Audio Podcast: Being Psychic (Blog)

[Erin Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Erin Pavlina's blog:

Audio Podcast: Being Psychic

[Sindre]

This is a scary podcast!! But interesting, really enjoying it so far!

[supertom]

i am soo going to get the reading done, as soon as i get the money lols, Interested to know what my life purpose is.

[Love]

I really like the sound of your voice. I feel more connected to the material you are discussing when I can actually hear you. It was a very nice experience. Thank you!

[Erin Pavlina]

yeah, I enjoy expressing myself verbally. I do think it adds an element of connection if you can hear my voice and not just read my words. Now that Steve has this great new recording device I can see us doing more of this sort of thing.

[wolfgang]

thank you guys for the podicast!

got it on my non-ipod for the commute and listened to part over lunch.

Wild that hitting your head on the third eye was at the same time the psychic-ness started up. If I wack myself there will I be able to do readings? just kidding.

I didn't know the American Indians used to cut there skulls open on the third eye spot. Is that what you said? That's a scary idea that I remember a documentary on people that where literally putting a hole in their head to open them up. googled: trepanation

[Dan.Linehan]

Great podcast guys! Really enjoyed it.

[Spartan]

I'm afraid I starting drifting off whilst listening to this.

Erin, you are either:

1) Completely delusional, 2) An exceptionally gifted pathological liar, or 3) You're actually experiencing things most philosophers and scientists would dismiss as impossible.

I don't think you're 3) and you don't sound like 1). That only leaves 2). However, I don't believe you are 2) either.

I believe that you really believe what you're saying is the truth. I'm not implying it isn't, I'm just stating that I don't believe you're purposely deceiving people.

You mentioned an incident which involved you receiving a hard knock on the head when you were 4 years old. Just a thought, but perhaps that knock on the head you received didn't result in you having psychic powers? Perhaps it made you crazy!?

I'm sure you will assert that 3) is true, however I am unable to disregard my rational belief system because of someone's personal anecdotes. Sorry.

[wolfgang]

But isn't it fascinating to think it's possible?

Science is befuddling over quantum mechanics - why should the behavior of the quantum particles not also be possible for humans? That is a big assumption science makes.

[RTF671]

Originally Posted by Spartan

I'm afraid I starting drifting off whilst listening to this.

Erin, you are either:

1) Completely delusional, 2) An exceptionally gifted pathological liar, or 3) You're actually experiencing things most philosophers and scientists would dismiss as impossible.

I don't think you're 3) and you don't sound like 1). That only leaves 2). However, I don't believe you are 2) either.

I believe that you really believe what you're saying is the truth. I'm not implying it isn't, I'm just stating that I don't believe you're purposely deceiving people.

You mentioned an incident which involved you receiving a hard knock on the head when you were 4 years old. Just a thought, but perhaps that knock on the head you received didn't result in you having psychic powers? Perhaps it made you crazy!?

I'm sure you will assert that 3) is true, however I am unable to disregard my rational belief system because of someone's personal anecdotes. Sorry.

Science thought the Earth was flat and only 4000 years old about 200 years ago. And much still is being discovered.

However, I respect what you believe but I do encourage growth of it, in any direction that pleases you.

[Erin Pavlina]

Those are the only three assumptions you could come up with?

I think if you stretch yourself you can come up with at least 5 or 10 more. Try it and get back to us.

[Spartan]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

Those are the only three assumptions you could come up with?

I think if you stretch yourself you can come up with at least 5 or 10 more. Try it and get back to us.

Ok, 4) You are partially delusional. In the sense that you function like a normal person, but you have this delusional belief that you're psychic. What you think are 'out of body experiences' are in fact lucid dreams.

You consider accurate predictions as proof of your psychic abilities, reinforcing your delusion, and disregard evidence that contradicts this belief.

In actual fact, when you make a prediction about uncertain future events which turns out to be true, it is not proof of your psychic abilities, it is merely evidence, most likely it's just a coincidence. When you make a prediction about uncertain future events which turns out to be untrue, it is not proof that your chakras were blocked, it is evidence that you don't have psychic abilities. I would guess that if you made a long list of predictions about future events that had more than 2 possible outcomes, you would be wrong more than half of the time. This could be considered strong proof that you don't have psychic abilities.

[Fullcrum]

Spartan, I'd simply recommend that you spend some money, get a reading, and have it truly dispelled once and for all. If you listened to the recording, you'll hear their takes on doubt and scepticism.

So I recommend trying on beliving that this stuff is possible for a month or two, attempt to develop it with all your knowledge, and then leave and look from the outside. Isn't that the true skeptical viewpoint? As you may know, ANYTHING viewed from the inside is different from viewing it from the outside. And since this isn't a murder cult or something, you minus well go inside and try it out for a bit.

That idea is probably one of the biggest shifts I've ever made from reading Steve's stuff. Doubt your own doubt.

[Dan.Linehan]

There are plenty of people around with amazing talents.

Daniel Tammet, for example.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Spartan

I'm sure you will assert that 3) is true, however I am unable to disregard my rational belief system because of someone's personal anecdotes. Sorry.

You sound like me when I first met Erin.

Take note that I've had many similar experiences, so by you're own admission you're voluntarily visiting the website of someone you think is either a liar or crazy. And you've been doing this for quite a while. Yet you refer to yourself as rational. No insult intended by my pointing this out, but this doesn't seem like very rational behavior to me.

