You're Doing It Wrong!

Four years ago, my deceased father, speaking through a psychic, told me that I was a natural writer, and that I have to write every day. It’s like exercise, he said. Without writing, my mind atrophies just like a body would without exercise, although it will still function reasonably. I had never revealed to the psychic that I was a writer. I was an engineer and looked like it, but I was a writer nonetheless.

I took the advice mildly. After all, she could have been lucky. But there was the fact that she was in an audience of about 30 people. She’s reasonably successful, so she has a reputation to uphold. No one, including me, ever said anything she said was wrong. She came right out with me being a writer without being vague.

I look back at the last four years and realize that it’s true. I was so much happier, and my mind so sharper, when I was writing every day. I’d largely forgotten the advice until just a half hour ago. I have been developing my “road map” of my series of science-fiction novels, but not writing. During this time, I don’t feel my mind has been very sharp.

Well, in the words of some of my friends from the left coast, “You’re Doing It Wrong!” Now, even if I’m not “ready” to write something, I will either write something that I am “ready” for, or simply write the stuff I’m not “ready” for, hoping that I will still be able to use it.

Ten years ago, a psychic (this time one-on-one) told me something about my past that was specific and dramatic. You’ll have to take my word for this one, because this is something not to be shared. It is something that very few people experience.

And then she told me that I would be wealthy, and that August would be a good month for me. This was 1999, the heyday of the tech boom, and I had just joined a start-up. Start-ups like this one were getting bought for obscene amounts of money. Well, August came and went, and there was no money. I was soon reminded by others that psychics don’t really have a specific time-horizon. I looked back at what she said, and I realized I had inferred a lot. She didn’t say what year, and she didn’t say I’d become wealthy specifically in August. Still, I really felt the implication was that specific year. The start-up that I had joined ended up going bankrupt.

As I look back now, I realize that August of 1999 had been a good month for me, after all. That was the month I had gotten to know a colleague, without whom, I firmly believe, I would not have gotten my next two positions at start-ups.

From those start-ups, I earned enough money to allow me to quit my career as an engineer and write fiction full-time. But I don’t think I’m done acquiring wealth. More will come as a result of writing the fiction full-time (keep a positive attitude!), still all a result of August of 1999.

Most people I know don’t believe in psychic ability because they say it goes against all western science. They’re just plain wrong.

One specific example is the remote viewing program of the military, where people can actually see what is going on in real time in a remote location. The military has actually executed successful missions because of this.

Very recently, I saw a 60 minutes piece where scientists are beginning to learn how to read people’s minds by detecting brainwaves in an MRI. No wires. They haven’t gotten very far, but they’re getting there, and one of the limiting factors is computer processing power. Our brains have far more processing power than computers.

Now I’d be surprised if the psychics I’ve mentioned here had been reading my thoughts. My experience didn’t suggest that.

However, a blanket statement that psychic ability does not have a foundation in western science is just plain wrong. Before there was such a foundation, how could anyone be certain that western science simply hadn’t discovered it yet? Such thinking defies logic yet people are not logical.

Humans have a tendency to close their minds to possibilities and real evidence that challenge their world-view. It’s uncomfortable to believe that your world-view is not correct, because if it’s not then the world is dangerous in unpredictable ways. We want predictability, and when things go wrong (even minor things like the recent financial crisis), when the foundation we’ve built our lives on (401k retirement) crumbles, we get traumatized. This sense of predictability is not a bad thing—without it we would be less willing to take risk.

Religion serves that purpose and brings certainty to an uncertain world. It doesn’t matter if it’s *right*, just that it serves as a model for us to live our lives and make decisions. Strict atheism is a form of religion when seen from this perspective—if western science has not *proven* something to be the case, then it cannot be.

We can open our minds to many possibilities that are out there. Yes, it is scary to believe in psychic ability, because someone could use theirs to harm us. Yes, it is risky to act upon psychic ability, because psychics could be charlatans (in my opinion, it is logical most are). Yes, it could be a complete waste of time to develop your own psychic ability, because that ability may not exist in you, or anyone, for that matter.

But if you don’t challenge your assumptions, you’re closing off a lot of intriguing and beneficial possibilities.

And if you don’t, I have one piece of advice for you.

You’re doing it wrong!