‘Mental telepathy’ can be a broad term that encompasses numerous things. It typically means reading the thoughts between people without using normal senses. There is a huge difference however between having an intuitive gut feeling and knowing information that could only be gathered by reading somebody’s mind. Both basic and complex skills can be construed as mental telepathy. The different levels of mental telepathy are summarized in this article.

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Whenever two people communicate without speaking, using body language or facial expressions instead, it is considered non-verbal communication or kinesics. Some people are able to communicate simple messages while others are able to communicate entire conversations using kinesics. You may have experienced this when giving looks to a cohort in a secret plan of action. Achieved easiest and most accurately between people who know each other well, kinesics involves knowing what the other person is thinking by non-verbal gestures or kinesics.

Most people do not regard this form of communication as mental telepathy since here communication is through senses and not just with sounds. Theoretically, this argument holds good. However, we cannot disregard the role of mental telepathy here. The very observation that this kind of non verbal communication is most effective in people who are intimate with each other or know each other well tells us that the minds of these people are more in synch with each other. However, skeptics may argue that this communication is merely effective because people who know each other well understand each other’s body language well or have previously developed a mode of non verbal communication.

EMOTIONAL TELEPATHY:

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.

Psychologists write off such empathetic phenomena as a simple trick of an overactive imagination. At the very least, they do have a point that other senses are being used. Would we be able to feel the sympathetic pain of a broken arm, for example, if we could not actually see the injury? This does not explain, however, the phenomena of long-distance empathy.

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

Mental telepathy at this level goes beyond simple colors and shapes to more abstract concepts like ideas, actions, or values. It is rare and difficult for telepaths to achieve this level, and experiments have shown that they have a lower success rate.

Interestingly there are certain animals which can communicate effectively and we have still not discovered their modus operandi. Telepathy may be one of the methods. In this kind of communication between animals very basic abstract concepts will be involved. Since animals do not have prefrontal lobes which enhance complex communication, this communication will be restricted to basic impulses like thirst hunger and even 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.

However, there are some who feel that man may be able to develop ESP and telepathy and such psychic abilities in the near future. As man’s psychic powers grow it may be possible for the entire race to become telepathic in the future.

Rachel Jordan is a writer for the popular http://www.telepathyrevealed.com site. You can enjoy the incredible experience of mental telepathy for yourself and get a free CD package to help you develop telepathy when you visit here.