# Is ESP real? Is it natural?



## Bigshadow (Jul 14, 2006)

Sorry, I figured I would start a new thread instead of drifting an existing one...   Here is the post in question...

http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=575565&postcount=45



			
				Tulisan said:
			
		

> Something like ESP.... couldn't it be something that we all have?


Oh, I believe it is very natural. I do not believe there is anything magical about it. I believe it is as natural as the gazelle that can feel the lion stalking them in the weeds, even though they have not yet smelled him, heard him, or seen him, they sense it. I all mammals have this ability, just we humans have taught ourselves not to trust what we feel, unless we "See" it. As with the Gazelle, seeing the lion may mean he is too late. I firmly believe this is part of our natural survival instincts.


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## Cryozombie (Jul 14, 2006)

Bigshadow said:
			
		

> Oh, I believe it is very natural. I do not believe there is anything magical about it. I believe it is as natural as the gazelle that can feel the lion stalking them in the weeds, even though they have not yet smelled him, heard him, or seen him, they sense it. I all mammals have this ability, just we humans have taught ourselves not to trust what we feel, unless we "See" it. As with the Gazelle, seeing the lion may mean he is too late. I firmly believe this is part of our natural survival instincts.



I agree, but like you said, I think we have trained this out of ourselves.


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## Carol (Jul 14, 2006)

I think it's real, natural, and we all have the capabilty to a certain degree...but in some people it is heightened.

The key to some of the behaviour that is associated with ESP is the brain's pattern matching abilities.  The mind draws subconscious connections between a trigger and an event.

In people with autism, the brain's pattern matching abilities are often on overdrive...making the folks all the more susceptible to ESP-like perceptions.


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## evenflow1121 (Jul 14, 2006)

I believe its real, but for me I guess it is just a heightened form of instinct.  Even if we have evolved to the point where we forget we have it, we still do have that little thing called instinct.  It is still there, like David said we have simply taught ourselves not to trust it.


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## michaeledward (Jul 14, 2006)

Of course it does not exist. 

If we can 'sense' something, it is through the 'sensory' input mechanisms in our body. That we may be unaware of the nerve endings firing off does not mean it is not a simple chemical/electrical reaction in our body.

There is nothing 'Extra-sensory' about it. 

A more accurate understanding would be that we intentionally disregard sensory signals all the time ... we have learned to filter out information our senses provide to us ... but that we apply an unconcious filter, does not mean the input is not present.


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## Bigshadow (Jul 14, 2006)

michaeledward said:
			
		

> Of course it does not exist.
> 
> There is nothing 'Extra-sensory' about it.



Nice!    I agree there is nothing extra about it.


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## Kacey (Jul 14, 2006)

Most people only use 10% of their brains; the other 90% is, generally, unused - however, in some people, activity is noted in some of those "unused" portions of the brain.  I have heard several interpretations of ESP; any of them could be explained by activation of one of those "unused" portions.  Does this make it "extra-sensory"?  I don't know... but it does make it uncommon.  Some people may be unusually good at reading body language, to the point that it appears to be telepathy; some may be picking up other signals; there is no "correct" answer at this point, but certainly, 'there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'.

Cheers!


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## Carol (Jul 14, 2006)

KACEY!!!  Welcome Back!!!


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## pstarr (Jul 14, 2006)

Yes, I believe that it is real...


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## SFC JeffJ (Jul 19, 2006)

Sorry, I got to be the one who asks to see the evidence here.  No peer reviewed studies that I'm aware of suggest it's real.  But hey, maybe there just hasn't been the right study yet.

JeffJ


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## Brian R. VanCise (Jul 19, 2006)

Okay, has anyone ever come home and felt tension in the air?  How did you perceive that tension?  I know that i have on more than one occasion! :uhyeah:  I think that we pick up things and if you want to call it ESP that is fine but this ability is inherent in everyone.  However, some people just ignore it, while others listen to it and are able to use what they pick up.  

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com


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## Bigshadow (Jul 19, 2006)

Brian R. VanCise said:
			
		

> Okay, has anyone ever come home and felt tension in the air?  How did you perceive that tension?  I know that i have on more than one occasion! :uhyeah:  I think that we pick up things and if you want to call it ESP that is fine but this ability is inherent in everyone.  However, some people just ignore it, while others listen to it and are able to use what they pick up.
> 
> Brian R. VanCise
> www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com


Oh certainly.  Also, I have walked into a room and can feel tension among people.  Additionally, I can often tell who in the room is uncomfortable being there.  Definitely it is inherent.  These are survival signals our bodies pick up on and thousands of years ago we lived and died by them.  In today's societies, it is generally so safe, we have taught ourselves to ignore these things.  In fact, it is common for people to say "my mind was playing tricks on me",  but the body doesn't play tricks.  Even those that ignore it, still have it, just they need to learn to recognize it.

I believe this is why when we train we have to train with intent.  As uke, we must strike with intent, not strike just because that is what one is supposed to do.


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## Blindside (Jul 19, 2006)

Kacey said:
			
		

> Most people only use 10% of their brains; the other 90% is, generally, unused - however, in some people, activity is noted in some of those "unused" portions of the brain. I have heard several interpretations of ESP; any of them could be explained by activation of one of those "unused" portions.


 
Care to back up your idea that only 10% of the brain is used with any kind of science?  Are there big chunks of the brain that we could cut out and have no loss of normal function?  If so, where?  If that isn't what you are proposing, then what mechanism are you suggesting for the "90% unused?"

