"Psi will not lie down and die; neither will it stand up and be counted." -Trevor Pinch, sociologist of science
So, I'd like to put forth a couple of questions that I've been considering as they relate to the so-called supernatural: Why do we crave proof, and why is it so hard to find? (And by "we" I mean psychics/occultists/magically aware folks, who accept the reality of these things, but may have occasional misgivings.) Let's start with the first question: Why do we crave proof?
I blame, first of all, the materialist bias that we absorb from the culture around us. Most of us are taught as children, and afterwards, that the world operates according to a fairly narrow set of scientific laws. (Never mind that there are some undisputedly real phenomena, like gravity and consciousness, which science has been unable to fully explain, but I digress.) We learn that magic isn't real, that clairvoyance and precognition are impossible, and that the people who believe in these things are dupes and fools. Even if our own families didn't teach us this, materialist culture gives us major bonus for being well, materialist. And the more we pride ourselves on our intellect and discernment, the harder it is to set those things aside, even temporarily. The inner skeptic feels free to beat us up. Proof feels great because it allows us to talk back to him: "No, actually there is something to this stuff. And if you would just shut up for a minute, I'd like to try and figure it out."
The funny thing about this proof, though, is that it's never enough. Research has shown that most people (something like two-thirds) report experiencing at least one unexplained event in their lives. (Forgive me for pulling statistics out of my ass, but I'm too lazy to go look through books for the numbers right now.) This would be, for instance, the time they saw their dead grandfather walk down the stairs, or the time they had a dream that later came true, or the time they were saved from great harm by some supernatural intervention. And yet, if you were to poll the same people about their belief in paranormal or psychic phenomena, you would find that much fewer than two-thirds count themselves as believers.
In other words, although paranormal experiences are quite commonplace, belief in the paranormal still fringe-y. Why? Because it's just so fucking weird that these things happen. Psychic events--the legit, head-scratching ones--require us to question even our most basic assumptions. They can cause seismic shifts in our understanding of matter and space, linear time, cause and effect, and free will. To view a distant or future even is cool and novel, until you think about what it might imply about your world and/or self--then it's perplexing and even disturbing. As humans, we need some stability in way our senses interact with our environment. We're good at rationalizing our assumptions about it. That's why no single unexplained event, no matter how dramatic it seems at the time, is too big to later shove into the folder labeled "Huh" and just get on with business as usual.
Okay, so we can forgive the people who are unable to integrate that "one time" bizarre fluke into a skeptical worldview. But what about those of us who engage with this stuff on a regular basis? Well, that "Huh" folder gets mighty thick. But other than that, I don't really see much of a difference between "us" mystics and "them" muggles. I'm reminded of a time when I was playing a truth-or-dare type board game with some acquaintances. I drew a card that asked the players, "Have you ever had a psychic experience? Describe it." The people playing the game all happened to be professional psychics or dedicated occultists, and a satisfied chuckle went around the room--as if we were hip to some secret knowledge that the rest of the world lacks. In all actuality, we acknowledge strange events, we entertain theories about them, but we still can't adequately explain (or definitively prove), their existence. And in the mundane moments that stretch between the transcendent ones, the doubt creeps in.
I may as well add that the skeptical voice of the overculture isn't the only one a seer has to contend with. Skepticism also comes from magickal education. Many (though arguably not enough) occultists have trained themselves to be relentlessly self-critical, keeping detailed diaries, dissecting results, and attempting to obtain proof of success at one level of practice before advancing to the next. This is undeniably a good thing. And yet, it's very easy to overdo it. Sure, self-delusion is one of the major pitfalls of this work, but mechanization is another one. Magick is not a science. If it was, then you and another practitioner could burn the exact same incense, read the exact same incantation, etc., and get the same results. But you don't and you never will, because there is an extra variable. That extra variable is the consciousness of the magician. And consciousness, as I may have said earlier, is an unexplained phenomena.
The key, I think, is Temperance--mixing that sublime cocktail of right brain juice and left brain juice. Dive into the deep water, but don't forget to come up for air. Perceive now, believe later. And a few other cliches that escape me right now. Uncle Al calls it "the method of science, the aim of religion." A beautiful idea, but it's also, as a lot of smart people have already pointed out, probably a load of bunk--at least the science part. And a very fine line to walk, besides.
Okay.
