More on ESP

In editing tags, I came across an earlier post in which I think I was trying to distinguish between terms referring to kinetic acts.

(Let me preface the rest of this by noting the post referenced is not one of my finer moments... I was probably drinking. That is not to say I do not feel strongly about that in which I believe, just that... well, that post goes a bit overboard without ever specifying much of... anything and I fully realize this. But I digress...)

Kinesis is defined as "the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus." In particular, there are two definitions with which we are concerned: telekinesis and psychokinesis. The differences are subtle and often argued.

• Psychokinesis is the discipline of moving something through sheer force of will, or "mind power," if you will; possibly the truest form of "mind over matter."
• Telekinesis is the discipline of communicating with spirits to have them move objects for you. In this regard, telekinesis is often seen as a matter of telepathy - which, technically speaking, it is.

This is why The OddBlog only uses the tag - and term - "ESP," short for Extra Sensory Perception to define all "psychic" abilities. This purposeful lack of delineation between so-called "psychic" phenomena originates with Greece (Psi - Ψ) and is the only clinically scientific way to approach the matter; the Greeks made no attempt to divide psychic phenomena by effect, simply grouping the phenomena into a category by cause. That is to say, no matter the phenomena experienced (precognition, clairvoyance, T/PK, etc.), the source of such was determined to be psychic in nature and classified as such - no further delineation was necessary.

As the above clearly illustrates, we do not have enough information on ESP phenomena to make separations between disciplines and individual phenomenon - so why bother? In fact, the first to even attempt to do so was the Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882, and while their intent was both admirable and understandable, it is too far-reaching and thus meritless.

When a "psychic" predicts something that comes true, how are we to know whether he possesses some form of precognitive "power" or some form of telepathy which allowed him to communicate with (or be communicated by) some entity which informed him of the matter? This would technically define the difference between a "psychic" and a "psychic medium." But further, maybe some heretofore unknown discipline was exercised which allowed the "psychic" to access some natural energy, field, power, et. al., in which such knowledge is stored - a "dimension" or field where the normal "rules" of time are inapplicable, corrupted, or - even better - so perfect and perfectly true as to contain all things past, present, and future?

In fact, while tests concerning ESP are inconclusive - in no small part because we do not know how to even begin testing them - at least one test carried out in 1971 proved that while ESP is likely (that is, that something inexplicable is present), division beyond that is simply not possible at this stage of research.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Term: Cryptozoology

I am so glad this all came up with the news on the Bigfoot Expedition by the BFRO, because I have been really waiting for something to come up so I could broach this topic with a bit of a segue from our recent Supernatural-centric posts. Of course, I can always just flit from subject to subject, but a good segue is always... good. Unless you stick a Bigfoot in it.

And speaking of Bigfoot...

Cryptozoology is not a very popular term outside of phenomenalists and enthusiasts and is frequently misused and misdefined. Cryptozoology was first coined by Bernard Heuvelmans and means, quite literally, "The search for and study of unknown animals." In its purest and strictest sense, cryptozoology has absolutely nothing to do with legend, mythology, or folklore, but the connotation exists specifically because most unknown animals (that is to say, animals not catalogued by science - specifically zoology) are usually found in folklore long before they are actually catalogued. That is to say eyewitness accounts and general stories exist long before the creature(s) is actually verified by the eggheads what run The Show, and so these accounts are relegated to the folklore bin.

Of course, new species of animals - both small and large - are discovered on a very regular basis. One of the greatest slaps in the face to modern scientists occurred in 1992, when a species of a Vietnamese antelope that indigenous peoples had reported for years and years was finally photographed - of course, many mainstream scientists had previously mocked these inhabitants, insisting the creature was a "mass hallucination" and the result of, basically, ignorant, untrained peasants and their overactive imaginations fueled by campfire stories and folklore.

Cryptozoology is not a bad word, it has just assumed a bad connotation from mainstream scientists who consider it "fringe" science.

