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2/29/08

reasonablerobinson

You know, I knew you were going ask that!

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2/29/08

TheBloggerExposed

I know you did!
2/29/08

kdawg68

And I knew that you knew that he knew!

2/29/08

TheBloggerExposed

I am not saying I believe in magic, like some seem to be suggesting. I am very skeptical of people who claim special abilities and perceptions. But it's a fact that we humans posses intuition, some more than others. So, the question is, what are intuition's boundaries? Like kdawg said, some people just have a "connection" that doesn't have a logical explanation. And lots of people, it seems, can 'sense' when something is not right before knowing that anything is, in fact, wrong.

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2/29/08

voodooKobra

It's certainly possible that our nerves can detect subtle changes in magnetic fields caused by, you guessed it, other people that we don't necessarily see (Not ghosts; just people who might be stalking us with or without a malicious intent). I'll give you a definitive answer when I find a reliable source on this subject.

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3/01/08

LeisaWatkins

I have begun to believe it is the ability to sense energy. The energy of thought, the energy of emotions,the energy of intent.

To me it isn't the ability to read minds, but the ability to read the energy that is projected by an event, a series of events, a thought, or an emotion.
3/01/08

MadameX

That's always been my belief, Leisa, and I think that all human beings have that capacity.

2/29/08

phoenix007

Certainly! You know we only use about 10% of our brain. Other possibilities can stem from the other 90%.

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2/29/08

kdawg68

That's actually a myth.

www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percent.asp
2/29/08

phoenix007

I stand corrected. But I do think we do have some sort of intuitiveness that allows us to "pick up" the radiating "energy" of another person.

2/29/08

acousticguitarist

and many more that haven't even been considered

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2/29/08

oims

Reading down through your stories and insights and thoughts and (slams? LOL) I thought of all the numerous times from my childhood and into adulthood I've experienced the unexplainable.

Your story of being robbed, got one of my own but not now, made me recall when my son was little (around 2) and we were about to get on a plane in El Paso (of all places, headed out I might add lol).

He was always, and still is, a very sweet kid, not the little terrors you see running amok. He was so upset, kicking and screaming and frankly I was terrified. (The plane had been held up due to "repairs.) We got on anyway, and almost in resignation he fell asleep - wham! I swear the power of prayer or whatever you want to call it held that plane in the air all the way back to San Diego.

Did he know something, and then realize all would be well?? It still gives me the willies thinking about it.

Thanks! Really enjoyed myself! (Couldn't figure out how to comment on the blog itself though... sure it's me).

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2/29/08

mrjavo

I believe in a sixth sense, I have premonitions when something bad is going to happen....I guess this is a extra sensory perception.

Mr. Javo ~ mrjavo.com/

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2/29/08

mawbooks

Wow, what timing! My sister is blogging about this very thing right now. She has sixth sense and shares her experiences here: blog.leisawatkins.com/my-lifes-story-part-1-my-highly-tuned-perception/

This is worth the read, trust me!

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3/01/08

nplbjirel

Is Leisa your sister? I have read first part of her life story and was very interested to read more about sixth sense in her but was not able to do so. But, I will read remaining soon.
3/01/08

mawbooks

Yep! My big sister. What trouble are you having? I'm sure she'll want to know!
3/01/08

LeisaWatkins

Ironic, I just "sensed" someone was talking about me. Just kidding, me stats showed someone here at blog catalog had mentioned me.

3/01/08

dreesyach

Yep, I do believe. One my friend here in BC is a psychic.

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3/01/08

genopianist54

oooh.. here you are, that's why i couldn't sleep... you call?
3/01/08

GratciaNulis

Huh? Are you guys talking abt me behind my back??? again??? *paranoid.com*

3/01/08

friedclyde

i truly belive that we all have capabilities of doing much more. Except that we do not try to hard, we are so conditioned that this is it that we do not try going beyond where we are as a race.

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3/01/08

samfreedom

It's not a matter of belief. One either knows or he doesn't. Those who don't know also don't know how to receive proof. It's assumed that it should just be for the asking and, understandably, there's mistrust of anyone who says you need to do A, B and C in order to verify, in yourself, that such a sense exists.

If you want, privately, I will explain some things to you... even show you a diagram that will help you understand where the extra senses exist and how they are developed but, and I say this with all sincerity, I don't have time for garden variety suspicion. I don't demand blind belief but I do demand respect. The alternative is to continue asking people, who don't know, what they believe.

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3/02/08

TheBloggerExposed

Well, I'm not asking to validate my experiences. I'm asking, really for two reasons.

1. I'm curious to know how others in this community regard this phenomenon, and
2. To hear of others' experiences, if they've had any.

I would love to hear what you have to say about this. Have you read my post? It details some of the the things that have happened to me, although there have naturally been others.

Thanks!
3/02/08

samfreedom

@BE - I realize you're curious about how others regard this phenomenon or what experiences they might have had but towards what end? Is it only to satisfy curiosity or are you interested in finding out if higher functions really do exist and what they are intended for...?
3/03/08

TheBloggerExposed

Along with the fact that I enjoy engaging in exchanges with others, I also strive to learn more about the world, which would include learning about other people's experiences. I don't expect to "find the answer" to an intangible question based on opinions submitted in an online discussion forum. Whether 1,000 people replied having had unusual perceptions, or no one did, that wouldn't change the reality of whether or not higher functions exist.

I would be most open to a thought-out explanation regarding the topic.

3/01/08

sophielc

I believe in it; when you think of all the dreams you have, the deja vus, telepathy, etc., I think that our sixth sense has something to do with our subconscious. We all have it in more or less developped ways and the people who don't believe we have it just have a less developped one (or 10, or 20!).
I would love to know more about it and also learn how to develop mine (or mines).

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3/01/08

beinki

I think we all have it to some degree or another

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3/01/08

LeisaWatkins

I agree. I also believe that we can develop it and make it stronger.

3/01/08

To all those who said yes, let me remind you that James Randy still holds on to his one million dollar check... www.randi.org/research/index.html

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3/01/08

samfreedom

Has it occurred to you that anyone who really has such a developed ability might not be interested in satisfying a quest for power or glory (or belonging or sex, for that matter)?
3/01/08

LeisaWatkins

Interesting. There is a difference between the sixth sense and "mind reading." It is a sense. Some people can see better than others. Some can smell better than others. Some people can sense energy better than others.

I have experienced it many times but I don't know everything that is going to happen. Boy, could you imagine the advantage someone could have if they could pass such a test.
3/01/08

MadameX

I would even suspect, Sam, that it's possible that the kind of thinking that would drive one to cultivate such a "skill" for profit might well preclude its effective development.
3/01/08

urikalish

"Has it occurred to you that anyone who really has such a developed ability might not be interested in satisfying a quest for power or glory"

some - maybe; all of them - unlikely.
3/02/08

samfreedom

"some - maybe; all of them - unlikely."

