15 - ESP Test It Yourself

Who has ESP? We have already answered that question by theorizing that extrasensory perception may be an evolutionary remnant in all of us which has become inhibited by our cultural pattern. Our modern world presents us with a complexly structured existence that depends on the five senses with their more reliable and biologically more useful data for effective functioning. Nature may be suppressing our "psi" abilities in favor of sense perceptions. "Psi" phenomena appear to be products of the unconscious, and the person with high ESP abilities is seldom able to tell the researcher anything at all about how they work or even when they work.

Over the past several years, however, parapsychologists have been able to make some generalizations about certain factors which have been shown to accompany success in ESP.

A belief that ESP exists and that he can control or exercise certain aspects of "psi" phenomena is essential, it seems, for a subject to perform well in any kind of parapsychological testing.

Contrary to a popular notion among laymen, intelligence has little connection to paranormal ability. There is no conclusive evidence to indicate that either high or low intelligence contributes to one's ESP prowess.

Neither is it the "odd" or poorly adjusted members of society who most often demonstrate high "psi" abilities. As a matter of fact quite the contrary is true. Those who are well-adjusted socially and who are possessed of an extraverted rather than an introverted personality are the ones who consistently score higher in ESP tests.

Current research indicates that manifestation of ESP abilities are extremely widespread in the human population, existing in nearly everyone, and evidencing themselves in an occasional dramatic incident in perhaps one-third or more of the population.

In laboratory testing, parapsychologists have noted that the emotional and intellectual attitude of the subject is of great importance. The most outstanding subjects have an intense interest in attaining a good score, a high belief that they can achieve such a score, and a continuing self-confidence in their psychic abilities.

If you are a firm believer in ESP but have never had the opportunity to be tested by a parapsychologist, there are a number of simple tests which, with the aid of a partner, you can perform in your own home. If these tests are performed correctly, they may help you to convince yourself of the existence of your own "psi" abilities.

Using The Esp (Zener) Cards To Test For Telepathy And Clairvoyance

The Zener cards, which Dr. J. B. Rhine and his colleagues use at Duke University, are quite easily obtainable. As previously described, the Zener cards consist of five easily recognizable geometric designs.

As a friend is thoroughly shuffling the cards, number a sheet of paper from 1 to 25. After the cards have been shuffled, hand the paper to your friend so that he might keep a record of your choices. Either turn your back to your friend and the cards or leave the room.

At an unspoken sound signal (i.e. a finger snap, the ringing of a bell), proceed to "guess" each card as your friend takes it from the pack. Your "agent" must record both your choice and the correct geometric design beside the corresponding number on the sheet of paper. It is important that you maintain an attitude of complete calm throughout the test. Remember to relax and allow your subconscious to provide the choice. Conscious thinking will only block your ESP processes.

When you have named all twenty-five cards, have your friend total your correct choices and compute your percentage of accurate guesses. Chance or normal probability will be five correct choices out of twenty-five. If you, as the percipient, have named more than five cards correctly, you have performed better than the laws of chance allow.

In testing for telepathy, the agent looks at the card as he gives the signal to make a new choice. To test for clairvoyance, the agent must not look at the card until after he has signaled the percipient to make his guess. In either test, the results of the run must be recorded.

If Zener cards are unavailable, an ordinary pack of playing cards can be used with a few simple alterations. Remove the four face cards of each suit and discard the remainder of the deck. You will then have sixteen guesses to make instead of twenty-five, and you will make your choice of suit - Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts - instead of geometric design. Again, your friend must record your choices on a sheet of paper. This time, normal probability would allow you four correct guesses before any evidence of ESP can be claimed.

Tuning In Your "Mental Television"

To update the experiments of author Upton Sinclair with his wife's "mental radio," you can have a friend co-operate in determining whether or not you can tune in your "mental television."

Without your knowledge of then: subject matter, have a friend cut out a number of pictures from some magazines, probably half a dozen to start with. For best results these pictures should portray scenes of action and high emotional impact. A photograph of a burning building, an accident victim, and, lest we should be considered morbid, a happy child running in a meadow with a frisky puppy. Such photographs are readily obtainable among the news, features, and advertisements in any weekly newsmagazine.

While your friend acts as agent in one room, lie down on a couch or slouch in an easy chair in an attitude of complete relaxation. This experiment will take a good deal longer than the card-guessing tests, and both you and your agent should be prepared to exercise a considerable amount of patience.