Prescience in Spiritual Manifestation

The act of prescience (which probably should be capitalized, but isn't because Elite Caps are so... Elite) is the foretelling of the future. While all of what I'm about to be say needs to be qualified (and will be), let me first point out that prescience in a human being with ESP (often called a "psychic," but sometimes called things like "prophet" in religious circles) almost always comes and goes in certain patterns - indiscernible as yet except amongst those who feel them, and completely misunderstood even by them.

Most people who are blessed/cursed with ESP have prescient visions, notions, dreams, or other immeasurable (currently) experiences which have almost nothing to do with truly important events. You might feel a damning sense of Deja-vu while ordering a drink, for example: you feel that, if you order a beer instead of a Coke, a fight will break out, but you feel powerless to stop the fight no matter what you order and you really wanted to order a beer, so you order a beer anyway and then a fight breaks out - just like you "remembered" and you feel responsible. You aren't. Such seemingly innocuous events do not have a greater "Butterfly Effect" across all of history; you are fine. You wanted a beer and you bought one; those schlubs were going to fight, anyway. This is what the Secular World refers to as Hallucinatory.

Do not EVER take drugs from someone who is paid to give them to you.

When prescience is involved with paranormal activity, it is always due to some spiritual presence. Always.

This is what separates "psychokinesis" from "telekinesis" in ESP, but the division cannot truly be made in living things. And thus, should not be in dead ones: if any spirit - living or dead - can move things without obvious physical means, it is doing so by its very sheer force of Will, not its mind, and is possessed of kinetic energy projection. You can call it KEP, if you want; I do. Only living beings employ deceptive methods to fool investigative attempts; dead things can just move stuff.

Whether or not it uses its own sheer force of will ("psycho"-kinesis) or uses its mental acumen or ability to force its will on disconnected spirits which perform its bidding, the end results are the same and that's all we can measure because that's all we can actually... like MEASURE, gentlemen; if a spirit, living or dead, can move an(y) object(s) without visible means of support, it is possessed of the ability we call KEP. Further, true KEP is not done slowly; it happens very quickly - sometimes within the blink of an eye. Film of things moving slowly over the course of several hours is usually faked - at the very least, it is rarely caused by KEP.

True Prescience - the matter of literally knowing about future events as opposed to predicting them - is an Elemental secret. If a human possesses this ability, it may be a matter of Possession. But being "possessed" does not mean that the spirit manifestation is necessarily Evil: it does not mean that it is malefic, mercurial, Elemental, or even Apparent; the cat what is possessed may very well have the sixth sense (ESP), and may have given over control to spiritual influence. This is dangerous and should be downplayed and discouraged but not condemned; there are "automatic mediums" and places and spirits of great power. Being "possessed" cannot always be avoided by those with ESP.

BUT we're talking about prescience, aren't we? In living things, none of these disciplines should be divided; it is all ESP. In dead things, the question is to whether or not it is a matter of Poltergeist or Elemental activity - further (ONLY within investigative matters and peoples; NEVER, EVER tell media outlets), Daemonic or Natural - and prescience is not present within any spirits except those what have not lived, kids.

More on Elementals

I know I've gone on about this lately, but I have had this train of thought going for a long time now and either had problems posting (like this weekend) or kept putting it off, so I figured I'd go ahead and get most everything I have on my mind about it out now, while it's still fresh and then worry about what else I have to say another day (besides, I'll have Ghost Hunters to talk about tomorrow):

Keep in mind that the word "demon" comes from Elemental, so I posit that we refer to these hauntings in general as Elemental Manifestations, but within the investigative community, we make a clear distinction between those hauntings which feature mercurial personalities and those that feature malefic ones.