It was rhetorical - and a yes/no question at that.
3/10/08

JessicaBurde

Leaving aside the question of glory hounds, anyone who passed his test would spend the rest of their life as a guinea pig while the scientists tried to figure out how he or she did it. No thank you!
3/11/08

flamingpoodle

Actually all the psychics I've met are on a quest to maintain a lifestyle beyond their means. With your money.

3/01/08

suburbqueen

I believe some people possess a sick sense and it's apparent every time I watch the news.

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3/01/08

aningeniousname

I think women have a sixth sense because they an always tell when you've been in the pub on the way home.

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3/01/08

suburbqueen

No...they have a good nose and can smell the booze on your breath...
3/01/08

aningeniousname

Oh that must be it then. Thank god for that it was creeping me out.
3/01/08

TamahomeNoMiko

LOL !!!!! you're a funny one ^^

3/01/08

ThriftShopRomantic

No, I believe though that people, judging via their various past experiences, can perceive subtle clues that may make it seem like a sixth sense. When really it's practical experience, sound guesswork and some general coincidence. There's much information the brain takes in and evaluates, and we don't even realize we're doing it.

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3/01/08

aningeniousname

Your right sometimes I get the feeling like I'm going to fart and then seconds later I do!!
3/01/08

ThriftShopRomantic

Heh... glad to see that's working out for ya.
3/01/08

samfreedom

@aningeniousname - she said "subtle" clues...
3/01/08

aningeniousname

Well sometimes I do squeeze out a "subtle" one.
3/01/08

LeisaWatkins

Some things go past perception of subtle clues and coincidence.

3/01/08

Yes I do. I've experienced it many, many times in my life. Natasha (mawbooks) already included a link to a recent article I wrote on my blog about some of my experiences.

For me, it isn't a belief. It's knowledge.

I can say that I understand the doubt. Unless you've experienced it can be hard to understand.

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3/01/08

TamahomeNoMiko

yeah they do ^_^

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3/01/08

genopianist54

Yes, i believe humans posses 6th sense. I've visited your blog and totally agree with you...

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3/01/08

I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 1000.
All you believers, take your shot.

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3/01/08

LeisaWatkins

Typical response. It doesn't work that way. We aren't talking about mind reading. There is a difference.
3/01/08

urikalish

Then educate me, how does "it" work?

3/01/08

urikalish

I can't explain how it works exactly. I know that scientists are learning things like thoughts travel and thoughts create an energy field.

All I know is that when I was a child I could tell you the phone was going to ring before it rang. I could make predictions with greater results than were outside the law of averages.

For example, we were to have a deck of cards with various shapes on them and ask someone to predict which shape was on the card the average person will get some right. I got almost twice as many cards correct as the average person does. Did I get them all right? For from it.

I know that things such a fatigue and stress affect the ability to pick-up on energy signals. I know that I can predict things far less when I am stressed and have much going on in my life. When I was a child it was easy.

So to be honest, I have no idea how it works. All I can say is what my experience has been. If you experienced what I have experienced you would believe. I don't have a desire to prove it you and anyone else. In fact, for most of my life I haven't told people and I wished it would go away.

I'm like a radio receiver who picks up on a signal. The receiver doesn't have to know where the signal came from. It doesn't know the science behind how it works. Yet, it can still pick-up signals. Like that radio receiver I can't be tuned into every radio station at the same time. If the signal is week I may not pick it up. If my batteries are dead I won't pick-up anything.

I loved your article "Failing for 130,000 Days Doesn’t Mean You Shouldn’t Try Again." Me personally, I can't prove it. But someday perhaps someone well. It may take them 130,000 Days, maybe longer.Maybe they never well. But I believe because of my experiences.

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3/01/08

Leisa,
Thanks for the detailed response!
I really do hope one day science will prove me wrong, and your claims to be correct, since I think it's a shame many of us (myself included) lose our belief in the super-natural, magic and mystery as we grow up.
I guess all I got left now is the double-slit experiment...

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3/01/08

aningeniousname

Is the double slit experiment as dirty as it sounds?
3/01/08

LeisaWatkins

Your welcome. Thanks for keeping an open mind. As adults we really do become so much more skeptical. Rightly so in most cases. I do think that someday science will shed some light on the phenomenon. They are making amazing discoveries all the time. At least I can hope that some day there will be a scientific explanation on my experiences.

Leisa - (who should have edited her last post to fix the wrong words while she had a chance)
3/11/08

flamingpoodle

Double slit experiment?
Is that as dirty as it sounds?

I'm sorry but my sick sense gets nothing.

3/01/08

DrowseyMonkey

I knew you were going to ask that question (did someone say that already?) Anyway, yes I do...most of us have experienced a gut feeling, I'm sure there's a scientific explanation for it.

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3/01/08

BlogBadly

A "sixth sense" would probably stem from a combination of learning from past experiences, environmental circumstances, and cultural influences.

For example, if you're walking down a dark alley you'll probably be more wary of people staring at you due to the fact that these are stereotypical places for mugging. This suspicion would be increased if you had been mugged before. You would be more paranoid in such situations.

I'm doubtful that there's a sixth sense in the sense that people can predict things before they happen. If science proves me wrong, then so be it, but until then it's all probabibility.

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3/01/08

I believe in Intuition!

Now...what intuition is...IDK for sure.

But I do belive that people can tap in to it.

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3/01/08

Perhaps we should establish just what kind of phenomena would be considered intuition and just a heightened awareness of one's surroundings.

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3/01/08

gosmelltheflowers

Yes - I believe it to be more of an animalistic heightened sense and/or awareness.

Intuition is not mind reading.

I think we can all agree on that point.

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3/02/08

LeisaWatkins

Totally agree.

3/01/08

I guess you would have to ask yourself...

Is intuition the same thing as sixth sense and...

Is mind reading considered a sixth sense, or is that something completely different?

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3/01/08

Dukepro25

Personally, I think predicting the futures is something completely different.
3/02/08

LeisaWatkins

I don't believe that mind reading is the same as sixth sense. It isn't named a "sense" randomly. My experience is that is experienced much like hearing, seeing, touching, etc. Mind reading for me would be a different experience.

But then on the other hand it may be somewhat. After this discussion yesterday I decided to pay more attention to what was going on when I experienced things.

Yesterday, I was walking through the video store and suddenly the words "my head really itches." And then I remember thinking. It doesn't itch.

Then I turned and saw a lady itching her head like crazy. Her head was really bothering her. So then I thought, "Hum, maybe that was her thoughts I was picking up."

Who knows - maybe it was. Maybe not. But anyway, I thought it was interesting.

I've never considered them the same thing.

3/01/08

2sweetnsaxy

Absolutely. I just don't think it's as mystical and magical as people make it out to be. It's kind of eerie and a little scary because it's not common among people but I think if we were all more centered, less selfish and more in tune with everything around us we might be surprised at how much of that "sixth sense" might actually come into play.

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3/02/08

LeisaWatkins

Totally agree. I've met several other people who have had the same type of experiences.

I believe it more common than people think because we don't usually openly discuss it. Basically I believe it is out of fear of not being believed or ridiculed.

3/01/08

Intuition and the paranormal are two completely different subjects.

