"At the heart of science is an essential tension between two seemingly contradictory attitudes—an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counter-intuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new."

~Carl Sagan (1987)

Professor David Meyers (Hope College, Michigan, USA) invites us to reflect on the basis for our faith or skepticism in extra-sensory perception (ESP).  His research notes that five key British universities have parapsychology units staffed by Ph.D. grads of Edinburgh University’s parapsychology program (Turpin, 2005). Sweden’s Lund University, the Netherlands’ Utrecht University, and Australia’s University of Adelaide are other examples which have added faculty chairs or research units for parapsychology (covering areas of telepathy, clairvoyance and pre-cognition).

However, Meyers also notes widespread research psychologists and scientists, including 96% of the scientists in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, are very skeptical (McConnell, 1991).  Traditional authority groups and organisations tend to resist change because it threatens their power and control, and sense of grounding. 

If ESP is to gain more widespread credibility, we would need to overturn the scientific belief that human minds are grounded in and shaped by the physical world.  Do you perceive your own world based only on physical sensations? Or, do you sense something else?, something deeper?  Preconceptions can be proven invalid.

Consider dreams. Do you think your own predict your future or, maybe keep you tied to the past? Perhaps they only seem to guide you because you believe they do?  You may recall or reconstruct dreams that explain why events have already unfolded.  Some people assume events only seem to happen by chance.  Do human beings only refer to serendipity because their minds are naturally in search of causes?  Tackle the dogma instilled in your mind.  Find ways to transcend it so as to penetrate truth.