This has nothing to do with the actual phenomena present; prescience, clairvoyance, telekinetic activity - these abilities may very well be the sole domain of one or the other force, but that is not the question. All we are concerned with is whether or not the force is Evil or not, and that's not to say that it cannot be mischievous or even callous from time to time, just to say that if the activity is mean-spirited and dangerous in general, it is Dæmonic activity. A phenomenon such as the Duenda de Zaragoza is Elemental (by all accounts I've read) in nature, for example.

Still, I think it important that the name be specifically changed to Elemental Infestation as opposed to Demonic for the general public's sake. It takes the religious connotations out of the word.

Daemons and Elementals

To forward the idea of classifying spirits and Supernatural phenomena, I proffer the following:

There is a difference in general Supernatural phenomena and Dæmonic activity and this division must be nurtured. We can discern all sorts of very obvious, very straightforward differences between such hauntings as those involving an image or other insubstantial (incorporeal) advents, those involving the physical manipulation of solid objects (poltergeist), and those involving what can only be considered malefic forces. Consider the truly bizarre phenomena surrounding the Bell Witch, which was far more than mere poltergeist activity.

Let us then turn to the matter of Elementals, from which the term "Demons" was culled. Elementals are spirits, not necessarily tied to the elements themselves (contrary to popular belief), that have never existed in human form. They are sometimes malefic, but usually mercurial in nature, and are said to often possess such abilities as clairaudience, clairvoyance, prescience, and telekinesis. They also produce solid materials from nowhere.

"Dæmon" is basically a corruption of Elemental, and since the former has become so intimately associated with religion, I say we should turn back to the original word, but keep the general meaning. Of course, this demands a greater division, since simply assuming that all Elemental hauntings are basically "mercurial in nature" is fallacious; there are undeniably Evil forces at work in certain places/people and many psychics and mediums have claimed to hear the guiding, disembodied voice (invariably male, by my research) of something with prescience. This voice(s) is sometimes called "The Masters" (Occult) but also often referred to as "Elementals" or just plain "Spirits."

The phenomena surrounding such obviously intelligent spirits, who also frequently seem to have a prurient (or at least hyperactive) interest in sex as well as a cutting and sometimes callous wit, cannot be chalked-up to simple poltergeist activity, such as the moving of objects, rapping on surfaces, and so on. And "traditional" hauntings, where the phenomena centers around specific images or incorporeal activity, are easily separated from either of the other two.

Hauntings Classifications

I know the recent position has been to basically group all ghosts, hauntings, and inexplicable events into broader categories. This works for psychic phenomena, which should be grouped only as ESP, because everyone who shows some psychic gift exhibits at least one or two other forms of psychic phenomena; this doesn't work so well for the Supernatural for several reasons.

The big division made, when it is, is between "traditional" and "poltergeist" hauntings. Even TAPS has made the division between possible daemonic infestations and other hauntings early-on in the series, and while many investigators maintain this at least intellectually, it is not popularly-forwarded mainly because it suggests actual Evil forces exist and connotes religious overtones and associations. Investigators are interested in having their research taken seriously and the scientific community is notoriously secular.

Such divisions can be dangerous, unduly influencing other researchers, but I think it's important to start trying to not just classify hauntings, but try to develop some way of actually identifying them. The identifications may be incorrect, but there's only one way to find out and that's to try it.

G.N.M. Tyrell, Apparitions

1. Experimental ghosts - The image of people still alive appears to others at different places (thought projection, astral traveling, astral projection, ESP, Occult)
2. Crisis ghosts - Ghosts who appear to family members during times of crises, most usually during the ghost's death (ESP, clairaudience, clairvoyance - not prescience, none of these spirit manifestations involve prescience)
3. Post-mortem ghosts - Images that appear long enough after the person is dead to be nothing but a ghost
4. True ghosts - Those that appear to observers who did not know them throughout the years, ungoverned by time but usually bound to a specific location

I'm going to advance some ideas over the course of this blog to further the classifications of ghosts, along with much discussion.

Ghastly Classifications.