Maybe intuition, mind reading, and the paranormal are in the same family, but I don't think they're one in the same.

I think it's just tapping in to your higher self.

I do believe you have to be in tune!

It's not something that comes up to you and slaps you in the face.

Like any athlete or musician, it's a skill you have to fine tune.

And like any talent, I think there are those that are more naturally gifted than others.

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3/02/08

LeisaWatkins

Agree. Agree. Agree. Well put.
3/02/08

TheBloggerExposed

I agree with this as well. I have said similar things about how it must first be recognized, but also respected and then honed.
3/06/08

TamahomeNoMiko

Agree with you mate !

3/02/08

scifidriver

If you read about the lives of the saints they have powers or talents that normal human beings don't, in their case its God given.

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3/02/08

LeisaWatkins

I think that this is a gift from God just as sight is etc. I figure there must be a reason why I experience what I do. And that it is my responsibility to help others through it somehow.

But I totally agree there is a difference between divine prophecy and extra sensory perception. Some people believe that there isn't. But I don't think that the Holy Spirit needs to go around telling people the phone is going to ring. That isn't prophecy to me. It's simply picking-up the energy coming through the phone line before the ringer does.

3/02/08

For 6th sense see gut feel, see instinct!

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3/04/08

bobonism

It is difficult to verify the Sixth sense, because it is not predictable. Just A sense, not a power.

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3/05/08

deborah3756

Well... we ,as humans, only use a small portion of our brain. That tells me that yes, we have capabilities we know nothing about.

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3/05/08

urikalish

Actually, I think it's only a myth
www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percent.asp

3/05/08

kevingoodman

I believe some people are astutely observant, natural readers of body language, and highly analytical at a subconscious level.

So mostly no - unless subconscious reasoning is considered a sixth sense.

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3/05/08

kevingoodman

Though there is something witchy about the bloggerexposed. I suppose there are exceptions.
3/10/08

TheBloggerExposed

Yes, Kevin. I am an exception to most rules
3/11/08

LeisaWatkins

If it is reading body language how would you explain knowing something is going to happen that is hundreds of miles away, with someone you haven't seen in years?
3/11/08

daniel23

Good reply Kevin.

3/06/08

oims

Revisiting and this got me laughing (thanks I needed that!)

"aningeniousname
Oh that must be it then. Thank god for that it was creeping me out."

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3/07/08

globalgirl

Some friends in college and I used to refer this as "knowing". I am now of the mindset that it is intuition, a part of my temperment (Myers-Briggs) and, what I call, a prophetic gift.

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3/10/08

JessicaBurde

My experiences are greatly varying, ranging from basic intuition to what some call magic. Leaving aside to extremely esoteric stuff, most of what is referred to as the sixth sense falls under two basic categoreis, energy sensing and clairvoyance (et al). I believe very strongly in energy sensing, I have been able to 'sense' when a person is ill, my partner frequently can tell if a woman is pregnant before she starts showing, sometimes even before she knows herself. I have a strong empathic sense, and can tell what a person is feeling, both physically and emotionally.

To someone just reading this I am aware that it can sound like things that could simply be the result of good observational skills, and I don't have to details easily describable to make the difference clear.

Clairvoyance is another kettle of fish, and my experience with it and related occurances has been minimal. It is possible that the things I have experienced have been the result of an imagination that coincides with reality (ie giving a relatively vague description (eye/hair/height)of a woman I have never met and her current activities(watching TV) to her roommate). I believe in it because the experience was strong enough for me to accept it as reality; but recognize the possible alternative explanations.

I have no theory on clairvoyance, but energy sensing is actually almost logical when you stop to think about some of the abilities of the animal world. Sharks detect electricity, bird migrate based on magnetic fields, and many animals are capable of detecting an earthquake befor it happens. So why should we not be able to sense something like the electromagnetic field of another human being? It's worth thinking about, at least.

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3/11/08

LeisaWatkins

Well said. There are definite differences. When someone hears about "ESP" it there first inclination is to ask "What am I thinking about?"

As Alison would say on Medium, "It doesn't work like that." Sensing things is not the same as mind reading. It's not the same thing as predicting the future. Although I believe sometimes those who can sense energy fields can experience clairvoyance.

3/10/08

LisaT

I believe it. Ever notice if you stare at a person from very far away (say from the top of a building), 5 times out of 10 the person turns around? I think there's an EVOLUTIONARY BENEFIT to having this ability and evolution would tend to selectively protect this trait.

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3/11/08

LeisaWatkins

I believe that is an example of sensing energy and that some people's energy sense is tuned higher than others, just as some people have the ability to see better than others, or the ability to smell things better than others.
3/11/08

flamingpoodle

This is a difficult claim to evaluate. If you say that 'when I stare at someone, they look back at me', and you claim evolutionary advantage from this, you would have to be able to falsify it. In other words, once there is sufficient evidence to suggest that when you stare at someone, that person would look back, you'd also have to prove that when you don't stare at someone, they don't look back.

This might prove difficult, since while you aren't looking at them, they could be staring at you. Your sixth sense might tell you to look up, but you refuse in order to verify your experiment and mess up theirs.

Just in case it is true that when you stare at someone, they look back, I'm going to wait for people whom I dislike to cross a busy street and stare the back of their heads down until they look back and get hit by a vehicle. Evolution + 1. Kiddie section of the gene pool -1.

Of course if the person I dislike happens to be the driver of a car full of people I dislike, I could stare at the driver until the driver looks back and causes an accident. Evolution +1. Kiddie section of the gene pool -5. Evolution only gains 1 because nature is indifferent.

3/10/08

Keeperottheway79

Actually I think there are ten..

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3/11/08

LeisaWatkins

I'd love to hear about these ten senses. Can you tell us?

3/11/08

Tanya823

I know people joke about this type of stuff all the time, but I totally believe we are capable of using our sixth sense. I would love to develop mine. After all, don't we only use about 10% of the brain? Amazing to think what we don't utilize!

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3/11/08

Cannysquirrel

Hi there

I sure believe in the 6th Sense and ghosts too!
I have had a couple of really odd feelings and almost visions about accidents and deaths, and a couple of days later they have come true.
Doesn't happen often but quite spooky when it does!!!

Canny Squirrel

www.cannysquirrel.com

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3/11/08

daniel23

No I definitely do not.

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3/11/08

JustWright61

I believe so. I do, however, believe that most people think its rubbish and thereby suppress it. For me the real question is this.... Is this sense something that we've always had or is this something that we are becoming?

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3/11/08

daniel23

Now the real question is -- is it just me or are the superstitious people on this thread (and more generally in life) disproportionately female?

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3/16/08

LeisaWatkins

Actually I think it is superstitious to not believe. I don't believe in superstitions like black cats, ladders, the number 13. But I do know what I have experienced is real.