Alrighty then...

[Steve Pavlina]

It's unfortunate that people believe psychic senstivity is an extraordinary ability. I think it's really a natural ability we all possess to one degree or another, but most people haven't developed it much.

Consider how much training we get for our other senses. From a young age we're taught to identify patterns in our fields of vision, hearing, smell, taste, and tough. We learn to distinguish hot from cold, yellow from green, "hello" from "goodbye." We spend years learning language, art, music, etc.

We put a tremendous amount of time into training our senses to distinguish patterns.

Imagine what life would be like if we never did this. We would be able to sense some patterns that happened often enough, like the sights and smells of food, but we would lose a great deal more, including music, art, language, and technology. Without such learned patterns many achievements would be impossible.

This is the sad state in which most of us leave our psychic senses. We never bother to train and develop them and to recognize patterns. The input channel is still there, but since it seems to broadcast little more than static, we learn to tune it out like background noise. This isn't the fault of the channel -- it's due to our own lack of training.

The good news is that many psychics have written books to help train other people. You can find out what worked for them and try their methods. This doesn't mean their methods are "true" per se (such as learning the chakra system). It just means some people have found them effective for training purposes.

Hiring a psychic for a reading is really no different than hiring a business consultant for your business. If you run a business, you're surely capable of making your own decisions, but every once in a while you may want to get insights from someone who has superior experience in a particular area. So you hire someone whose senses are more attuned to seeing problems and solutions in a field of input where you see only complexity and noise. You're both looking at the same input, but the consultant may see patterns that you cannot discern.

I think many people are apt to dismiss psychic development because they see it as too much work. It's akin to trying to learn verbal language. It IS a lot of work, but it can also be very rewarding. As Erin and I noted in the podcast, life gets a lot easier when you learn to tap your intuitive senses.

[ns123]

Spartan,
You've posted to this forum quite a bit. If you think Erin is either a liar or a lunatic, why do you keep coming back?

(not directed to spartan)
I really enjoyed the podcast. Especially the part about listening to your intuition.

The thing I want to know is, how can you tell from the difference your intuition talking and your fear talking? Feel free to put this question in it's own separate thread.

It seems funny, but everything the both of you write, is always what I need to hear exactly when I need to hear it. I always come away from your blog posts with something that relates directly to me. Thanks for that.

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

The good news is that many psychics have written books to help train other people. You can find out what worked for them and try their methods.

What was most effective for you when you started out?

I've done some automatic writing, but that's about it. I thought I was about to have a heart attack the one time I almost Astral projected, it was funny hearing you say it terrified you too.

[Ninja]

If I did not have at least a whole swat team of angels/guides/what-not watching over me, I would have died *digs through memory* four times by now. Twelve if you also count situations that were extremely dangerous, but which I could have survived (likely with major injuries), had 'something' not been urging me to stay home from school/work, take a left rather than a right, not get on the train, ect.

I swear the cosmos is near a nervous breakdown by now.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

What was most effective for you when you started out?

Getting a psychic girlfriend.

Seriously, starting with lucid dreaming was the first step for me. Erin taught me a lot, and I also learned from reading Stephen LaBerge's two books, Lucid Dreaming and Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. Learning to lucid dream was a very consciousness-expanding experience. It really changed how I viewed reality.

From there I went on to learn about astral projection, which seems to be a close cousin of lucid dreaming, but I never really got competent at doing it consciously. However, as I read more about it, I began to experience it involuntarily. A fascinating book on the subject is Far Journeys by Robert Monroe.

I still lucid dream and astral project every once in a while, but not as frequently as I did when I was really trying. AP still scares the hell out of me whenever it happens, usually because I'm constantly pursued by demons and such things. Due to the nature of my work, I don't think I'm too popular in the demon world, so whenever I go astral, they all seem to come after me.

The scariest stuff I've ever experienced has been on the astral plane, like beings that can reach inside you, paralyze you, and do nasty stuff to your energy. On the bright side, it makes everything on earth seem pretty tame and non-threatening by comparison.

Erin, on the other hand, is a kick-ass astral warrior. The demons are scared of her. When she was learning AP in high school, she had a great mentor who taught her how to defend herself, such as by making light swords.

When I try to make a light sword, the demons just laugh at me.

[Erin Pavlina]

Actually to add to what Steve just said... when I used to date guys in college most of them ended up having some unwanted paranormal experiences around me. I remember one guy actually broke up with me because too many scary things were happening to him and he couldn't deal with it. Steve is stronger than he realizes but he hasn't had enough experiences to really get into it too much.

[Spartan]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Take note that I've had many similar experiences, so by you're own admission you're voluntarily visiting the website of someone you think is either a liar or crazy. And you've been doing this for quite a while. Yet you refer to yourself as rational. No insult intended by my pointing this out, but this doesn't seem like very rational behavior to me.

Alrighty then...

I guess I must be crazy too!

Erin, I would love to meet someone like you in RL so I could challenge them with the task of inducing a paranormal experience in me. I suspect they would get extremely irritated by my supposed lack of a third eye!

[Erin Pavlina]

Skeptics are pretty good at shielding, so in one sense you should be proud. You're probably not that susceptible to psychic attack or drain. I learned a long time ago not to b