No outside distractions should clutter up your concentration, and if you should decide to attempt this test on an evening when your friend has to catch a bus in an hour, you would be best advised to forget it for that night. Again, you, as the percipient, must not think! Conscious levels of your mind may feel obligated to exercise imagination in an earnest attempt to "guess" the subject matter of the photograph. You must learn to silence your sincere, but uninformed, levels of upper mind and allow your transcendent self to provide you with an accurate image of the photograph on which the agent is concentrating.

When you feel that a true picture has been formed in your mind, either jot down a description of the photograph or attempt your own sketch of the target material. Both the percipient and the agent must record the image at a previously agreed upon time of transmission.

This test may also be accomplished with free hand sketches, the agent originating the drawings and the percipient attempting to duplicate the sketch while in another room.

Testing For Extra Ocular Vision

Weekly newsmagazines will once again provide all the tools necessary for the testing of your EOV. Choose either covers or inside illustrations that have large areas of printed color, the brighter the better. Run your fingers over the spots of color and try to determine whether or not you can distinguish an individual "feeling" for each color. Next, attempt to distinguish the colors while blindfolded.

You may be surprised to discover that one color may feel "sticky," another may feel "cool," and another may feel ridged or coarse. With practice, many people have become quite adept at "feeling" colors while blindfolded. Be certain that each color has been printed on the same texture of paper. Taking all samples from a single issue of a "slick" news weekly should provide maximum textural uniformity.

Parapsychologists have long observed the high incidence of ESP in children. Children have not yet acquired rigid patterns of thought and behavior and tend to exercise rather than suppress their paranormal abilities.

In the Netherlands, Miss Nicky Louwrens, under the supervision of Dr. W.H.C. Tenhaeff, director of Utrecht's Parapsychology Institute, conducted a card guessing experiment with 1,188 Dutch children and their school-teachers. Her accumulated evidence seems to demonstrate what so many parents had already guessed thousands of generations ago: young children, especially those in the four-to-six age group, can do a remarkable job of reading grownups' minds. Average scores in card runs of twenty-five ran as high as fifteen hits, or 60% correct. Normal probability would allow only five hits per run, or 20% correct.

In 1937, Dr. Raleigh Drake of Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, investigated an eleven-year-old boy who was both mentally and physically retarded. When the boy's mother sat by his bedside and urged him to guess the cards that Dr. Drake held behind a screen in another room, the lad averaged 13.8 hits per run, then 21 hits per run, and finally attained a run with a perfect score of 25.

In 1936 two female researchers from Duke University conducted a test in a children's home and gave the children candy as incentive to co-operate in the experiment. Jokingly, one of the researchers announced that she would give a fifty-cent piece to any child who managed a perfect score. A girl named Lillian made 23. When the experimenters returned to the home, Lillian kept a promise that she had made and accomplished a perfect run of 25 hits.

You may find it interesting to test your child's ESP as well as your own. Zener cards, an ordinary pack of playing cards, or attractive pictures clipped from a magazine will all serve the purpose quite well. In the child's case, however, it would be best to have a duplicate set of the targets which you are using in the test. This is generally quite effective in working with the very young, because agent and percipient are each able to have a set of the cards in front of him. Also, I would recommend using only five cards instead of twenty-five. Here is a working procedure which you may follow, or, you may improvise one of your own.

Set your child at one end of the table with five cards face up before him, then, after erecting some sort of screen between you, seat yourself at the other end. Explain to the child that you want him to guess which card you are looking at whenever he hears you snap your fingers. Remember, the signal must not be a spoken one. Instruct him to look carefully at the cards before he tells you which one he thinks you are thinking about.

After you have snapped your fingers or given some other sort of unspoken sound signal, concentrate on one of the five cards placed face up in front of you. When the child tells you his guess, record whether or not it was a hit or a miss. Repeat the procedure five times for a complete run. As before, five hits are within normal probability. If your child should hit ten or more, control your excitement, but praise him and encourage him to try to do better on future "guessing games." Above all, do not tire him or bore him with the procedure.

These experiments may be attempted many times over - the more sessions, the better. Keep accurate records and average your scores together. Encourage friends with similar interests to engage in the experiments along with you. Compare your results. You may find that you possess your own private entryway into lie world of ESP.