3/11/08

laughoutloudadmin

i don know.. i guess some of us jus watch too many cartoon *spiderman*.. lol.. but who know, there might be exception.. evolution is a powerful thing

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3/14/08

Here comes the wet blanket. Every one of the supposed sixth sense experiences posted here has a natural explanation along the lines of what flamingpoodle has posted. If you suspect that there is a sixth sense, whether we call that energy sensing or clairvoyance then you have to define what this energy is by what mechanism that you/we use to detect said energy.

A poster above wrote about sharks sensing the electricity of other animals in the water and migratory birds using the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Bees do their bee dances as a series of motions that are all related to the position of the sun. That's all well and good for those animals and experiments have born out their mechanisms (the lateral line in sharks for example). But to conclude, even tentatively from these other animals, that we have a sixth sense is really a non sequitur. It simply doesn't follow. That doesn't mean we don't have one, it just means that we don't have any good reasons to believe that humans have another sense.

The experiences attributed above are, it seems to me, forms of wish thinking.

The belief that we "only use 10% of our brains"is a myth. The brain is, in some sense modular with different portions being used for different purposes. The amygdala encodes information with emotional content while the pineal gland regulates sleep (that's where Descartes incidentally thought that our soul was connected to our brains) or the hippocampus which is involved in long term memory and other functions. Given the power of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) we can see that this old wive's tale is a myth.

Given the lack of evidence for a "sixth sense" I remain agnostic on the matter. Lots of people seem to wish it to be true and have been convinced through unverifiable testimonials (such as some on this board... :-)) that we have said sixth sense. If you mean simple intuition or occasional premonitions that randomly accord with coming events then we all possess that sense if you can even really call that a sense and not a malfunction or glitch in your brain. But think how many impressions or premonitions you've had that haven't generated an accurate prediction and you'll realize that you've likely fallen for a confirmation bias on your own part and/or are suffering from selective memory.

Neat thoughts though.

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3/16/08

LeisaWatkins

Forms of wish thinking?

When I as a child did I sit around and wish the phone would ring and it would be for my brother? Did I wish that I would know a child was going to get hit by a car and then have it happen? Far from it.

Was it wishful thinking that allowed me to identify words on a list of paper? I was trying hard to remember words that had been told me. That was my wish. To remember the words she read to me, not to sense the words on the next list.

So no. For most of my life this is something I wished would go away. It's often times not any fun at all.

And selective memory? How do you account for a psychologist seeing it in action when she wasn't expecting it, and at least a half-a-dozen witnesses to events.

No for me it is knowledge, not wishful thinking.

3/14/08

AngieA

"YES", I do believe that some of us do have a sixth sense, but I believe its more of a spiritual awareness of what's around you which means the person that does have this sixth sense is at a higher/different level spiritually.
This is not to say that people who are atheists cannot have this ability, as most atheists experiment or more then likely begin to practice it later in their life's.
My personal opinion is that its due to our destiny.

Kind of like Spirit Or Soul? Which do you have?

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3/15/08

JessicaBurde

Spirit or Soul? Why not both?

The terms seem to be used interchangeably alot. I tend to think of spirit as being the animating life force that tied the soul, body and mind together, and the soul as being the part of a being that is eternal.

(I know it's not directly relevant to the discussion at hand, but hey, spin-offs are fun.)

3/14/08

meander

Is it some sort of a hunch or intuition?

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3/14/08

AngieA

"Intuition" - As intuition = insight, knowledge
Hunch is a lucky guess, if right.

3/14/08

Instinct from the gut - no question!

Intuition is so powerful and often questioned by our rational brain controlled selves.

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3/14/08

Donlewis

There most certainly is a 6th sense and it's quite rare and spotty even in those who occasionally display it. Despite it's rarity, a lot of people seem to believe they possess it, even though frequently the evidence shows just the opposite.

It goes under the name common sense.

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3/14/08

SandyAndrew

Respectfully said:

The ability to comprehend "guidance", "intuition", "sixth sense" or call it what you want is an inherent ability that all human beings posses—whether they choose to utilize the ability or not.

The entire universe consists of energy: all of it.

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3/15/08

PeterEvolves

But is an instinctive reaction to something a sixth sense? Is it required that in order to act on one's instinct that you do so with any information gathered by something other than your five senses? If so, what is the evidence for it?

The entire universe does consist of energy (matter and energy really). So what is the sixth sense? If any of you propose to know what it is that this sense is detecting I'd love to know what the evidence is and what it is detecting and how it is doing so. I'm all ears (or eyes in this case as I'd be reading it.)
3/15/08

JessicaBurde

No an instictive reaction to something is not a sixth sense. An instinctive reaction to something is also not intuition. Instinctive reaction is acting on preprogrammed responses built into us by evolution or the creator, take your pick which.

Inuition is reacting on information that the subconssion has compiled without your conscious mind being aware of it. Intuition is sometimes confused with a true sixth sense partly because the terms used to describe them are so similar ("I just have a feeling.") and partly because those of us who do believe in and use a sixth sense are many times acting on intuition when we use it, ie the information we recieve through the sixth sense is not understood by the conscious mind, and so is processed by the subconscious which then nudges us with an inutition. Of course, we don't consciously process the information our eyes and ears give us, though we are consciously aware of the information. The difference between that and an 'intuitive' awareness of the information our sixth sense gives us is open for debate.

As for what it is the sixth sense detects; we are unfortunately in the position of a 15th century farmer asked about how his sight works. He can't explain what light is, or how his eyes work. But he knows he can see you standing there, clear as day. It's possible that there is a modern day Kepler, running experiments on his farm while the tentants work the farm itself, who is beginning to understand what we currently have no explanation for. Maybe who ever he or she is, she is taking part in this discussion. All I know is, I'm not her, and I can sense my family sitting with me, clear as day.
3/17/08

JessicaBurde

Peter

Briefly tying this into a previpous thread, you referred earlier to reference to sharks and birds perceptions saying that because other animals can do such things doenst' mean we can. You are entirely correct, and that was not my point. My point was that the existence of such abilities in other creatures proves that it is evolutionarily possible for a sense beyond the base five to develop in a species. Whether or not one has developed in humans is still (obviously) open to debate. But the existence of 'sixth senses', of what ever variety, in other species, 1. negates any attempt to claim that such things are simply impossible (they can't be impossible, they've happened, even if not to us); 2. gives us a starting point in understanding how such a sixth sense in humans might work.

Regarding your current comments; believe it or not, for the most part I agree with you. The existence of a sixth sense needs to be conclusively proven and studied to understand it's working and system.

Yes, all the evidence we are giving is anecdotal, but that doesn't negate it. It just means it hasn't been proven, and that those of us giving aren't scientists. To the best of my knowledge, the evidence hasn't been found yet; whether that is because the sixth sense doesn't exist (as you appear to believe) or the right question hasn't been asked yet in forming the experiments (as I believe) can not be determined from the experiments I am aware of. It appears that you have a scientific mind, and if it was geographically feasible, I would invite you to work with me to find out if you can prove to your satisfaction whether or not there is a sixth sense. As it is, since verifiable experiments have not been done, there is nothing we can offer you over the internet that is anything but anecdotal. For the same reason we cannot offer anything other then theories as to how a sixth sense might work. Equally we cannot give you a name (what type of energy?) to something that has not been named and identified. Perhaps the sixth sense is like a birds sense and detects magnetic fields, and the 'aura' is a living creatures effect on the magnetic field. Perhaps there is an unknown form of energy we are detecting (a little over a hundred years ago radioactive energy was unknown, so it isn't beyond belief that there are other things we have failed to discover).

