Psychic Stuff

Based on a number of letters and questions over the last post, I thought I would address a question that came up in various ways: What is the Baha'i view of psychic phenomena?

As usual, before I answer, I must remind you, dear Reader, that this response is only my own view. It is not meant to be an official representation of the Faith, although I do base it on my understanding of the Writings.

I would also like to take a moment to remind you that I am a Baha'i, and that this is being written with the presumption that my audience is Baha'i, too, with the various understandings and assumptions that go with that. The main assumption, of course, being that you understand that the Baha'i Writings are divinely inspired and that this is a common starting point for our conversation.

Whew. That being said, let's see what 'Abdu'l-Baha says about psychic phenomena.

The first, and probably most important, quote from Him is, "To tamper with psychic forces while in this world interferes with the condition of the soul in the world to come. These forces are real, but are not to be active on this plane." He goes on to explain "The child in the womb has its eyes, ears, hands and feet, but these powers are not in activity. The whole purpose of the womb-life is the coming forth into this world. So, the whole purpose of this matrix-world life is the coming forth into the world of Reality, where all these (psychic) forces will be active. They belong to that world."


Most of the other quotes that I found in the Writings seem to stem from this one.

But let me just say that I think there is a distinction between what He refers to as "psychic phenomenon" and the "inspiration" to which we should try and be open. Personally, I do not see them as the same, and I think some other quotes from Him bear this out.

'Abdu'l-Baha talks about "inspiration" as being one of the 4 ways by which we can come to understand reality. "What is inspiration? It is the influx of the human heart." Yet, like the other 3 approaches to understanding, this one, too, is fallible. Whether it is through the senses, reason, traditions or inspiration, none have a guarantee of accuracy. With inspiration, "The question arises, How shall we know whether we are following inspiration from God or satanic promptings of the human soul?"


The answer, like a similar question for the other 3 methods, is trial and error. But we must also, as I say repeatedly, be sure not to impose our understanding upon others.

Take this story that I shared in the comments for a recent post:

There is a beautiful time when (my wife and I) were talking to this man we had just met, when I clearly heard a voice say "Ghana".

Without batting an eyelash, I asked the man where he was from. He smiled and said, "Where do you think I'm from?"

"Ghana."

Both Marielle and Samuel (the guy), looked at me in shock.

This was the opening needed to really begin talking about the Faith.

Afterwards, when he had gone, Marielle asked me how I knew. I told her about the voice, and that I absolutely knew I had to somehow mention Ghana.

She looked at me in awe and said, "I know. I heard exactly the same voice just before you said anything. I was just trying to figure out how to bring it up when you asked him where he was from."

Was that a psychic phenomenon? I don't think so, for there was no effort on my part in an external direction. To me, it was no different than listening to the Samuel speak, just that the voice came from somewhere unexplained to me.

Did I "know" he was from Ghana? Of course not. But I did have a feeling, based not only on that voice (if I keep mentioning hearing voices, I'm sure I'll get locked up at some point), but also on his skin tone and accent. I didn't impose my "belief" on him by telling him that he must be from there, but asked him, instead. That was just courtesy.

I firmly believe that the Concourse on High, whatever we may understand that term to mean, offers every single one of us little nudges like that throughout our life. Being open to inspiration, to me, means allowing ourselves to accept these occassional nudges and act on them.

This is different from being "psychic", in which you are actively reaching out to try and cultivate these forces for your own use.

It is like the baby in the womb. As 'Abdu'l-Baha mentions, they have all these physical attributes, like arms and legs, but they are not actively using them. They are, however, using them, and exercising them inadvertantly. The action of a baby in the womb kicking has about as much volition as I do when I yawn.

The key here, to me, is to allow these nudges to guide me, but not to go out and seek them.

So, sorry if this didn't interest you, but I just had a feeling that I should write it. Then again, you probably knew that this is what I would write about today.