People believe in the things they think are genuine or reliable. Regardless of whether these are proven or not, as long as they have established a certain degree of trust toward these concepts, it becomes hard to break down their belief in them. Hence, when it comes to matters of believing in something they can’t see, their choice is simple – people will choose to believe in something wholeheartedly even if they’re something they can’t see once they feel a sense of comfort or safety in this belief.

Religion has always been an integral part of our lives, such that we allot and set aside days for the sole purpose of celebrating it. When one speaks of religion, the discussion about spirituality closely trails behind it. However, spirituality is separate from religion. The former is a concept that centers more on an individual’s practice concerning their personal beliefs. At the same time, religion is a set of ideas practiced and shared among the community.

In a spiritual book by Hedin Daubenspeck entitled Pony Ride to an Awakening: The Journey of a Mystic, Hedin shares his take on spirituality. He narrates stories – from friends, families, or his own experiences – about spiritual awakening, which he defined as something that people seldom encounter from their early childhood until the later part of their lives. Hedin shares these psychic experiences in hopes that they will serve as guidance as people look into their own experiences and find similarities between them. Hedin shares that he had developed psychic perception as part of his spiritual awakening and mentions that he believes this perception is something people share in common.

But is he telling the truth?

Psychic perception, also known as extrasensory perception or the “sixth sense” as it’s most commonly referred to, is a phenomenon that takes place outside an individual’s sensory processes. This includes anything “unworldly,” such as telepathy or the ability for people to transfer their thoughts to others, hyperawareness of objects or events that are not observed by others, such as the paranormal occurrences, and the prediction or knowledge of the future.

Have you experienced dreaming about something and later on encountering it in real life? Or have you experienced thinking about something and having someone do or say it as though they have read your mind? These events may be interpreted as extrasensory perceptions or ESPs.

Many have claimed to have experienced these events, ranging from religious encounters, people who claimed to have been visited and have spoken with gods, those who claim they can predict the future, to those who profess that they can heal others through spiritual assistance. In fact, if you scroll through any social media sites nowadays, there’s seemingly an ongoing trend of tarot card readings that are gaining traction. These are commonly done by people who claim that spirits directly talk to them or give them signs regarding these readings. And despite these being very vague or even if these may not be a hundred percent sure or accurate, there are still people who choose to believe in them. After all, one may also find statements that testify to the reading’s accuracy under these readings.

However, what these people experience – a reading coming true – could have simply been a coincidence. This means it could be something that would have still happened naturally as a result of their actions, even without a reading beforehand. Still, they chose to associate it with the reading, overlooking the natural progression of things. This gives the impression that the reading came true.

This situation can also be applied to other ESP-related events, such as predicting the future. The chance of it being merely coincidental is why there’s always been and perhaps will always be a debate regarding this matter. There will always be those who believe in ESPs and those who will remain skeptical about them unless they’re given solid proof backing them up.

Why do other people still choose to believe in ESPs?

It’s been said that believing in ESPs is closely related to the fear of death and fatalism – the belief that everything is predetermined and therefore inevitable. One may describe this connection as a positive correlation, wherein the more people fear death and believe that everything is predetermined, the more they believe in ESPs to seek support.

While none of the ESPs have solid proofs, those who believe in them don’t necessarily deviate from reality. They don’t have trouble differentiating imagination or fantasy from reality. They choose to believe simply because the idea of ESPs makes the future or the world in general not as uncertain as they think it is, thus giving them a sense of comfort.