Telekinesis is one of the most poorly-documented psychic abilities. The idea of being able to move objects with just the power of your mind has always had great appeal, particularly if you happen to find yourself near a roulette wheel. There are many accounts in religion, myth and legend of people miraculously moving stuff without touching it. Merlin, for example, was supposed to have moved Stonehenge over the sea from Ireland to England using his magical abilities, and the abilities ascribed to poltergeists are well known.
In the modern times, the military have generally been more interested than mainstream science in telekinesis research. A whole series of Russian experiments in the 60s and 70s claimed to have achieved some impressive successes, particularly with Nina Kulagina, who was said to have stopped a frog’s heart, and to have separated the white of an egg from the yolk. The USA had its own answer to Kulagina, a lab technician called Felicia Parise, who could supposedly move pill bottles, bits of foil and so on. Lyn Buchanan, part of the US military’s remote viewing programme ‘Stargate’, was flagged for the project after apparently telekinetically destroying an entire lab full of computers.
I’ve not had any first-hand experience of telekinesis, so I don’t have any definitive opinion on the matter. When I was a teenager, I knew a girl who claimed to be able to make random cyclists fall off their bikes by concentrating. I never saw her do it, but some normally reliable friends insisted she’d demonstrated for them. They picked some poor old boy on a bike some way down the road. She concentrated, and then he wobbled and fell off. I’ve heard other first-hand accounts, too — enough not to dismiss the idea out of hand.
If you fancy giving it a go yourself, the following video gives a one of the better training techniques. The demonstration is a trick — there are air pipes inside the table, which is hollow — but the method it demonstrates is sound.
It’s probably better to use aluminium foil rather than paper for the spinner though, as it causes less friction. To warm up, it is usually recommended to spend 20 minutes meditating on emptying your mind, either by concentrating on your breath, gazing at a candle, or repeating a mantra. Once relaxed, try to feel the spinner as part of you, and cultivate an absolute certainty that it is about to move. Don’t try for more than 30 mins in a day, and stay away from your computer while you’re working at it, just in case.The general suggestion is that you should start seeing a small amount of movement in a week or two of daily practice.
I’ll report back when I get round to giving it a shot, and if you do choose to give it a go, let me know how you get on.
something to see
Some Zen Masters warned their pupils that these ’supernatural’ abilities where an impediment on the path. This is, I imagine, because it is easy to become attached to these abilities, and thus become drawn back into samsara.
From a non-attachment point of view Dave, I can see where they’re coming from. Personally, I feel the best strategy for escaping the wheel is to live life and learn from it, rather than to avoid it…
Good point Tim. I am going to introduce ‘degrees of attachment’. At one end of the scale we have the Buddha (a fully unattached being who creates no karma), then moving along we have the wandering ascetic and monastic practitioner, then the lay practitioner, the non practitioner and finally the Hungry Ghosts.
The Buddha taught that the avoidance of unpleasant sensations is not possible for humans. We will grow old, sick, and eventually die. We will come into contact with things we do not like. Our decision is either attachment or non attachment. For example the famous ‘Muddy Road’ koan…
Tanzan and Ekido were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.
“Come on, girl,” said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself. “We monks don’t do near females,” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”
“I left the girl there,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”
The cultivation of ’supernatural’ abilities can be a dead end path. One becomes focused only on these and ignores all other signals (or Reality Tunnels as RAW calls them). Zen practice does not have the goal of producing Zenbots (unfeeling zen robots), for the Zen proverb says “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”
But I don’t want to derail your blog with discussions of Zen/Buddhist philosophy :)
Don’t be crazy, Dave — bring on the Zen! I love that koan. Very true, and a damn fine point.
I also agree that getting obsessive over the collection of psychic abilities is every bit as negative as getting obsessive over anything else, and psy is a shinier, more exciting lure than the great majority of traps. As long as it’s kept in perspective though, I don’t think it’s any worse than any other life path, and it can be a lot more positive than some!