Who do psychics talk to?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
Post Reply
Viachh
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:38 pm

Who do psychics talk to?

Post by Viachh »

Who do psychics talk to in TV shows like "Britain’s Psychic Challenge" when they say they talk to people who have died long ago? After all, according to Buddhism, they have long been reborn.
budo
Posts: 1752
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 12:16 am

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by budo »

To people with lots of cash.
Viachh
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:38 pm

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by Viachh »

Do you really think that ordinary people (who confirm the information of psychics) can play so naturally?
budo
Posts: 1752
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 12:16 am

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by budo »

Viachh wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 3:34 pm Do you really think that ordinary people (who confirm the information of psychics) can play so naturally?
There have been many psychics who have been debunked as frauds, and it's just probability and truisms that they use.

Every popular psychic has been debunked. In the beginning they stick to truisms and cold reading, once they get popular and their ego inflates, they start making wild claims which gets them debunked, for example see Slyvia Browne who was even hired as a "psychic detective"
- In 2002, Browne informed the parents of 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, who had disappeared earlier that year, that he had been kidnapped by a dark-skinned Hispanic man with dreadlocks and was now deceased.[17][18] Hornbeck was found alive in 2007; his kidnapper was Caucasian and short-haired.[19] In June 2008, the UK television network ITV2 was sanctioned by Ofcom for re-airing the episode of The Montel Williams Show featuring Browne's original prediction.[20][21]

- In November 2004, Browne told the mother of kidnapping victim Amanda Berry, who had disappeared nineteen months earlier: "She's not alive, honey." Browne also claimed that Berry was "in water", and that she had had a vision of Berry's jacket in the garbage with "DNA on it".[22] Berry's mother died two years later believing her daughter had been killed. Berry was found alive in May 2013.[23][24]

-On Larry King Live in 2003, Browne predicted she would die at age 88. She died in 2013, at age 77
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Br ... redictions

Psychics rely on "cold reading" and hypnosis techniques

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading
Shotgunning might include a series of vague statements such as:

"I see a heart problem with a father-figure in your family."
A vast variety of medical problems have chest pain as a symptom, and heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. "Father-figure" can refer to somebody's father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, or any male relative who is also a parent.
"I see a woman with blackness in the chest, lung cancer, heart disease, breast cancer..."
Most people will know a woman who was diagnosed with one of these problems, which are among the leading causes of illness and death.
"I sense an older male figure in your life, who wants you to know while you may have had disagreements in your life, he still loved you."
Nearly all people will have had such a person in their lives, and nearly all of them will have had a disagreement.
Horoscopes use the same high probability ambiguous lines
User avatar
Idappaccayata
Posts: 259
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 8:54 pm

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by Idappaccayata »

Viachh wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 2:05 pm Who do psychics talk to in TV shows like "Britain’s Psychic Challenge" when they say they talk to people who have died long ago? After all, according to Buddhism, they have long been reborn.
They're talking to themselves. The good ones are just good at reading a room and picking up on any clues that they might be on to something regarding an audience members life. They usually just start with very general and ambiguous statements until they find something to latch onto
A dying man can only rely upon his wisdom, if he developed it. Wisdom is not dependent upon any phenomenon originated upon six senses. It is developed on the basis of the discernment of the same. That’s why when one’s senses start to wither and die, the knowledge of their nature remains unaffected. When there is no wisdom, there will be despair, in the face of death.

- Ajahn Nyanamoli Thero
Viachh
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:38 pm

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by Viachh »

Idappaccayata wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:07 pm
Viachh wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 2:05 pm Who do psychics talk to in TV shows like "Britain’s Psychic Challenge" when they say they talk to people who have died long ago? After all, according to Buddhism, they have long been reborn.
They're talking to themselves. The good ones are just good at reading a room and picking up on any clues that they might be on to something regarding an audience members life. They usually just start with very general and ambiguous statements until they find something to latch onto
But they do it both blindfolded and in complete silence.
User avatar
DNS
Site Admin
Posts: 17191
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
Contact:

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by DNS »

Viachh wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 12:55 am
Idappaccayata wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:07 pm
Viachh wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 2:05 pm Who do psychics talk to in TV shows like "Britain’s Psychic Challenge" when they say they talk to people who have died long ago? After all, according to Buddhism, they have long been reborn.
They're talking to themselves. The good ones are just good at reading a room and picking up on any clues that they might be on to something regarding an audience members life. They usually just start with very general and ambiguous statements until they find something to latch onto
But they do it both blindfolded and in complete silence.
Sometimes they use [paid] actors pretending to be audience members and they just play out the skit, to "prove" the psychic's abilities.
User avatar
DNS
Site Admin
Posts: 17191
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
Contact:

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by DNS »

