Seeing Things? Part 5 – Reflections And Conclusions

It is possibly because of how psychic abilities are portrayed in movies and television programmes that people develop expectations of being able to see energy or spiritual entities via their physical eyesight, and give their visual experiences prominence over many other ways of interacting with the spiritual world. As a result, confusion can develop over what constitutes a proper “psychic vision”, and many common physical visual conditions can be misinterpreted as having a paranormal foundation.

Throughout this series of posts exploring the main examples of commonly misinterpreted conditions, I’ve been reflecting on the implications of unquestioningly accepting paranormal explanations for visual experiences (beyond the obvious consequences, such as those from ignoring potentially serious physical ailments like a detached retina). I’ve come to the following conclusions:

When we are focused on seeing the spiritual world via our physical eyes, we can shut down our “spiritual sight” rather than opening it. Although psychics in movies are shown seeing spiritual entities external to themselves, it is far more common for people with psychic abilities to see energy and entities via their mind’s eye, which is developed and strengthened by nurturing an internal connection to Source energy.

This connection and the flow of Source energy is blocked when we keep ourselves “trapped” in the physical by looking for external evidence of the spiritual. It is especially difficult to maintain this connection when we become desperate to see signs of the spiritual in the physical world and begin labelling every anomalous visual experience we have as paranormal.

When we stop practicing discernment in spiritual matters we do ourselves a disservice. We can be distracted by “false” paranormal occurrences at the expense of seeing what is really there. Do we really want to be so focused on the face we see in the tree bark that we miss the angel standing behind us? When we allow ourselves to open up to a real and profound spiritual connection, it becomes clear that the types of visual experiences discussed in this series of blog posts are exceptionally poor imitations of the real thing.

Not practicing discernment also has wider implications than those that affect us personally. Not only do we lose our own ability to identify real paranormal occurrences, but, like the boy who cried wolf, we also damage others’ belief and trust in us and in the paranormal itself.

Do you have any further thoughts on the implications of non-discernment in spiritual matters? I’d love to hear them – please leave a comment below!

This is Part 5 of 5 in a series exploring common visual experiences often mistaken for paranormal occurrences. The other posts in the series are as follows:
* Part 1 - Floaters
* Part 2 - Flashes Of Light
* Part 3 - Pareidolia
* Part 4 - Retinal Fatigue & Afterimages

Psi What?!

Academics love definitions (I should know – I used to be one!). While it is sometimes difficult to define something very complex, I thought the following categorisation of Psi by Caroline Watt (from the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edinburgh University) was helpful in outlining the main areas of interest in the field.

The Greek word psyche means mind or soul, and it is therefore no surprise that the Greek letter from which this word springs, Psi, is used by parapsychologists as a catch-all term to describe various phenomena that are unexplainable by current scientific means. Psi encompasses two main categories of phenomena, each of which is further broken down into subcategories:

1. Extrasensory Perception (ESP) refers to the transfer of information between people without the use of any of the five accepted senses. ESP consists of:
1. Telepathy: Communication directly between people’s minds.
2. Clairvoyance: Acquiring information about someone or something from a physical source that is present in the environment yet concealed from sight (for example, information contained in a sealed envelope).
   
3. Precognition: Obtaining information regarding a future event.


2. Psychokinesis (PK) refers to the ability to influence a person or object seemingly using thought instead of any known physical energy form. PK consists of:
1. Macro-PK: Affecting the physical environment on a scale large enough to be visible, such as levitation or bending a spoon.
2. Micro-PK: Affecting the physical environment on a scale that can only be detected by statistical means, such as statistically significant changes in a random number generator that correspond to the intent of the person operating the machine.
3. Bio-PK: Influencing another’s physiology, such as occurs in energy healing for example.