There is no real ongoing series for accounts of ghosts, hauntings, phantasms, and spectres in all their many forms. Ghosts run the gamut of simple apparitions to full-bodied phantasms, to poltergeists, to the unseen haunting.

Many ghastly manifestations seem centered around a specific structure, room, area, person(s), or time of day. There are two major divisions of spiritual manifestations: those that are attached to a specific place or area and those that are connected with an individual or collective, such as a family. Amongst these, there are generally three types of phantasms:

1. The unseen spirit who makes its presence known by manipulating real, corporeal objects. These are often called "spirits" or "ghosts," and they are usually innocuous. They often appear in one form or another, sometimes as solid beings and sometimes as phantasmal, transparent visions. Rarely, they interact with viewers, typically children. They often show up on film and cause little or no harm. They may, but rarely, speak in voices.
   
2. The second type is the Poltergeist, based on the Germanic word, noisy ghost, which frequently moves items around - often violently - slams doors, and even physically touch and sometimes attack people. They may speak in voices, whispers, or even yells or screams. Sometimes, they have been known to hurl items, break them, or worse. In extreme cases, they rearrange entire rooms, stacking furniture and other items in impossible and bizarre formations.
   
3. The third most common type (thankfully very rare) is the Daemonic entity. Daemonic entities are by far the most dangerous and have been known to appear in full-form that is sometimes impossible to differentiate between the solid and phantasmagoric. They are infamous for truly terrible activities, such as nightly shrieks, violent attacks on living beings - such as slaps, punches, scratches, even producing solid materials from absolutely nowhere. Daemonic entities are also said to be able to possess living human beings and grant them inhuman strength, change their personal facial features, possession, grant them precognition and prescience, as well as an uncanny knowledge of others' secrets and past events, produce materialistic items from thin air. Daemonic forces can affect anyone of any age and sometimes plague entire families. They are one of the few spirits known to follow families once they move. Daemonic forces also relish in showing off their abilities and partaking in particularly horrific, disgusting, and dangerous "pranks."

The type of spiritual phenomena we are focusing on now is of the first category. Ghosts always have a visual aspect, whether they seem solid or transparent, they come in two basic forms: the veridical apparition and the cognizant one. The former are often tied to a specific place or location, time, and event, and almost always follow a similar pattern, as though it is simply replaying an event(s) it has experienced before - like a replay of a recorded event. They almost never interact directly with the living.

For example, a ghost clad in Periodic clothing that appears about the same time every year is a Veridical Imagery; it may seem to be aware of you, but it does not speak and often seems to be frightened and compelled to continue some situation which rarely makes sense to onlookers. A phantasm dressed in Periodic costume who may or may not take on an air of "floating" may look at/through you, but will continue on its predestined trail, undeterred by your presence. They usually dissipate or dematerialize right through walls and/or other solid impedances unopposed. In other cases, many phantasms might appear in the midst of some sort of activity, such as a party, battle, horseride, or even train ride, only to dissipate or disappear entirely.

Veridical Imagery refers to phantasmagorical "replays" of events which supposedly cannot be changed and must be revisited and replayed by the damned souls trapped in reliving their deaths, tragic failures, or whatever, for time Immemorial. Other veridical imageries consist only of phantasmal noises, music and/or voices with no discernible source. Sometimes, this theory is advanced as a Veridical Afterimage, which assumes that some form of energy - as yet unknown - remains after death and is sometimes visible to, and/or interacts with, the living.

Many phantasmagorical images which do not appear to the naked eye show up later on film. Likewise, EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) are almost never heard while being recorded and can only be catalogued by replaying the tapes and attempting to decipher the communications.

None of these phenomena can currently be explained by modern accepted Science and are thus quickly dismissed, along with serious researchers, cataloguers, and hunters like ourselves.

In further entries, we'll turn our attentions to some very interesting and "classic" cases of these things and attempt to catalogue them according these criteria.