Did people believe in dinosaurs before they were discovered? Actually yes, we generally called them dragons, and Richard Owen didn't discover them. Some chinese peasent thousands of years ago discovered massive fields of there bones and started using them for medicine. Richard Owen was the first to scientifically name and describe them. (well, at least in popular belief. Actually George Mantell was the first to recognize dinosaur bones for what they were, a new type or creature, and Rev. Buckland the first to scientifically describe them; but Owen was better at the politics of the scientific societies of the day, and so gets the credit.) Anecdotal evidence, when enough has been gathered; has some validity. And should be consider to indicate that something is going on. Whether or not that something is a physical reality, or only in the minds of the persons percieving it.

The defining of paramenters for testing a sixth sense is as you note an important first step to making any scientific inquiry into it's existence or lack thereof. Leisa describes knowing the phone is going to ring before it does, to my definitions that falls under the category of precognosis, and is very different from the 'sixth sense' as I use it, which is detecting auras of the people around me. Are these two definitions mutually exclusive? No, but if we define the sixth sense as the ability to detect the aura (energy field) of a human or other living creature, we then must come up with another term or definition for what Leisa describes. And if we define the sixth sense as the ability to detect auras, we must then first describe what an aura is an prove it exists before we can create an experiement to determine if humans can detect one. Some people propose the kirilian auras of photography to be the auras that sensetives detect, I do not have enough knowledge of these things to have a theory one way or the other. If you take the kirilian aura as the aura that sensetives detect, and build an experiment on that assumption, and the experiment fails; did you prove your testees aren't sensetive, or did you prove that humans cannot detect the kirilian aura, leaves the possiblity that there is something else people have been calling 'aura' that is being detected?

Regarding some people experiencing the sixth sense and some not; with the regular five senses, while is unusual situations, a person will be born without or lose one of their senses, it is normal for everyone to have the senses. However, a persons ability to detect things with there sesnses varies based on 1. physical differences in the organ in question (poor eyesite, poor hearing); 2. training of the sense in question (a trained palate detects tastes the untrained misses, the trained ear detects notes and sounds the untrained misses); and 3. belief: if we don't believe we can sense something, our minds deflect the information from our senses, so we never become consciously aware of the information; or dismiss it as imagination when we do become aware of it. If a sixth sense exists, it seems logical that the same variables would effect it. So those of us who believe in it, register the information and train our senses, and are able to detect things that those who do not believe in it, and do not train themselves cannot detect.
3/17/08

LeisaWatkins

Jessica,

Interesting. I love hearing someone elses experiences.

I never thought of the various experiences I've had as separate. Take the phone example vs. seeing energy fields. I can occasionally see an energy field, but what I usually do is sense people energy. I feel what people feel. I can feel if they are angry, or if they are sad, if they are nervous. It's not just reading body language it is feeling it just as if it was happening inside of me.

I can feel the energy, and where the energy changes with my hands, but rarely see them. I just figured it just came along with the other ability. I never thought of them as separate.

3/16/08

Peter,

No I don't believe instinctive reaction is the same, although they can sometimes feel the same.

I can't give you evidence? Just as I can't give you evidence that I would always smell pizza on a certain city street. I could take you there and the smell of pizza may not be there. Of I could smell perhaps the oregano in the sauce that may not prove the existence of oregano in the sauce to you. Perhaps your sense of smell may not be as keen as mine, perhaps you have allergies or just a lower sense of smell and could smell the oregano and you couldn't. That doesn't mean there isn't oregano in the pizza sauce. True, at that point we could prove the existence of oregano or not, scientifically. But if you were relying on sense alone senses we probably couldn't get ten people to agree. You see that all the time in police investigations. People can't agree on what they see.

I can't give you evidence on a lot of things. Just because science can't prove it's existence that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Scientists are discovering new types of insects all the time. Does that mean the insect didn't exist until the moment they discovered it? Of course not. the insect could exist for thousands and thousands of years before they were discovered. Not to long ago a new type of dinosaur was discovered. The proof lied buried year upon year. The proof was right there, under the surface, for centuries. I believe the proof is buried right under the surface of quantum physics.

And for your other question:

I don't know for sure what the sense picks up but it is my belief is that one is sense changes in energy and that the energy exists before it manifests in the physical form.

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3/16/08

PeterEvolves

Leisa and Jessica:

Are you assuming that something exists when you don't have any evidence for it? Why would you believe something without evidence?

Presumably, if pizza were being cooked on a city street, the doors to the kitchen were open, winds were working in our favor, and we had a working sense of smell we could smell the pizza. The first, second, or third day we go on our pizza-sniffing expedition, we may not smell the pizza. But if there is a supposed regular occurrence of pizza smell availability, then regular sampling of the environment by different people over time will likely yield a positive result for pizza smell. Are you trying to imply something about the sixth sense here? That some people are not in the right place at the right time to engage their sixth sense with the appropriate energies? Can you explain that?

Your police report problem has a plethora of problems in it too. First, people's memories are affected by the questions they are asked. Memory is highly mutable especially over long stretches of time. Second, you can only remember something that enters your sensory register. What one witnesses position is relative to an incident controls that information. Third, the individual differences in the brains of the witnesses themselves will affect the memory as well. But this is anecdotal evidence which is, you rightly observe, not very reliable.

But anecdotal evidence is not what I am talking about. Most of the people on this post are talking anecdotally, but almost none are talking scientifically. If we want to move ourselves out of the metaphorical 15th century and figure out what this sixth sense is, what it detects, and how we interpret this alleged energy, then we need some parameters that can be tested and verified. If we want anecdotes we can just look at any number of statements of the healing power of this or that god from across time. But all studies on the efficacy of prayer have been found to be no better than chance. This sixth sense (ESP or whatever it is) has a similar ring to it: lots of people wanting to believe in it and no one able to put forth any hard evidence on the matter. Note also: every test of supposed divination, ESP, clairvoyance, astral projection, dousing, and on and on has come back negative. My bet is that it's smoke and mirrors or wish-thinking and so is this sixth sense. Why not a sixth, seventh, and eighth sense?

Did people believe in dinosaurs before they were discovered? No. They had no reason to do so. Sure, people had myths about giant beasts and such, but those hardly aligned with the actual prehistoric animals that Richard Owen found. That a particular species of dinosaur has not been discovered even though it has been fossilized does nothing for your argument though because the actual existence of fossilzed dinosaurs has mountains of evidence behind it with some pretty clear taxonomy. The same is true of as-of-yet undiscovered insect species. Surely there are thousands of species of beetles left to be discovered. But we have lots of data on insects and have incredible documentation on their various branches on the evolutionary tree. The existence of this sixth sense that you and others have proposed is so poorly defined that it just doesn't make very much sense in itself. What leads you to believe that you have a sixth sense that is somehow detecting something other than the five senses that you have.