The Buddha had this to say about them:
“Just now, reverend, as I was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain I saw a stinking fishwife flying through the air. Vultures, crows, and hawks kept chasing her, pecking, plucking, and hacking as she screamed in pain. …” … “That woman used to be a fortune-teller right here in Rājagaha. …”
https://suttacentral.net/sn19.14/en/sujato

It might sound pretty harsh (the kammic result), but they are not doing it for entertainment, as say a magician would do, but rather to deliberately deceive others in the name of making money, preying upon their grief in their loss of loved ones, in many cases.
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by Sam Vara »

DNS wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 4:25 am The Buddha had this to say about them:
“Just now, reverend, as I was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain I saw a stinking fishwife flying through the air. Vultures, crows, and hawks kept chasing her, pecking, plucking, and hacking as she screamed in pain. …” … “That woman used to be a fortune-teller right here in Rājagaha. …”
https://suttacentral.net/sn19.14/en/sujato

It might sound pretty harsh (the kammic result), but they are not doing it for entertainment, as say a magician would do, but rather to deliberately deceive others in the name of making money, preying upon their grief in their loss of loved ones, in many cases.
Interesting point about the intention here. Long ago I watched a TV interview with a film star- I think it was Tony Curtis, although I can find no record of this incident on the internet. He talked of how he told fortunes in a fairground booth to make money before he became famous. He said he started off with the usual tricks like cold reading and picking up subtle cues, and became good at it; and then actually started to believe that he had some kind of real power. I get this impression when I see some "psychics". They come across as self-deceivers as much as anything, people with strong imaginations and good social skills who actually believe there is something special about them. More delusion than naked lying, if that makes any difference to the kammic impact.

Budo's point about "shotgunning" reminded me of my brother. He attended a spiritualist event and the "psychic" singled him out and told him he would have "trouble with your water". He was really impressed when in the next couple of days some plumbing gave out and flooded his garage. I reminded him that he also had a water pump etc. in his car, and that "trouble with your water" is a UK euphemism for prostate and urinary tract problems. People's desire to believe in something transcendent is really strong, and can be pernicious unless watched with a lot of detachment.
User avatar
Aloka
Posts: 7797
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:51 pm

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by Aloka »

SamVara wrote: People's desire to believe in something transcendent is really strong, and can be pernicious unless watched with a lot of detachment.
The same could probably be said for people who go for "past life regression hypnotherapy".


.
polo
Posts: 248
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2019 3:22 pm

Re: Who do psychics talk to?

Post by polo »

There are psychics but very very few of them. Psychics don't go on TV. Those who do are just entertaining you.
A real Psychic doesn't ask for money that's for a start. You would not know where to find him or her. And if you find him or her it is by chance.
Before the 2nd world war there was a dutch lady who lived in Indonesia. She wrote a book about her life in Indonesia after the war. Of course she spoke Indonesian language like most dutch who were brought up there(Indonesia being Dutch colony).
She was a very kind lady she took the responsibilities of helping poor Indonesians who couldn't afford medicine. She would go from island to island giving out free medicine. The villages loved her and she was known as "Ibu Maluku" which means "Mother of Maluku" . Maluku is a group of island in Indonesian seas.
During the 2nd world war Indonesia was under the Japanese occupation army and she was interned in the prisoner camp for Europeans and British. She was worried about her old age mother in Holland. She of course couldn't get any news from Holland.
Soon after the Japanese surrendered they were released from the camp. She told her Indonesian native friends that she was very worried about her old age mother in Holland. They brought her to see a native Indonesian Psychic in a longhouse in the jungle, quite remote area.
She said the Psychic was an elderly man with most of the front teeth missing and he was not wearing any clothing except for the loincloth.
He went into a trance and told her that her mother was in good health. Of course this dutch lady was not convinced and the Psychic knew she was not convinced. He told her she could have a distance viewing of her mother. After saying that he prepared some leaves and burn them that gave off some smoke.
After inhaling some smoke the Dutch lady also went into a trance and in the trance state she said she saw her aged mother in the back garden doing some gardening.
Later on when she went back to Holland one day her mother put on a blue color dress with some design on it. She was shocked when she saw that dress, because that was the very dress with the very design she saw in the trance produced by the Psychic in Indonesia. Her mother told her that blue dress was bought about 2 years ago that's why she had never seen her mum in that dress before.
So there you are, true Psychics don't go on TV and they certainly don't ask for money. They don't display their gift for all to see.
You look for Psychics you will not find them. True Psychics dislike publicity. They certainly will not allow you to shave their hairs off their heads and put jelly on the scalp and attach wiring onto the scalp to get the image on the screen of the computer. So bad luck you cannot scientifically study psychics brain waves.
I am convinced this "Mother of Maluku" actually saw her mother in the trance produced by the Indonesian Psychic. Because that blue dress confirmed it. If she had seen her mum wore that blue dress before then it would be a memory play back.
Post Reply