I Am Dude wrote on Jun 2nd, 2017 at 10:30pm:Perhaps look at it this way. If ESP is a legit possibility for accessing information, and ESP does not depend on contacting spirits, then the possibility exists that what we believe to be channeled messages are actually being accessed through an ESP which is not from spirits.
But if information is accessed via ESP, why does that assume to mean it's not
from a spirit?
Again it just seems like semantics. What kind of route of accessing information from a spirit would be real to you since you don't like calling it ESP? Is it the idea of ESP that seems "less than" to you?
I personally don't use the term ESP. I use terms like nonphysical perception and psychic ability, but these are just umbrella terms for many types of ways of perceiving.
Do you see these terms differently or do they mean the same to you as ESP?
On the side topic you bring up of the possibility of deceptive spirits, just because some information can be false, it doesn't negate that other information is real. I think the real disagreement we're in is the "half glass empty" notion. I see the half glass full, the positive.
The positive for me is that as a person who is psychic, it's true that I don't get everything right, but what I do get right is outstanding. It's also true that I am not able to be psychically aware of everything. But what I am aware of is outstanding. It's outstanding to have any form of psychic ability. It's truly remarkable.
So yes, I guess I see your "half glass empty" point Dude. Some people are frauds, some get things wrong, some get deceived, etc.
But I'm still very happy on my side of the fence, where I know what I know through my own direct experience. I've had such amazing experiences, including contact with the dead, with validation and verification and proof beyond doubt.
I wish you well in your search for whatever it is that your beliefs are leading you to. You may not find what I've found and that's ok. I don't judge what that may be. I say to each his own.
I honestly just wanted to know why Don was so adamant about pressing this continued debate of his. Although, I see now that you and Don don't want to "debate" it. You just want to talk about it a lot. Seems boring to me. I say that not as an "attack", seriously I don't mean that.
What I mean is that I have been psychic since I was very young but my parents didn't understand it. Of course as a small child you don't have the proper words or know-how to explain this kind of stuff. But even as I grew up I was surrounding by people who couldn't understand my interests and they were not willing to believe it...mostly due to religious beliefs, such as a Christian co-worker telling me to "be careful of the devil's work. She thought psychic ability was the devil's work. I don't understand that, but like I said, to each his own.
So as a adult I've stuck with my desire and beliefs, and have studied and practiced and developed my psychic abilities. No, I'm by no means a great psychic. I don't call myself "a psychic". But my point is I've learned more than I could have imagined.
And you're right...this isn't my thread so this isn't about me. I am done chiming in my take on things. I just wanted to add my 2 cents in since other people who don't post will be reading this conversation and they may find my take on it interesting.