Can you explain this?
"I don't know for sure what the sense picks up but it is my belief is that one is sense changes in energy and that the energy exists before it manifests in the physical form."
What is this energy? What does it do? What produces it? How does it move through space and time? Can we build a machine to detect it?

As for families sitting with you, are you referring to deceased family (my deepest condolences if so)? How would you know that your family sitting with you in such a case is not simply your wishes and beliefs generating a strong internal state and not receiving any information from your family from the environment? Can you tease those out?

To close, I believe that there is an invisible and intangible eight-foot cherry-flavored candy in my back yard that brings me great happiness. I am certain that it is there even though I haven't apprehended it with my five senses. But I am certain it is there and sense it. It's aura is purple even though it isn't really a color at all. That's just its aura. People who don't understand its incredible existential power due to its transcendent sweetness just aren't able to understand it. They aren't in touch with its superliminal sugary goodness because their sixth sense isn't as good as mine. You can't disprove the candy.
3/17/08

LeisaWatkins

In response to Peter.

"Are you assuming that something exists when you don't have any evidence for it? Why would you believe something without evidence?"

No. I have very specific experiences that have shown me that ESP exists but I can't transfer that evidence to you.

I knew who the phone was for with a 99% accuracy,and often before it even rang. I could tell people who it was for before the phone was answered. We had eight people in the family and I was almost always right.

I also knew the phone was going to ring before it rang. When you have experiences like this repeatedly (hundreds of times) you know it exists. But I can't transfer that knowledge to you.

I can drive down a street and hear the word cop. I'll turn the corner, and there would be a cop (whom had been completely obstructed from view earlier) sitting there waiting to catch a speeding motorist. No flashing lights, no sirens. Just a cop trying to remain hidden from view. This has happened on at least twenty different occasions.

I've had friends tell me of a problem they are dealing with and a page number will pop into my head. I can go over to a book shelf pull a book from the shelf and open the book to that page and there will be the perfect answer that they have been searching for.

Just a few of the examples from my life. I've talked about some more here:
I mention some of them here: blog.leisawatkins.com/my-lifes-story-part-1-my-highly-tuned-perception/

And I've seen it at work in others lives as well.

My pizza example is just that an example thatsome peoples sense of smell is better than others. A chef may have trained his sense of smell better than mine. Someones sense of sight is is better than others. That was my only point.

As far as the police report. Sure peoples memories are affected, but people also notice different things. Someone who loves clothes could probably tell you what someone was wearing better than someone who loves eyes. The person who loves eyes may be able to tell the police the color of someones eyes, but not be certain what a suspect was wearing. It's just that people pick-up different things. I can remember faces well, but names I struggle with. So I could likely ID someone in a line-up but if I tried to remember what name someone was called I would most likely not be able to remember.

So yes, everything is affected by experience. So while the evidence of the witnesses may be unreliable that doesn't mean that a crime didn't take place. And that is where science is able to often make up the difference and fill in the gaps. Science hasn't yet caught up with evidence of ESP but they are now just beginning to uncover things in this area I believe.

"But anecdotal evidence is not what I am talking about. Most of the people on this post are talking anecdotally, but almost none are talking scientifically." So true. But I never claimed that I could prove it. I can only tell you of my experiences. I have no desire to prove it.

"If we want to move ourselves out of the metaphorical 15th century and figure out what this sixth sense is, what it detects, and how we interpret this alleged energy, then we need some parameters that can be tested and verified."

As far as prayer etc. I have no desire to get into a religious discussion and they are prohibited here so I'm not even going to address that.

"My bet is that it's smoke and mirrors or wish-thinking and so is this sixth sense." It's more than wishful thinking. If you had seen and experienced the things I have you would know. And I spent most of my life wishing it would go away. It honestly felt like a curse for much of my life. I wouldn't have wished some of the experiences on my worst enemy.

"Why not a sixth, seventh, and eighth sense?" All I can say is why five senses?

"The existence of this sixth sense that you and others have proposed is so poorly defined that it just doesn't make very much sense in itself. What leads you to believe that you have a sixth sense that is somehow detecting something other than the five senses that you have."

Several things:

Because of the distance with which it can be done. We are talking hundreds and hundreds of miles. More than the eye can see and the ear can hear. The ability to know that someone is traveling,to surprise you, on a very specific bus and arriving at a very specific time and therefore meeting them at the bus station. So much for surprises.

And have you ever heard energy coming through a telephone cord before it reaches the phone. As a child I knew someone was calling usually as soon as they decided to call. We would be sitting at the table for dinner and I'd say, "Dave telephone." And everyone would look at me and say it didn't ring. And I'd say, "It will." Sure enough it rang and it was for him. We are talking about sometimes a gap of a minute between when I told him of the call and when it happened.

Things like knowing that my son's back is out of alignment and knowing which portion of his back while he is away at school. It's a fifteen minute walk from our home. I can't hear that is back is out. I can't see that his back is out. But when he arrives home his spine will be out of alignment. You can feel it. I haven't been wrong once.

I've seen the effects in my life hundreds and hundreds of times. But I can't ever predict when I will be able to sense things.

"What is this energy? What does it do? What produces it? How does it move through space and time? Can we build a machine to detect it?"

I don't know. I can't even understand how those sound waves get into my radio, or how the TV signals get into my TV, or how picture signals can be transmitted via satellite. We can't see them move through the air but they are there. If my radio doesn't work it doesn't mean that the waves have disappeared. It's just that the signal receptor doesn't work. We have the evidence that they exist because of the machines. Maybe someday we will have a machine that picks up this other energy.

"To close, I believe that there is an invisible and intangible eight-foot cherry-flavored candy in my back yard that brings me great happiness. I am certain that it is there even though I haven't apprehended it with my five senses. But I am certain it is there and sense it. It's aura is purple even though it isn't really a color at all. That's just its aura. People who don't understand its incredible existential power due to its transcendent sweetness just aren't able to understand it. They aren't in touch with its superliminal sugary goodness because their sixth sense isn't as good as mine. You can't disprove the candy."

No I couldn't. But I am not delusional. Other people have seen the evidence
"of the tree" as well. I've told people there is a cop ahead and it's been there. I've told people things that come true. Enough so that some of these people would bet their very lives on what I told them.

3/17/08

spop

Yes. Only if you believe.

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3/17/08

First off, I am not arguing for only five senses. I'm just saying that the evidence is overwhelming for those five and totally absent for another 1,2,3, or more. Pit vipers can see in infrared, sharks have an electromagnetically sensitive lateral line, birds navigate sensing the earth's magnetic field, and so on. Why believe in something for which you have no evidence? I am not saying it's impossible. Far from it. But there is nothing on this thread other than desires for something to be.

If you want to show that you can sense who is calling let's set up a controlled study at a call center where people call, even some you know, in a random order and see how well you do at predicting who calls and when. Care to try it? Take the Randi One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. What do you think?

