Indeed, Brian, but I find that many people - usually with little or no religious (or spiritual) inclination - try to account for
everything through `rational, empirical means.' It's as if there's somehow something lost if they even have to admit a caveat that
perhaps there are other factors at work than the immediately obvious, or scientifically explainable. With most folks who speak of faith, or even plenty of New Agers who focus on gnosis and other factors, telepathy becomes much more easily admissible or tenable.
Personally, I think it only makes things
more exciting when we turn to the realm of mystery and the unknown. The uncertainty factor can make even the boldest of us anxious at times, and I have noticed that the children I tutor (6th graders) are exceedingly interested in
ghosts. They are very curious about the subject, but perhaps due to a Hollywood-influenced culture, and a general aura of mystery that surrounds the subject (inherent in the truth?) there is a tendency to be frightened of the very possibility!
We have expressions like
`spooked out,' and we speak of the
hair on the back of our neck standing up. The latter is an actual physiological reaction, and I have noticed it plenty of times, despite what I believe - even as recently as one of the times these 6th graders were being
spooked. Although I am not afraid
per se, I do take note of the physical reaction!
As for telepathy, there have been several experiences I have had which would fall into this category. Some of them fit pretty well into the mystical category as James describes and as per shawn's post. Two of them occurred when I was in college, nearly 20 years ago, within the space of a year or two. One involved a certain type of insight into an object of meditation, wherein my consciousness and that of another person intersected and allowed for an exchange at a very subjective level. This was thoroughly spiritual and mystical, but it also fits into the category of telepathy, and probably others (esoteric or
occult).
Another experience involved this same person, and could be said to be a progression or
2nd part of the former experience. It was exceedingly blissful and revelatory in character, focusing not so much on any specific piece of information, or upon an object of meditation (as in the first experience), but rather upon the other person involved in the telepathy. This immediately became and has remained one of the most convincing, and perhaps life-changing experiences I have ever had, even though it lasted perhaps less than a minute.
A similar experience to this latter occurred, with a different individual and his entire group of students, when I was about 3 years old. This particular experience again involved a type of what I would call
spiritual telepathy, and was fully mystical, at least partially revelatory, and I theorize that its purpose was largely foundational, as it meant very little to me at the time (beyond something beautiful, inexplicable, and - even at 3 yrs old - very personal or private) ... but came to mean a great deal when I remembered it as an adult. It remains one of the most significant events in my spiritual life, largely because of the early age at which it occurred, such that I cannot dismiss it or explain it in the least by what the skeptics call
ordinary, rational causes (including imagination, hallucination, etc.)
. I even believe I have ascertained two of the most significant reasons for why it occurred ... or at least, I know of two reasons
that make sense for me.
The best, most simple and direct example of one form of telepathy that I have experienced is something that occurred with a good friend of mine about 22 years ago. The two of us were not far from my parents' house, out for a drive in a borrowed BMW (belonging to my friend's father), and I was practicing driving. We were in a neighborhood that was under construction, in the early evening after all the workers had gone home, so the place was deserted and offered the perfect opportunity.
It was summer, so we had plenty of daylight, and everything went well. BMWs handle exceptionally well I discovered, though I haven't had a chance to drive one since. Anyway, evening arrived, it got dark, and my friend and I were sitting motionless, talking for a few minutes before I had to go back home. A lull in the conversation crept up, and no one
said a word. It was only natural that a brief pause be left at that juncture, so it was not unusual or awkward, but what happened next
was slightly unusual - at least in my book.
The two of us
continued our exchange, sharing several sentences with each other, back and forth ... and THEN we realized, both pretty much simultaneously as I recall - that
neither one of us had spoken since the silence.
We had continued the conversation, but no one had spoken. It was verbal, I did not
see or visualize a thing. But the words, the sentences, and the meaning were exchanged nonetheless.
This was, as I say, awkward to say the least. In fact, it almost made me
giddy in a sort of sense, but I was somewhat contained once those several sentences were exchanged in silence ... because I was not 100% sure we were - "on the same page." I somehow
knew that what I thought had just occurred had just occurred, but I was not
certain. I had a flicker of doubt, and perhaps only minor frustration that if I spoke, my friend might feel too awkward or weirded out ... and not confirm it. Ah, I should have known him better!
I guess I, too, had a slight hesitation, but I broke the thin layer of ice. It might have thickened, had we hesitated much longer, but within a few moments we had both immediately verified, and certainly confirmed to each other's satisfaction, what had just occurred (if not quite
why or
how). It only took a few moments to say,
Did that just happen? - and ask,
Did you say x? followed by,
Uh-huh, and then you said y, and then you asked z, right? Etc.
This left
no room for question,
no room for doubt,
no possibility that either of us - let alone both - had simply
imagined it. We knew what was up, and it probably meant - assuming that neither of us forgets it - that indeed, both of our lives had been changed, forever. Never again could either of us, in our
right, rational mind, doubt this verified possibility. So, although I haven't spoken to this friend in years ... it doesn't change things in the least. I'm hoping if I ever get a chance to chat with him again
in the flesh, he'd remember and acknowledge this event, as was certainly still the case last time we spoke, some 6 or 7 years ago.
So you see, although this was a very personal experience and exchange, it was all I needed, at 15 or 16 years of age, to know
for the rest of my life - that telepathy most certainly exists ... although I have since (and even prior) experienced many other types of non-verbal exchanges, and read enough about the subject to know that my experiences only cover a small part of the possible spectrum.
Elsewhere at Interfaith I once recounted a
shared dream experience between myself and someone who I didn't really know, which occurred during my undergraduate years at college. This was unrelated to either of the other two mystical-telepathic experiences I've described, but it was just as convincing ... and perhaps a little more so, since I was able to approach this person (awkwardly at first), ask him if he dreamed `yadda yadda,' then feel that familiar, giddy sort of feeling as the accounts tumbled forth from both of us in confirmation.
I would suggest that if we could accurately remember all of the experiences that have ever happened to us which fit under the category of telepathic in some sense ... the list would stretch to several hundred or several thousand lines, perhaps far more than that. Most we would not consider greatly significant, but then, it only takes ONE to prove the possibility - or rule.
