Hi Rob,

I doubt whether Richard Feynman spent any significant time investigating and compiling data and statistics on people's psychic experiences.

On a quick reading about him and his career, he didn't appear to specialise in investigating psychic phenomena at all, so these quotes may be based on his opinions or beliefs rather than on empirical data.

In an effort to diplomatically comment on RF's quotes, although I admit that I do have my tongue slightly lodged in my cheek :-)

In my observations:
* Some people's "coincidences" can be wishful thinking about their psychic abilities, or about what they would hope will happen in a situation
* Some people's hopes and/or fears interrupt their ability to think straight
* Some people's "coincidences" are straight-out charlatanism, trying to pull the wool over other people's eyes, usually for the charlatan's gain, even if only in attempting to increase their own kudos
* Some people's "coincidences" may be not so accurate, because the accuracy relies on how they interpret the messages they get, or some people try to overthink the messages
* Some people's "coincidence-seeing/feeling" skills are very carefully honed and analysed with an exceptionally high degree of self knowledge and awareness of the possibility of mistakes and misinterpretations, and an exceptionally high internal quality-control process
* Some people's "coincidences" can be uncannily accurate more times than not, and some people's "coincidences" can be uncannily accurate some of the time
* Some people have been seeing/feeling these "coincidences" since childhood and use them as accurately as they use their other data gathering and two-way communication skills

On the other hand, some other people without "coincidence-seeing/feeling" skills can sometimes feel threatened by them, or because they don't understand these skills they try to convince others that "coincidence-seeing/feeling" skills don't actually exist.

Some people also convey the message that all or most of the people who say they have "coincidence-seeing/feeling" skills are blindly accepting the messages they get without checking their messages against other criteria or data.

I sincerely suspect that most true psychics don't really care about what other people think or believe because a true psychic knows how clear and accurate the messages can be. Unless someone has either experienced a real psychic message themselves or had a clear and accurate reading or message from a true psychic, then I don't think that that person can really understand.

Opinions and beliefs which are not based on clear, accurate observations of psychic phenomena, remain as opinions and beliefs only, until the theories and hypotheses are scientifically tested.

On the other hand, most of the psychic people I have observed don't have any desire to be put under the microscope by people whose opinions and beliefs are interfering with their ability to conduct accurate, scientific studies.

A lot of people, on any given date, may dream about floods or train wrecks, but most of them would dismiss the dream straight away as being just a dream. Others might think about it through the day, or worry about catching a train, but then go about their normal business without thinking they needed to change their actions based on the dream.

A true psychic usually knows whether a dream is a psychic message and not just their own brain throwing images and situations into a dreamscape for the usual purposes of dreaming, such as processing the previous day's experiences, or making sense of life situations which may be bothering them.

Another one of the bees in my bonnet is about the definition of being a sceptic or thinking critically. It doesn't mean saying "No" all the time, or only saying negative things. It means making accurate observations, weighing up the data and coming to logical conclusions, even if the conclusions are not consistent with your own beliefs or opinions. Having an open mind, in other words.


Normally, I just think all of this and don't say it, but today, I decided to weigh in on the topic. Your quotes from Richard Feynman could form the foundation for a proper scientific study of psychic intuitive phenomena.

Helen