Extra Sensory Perception: Do you have it, too?

ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) is something I don’t understand, even though I have instances where I have had it.

What is it that causes us to know things with a certainty that logic dictates we shouldn’t be able to know?

I offer this example:

On a week-long fishing trip with my dad and my uncle, my dad woke me up and said “It’s time to get up. Breakfast is ready, and we’re going to have a great day of fishing.” His last statement caused me to think about what kind of a day he and my uncle would have, and whether or not I should join them. Every fisherman knows that some days of fishing will be better than others, but to flat out state that “we’re going to have a great day of fishing” is impossible to guarantee.

I replied to my dad with the clear thought which came into my mind: “No, it’s not going to be a good day. I will go back to sleep and eat the leftover breakfast, then I will go down to the boathouse and fish for suckers (a type of fish I had occasionally seen there.)

My dad replied something to the effect of “Suit yourself, but you will miss out on a great day of fishing!”

I went back to sleep and later enjoyed eating the leftovers which had earlier been intended for my breakfast.

I was in the boathouse later that morning, and had just started fishing for suckers, when surprisingly my dad and my uncle walked in. That was surprising, because their day was planned to be a whole day spent out on Moosehead Lake fishing for togue and land-locked salmon, and it was still early on a beautiful day. [Trivia: Moosehead Lake in Maine is the largest freshwater lake contained solely within one state in the United States.]

My dad’s first remark was “How did you know we weren’t going to have a good day of fishing?”

I replied that his statement had challenged me to think about what kind of a day they would have, and for some reason it was clear to me that they would not have a good day.

My dad continued: “We have never had such a bad day! We carried everything down from the cabin, rented a boat and a motor, loaded and balanced the boat for a whole day of fishing, started out of the bay and onto the lake, when the motor died. We tried clearing anything that might be plugging the fuel line. We cleaned the sparkplug. Try as we might, the motor wouldn’t start. By then we were one of the last boats headed out to fish, and we had to row the boat back to the dock. By the time we got back to the dock there were no more motors available for rent, and all we could do was unload the boat and carry everything back up the hill to the cabin, and come find you.”

My dad and uncle were wishing they had believed me earlier. It would have saved them all that fruitless effort.

There are said to be people who are clairvoyant, persons who can perceive things which are not normally perceivable. Police have sometimes sought out such persons for hints and possible insights on difficult cases which have the police stumped.

The chances are reasonably good that you yourself have experienced times like the example I mentioned here, a time when you had a premonition, which a religious person might call an inspiration, about some event just ahead which would affect you positively or adversely.

There is a difference between ESP and my dad’s own feeling that “…we’re going to have a great day of fishing.”

A feeling is just that: “today feels as if it will be a good day” or “today doesn’t feel like a good day.”

ESP is different, for if it is truly an extra sensory perception, you somehow know what logic would dictate that you shouldn’t be able to know, as surely as I knew what I wouldn’t be missing out on that "great day of fishing" by going back to sleep and eating a cold breakfast on that beautiful day at Moosehead Lake in Greenville, Maine.

© 2012 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved.