Scientific Research into Telepathy

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Great thanks to Paul P, who posted the link to biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake's Google Talk in the comment thread to another article.

 

morphic fieldSheldrake has been conducting research into the hypothesis that our minds extend beyond our skulls, the way a magnetic field extends beyond a magnet, or a gravitational field extends beyond the planet. 

 

Ninety percent of the population have experienced the feeling that someone's looking at them, turned around, and someone is. 

 

Sheldrake relates how a security guard told him he'd been instructed by an FBI trainer to stare at people through the monitors of his bank closed circuit cameras, if he saw them doing something they shouldn't. They usually stop. He does this almost every day, and said this is widely known in the security industry. Taken for granted, even.

 

Detectives know not to look at someone they're shadowing directly, or they'll turn around. 

 

British secret service operatives are trained not to stare at someone they're about to stab in the back, for the same reason.

 

There's very little scientific research into these phenomena, even though they're widely experienced. 

 

Wildlife photographers and hunters have reported that animals often know when they're being looked at. 

 

Jim Corbett, a famous tiger hunter in India during the British raj, wrote of having his life saved multiple times by the sensation of hairs standing up on the back of his neck alerting him to the presence of an unseen tiger. 

 

Any prey animal who was sensitive to these feelings would have a strong adaptive advantage. They'd escape more often. 

 

Sheldrake believes this phenomenon isn't supernatural, it's natural. We don't possess this sense because we're more evolved than animals, but precisely because we are animals. 

 

Any cat owner will tell you their cat just knows when it's time go to the vet, and disappears. Sheldrake phoned 65 vet clinics in London and asked if they ever had trouble with cat owners missing appointments. Sixty-four said "all the time," and the sixty-fifth said this was such a problem that they'd stopped making appointments for cats altogether. 

 

dog looking out the window for his owner to returnDogs often know when their owners are coming home, even when they return at different times. Sheldrake set up experiments in which dog owners would be given a randomized signal by pager, when they were at least five miles away. They'd travel home by transit or taxi, so there was no chance the dog was hearing a familiar car engine. The area near the front window was filmed throughout the day with a time-coded camera. Fifty percent of dogs would come and wait at the door when their owners were on their way. The most sensitive would even wait by the window when their owners had simply decided to come home. 

 

Sheldrake had a skeptical colleague repeat the experiment, who came up with the same results. 

 

There's a great deal more to this Google Talk - the telepathic bond between mothers and their babies, studies looking into people thinking about someone seemingly out of nowhere, and then suddenly having that person phone, or email, the reaction speed of flocks of birds and schools of fish - and I highly recommend watching it. 

 

Sheldrake details some of his work on this field on his website and in his various books, such as The Sense of Being Stared At and Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals: An Investigation. Divergences from our standard understanding of science should indeed be approached with an open mind and a critical sense of discernment. I'm looking forward to reading more about his research and ideas. 


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8 comments

  • Comment Link Kathryn Ehnebuske Friday, 17 August 2012 01:42 posted by Kathryn Ehnebuske

    In our family this phenomenon is so prevalent that when we simultaneously come up with the same idea at the same moment, the next part is to figure out whose idea it is and who just picked it up. The cat knows when you even think about flea medicine or the vet. It's great that Rupert Sheldrake is actually researching this.

  • Comment Link adam vazey Monday, 04 February 2013 11:39 posted by adam vazey

    hi i think i am telepathic i can talk to ppl with my mind and they respond i have talked to my girlfriend about it and she says she can hear me feel what i feel

    if u can help it would be great if not all good

    i am 26 yrs old it has been happening about 2 months now i have gotten better at it when it started i couldnt stop thoughts coming out of my head now i can open it when i want and talk to a crowd if i want

  • Comment Link adam vazey Monday, 04 February 2013 11:42 posted by adam vazey

    oh crap my email is vazey86@gmail.com

  • Comment Link TJ Dawe Tuesday, 05 February 2013 02:42 posted by TJ Dawe

    Adam - you could try emailing Rupert Sheldrake: p.e.smart@btinternet.com I'm sure he'd be very interested in someone who could display these abilities at will.

    Or you could go to the other side of the issue and contact Michael Shermer of the skeptics' society: mshermer@skeptic.com He'd be skeptical, but if you could prove it to him, man you might change the world.

  • Comment Link DAwn Tuesday, 05 February 2013 15:56 posted by DAwn

    Has anyone had the experience of looking for something the conventional way, just checking in different places (say, an object you haven't seen in a long time)and then sort of figuratively stepping back from the search and letting the objects location come to you - sort of a human GPS? I have even been able to do it with objects that I was not the last to be in possesion of, thereby not having some latent knowledge of. It works best if I don't give much thought to the process of it - although after it always makes me laugh a little to realize how little we employ our animal sense.

  • Comment Link Colette St.Clair Thursday, 14 February 2013 07:09 posted by Colette St.Clair

    Animals, especially indoor pets are extremely telepathic. They not only read our minds but pick up on our emotional and physical energies as well. It's important for people to know this because our state of being directly affects that of the animals in our lives, not only on the level of their behavior but their health and well-being in general. Nutrition and environmental stressors playing a large role, there is nevertheless a correlation to be made between human health and pet health, both of which show consistent rise in illness. People who live consciously, who have healthy life styles and practice prayer and meditation, tend to have pets that live longer healthier and happier lives. That’s a topic for scientific study that would truly help both races. I love the work that Dr. Sheldrake is doing and I hope that someday he'll consider using the services of a professional telepathic communicator in order to gain a deeper insight into animal or human telepathy.

  • Comment Link Colette St.Clair Thursday, 14 February 2013 07:28 posted by Colette St.Clair

    Telepathy between humans is real and more prevalent than people recognize.
    I practice it professionally to help people, especially those whose health compromises their ability to communicate. What I’d like to suggest to Adam and anyone interested in developing this skill, is to seek professional teaching and guidance to learn discernment not only for accuracy but especially for self-preservation. In the unseen realms, there are imposters who prey on those who lack training and toy with them, sometimes driving them to mental illness. I’ve seen that happen.
    Telepathy is a gift to be used for the greater good and must be used with care.

  • Comment Link TJ Dawe Thursday, 14 February 2013 18:41 posted by TJ Dawe

    Colette - thanks for these comments. Your observations about animals picking up our emotional energies is very consistent with some of Dr. Gabor Mate's writings about the importance of emotional attunement in early childhood. 90% of our brain development happens between birth and our third birthday, and it's completely influenced by the emotional atmosphere of the household, of the family. In infancy, we swim in the emotional soup of our parents. This applies to pets as well.

    And I'd agree - pet owners who take care of their own emotional and psychological health will have healthier pets. A great deal of pet ownership partially, if not largely, assuages the owner's unmet needs, for physical contact, and unconditional love. Given how atomized and fragmented our society is, I can see how this would be an instinctive strategy to deal with this.

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