Not understanding how the soundwaves get into your radio constitutes your ignorance on how radios work, not evidence for a sixth sense. It simply doesn't follow that not knowing the function of one thing constitutes your understanding the function of something we can't even verify exists beyond your intuition within your familiar environment. Once again, I challenge you take the Randi challenge.

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3/17/08

JessicaBurde

Peter,

Given your most recent post, I must assume you missed my reply this morning. For some reason it ended up earlier in the thread then I expected; I probably accidentally replied to the wrong post.

To reply to your current: the distinction you are failing to make, to my mind, is that we have experienced evidence for a sixth sense in our own experiences; you choose to disbelieve that evidence, but that does not make our experiences 'only desires,' it makes them evidence whose validity you disbelieve. Questioning the validity of evidence, especially anecdotal evidence is your right and the responcibility of anyone who truly seeks to get to the truth of any scientific question. Dismissing our experiences as "desires for something to be" is rude and inappropriate.

3/17/08

durumgirl

What most people call a "sixth sense" is merely a spiritual awareness. All of us, whether we acknowledge it or not, are spiritual beings - we were created that way - and we all have something in us that draws us to this spiritual realm that exists just beyond everything we can touch and feel. Some people just allow themselves to become more aware of the spiritual realm.

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3/17/08

For anybody claiming to have a sixth sense: Please WRITE DOWN your predictions in advance.

p.s. I can also predict pretty accurately (90% of the times) everything about an incoming phone call. Every 10 minutes. It's for my wife. It's her mother.

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3/17/08

DrowseyMonkey

I predict people will disagree with you.
3/17/08

ekim941

I predict that if you blindfold me and put me in a room with 10 women I can find the crazy one and put a ring on her finger. You don't believe in ESP?
3/17/08

urikalish

no

3/17/08

ekim941

I had a psychic ask me to bid a job for her. I was so disappointed, I really expected her to tell ME how much I was gonna charge. I think some people are just better at noticing the signs around them like body language and voice tones. I've been told that I have a sicksth sense.

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3/17/08

wehireu

I believe most people don't take the time to develop the senses they already have. People for the most part are oblivious. By the way, there are between 9 and 21 senses depending on how you define them in humans.

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3/17/08

SolReka

6th, 7th, 8th senses etc are simply waves.

When we (humans) resonate at set frequencies; through meditation, sleep, and the simple power of thought. What we are actually doing is resonating with the etheral super galactic (superluminal) waves of this particular Universe (brane).

We have been conditioned to 'forget' these inherent abilities within us all.

The awakening of people is simply part of the transcendence towards Dec 21 2012

I will be talking about this subject a lot more as time runs out.
solreka.com/blog/2012/december-21-2012

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3/17/08

urikalish

You know what I'm gonna say, right?

3/17/08

SolReka

Who said that lol

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3/17/08

ekim941

I can predict the weather. It's not a 6th sense, I have arthritis and can feel the barometric pressure changes. Even Urikalish should agree with that, it can be backed by science.

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3/18/08

urikalish

query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E0D81239F930A35757C0A960958260&...
3/18/08

ekim941

Thanks. I guess I really do have a sixth sense.

3/17/08

SandyAndrew

Respectfully said:

Our life on Earth is not black & white. No matter how much we strive to solve the scientific and metaphysical puzzles of life. There is so much that science can’t explain and plenty that spirituality does not address. Simply by observation of what is so becomes knowledge and understanding.

Do you love someone? Yes! Prove it then right now on a scientific measuring scale! Somewhat difficult is it not.

Science is the study of all things measurable and quantifiable is it not?
Is their a sixth sense? Indeed and quite a few more.

Regards,

Sandy Andrew

www.UniversalLearningSeries.com

[reply]

3/17/08

This thread has gotten much more interesting. Good.

1. Jessica wrote:
"But the existence of 'sixth senses', of what ever variety, in other species, 1. negates any attempt to claim that such things are simply impossible (they can't be impossible, they've happened, even if not to us); 2. gives us a starting point in understanding how such a sixth sense in humans might work."

Regarding point 1: I have nowhere on this thread or elsewhere said that the sixth sense is impossible. There is just not any positive evidence for it that is currently better explained by an unexplained power instead of subconscious intuition operating with the information we apprehend with our known senses. The existent of humans' active sensory perception. I am agnostic on the matter but find your belief more parsimoniously explained by other psychological forces. Every controlled study on the matter shows that people are really good at deceiving themselves into believing what they want to believe. I'm not particularly happy about that per se because being a Jedi or wizard would be pretty awesome.

Regarding point 2: I think you are right that by doing comparative sensory studies we can learn more about our own senses. Those done so far yield little but that people have hunches that don't pan out when they are put to the test.

On a technical level, I also am not looking for proof. Proof is the function of logic and math. Not science. Science deals in disproof and evidence. You set up a hypothesis and see if you can disprove it. If you do - as every test on psychics has done - then you throw it out and move on or, if your methods were bad, reformulate methods and go at it again. [Look at the work of Carl Sagan, James Randi, Steven Novella, or Susan Blackmore.] In principle there isn't anything that would prevent humans from having some other sense (drag out the other listed animals and their other senses) but what is it that people say the sense and then let's test it. In principle, we can do it.

Further, regarding anecdotal evidence, it is true that given a great deal of it we ought to pay it some attention. However, the variation among anecdotes means that in order to get to the specifics we have to (sadly) create somewhat artificial parameters to get at what it is that people are saying has occurred. People who experience hauntings can have the kids from Paranormal State come in and get the cart before the horse treatment or hire Joe Nickell. The first group will unequivocally fulfill the supernaturalists without any evidence whatever and Joe Nickell will examine the evidence and (so far anyway) find a material explanation for it. The anecdotes of haunting have all dissipated into phantoms of the brain created by its interaction with those things in the environment it doesn't understand well. That is pretty cool. Why do brains do this? That's a great question and one that we can try to answer and might actually find answers for.

As I understand it here, you are using theory synonymously with hunch. Yes?

A kirilian aura: In order to set up an experiment on any "sensitive's" ability to detect an aura, we have to determine what they say they are experiencing in this sensing, how, and so on. Randi has done some of this aura testing: youtube.com/watch?v=39PM03iVbqE
If you can propose another test, I say we do it.

Regarding our belief in something: I'm sorry to say that if you have working eye sight you aren't going to deny that you have vision. The experience of our senses is not subject to belief if they work.

Leisa wrote this:
"But I never claimed that I could prove it. I can only tell you of my experiences. I have no desire to prove it."

Then why are you trying to prove it? Seriously, take the Randi challenge and show us that you have real psychic powers. If you can do it then you should be able to do it under controlled circumstances. We'll set up a call center with random incoming calls and you will tell us either who they are or who the call is for. Or we can set up a drive around a city with you blindfolded and you can tell us every time we get within 50 or 100 yards of a police car or set up a line of 50 people, some of whom have spine problems and you can identify them. We'll do it multiple times to make sure that the sample size is good. What do you think?

