Psychics

[Admin 14,372]

I'll try to keep this as more of a discussion than a rant, but I should point out straight away that I think what 'psychics' do is totally wrong. In my opinion, claiming you can talk to a persons dead relatives is a little sick, and doing it for money is just exploiting the vulnerable. There's no proof it works, only that techniques like advanced cold reading are being used.

It's an interesting topic in my opinion, and I'm curious what your views are on the whole idea of psychics? For a start, does anyone believe in them and have perhaps had an experience which might get me to change my mind?

[steve25805 121,695]

Personally, I believe in the phenomenon of psychics and believe that souls in the afterlife who have not yet been reincarnated (I believe in reincarnation too) are contactatable by mediums. However, there are a great many fraudsters and shysters out there, who probably outnumber the genuine ones by some margin and inevitably end up discrediting them all amongst the more rationally cynical. Personally, I would be very wary of so-called psychics and mediums who are charging for their "services".

[Admin 14,372]

While there may be some people who are able to sense, or have premonitions about certain events, I believe that most "psychics" are fake. If you could see the future, or talk to people on the other side, would you spend your time trying to get people to pay your for your services, or would you use that power to choose lottery numbers and winning sports teams?

$20/$50 a time, or a few million dollars in jackpot cash?

:biggrin:

Exactly. It's not like they can have conversations with those on 'the other side', apparently all they can manage is generic statements like 'they're missing you,'. Now I know some psychics are more advanced than this, but if you paid for a session with any psychic they wouldn't be able to say 'Ok, I've got your uncle james here, he wants to know if you've finally finished writing your novel about space' - nothing specific or relevant. Instead they fish for information. You'll notice they simply call out names if it's an audience (I'm getting June... no, it might be Sue) until they get a 'hit'. If it's a smaller crowd, they might even shout out letters which I find even more comical... 'I've got someone here whose name starts with the letter B'. Of course, the people who go to see them want to believe it, so only focus on the hits and successful things they said, forgetting all the failed attempts and blindingly ignoring the fact that they're actually giving away a lot of the information.

'I'm getting the letter D'

'My grandad was called Dave'

'Yes, he passed away didn't he? He's here with me now'

It sounds more impressive than it is. Anyone interested should lookup cold reading. I could go on, but you get my point.

Personally, I believe in the phenomenon of psychics and believe that souls in the afterlife who have not yet been reincarnated (I believe in reincarnation too) are contactatable by mediums. However, there are a great many fraudsters and shysters out there, who probably outnumber the genuine ones by some margin and inevitably end up discrediting them all amongst the more rationally cynical. Personally, I would be very wary of so-called psychics and mediums who are charging for their "services".

There are definitely a lot of fraudsters, my worry is that it's simply a case of some fraudsters are better than others, rather than anyone being a real psychic. There is some kind of test with a million pound up for grab for anyone who can prove they're psychic. The test has been available for many years and nobody has passed it. Of course, psychic can mean a few different things, but when we're talking about mediums who can contact the dead, many people claim it helps those who've lost people; but personally I think lying to them is unhealthy.'

[steve25805 121,695]

....when we're talking about mediums who can contact the dead, many people claim it helps those who've lost people; but personally I think lying to them is unhealthy.'

Your argument - that lying to the bereaved is unhealthy - is not one I would disagree with. But it is predicated on the assumption that anyone who claims to be contacting the dead is lying because such a thing is impossible. As such, those of us who do not think it impossible are never going to be convinced by this argument, based as it is upon such a challengeable position which we disagree with. Belief in reincarnation and an intermediate afterlife is in fact central to my own spiritual beliefs, and I am very close to the Spritualist Church in terms of belief. I even include amongst my friends a female on a history forum who is a member of the Spritualist Church. Yes, there are many charlatans out there, but I do not believe that everyone claiming to be able to contact the dead is lying.

[CrissyP 788]

I've always thought psychic stuff is hooey! However, about three years ago I visited a place in Western New York, where a number of these psychic people spend the summer. They were having a "circle" as they call it. I choose a psychic at random. I have no idea who this woman was, therefore she couldn't know anything about me. She held my hand, and told me things that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. She told me that someone close to me would be dead by morning. My aunt died that night, suddenly in an accident. That was not a generalization. She also told me things that there is no way she could have known about me. I work in the medical profession, and I have a very analytically mind (at least I hope I do). I came away, maybe not believing totally, but I know I now have an open mind regarding this.