To friends here who have been discussing fortunetellers, Feng Shui, Mind Reading
, etc., and
Dear Nicole,
Thank you for opening such an interesting and complicated subject. I would liketo point out to the friends who have been replying to your original essay that
wise people suspend judgement, investigate carefully, and don't jump too quickly to conclusions. I have a very close friend whose personal experience and research has proven to me and others,0 that there is much more to life and the human mind than is generally supposed, or known yet. I think Shakespeare wrote in one of his plays "There is more between heaven and earth, Horatio, than this world dreams of."
My friend has abilities that she never invites, but which occasionally happen without her seeking them. She has spent years researching such phenomena to be able to understand what is from herself and what is not coming from her; and also to understand what is safe and what is going beyond bounds that we humans should
respect. She has told me about these things over the years and I have clearly seen that she only accepts research information from valid sources.
I believe many of you know by now that I'm a Baha'i, a follower of the great
world Teacher, Baha'u'llah, and so is my friend. He cautioned all of us never to dabble with "psychic forces." She and I have reached the understanding that the reason we should leave certain things alone is because dabbling with them can
cause damage to the part of ourselves that is supposed to grow slowly and naturally as a baby grows its senses in the womb, but doesn't use them there, or only
very dimly.
The baby's senses are for use after its birth into this worldd. In the same way
, certain things that we may now dimly experience are not to be forced because they are for use in the life to come after we leave our bodies behind in this world. I have concluded that some people *do* have interesting and unusual experiences that can be proved to be real, but such things should only happen naturally
, and not because they encouraged them.
As we both try to be faithful Baha'is we wanted to be sure what "psychic forces"
means. We've reached the conclusion that it means not to try to contact those whohave left this life, and not to try to gain information through any sort of
shamanistic performance, or through what is called automatic drawing, automatic
writing, seances, or any kind of ritual or use of drugs, with the intention to connect with those minds that are no longer using bodies in this world.
Her experiences with somewhat unusual abilities have had to do with frequent
synchronous events. I've had those myself. Probably you have, too. Lots of people experience this. Carl Jung wrote about them. She takes hers as meaning that
she's on a good path, a sort of encouragement that things are flowing as they should. She says not to dwell on them, either. (I will explain in a lower paragraph her reason why.)
She also had the experience of hearing someone else's thoughts in their own
unique accented voice, when she had never heard it before the person spoke out loud with a greeting, only *after* she heard what else they had first said to themselves in their mind as they appraised her. This was a protective experience she had while travelling overseas alone on a train with her small son. As she knew what the person had thought, she was able to talk casually in a way that caused them to lose hope of she and her son being worth stealing from, and to go away
. I think this is a very good ability to have! :-)
It doesn't happen for her on cue, just three times that she can think of, and
always when needed for personal protection, and each time it was right and protected her.
I think that most fortune-tellers are very good observers of faces, expressions,
and body movements, as well as of kind of clothing worn, care of hands, and so on. They are able to boost their understanding of the person through these things, and I suspect also, some are able to do so through some ability to pick up from other's minds.
Some people are able to do this more easily than others. That's how they can describe someone and it will be a person that the subject recognizes. Sometimes, of course, some of them watch responses carefully and make good guesses.
Sometimes in large gatherings they describe someone and wait to see who will respond, and then they develop their seeming *ability to "see"* the person, further by making good guesses. There are realities, there are tricks, there are intelligent guesses.
There was a horse called Hans that was apparently able to do amazing things. People thought he was more intelligent than humans. He could do mathematics and many other things. Finally careful tests were done and it was proven that
the horse was an acute observer of peoples' slightest movements, and took his cues from them. I'll post the story here in a root article when I get the book.
It's quite a fascinating story about an animal's abilities. I really opens you
eyes to animals! If a horse can do this, of course some people can do it, too.
Especially when they make it their business to earn money that way!