Now let's move on to proof, and it's apparent elusiveness. Here I'm talking about objective, on-demand psychism. "Oh yeah, if you're so psychic, then what color are my undies?" or "If those cards really work, then why don't you go down to the racetrack and play the ponies?" And so on. Because I think you and me and James Randi can agree that this kind of evidence is very hard to produce. And yet, here I am spending my free time staring into balls and advising you to do the same. Are we crazy or what?
I've got a couple of ideas about this. The first is that human psychic ability is, let's face it, pretty rudimentary. Right now the strongest scientific evidence for it is in the form of statistical aggregates on random guess tests, where large groups of people, taken together, score slightly above probability. Which is intriguing, but far from Hollywood-ready woowoo.
So...human clairvoyance is like the eyesight of bats--it's there for sure, but not our strongest showing. Of course there are some ridiculously talented outliers walking around, but for most of us, that capacity is either lapsed or emergent, depending on whose views on human evolution you buy. (However, what we do possess can be enormously instructive and inspiring, if given time and space to express itself.)
A second reason: It's very difficult to perform psychically in a controlled and quantifiable manner. Think about the psychic experiences that you've had or heard about from others. I'd be willing to bet they share two traits in common: They were probably spontaneous, and they probably relate to people or things with which the perceiver had some emotional connection. There are millions of stories out their about people who have experienced premonitions of danger, crisis apparitions of loved ones, and the like--but no amount of anecdotal material will satisfy the true scientist. Unfortunately, the unconscious (i.e., psychic) mind gets bored to death guessing cards and random numbers. The unconscious mind likes drama. J. B. Rhine, the first to study psi in a laboratory setting, was also the first to notice this tendency. His best-performing subjects would do well for the first couple of runs through the Zener cards, but their scores would drop significantly the longer they sat for this dull task. It would seem that repetitious and emotionally neutral information just doesn't resonate in the human unconscious. In more recent times, researchers have devised studies that try to capitalize on this tendency--using sexual or violent images, for instance, rather than simple symbols--with some positive results. But we're still a long way off from reconciling the strong anecdotal evidence for psi with the rather feeble lab evidence.
A third reason to consider: Some people have argued that there's a kind of limiting mechanism in place. A roadblock that checks our excursions into psychic development, intuition and gnosis. That we're Not Meant to see through the Veil, that doing so might reveal the Sacred Mysteries of the Universe and ruin the Big Reveal Party that the Universe has planned for later. Eh, maybe This one gives off a distinct whiff of eau d'cop-out. It is hard to penetrate into certain forms of knowing. But this may well be attributible to the tendency of humans to cling to illusion, rather than some prudish quality of the Anima Mundi herself. As a hermeticist, I have to believe that it's possible (and desirable!) to eventually uncover all the mysteries of the self and the cosmos. (Although nobody said it was going to be easy.)
Well, this has turned into a whopper of a post, so I guess it's time to append some practical advice, or at least relate this back to scrying. At some point in your practice, whether you're a beginner or not, whether you've had success with scrying before or not, you're going to feel the urge to prove to yourself that it works. (For all the reasons mentioned above, and also for the reason that no smart person want to waste their time on something that doesn't work.) If you read books on psychic development, the authors will usually suggest different exercises and experiments you can do to get some objective feedback on your progress. You can also devise your own.
I don't see anything wrong with this at all. I don't believe that it trivializes the art or anything like that. I think you should guess facedown cards or divine what's in your mailbox today, if that's what it takes to give you the confidence to persist. You can also try just sitting down to scry and asking for a sign. That's worked for me in the past; I find that my crystal isn't adverse to throwing me a bone now and then when I ask. Just don't do this so much that you bore your subconscious or piss off your guardian angel. Validation is addictive and it wears off quickly. It's like no matter how you stuff yourself at Thanksgiving dinner until you swear you'll never eat again, but sure enough you're hungry again on Friday morning. I'm speaking from experience here. During periods of intense spiritual practice, I've observed synchronistic or psychic events on an almost daily basis and it's still not enough to permanently allay the thoughts that I may be losing my marbles. (Ah well, at least I'm acquiring plenty of crystals!) There's always the potential to get too obsessesed or too discouraged, but practice moderation and you'll be fine.
That's about it for my little treatise on healthy skepticism. Until next time, wishing you much love and clear visions!
-M
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