Lamont


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## Brian R. VanCise (Jul 19, 2006)

Bigshadow said:
			
		

> Oh certainly. Also, I have walked into a room and can feel tension among people. Additionally, I can often tell who in the room is uncomfortable being there. Definitely it is inherent. These are survival signals our bodies pick up on and thousands of years ago we lived and died by them. In today's societies, it is generally so safe, we have taught ourselves to ignore these things. In fact, it is common for people to say "my mind was playing tricks on me", but the body doesn't play tricks. Even those that ignore it, still have it, just they need to learn to recognize it.
> 
> I believe this is why when we train we have to train with intent. As uke, we must strike with intent, not strike just because that is what one is supposed to do.


 
That ability to pick up tension and intent is essential for the combatively trained martial artist.  

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com


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## Bigshadow (Jul 19, 2006)

Brian R. VanCise said:
			
		

> That ability to pick up tension and intent is essential for the combatively trained martial artist.
> 
> Brian R. VanCise
> www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com



Most definitely!


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## Bigshadow (Jul 19, 2006)

Blindside said:
			
		

> Care to back up your idea that only 10% of the brain is used with any kind of science?  Are there big chunks of the brain that we could cut out and have no loss of normal function?  If so, where?  If that isn't what you are proposing, then what mechanism are you suggesting for the "90% unused?"
> 
> Lamont


I saw that too.  I used to believe that but later found out it was a myth.  We use 100% of the brain.  So be careful what you put in it... :rofl:


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## Kacey (Jul 19, 2006)

Blindside said:
			
		

> Care to back up your idea that only 10% of the brain is used with any kind of science?  Are there big chunks of the brain that we could cut out and have no loss of normal function?  If so, where?  If that isn't what you are proposing, then what mechanism are you suggesting for the "90% unused?"
> 
> Lamont



Sorry, I was tired, and quoted a well-known myth to make my point.  However, there are areas of the brain that can become diseased, injured, or otherwise become inaccessible, and the person is still able to function with no apparent impairment; there are also areas of the brain that will show up on advanced imaging scans as being active for no apparent reason.  Also, different areas of the brain will activate in different people who are performing the same task(s); some differences are consistent by gender, but others appear to be unrelated to any factors known at this time.  

ESP and related phenomena may be things that occur that we cannot explain (yet); they may be facets of intuition that we cannot explain; they may be related to the unconscious in some fashion; they may not exist at all.  However, in my opinion, the jury is still out on this one.


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## Dionysianexile (Jul 19, 2006)

Kacey said:
			
		

> Most people only use 10% of their brains; the other 90% is, generally, unused - however, in some people, activity is noted in some of those "unused" portions of the brain.  I have heard several interpretations of ESP; any of them could be explained by activation of one of those "unused" portions.  Does this make it "extra-sensory"?  I don't know... but it does make it uncommon.  Some people may be unusually good at reading body language, to the point that it appears to be telepathy; some may be picking up other signals; there is no "correct" answer at this point, but certainly, 'there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'.
> 
> Cheers!



There is some misinformation given here, we use way more than 10% of our brains, we use probably somewhere in the 90-100% range, although many people have dead spots from chemical abuse, etc...  But I have yet to see anything in the scientific literature suggesting we only use 10%, as this would be horibbly inefficient.  Most of what goes on in our brain is not for concious thought, that is mainly the frontal lobes, the rest deals with sensory input, encoding, memory, the functioning of the rest of the body, etc...  To suggest that we only use 10% is just, well, a product of misinformation. As for viewing the brain and seeing parts of it being "used" this is really dependant on what viewing technique one is using, and also what one is looking for/at.  Some of the best imagery techniques out there right now generally show the brain in full use, just some more lit up than others, depending on what the person is doing.  Activity in the brain all comes down to neurons firing, and at what rate.  Every sense we have works in this fashion, either reacting to the presance of light, physical pressure or air pressure, or chemicals, something is being manipulated.  TO interpret each of these things requires a fair amount of space on the cortex.  If we had a sensory organ to interpret something else, as in ESP like phenomenon, it would require a sensory organ, and then a large area for interpretation.  For example, just to decode what is coming in through our eyes we have at least 5 different layers of information processing.  Sensory perception takes up a lot of room, and virtually all of it takes place on the cortex.  Essentially, I have seen nothing to suggest that ESP might exist...


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## Lisa (Jul 19, 2006)

Well...I'll be... I thought we didn't even use more then 2-3% of our brain power.  Seems I have been wrong all along.



> [FONT=verdana,geneva,arial]It appears that there is no hidden storehouse of untapped brain power.  We use all of our brain.[/FONT]



That quote is the ending to this article here.  Interesting little read.

As for ESP/etc.  I always like scientific proof myself.  However, I can not discount the overwhelming "feelings" I get at times, like when loved ones are about to pass away.  Is it ESP?  dunno for sure but I can't discount what has happened to me. Could be I am just more sensitive to things around me.


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## Jenna (Jul 19, 2006)

Bigshadow said:
			
		

> Sorry, I figured I would start a new thread instead of drifting an existing one... Here is the post in question...
> 
> http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=575565&postcount=45
> 
> ...


Yeah I'll go for ESP and I honestly could care less bout the UNDERwhelming amount of scientific evidence.. I think the brain is immense and one simple way to realise that is through hypnosis.. IF you have ever been sent off into the depths of your own mind during hypnosis then it becomes fairly clear just what an infinite place the mind actually is.. hypnosis is best.. there are other less legal methods of course.. but yeah I certainly believe in the possibility of ESP by whatever name you choose.. I am not saying I am any good at it but I have my moments...  ooooh.. go on.. try me..

Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna


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