Are Psychics for real?

The question of the reality of spirits and psychic ability is a good one. Psychics deliver comfort and hope to a lot of grieving people that their loved ones are safe and sound living on the “other side”. There are genuine times when watching psychics perform when you really feel a sense of bewilderment as to how they could know such intricate details about a person they have never met. Is psychic ability genuine? Can humans really connect with people who have died? To some, the belief that their loved ones are ok in another life is enough to put them at ease and to carry on with their life; if you are one of those people then perhaps deep investigation into physic ability is not for you. But I have a sinking suspicion that most people are genuinely interested in the truth, even if it takes away that security blanket so many hold dear. There is nothing wrong with having hope that we will see our loved ones again, but we should not let hope blind us from deciphering false hope from truth.

Psychic ability is an area where I have done a fair bit of investigation on and would be delighted to share with you what I’ve discovered. Unfortunately if you were looking for conformation or a sense of comfort about life after death I wouldn’t point you in the direction of a psychic. For a long time I was convinced about spirits through an experience I had with an Ouija board. The cup was moving ferociously across the table spelling all sorts of weird words and names. I had barley a finger tip on the glass and I could clearly see my girlfriend at the time also barely touching the glass. This experience led me to believe that there was indeed a “spiritual dimension.” When we have an experience that we cannot explain we tend to latch on to the explanation that is given to us at the time. Once we attach ourselves to a belief it’s very hard for us to let go. It wasn’t until I began looking for other explanations that I found them. Here is a good explanation for how an Ouija board works:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1798/how-does-a-ouija-board-work

As for Psychics, there is a man named Derren Brown. Some of you may have heard of him. He is an illusionist, mentalist and sceptic. His videos are amazing; if you haven’t seen them already I highly recommend them, very entertaining! The reason I’m bringing up his name is because he did a documentary on how easy it is to convince people you are psychic and have special powers. You can watch the documentary for free on YouTube. Here is the first part, keeping in mind Derren does not believe in the super natural nor does he claim to have any special powers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ02I6QyagM

Here is another great video Derren does on spirits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDXQTBUCpYw

After watching these videos I simply could not accept psychics as a valid form of contact to those who are deceased. If a man who claims to have no special powers and attributes Psychic ability to a series of linguist tricks and then goes on to prove this by performing this in front of a live audience. I find little reason to continue to justify psychic ability within my belief system. As much as I would love to believe that when I die I will still get to be with my family, I think the evidence for it is very bleak to nil. Now I am not a materialist by a long shot, there is so much mystery to this world that we don’t understand. I would love to find evidence that led me to hold to the belief that I will see my friends and family again. But ultimately I don’t know, and false hope is not something I’m interested in. I personally would much rather know the truth and live my life according to it.

If anyone is looking for something to comfort them about death I would highly recommend anything by John Shelby Spong or Deepak Chopra. They both have very comforting insightful views and ideas about the afterlife.

Jason