Buddhism does have its own grifters – usually they’re selling protection from evil spirits or exorcisms. Some promote themselves in the West – usually a version of directing Chi (really just an exotic version of “use your psychic powers against your enemies and to get laid”, generally there’s a claim that this powers have been proven by science and often a rather flashy “The Secret” style video these days). Personally I’ll stick with kung fu movies – the special effects are better and the actors are usually cuter.

Mystical psychics beliefs are protected by the constitution as religious beliefs and practices. If you disallow them to practice openly their faith, you would in all fairness need to disallow all religious practice. There are many Atheists and Scientific Materialists who would think that is a good idea, but you would have difficulty enforcing it.

That is why, in response to this particular article, I decided to replace the word psychic with the word mystic, which I use to describe believers in dualism, like Buddists.

My own explanation for what is being experienced by believers in dualism is purely my own supposition, with no solid evidence for or against. In other words, an educated guess.

Also, your contention that psychics have helped in police work, for examples, is plain baloney. I’ve been in that business most of my life and the only “evidence” of any effective assistance comes from the psychics themselves, and always after the fact.

To say, as you just did again, that “psychics are as likely or unlikely to be honest as any other group of people” is to be pulling words out of you know where, as just making the claim of having such ability will be either a lie or based on self-delusion.

Scientists are as interested in documenting any such ability as you might be, but after many such attempts, any credible evidence of such abilities has not been forthcoming. Those who claim otherwise are invariably discovered to be either dupes or liars.

You can equivocate by referring to “mystics” as an alternative, but the same considerations apply.

I have in fact worked closely with “professional” psychics, including gypsies and the like, to learn their methods, and without the use of fraud and deception, none would have any more success in discerning someone’s past or predicting their future than any other perceptive or intuitive human.

They are essentially thieves and any semblance of honor in or among them is notably absent.

If you ever go to a professional psychic you will note that they have a disclaimer that states that the reading is for entertainment purposes only. That doesn’t proclude them being true pyschics, but it does protect them from litigation.

I mention the fraud of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny that is a lie told to children, who tend to be more gulliable and vulnerable then adults. However, no one is outraged at the people who make money off of these children’s faith in these lies.

Professional Psychics entertain adults, usually considered less gullable and vulnerable then children. A real professional psychic is taught to should never tell a person if they intuit or see in the cards, or whatever other system of discernment they employ, some grave disaster, like the person’s emanient demise, but rather to just provide comforting, uplifting information to such a person.

That is one of the ethical codes that real professional psychics are taught to uphold. It involves lying to a person. But to cause emtional distress for no good purpose is much worse then lying to provide comfort and happiness. That is what I meant in that regard.

Being wrong about information is what I address in the concept of the psychic sense just being a residual sense, like the tail bone in humans. It is no longer needed, so most of us only have that bit of precognition that we pay no mind to usually. That is why psychic information is so lacking in detail and consistency. That is why it really isn’t all that useful.

That said, I found fault with those who would deride the Buddist monk for using scientific terms to explain his position. If he had used a more mystical vocabulary his target audience, the scientific community, would not have understood him at all, most likely.

So you see I really don’t agree with him totally, but I respect his opinion, and understand why he may think the way he does due to the seemingly otherworldly nature of the mystical (psychic) experience. I then point out the fact that most mystics and psychics aren’t scientists or trained in scientific methods.

They see their inward experiences as something outside the realm of the physical world, more ethereal, with its own existence, outside of the individual physical body.

I see it more as a product of the individual human brain (mind), ending when that brain or mind ends, not having an existence of its own that continues after the person’s physical death.

I think that is what the debate is about. Am I wrong?

Not totally honest? The dishonesty, which you pretend not to know, is that these alleged psychics are “totally” lying about having any such ability at all.

Or are you saying that since dishonesty is rampant in society, it’s no big deal that people lie about psychic abilities?

And how can it be that if there are those who have such abilities, none of them have ever come forward to denounce the frauds who sell fake readings for a living?

And how can it be that no psychic who advertises that fact has ever agreed to have that ability tested under controlled conditions?

In your case, of course, these are largely rhetorical questions, since people who believe in and defend psychics have an almost desperate need to hang on to those beliefs.

There is no concern for the health of people so labeled or for their safety from members of society who are desperate for help against sickness, death and social injustices. Think of the movie ET. No one would want to be him.

Someday I hope psychic abilities will be as understood as the workings of the more common senses like vision, hearing and smell. However, I do not think that they will be as harnessable and useful to modern society as most would like to think. I think we already have and will have in the future, machinery and scientific devices that make psychic senses unnecessary.

I believe that precognition is an ancient personal alarm system wired into the human to help protect him from danger in a dangerous world. Now we have more protection from these dangers and thus less need for precognition to survive. Also, today society really encourages us to not follow hunches or troubling feelings of impending doom. We all just shrug them off and say we are being silly. Why? We don’t want to seem foolish, childish or worse yet to be proven wrong. Perhaps if psychic premonitions were more consistently correct or more precise they would have been prized above other methods of ensuring safety and security.

Think of the little toe and how it is so small on modern man due to the changes in lifestyle. Or even more evident the residual tail that we all have and some are even today born with outward remnents of which can be removed for esthetics. That is most likely what psychic abilities are.

I find it interesting though that scientists focus so much on psychics who are not totally honest instead of realizing that dishonesty is rampant in all of society. Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, heaven, voices of comfort from the grave: all there to provide a layer of kindness and justice in an unkind and unjust world. Most adults realize that is all it is, and no outrage at all.

When you start studying people you are bound to find science not totally up to snuff. In fact that is the problem. No plants or other animals or minerals study people. People study people. That makes it difficult for all the reasons that psychics are derided. They are just people, and most if not all, are not scientists or trained in scientific methods. Further, there is really no incentive for anyone to subject themselves to scientific inquiry. There is everything to loss as an individual and nothing to be gained. That is because their experiences are not consistent. They may have numerous psychic experiences or just one in their entire lifetime. They may guild the lily or just ignore or hid their abilities or experiences. They already know they will not be respected or admired by scientists. They will always be suspected of deceit or fraud.

In other words, science should look to the study of brain function in humans to find answers to questions of psychic abilities or esp. I think the ultimate answers lie there.