I have a theory about how mediums see things

[RedBonnet]

I was brought up by a medium and saw stuff I know was real, not faked, not reading people etc. I've been to 3 mediums myself, 2 were spot on (one was a Romany) and the 3rd told me the same stuff she'd told a friend a few weeks earlier!
Of the other two, one was exact for all aspects of my life up to that point. Interestingly the future stuff was things I was hoping would happen. None of it happened.

So I believe that they are actually reading minds. Sound mad? No more mad than spirits being real and around us.

Example, she got the genders, ages, and birth order of my kids right. She said I'd work with the public. I was doing my pgce at the time but I didn't go on to teach, or work with the public.

When you go for a reading certain things are at the front of your mind - ill relatives, relationship woes, recently bereavements etc. So a mind reader would pick up on it easily.

So do you think it could be telepathy? That perhaps some people can read minds?

Are animals supposed to be slightly telepathic too? Dogs sensing things etc.

[LizzieVereker]

So do you think it could be telepathy? That perhaps some people can read minds?

No, not in the way that you mean. I do think some people are really skilled at picking up on tiny signals, using common sense and inference, which makes it feel like they can read minds/are psychic. I’m really good at it (but I never do it as it freaks people out, and I’d never suggest that I’m psychic or a mind reader).

[LizzieVereker]

However, I did not foresee that bold fail 😂

[RedBonnet]

Thing is I'm not sure how picking up on tiny or big things can result in the specific and accurate details of what I've heard/seen. I'm convinced it's telepathy because things past were accurate, but the future was what I was hoping would happen. So in my thoughts

[GingerFoxInAT0phat]

If people could read minds everybody would know about it. It would be used in so many professions. They wouldn’t pretend to be a medium.

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

Confirmation bias... we remember the bits that were true.

I had a really freaky experience with a medium once. Told me o would soon move to a country beginning with G. A few days later DH was unforned his job was moving to Germany... But if that hadn't happened, I probably would have forgotten all about that psychic!

[earsup]

i saw one years ago as a friend dropped out....so went along...she told me very specific things with dates and door numbers.....e.g. new house number, staffroom number....the only thing she got totally wrong was about my dad and an illness.

[IncompleteSenten]

No.

Nobody has ever been able to prove any genuine psychic powers under controlled conditions .

James Randi's one million dollar prize has never been claimed.

No psychic has ever been able to demonstrate any ability under proper scientific conditions.

That says it all

[LynetteScavo]

If you were brought up by a medium, how come they never told you how they did what they did?

I paid to see a medium/tarot/card reader/psychic once, purely for entertainment. They were bizarrely spot in about things that had happened in the past, not so great about the future. They did say DH (then my boyfriend) would buy me a car...it took 6 years for that to happen He has bought me several cars over the years though. And that I was drawn to Cardiff. I have been once, I wouldn't say I've ever been drawn there though! And I was probably going to live on an island because I live being surrounded by water. I guess the UK is surrounded by water....

Having said that, they really were spot on about my past so I wouldn't rule out everything as being nonsense. I wouldn't pay again though, it was a great evenings entertainment, but not very useful to be told what I already knew.

They also said I was very academic which my DSis found absolutely hilarious. (I'm not that thick!)

[IncompleteSenten]

Your past is easy. They say something quite general then narrow it down but by bit based on your body language.

[LynetteScavo]

@IncompleteSenten a the woman I saw didn't say general things though, she went for specific things....I think maybe she guessed and got lucky. Saying "you were pregnant earlier this year" to someone in their twenties could just be taking a chance. She also told me how many brothers/sisters I have. Totally useless information, as I was already well aware of how many brothers/sisters I have

[IncompleteSenten]

Then I would guess she either researched you beforehand or got lucky. Say the same stuff to enough people and you're bound to be right sometimes.

Spooky when it happens to you though I expect.

[SmileyClare]

Maybe she Googled your name?

I'm quite intrigued by you saying you were 'brought up by a medium" Was your mum psychic? Did it have a big impact on your upbringing?

[amillionrosepetals]

I don't believe they can read minds, they are just very skilled at fishing for information and also make a lot of educated guesses. I reckon most of them are fakes and know it but there are probably some who have convinced themselves that they are genuine and so can seem very convincing. Animals pick up on things that humans don't notice due to our reliance rely on spoken language, eg assistance dogs can spot minute changes in body language before someone is about to have a fit - they're not psychic just very observant.

[silvercurls]

you should watch Derren Brown, he "performs" as a Medium would do, and is very accurate, but all the while he tells you he does not have any powers, it's all a trick....he never tells how he does it though!!

[RedBonnet]

@LynetteScavo she did tell me, and I watched her work. There was no fishing, no guessing, no researching, no vagueness followed by guessing, no generalisations. She told me messages came into her head. She believed it was spirits. Now I believe it's some form of telepathy.

[RedBonnet]

@GingerFoxInAT0phat

If people could read minds everybody would know about it. It would be used in so many professions. They wouldn’t pretend to be a medium.

Thing is, it isn't 'people' as in all people. It is a very very small number of people. And they know they're doing it, just not 'how' they're doing it.

There's so much we don't know. The power of the mind is completely unknown, but very real. I've watched monks wrap themselves in icy cold soaking wet sheets. Using their minds, they raised their body temperature enough to completely dry the sheets in a couple of minutes. They could also slow their hearts down.

Mind over matter - it does work.
So why not telepathy? Minds use electricity - have you heard of electrical induction? The Hall effect?

[IncompleteSenten]

She could have won a million dollars if she'd got in touch with the foundation then.
All she'd have needed to do would have been go there and do her thing in controlled conditions.

That's all any of them need to do and yet no psychic has ever been able to demonstrate their abilities under scientific observation.

Why do you think that is? The brain stops with the electrical thing if scientists are watching?

[ColouringPencils]

I do find it interesting, and a bit scary. I wouldn't go to see a medium/ psychic myself, but that's because I kind of believe in it but I don't want to know. I don't think it's magic, but something we don't understand. On a few occasions recently, I have had a very strong feeling that something was going to happen to a person I knew and it turned out to be correct. They were all bad things, so I didn't like it and I would not want to tell them!

[Nesbo]

Always amazes me that people are more willing to believe in the paranormal than they are to accept that their version of events may be mistaken.

We are incredibly fallible creature, our recollections can be selective, we can literally ignore something right in front of our eyes and remember things that didn’t happen.

All this is demonstrably true, as in there are experiments showing how it can and does happen, and how ready and open we are to manipulation. And yet, in spite of this, when people believe they have experienced something totally inexplicable and counter to all known science, they give almost no weight to the idea that it is their own recollection and interpretation that is mistaken - almost as if the suggestion is an affront.

I guess it goes to the heart of the idea that if people feel they can’t trust their own senses or their own memories then they feel adrift and uncertain of everything. Better by far to cling to the absolute belief that they are not mistaken - that it must be the universe and all known science that is wrong, and certainly not the lump of grey spongy matter between their ears.

[Cutelittlesquizzer]

If people could read minds everybody would know about it. Quite literally