Another frequent problem my friend had was feeling others' painful or distressedemotional feelings. This became stronger when she wasn't well. She lived near
some very big cities, and she thinks that feelings coming from there affected her due to the misery she was picking up on from those cities. She said it was disconcerting to have feelings that didn't belong to her. Someone elses' fear, for
instance. It can be confusing until you get used to it enough to be able to observe and discover what is really yours, and what is coming from someone else. She finally moved to a place where she isn't near any big cities and she doesn't
have the problem any more. She said a person doesn't always know who it's coming from but often enough when its from an individual she's been able to prove the
source through later conversation.
Another interesting experience she told me about was when she clearly smelled new mown hay in January in the depth of winter with no farms nearby. Later she checked and found out that the building attached to the one she was in, just through a doorway and down some stairs, had held horses about a hundred years before, so she concluded that the hay smell was repeating from the past.
That particular house was haunted. Many people who didn't know about the house'
s history or others people's experiences there had their own peculiar and disturbing experiences. My friend who had lived in the house for some years said the
historic old house felt alright, so long as you didn't talk about its oddities while you were inside the house. It was alright to talk about them just outside.
As soon as you did inside the house something like hatred began to aim towards
you and would keep getting stronger. Her husband and a friend also had the same experience.
She told us many interesting stories about that house. Things she was able to double-check and prove that peculiarities actually did occur that had a clear basis in the past. Finally some new owners dug the earth floor in the basement deeper to make a higher ceiling so that they could make a nice room down there. down there. Under the floor they found a skeleton wearing Indian beads. She said
it was so far down that probably the people who first built the house hadn't reached it, and that it was extremely old because of the depth where it was found.
Incidentally, the house is located on a frequently travelled ancient Indian trail where canoes and goods were portaged between two of the Great Lakes to avoid
the Niagara Falls.
One of my own experiences is a good one. It comes through a prayer called
"The Remover of Difficulties" which helps me to know if something is alright or
not, or if it is possible or not. This is always correct for the condition at the time I'm praying the prayer. I'm not sure yet if I know through it further ahead than the present. I'm trying to follow my friends wise lead and observe, to
find out over a long period of time, rather than make any assumptions. I think it's important to respect prayers, so I don't use it to know conditions, but only to ask for assistance for myself or others, when really needed. The feeling from the prayer is always a feeling, and not a vision.
My friend become aware of her experiences when she was in her 20's and says she
didn't have them in childhood. She's now in her 60's. There are certainly
people who are able to foretell. It is a gift of the mind. The experts say that people who use books to tell the future are not among them. People who have this gift often say they will lose it if they take money for what they do. They
begin to *have* to have something to say, because they are being paid for the information, and when it doesn't come to them they begin to make up what to say.
When they make up a story it is a deception. The impurity of lying apparently causesthe closing down of their gift.
I have read that a misused or misunderstood gift of the mind can cause mental
illness, due to the confusion and misunderstanding it causes. People have even
gotten mental problems from looking constantly for even the tiniest occurences of synchronous events. They look at car license plates, and such small things.
That's why even synchronous events shouldn't be sought, only taken as a
general sort of indication.
There certainly are people who can view at a distance. I am not one of them andneither is my friend. But we've both read about it because "distance viewing"
has been used in the U.S. secret service to view protected conditions, at a distance. The experiments of J.B. Rhine and many others since him, using cards, symbols and various things that are automatically popped up with no one else present to see them, have definitely proven that this exists. No one else is present
to see them so that it is not possible to pick up the information from another mind. Tests have been performed with the viewer far away, or in the next room, to determine if distance plays any part. (It doesn't.) Some people have the
ability to say which symbols have come up, in the proper order, in a way that is
far above average.
There are conditions in the earth that can cause "ghostly" experiences to happento people. This also has been clearly documented. There is also a way for a researcher to touch a volunteer's mind with electricity or some kind of power, that causes any of them to experience what are full-fledged ghostly types of experiences, complete with sounds and visions. This is a really strange and interesting phenomenon.
