Where does gifted intuition end and paranormal begin?, page 1

I think that what we call intuition is actually the exercise of very basic, primal skills and observations that Humanity has learned to disregard as we have become less dependant on survival skills. These skills include things such as the ability to accurately gauge a person's emotional state or assess the veracity of what they are saying by the tone of their voice and their body language, the ability to assess a situation or an individual in terms of the potential for danger and the use of less obvious factors such as smell in assessing a person or situation.

In contrast, I would define paranormal abilities as skills which are more than assumptions or deductions gleaned through the application of our natural senses and experiences, including those which we have repressed over time.

Allow me to illustrate my meaning through a recent example. A friend of mine was recently tasked with hiring a new staff member for his store. One of the candidates was extremely well qualified for the position and one was less so. However, in assessing the superior candidate, my friend said that he had gotten a "bad feeling" from him. He thought it wiser to "trust his intuition" and gave the job to the less qualified individual. Has my friend exhibited paranormal abilities in assessing this individual? I think not. I think rather that my friend, both knowingly and unknowingly, utilised a range of factors, including some very primal factors such as smell, examination of body language and tone of voice, to form an opinion of this person. Often we do this unconsciously. We take notice of the way a person moves, the way they hold themselves, the way they speak and we choose to either like them or dislike them based on our assessments. Because we often do not recognise that we are engaging in this kind of assessment, we attribute our feelings regarding an individual to "intuition". Some may then take this further and assume that, because they did not consciously evaluate a person, that they possess some form of indirect paranormal ability. Empathy and telepathy are examples of two such abilities which may stem from natural, though misunderstood natural abilities which we all possess but seldom use consciously.

The same may be true of certain precognitive abilities. Again, allow me to illustrate my point through an example. My family owns some land in a remote area of Australia. One day, a local Aboriginal elder told me that it would rain later that afternoon, even though the day was bright and sunny. When it later did rain, I thought that surely here was an example of a paranormal ability - this man's spiritual connection with the land had given him precognitive insight into the weather. It was a sobering lesson when the elder informed me that he noticed the presence of certain birds and animals which, through experience and observation, he knew gathered together when rain was imminent. He also told me that he had felt the atmospheric pressure dropping steadily over the day, an ability he had honed over many years of life in the bush and one which was hardly paranormal in nature.

Intuition concerning experiences and situations can often be equally explicable. Is it any wonder when you walk down a dark street at night that you get a bad feeling? Is this some form of paranormal ability, or is it merely basic survival instincts guiding your actions and decisions? If a mother leaves her child alone and then gets a bad feeling that their child needs them, is this evidence of a paranormal link between mother and child, or is it simply maternal instincts that have held sway over Humanity for 200 000 years?

Truly paranormal abilities would involve obtaining information in ways which were wholly impossible to accomplish through natural means. For example, if I encounter a stranger and think to myself "I've got a bad feeling about this guy", we can reasonably put this down to intuition, which I believe is a combination of unconscious evaluations using a variety of means and senses. But if I look at the same person and somehow know their name, history, or other pertinent facts about them that I have no way of knowing beforehand, this may be an example of a paranormal ability. In the same way, if a mother leaves a child with a babysitter and later develops a bad feeling, or a feeling that their child needs them, and then returns home to discover that the house is on fire, this may be a combination of extreme intuition born of maternal instincts and coincidence. However, if the same mother was out and suddenly declared that she had to return home because her house was on fire, then this is more likely to be a manifestation of paranormal abilities.

I hope this has helped to address your question somewhat, loam. There is a fine line between intuition and the exercise of paranormal abilities. They share many features in common - both are ill-defined and are often used unconsciously - and more study is needed into the application of both, to better assess their veracity and examine their applications.