Most people do not really understand the term ‘Mental telepathy‘. The definition of mental telepathy implies that two people are able to share their thoughts with each other without the intervention of the five senses. Nevertheless mental telepathy can involve a range of varied communication ranging from trying to watch somebody to trying to read someone’s mind. The science of telepathy has many facets to it which can range from utterly simple to highly evolved. The aim of this article is to delve into the various forms of mental telepathy

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

If you are a parent who has tried to tell your kid or spouse something non-verbally by using your body language, eyes and facial expressions, then you would know what Kinesics or non-verbal communication is. In this form of non verbal communication almost everything can be said without speaking by merely using the eyes and expressions and body language. For this kind of communication you need to know the other person well in order to communicate effectively. Its most effective between parents, children, lovers and intimate friends.

Some can argue (with good reason) that this doesn’t count as mental telepathy, as the two people are using their senses to communicate (just not with sounds). Technically, this is correct. This doesn’t mean, however, that mental telepathy does not play a role. The fact that non-verbal communication occurs most successfully between people who are related (like family), or who have lived together for extended periods of time (like spouses) implies that their minds might be more attuned to each other than to strangers. On the other hand, one could argue that this merely means the two people know each other well enough to understand each others more subtle body language, or have created agreed-upon nonverbal signals to communicate.

EMPATHY:

Through empathy it is possible to directly experience the emotions of others or connect on an emotional level. Putting yourself in another’s shoes’ and understanding how they feel is not something everybody is able to do. Training and practice can increase empathy. Imitating the emotions of others, even to the point of spontaneously laughing or crying is something actors and sociopaths can do everyday.

Most people have experienced ’sympathetic pain’—feeling another person’s pain as if it were your own. For example, after witnessing someone close to you break their arm, you may experience an uncomfortable feeling or even an ache in your arm, even though you know it’s fine. Similarly, when someone close to you is experiencing an overwhelming emotion, such as joy, grief, or depression, you may feel an echo of the same emotion inside you. Finally, there is the phenomena of long distance empathy. In this case, a person suddenly knows—they FEEL it—that someone close to them is in danger, has been hurt, or is in pain, even though they are not near the person at the time.

There are some skeptics and psychologists who scoff at these kind of incidents and call them the work of an overactive brain. In certain cases they may have a point because we can see the injury and the hurt. However in cases of long distance empathy where a person doesn’t even know that his loved one is injured or hurt, then they don’t have an explanation about why a person who cannot even see the other person can feel the pain.

CONCRETE CONCEPTS

This is the thought transference of concrete symbols and objects between two minds. Mental telepathy at this level must by necessity move beyond the regular five senses, and often requires a designated sender and receiver, intense concentration, training, and practice.

The simpler the concept, the easier it is to communicate through thought alone. For example, a color or shape may be easier to convey than an animal.

Experiments in telepathy are often conducted on this level. The Zener cards used in tests of mental telepathy are simple, concrete black-and-white symbols (a circle, square, star, plus sign, and three wavy lines). On one hand, skeptics and critics of the Zener cards have pointed out that with only five cards to choose from, even a random guess has a 20% chance of being right. On the other hand, one could argue that a shared, known, limited set of concrete symbols increases the ability of the sender and receiver to coordinate their thoughts. Furthermore, although anyone can get a 20% success rate with enough guesses, a success rate of 50% or higher (which have happened) can not be explained away by simple statistics.

ABSTRACT CONCEPTS:

This level of mental telepathy involves more advanced abstract concepts than shapes and colors. Here people communicate ideas, values and actions, which is quite tough the success rate is quite low. Telepaths seldom achieve this level and the ones who do are pretty rare.

Some animals appear to communicate, and science is not able to explain how. Telepathy shouldn’t be ruled out. At this level, such animals would be using abstract concepts, albeit very basic concepts. Due to the nature of animal brains lacking prefrontal lobes, such ideas would probably not go beyond simplistic impulses like ‘hungry’, ‘thirsty’, ‘horny’, or ‘danger!’

While humans may have once been capable of telepathy, as the species evolved and developed language, it was no longer needed as a form of communication. With the right stimulation humans may be able to call upon this dormant ability that includes abstract communication of ideas. Mental telepathy could be used to communicate, without the need for the use of the five senses.

Other scientists believe however that telepathy and other esp and psychic powers are in fact the ‘future’ for mankind. And if enough people can develop these powers, theoretically all humans in the future could become telepathic.