The human mind has many abilities that only occasionally show themselves. These
are being scientifically investigated. For instance, regarding ghosts: It has
been well proven that many ghostly figures that repeatedly go through the same
movements time after time, as seen by many different people, are not ghosts of
the dead. What they are is some kind of imprint on the surroundings. Walls, or
atmosphere, I don't know. It isn't known yet how this occurs. There is a famous
case in England that is still often observed, of marching Roman soldiers, who march on through a wall. When the soldiers actually marched there was no wall there. The imprint continues to "broadcast", so to speak. It is believed that extreme emotion on the part of those whose actions became imprinted is the cause of such imprinting. It has also been discovered that such "ghostly" apparitions
are usually seen in damp, humid areas of the world.
Another strange thing is that apparently when such phenomena are seen often,
they strengthen. When not seen for a long time, they become less and less solid
looking until they may vanish altogether.
It should be remembered that now there are worries that the human brain can affect the increasingly delicate electronic equipment in airplane controls, and there is research going on to produce a barrier.
It has also been found that at certain levels of science (very small) the watcher affects what is being watched. This is a big problem in a certain branch of physics.
There are "ghostly happenings" that involve the movement of objects not touched
by anyone. For instance, objects are thrown around, or hidden. This effect is
known as a poltergeist effect. It is caused by the mind of someone present.
Usually the person is a young person in their teens. They don't know that theirmind is doing it, but it always happens when they are present.
Regarding the I Ching: that is an entirely different kind of thing, it is a kindof oracle and the selection of the guides to the areas in the book to be studied
that are found or brough forward or caused (however you want to put it,) by the
mind of the one using it. A person who uses it only occasionally, under the required conditions of a calm, detached, yet expectant mind, will find that it is
rather uncanny in the excellence of its advice. When used constantly for guidance it will mislead.
Feng Shui is another different kind of thing again. First, it has a lot of wisdom in it that stems from observations about land conditions and the effects they
have on buildings. If you look at how Feng Shui tells you to site your home you will easily see that a steep drop immediately in front, a definite no-no, is bad. Of course it is. A good backing of the right kind of mountain is likely to
be found in an area where a stream or river would run along in front of your house, and such a mountain or rising building or land is also protective in the way winds move. The right shapes of mountains or elevations to either side would also be a cause of best light or wind conditions. The site to be chosen would be
close to water, yet protected from ever being flooded if you pay attention to Feng Shui. Now, buildings and roads are used in place of natural things, but they
cause similar effects. There are arrangements that make people feel uneasy. These are avoided through the use of Feng Shui. Feng Shui isn't superstition unless it is used for certain purposes that aren't like the ones I've suggested here. I suppose it can be used superstitiously.
When certain objects are placed in certain places (such as the south-east cornerwhich is said to be the wealth corner of a room or a house or even on a piece offurniture's S.E. corner,) the person who continues to pay close attention to thetending of these areas has a psychological advantage. That advantage is that
they have their mind subtly turned to the contemplation of gaining wealth, on a
daily basis. This contemplation will cause them thinkingly, and also even unthinkingly. to adjust other things they do that might bring them wealth. These adjustments, expectation and concentration will help them. Not because it's magic
, but just because it's good psychology. The same can be said of all the other
corners that are supposed to be for harmonious family, health, social life, and
so on. I'm convinced a lot of the value of Feng Shui comes from the two above conditions: psychology and the close observation of environments until understanding was well honed. You may also want to consider things like the placement of a
bed in what was explained above about powers of the earth, such as underground water or rivers, magnetic lines of force and other
things having an effect on the human mind. That may be involved in Feng Shui,
too. Your ancient ones were brilliant, you know.
So, dear friends, this is some of what I think about the subject. I wonderwhat you will reply, assuming that some of you will thoughtfully do so. :-)
Warmly, Mary
