in it. but its real. and a gift  i believe that these gifts are given to us.

Answer 14

hey, i believe in ESP and psychic abilities.

i mean, i have identical twin friends and they are creepy when they use their ESP and such.

and even in non-twins, i still believe that regular ppl can use ESP..........

Answer 15

These are not things that we are taught to believe in our schools or churches.   So the tendency is not to believe and to rationalize away strange happenings for which there is no good explanation

Answer 16

One problem with these claims is that many fail to understand the nature of the burden of proof. There are those who assert that the real burden lies with skeptics who are obligated to prove that they do not or cannot exist. This, however, is backwards.

It is the claimant who has the burden of proof — the person who asserts that certain psychic phenomena are real is the one who should be presenting the primary evidence and arguments in support of what they allege. If they do not, then there is no rational reason to believe them.

Answer 17

The same reason I can't immediately believe in the Easter bunny