I have a 15-digit number taped to the bottom of my computer. Does anyone know what it is? I'll send you on a trip to a destination of your choice if you can apprehend it with this alleged sixth sense.

Any takers?

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3/18/08

LeisaWatkins

I am not trying to prove it. I am just relaying my experiences. If I wanted to prove it I would have said let's set some paramaters right here and try to prove it to you.

It's like experiencing an earthquake and getting to the office where everyone is talking about it. Some would say, I felt the quake. Others wouldn't. That's all I am doing here. Not once did I say I can prove it to you. I'm just joining in on a fun and interesting conversation.

It can't be proven the methods you describe because it isn't working 100% of the time. Can you imagine if it was. People would go crazy with that much input.

The only way it can be proven, in my opinion, is if some type of machine could pick-up on the energy that we are describing here. But how scary would that be. A machine that could read people's emotions and thereby maybe their intentions. A machine that would tell people that your loved one was going to die soon. I hope a machine like that is never invented.

I'll also tell you that it doesn't work 100% of the time. I'm sure that you will say that if it was true it would be a constant. I have to be receptive to it, just like a radio has to be turned on in order to pick up the signals.

Plenty of things interfere with the reception. How you are feeling physically can have an effect. I also have been in three car accidents and have a disease that has affects the nervous system. How well rested one is, how much stress one is feeling (I'd feel stressed under circumstances you describe), how much one has going on in one's head. As I have gotten older and have become responsible for more things I experience it less than I did when I was a child and had few cares. Right now I run three businesses, seven blogs, homeschool my children, and volunteer in the community. My brain is filled-up with simple day-to-day stuff right now that I can't pick up signals like I used to. But I still do, but not as frequently and I will never deny that.

All of those things affect the ability to pick-up a signal just like things affect the cell phones ability to pick-up a signal. We know cell phones work, but they don't work for everyone all the time.

3/17/08

graceofangels

Yes I believe, sex sense maybe? hahahha

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3/18/08

graceofangels

I forgot to edit and add "JOKE"! ^_~ ihih

3/18/08

chickadee

I always have dreams of family or friends about one week before or after they pass on it's like they want to relay something to me but usually I don't know what. My mother n law passed a couple of years ago and as my husband and I drove to Canada I could hear his mother talking loudly in my ear saying "tell him not to worry about me I'm fine and you need to worry about your kids." This went on for 8 hours (on and off). Of course, I had to tell my husband! I hate that I am the messenger it freaks me out.

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3/18/08

PeterEvolves

But was this her "spirit" (also an underdefined and totally anecdotal concept) telling you this or was this a function of your own thinking on her pending death?

I'd like to point to something from Urikalish's link:
It's what I do for a living: debugging human intuition," Dr. Tversky said. "If you take the broader view and look at people as intuitive scientists, you find that we are very good at pattern generation, we are very good at generating hypotheses. It's just that we are not very good at all at actually testing hypotheses." It is easy for humans to guess that an association exists. But testing and, if necessary, rejecting such associations tends to go against all our intuitions, he explained.

3/18/08

Loving this thread gang....anyone seen the film 'What the bleep do we know?' Where spirituality meets Quantum physics!

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3/18/08

urikalish

Do you think it's wise to acquire your science knowledge about quantum physics by watching a movie produced by a school/religion/cult called “The Ramtha's School of Enlightenment”?

3/18/08

"It can't be proven the methods you describe because it isn't working
100% of the time. Can you imagine if it was. People would go crazy
with that much input."

So all of your other sense operate while you're conscious, why not this one?

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3/18/08

It does work when I'm conscious. Do you mean the opposite of asleep?

Maybe Sixth Sense isn't the correct word for it. Maybe it has been misnamed all these years and it's really something totally different than a sense. But it feels very much like a sense because one can see, hear, and feel the experiences; it is a sensory type of experience. Often as if one was actually living it.

Your ears filter out all sorts of noises just as ESP can filter out all sort of things. If someone loses sight there sense of hearing increases and you tend to pay attention to more things. Someone who has a keen sense of hearing will be able to hear things that others don't hear, or at least hear things that others think they can't hear. Some days my sense of smell isn't there because I have a cold or severe allergies. Since it doesn't work 100% of the time I guess it must not be real.

Of course I am joking.

My experiences have helped people and even saved lives, so ho-hum it all you want. Maybe someday you'll have a some type of experience that will witness to you it's validity. Maybe someday somehow it will be proven. I know I need absolutely no convincing and I have no doubt. If you had the same experiences as I have had you would not be questioning.

Anyway, I think I'm done here. I've enjoyed our conversations very much. But I'm tired of someone discounting my life's experiences as delusions or wishful thinking. And I've got lots of other things to do.

But, I may not be able to resist and pop in anyway. I'll at least visit it occasionally.

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3/18/08

PeterEvolves

Your brain apparently hasn't overloaded from the information that all of your known senses gather and integrate in your sensory register. Why should this one be different?

It seems that in some of these experiences you are relaying a very powerful sense of empathy, one of the greatest gifts (so to speak) that humans can have and we should celebrate more. Empathy, however, is a well-explained emotional and cognitive function.

I find it interesting that you believe that I have had no experiences that could be understood as psychic. I've said nothing about them.

Anyway, thanks for the back and forth. Best of luck with your kids and so on.
3/19/08

JessicaBurde

Well, I'm sorry to see the discussion end this way. I just have nothing more to say at this point. For me, I'm happy to agree to disagree, and hope to have a chance to have further discussions with both of you in the future; one this and/or other topics.

Best of luck to both of you.

3/19/08

SandyAndrew

Many people if not all of us acknowledge and accept things that we cannot prove and that is a FACT!

PERIOD!

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3/20/08

I couldn't resist staying away.

No, I just wanted to pop in and say that I am not angry in any way. I'm just a little puzzled how someone could have such a skeptical view of everything. That's not the life for me.

But I have enjoyed the conversations here very much. I did figure I may open myself up to ridicule by telling the world my experiences but that doesn't matter. I am doing what I feel I should. I'm trying to make a difference in the lives of others. How I arrive there truly doesn't matter.

If it is a gift to be able to help people heal because I can sense their emotions or if it is just plain empathy it doesn't really matter. What ever it is called I know that these abilities make a difference in my life and in the lives of others. I know what I know and that is all that matters.

Again, I state that maybe sixth sense isn't the correct terminology for these experiences because as you so keenly said the other senses don't get overloaded. I know that at times this brain of mine feels tired and frazzled. Surely you must have experienced fatigue and not been able to think clearly as you could at other times. Heck, I even couldn't remember my husbands name once. A side effect of neurological damage after a car accident. If my mind is foggy from lack of sleep, illness, etc. it just doesn't register signals like it does other times. But I can always be empathetic, regardless of how tired I am.

So who knows?

So thanks Jessica for making me feel like I am not that strange after all, and thanks Peter for some interesting conversation.

I've got a business, kids, five blogs and other things I need to concentrate on. I do look forward to other conversations at another time.

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3/20/08