Thread: Am I a psychic or a bullshitter?

No, they're all just bullshitters.

I'm asking people who actually believe they are psychic or at least that psychics exist. Thank you for the opinion, I hope everyone with the same opinion will allow you to speak for them.

It's just something you would know I guess? You seem conflicted and like you have to prove something to yourself but you don't really...I wouldn't go as far to say i'm full on psychic but i have often intuitive and empathetic experiences, things like that.

Can you tell the difference between your own guesses and opinions and what you're actually receiving from others?

I'd say the first thought or feeling that comes to your mind is most accurate, even if its just a nuance, build on that. Your personal thoughts or opinions wouldn't affect a genuine initial "psychic feeling". Once we start thinking about what we are receiving from people, our own judgements taint it to what we want to believe.
Sorry, this probably wasn't the most intelligent/informative/correct answer out there, just my 2 cents...

Sat on a street corner and gave card readings to 10 random people. 9 of them insisted it was the most amazing thing they had witnessed. The other 1 said everything I said was in fact true, but that I must therefore be some sort of charlitan.

Can guess the characteristics of the contents of sealed packages. I will list 3 or 4 and normally get about 75% correct. can sometimes name the specific object. have done this in front of witnesses for a few years now. Example: Grandma wanted to witness this first hand, as my wife and son are not very good at keeping my skills secret (humility is very very important, so I hide the skill). She had a x-mas present and did everything she could to conceal what was in it. The package was a x-massy round plastic cookie tub. I insisted on us doing it in private. We went in a seperate room. No shaking or other methods employed, I simply put my hand out, and she set the package on my open palm. I closed my eyes. I asked what first impressions I should see. I told her "I see a swastica, but I think it is just showing me a geometric pattern of similar design, plus the lines overlap at the ends like this" I opened my eyes. She looked unimpressed and confused. I pointed at a folding cup holding rack on her wall.It was made of crossed peices of wood and shaped like this XXX, but the points where the Xs meet had over-lap.
I then asked myself what the general nature of the object was. I saw a mis-shapen ladel. I told her it seems to be shaped like this, a tried to mimick a ladle shape with my hands. I also told her that I felt the general concept was that it was something intended to hold or display something else. At this she seemed shocked. So, an object shaped like the bottem of a ladle, designed to hold something else, with a pattern like I described.
It tuurned out to be a joke ceramic cup. It was made mis-shapen, and had made in Poland, which had been mis-spelled and Xed out three times. The Xs formed this pattern XXX, but running vertically. That is just one example. I have had most attempts be similarly impressive.
I have many other abilities, some much more interesting. However, I again wish to maintain humility, and am not fully comfortable talking about it openly. So, how do I know? Decades of proof like in the above example. How come I have it? Maybe some people are more strong in that area, but I also have intentionally developed my brain, through the use of mystical yogic practices for almost 30 years. The stuff I am teaching in the DVA is the starting grounds for this. I know the stuff I call basic in the Dream Yoga class seems very advanced, and the intermediate stuff sounds almost unreal, but given patients and years of serious effort, I think anyone can develop 'Yogic Powers'

I noticed when you believe that you have these abilities, they tend to show up more. Maybe you're just looking for it? Or maybe that's just the attitude you need. I tend to think I'm somewhat more clairvoyant than most (and that everyone is/can be). it seems like you could get better with proper training and practice. I don't do any of that. I believe everything is connected, so it would make perfect sense to me if someone/something could predict future events accurately. Or know things about someone's life without ever meeting them... anything really.

I don't come on here much.... but I know that a lot of your posts are in this general field.... so that would also make sense if you developed these abilities more than most.

I don't know how to improve... I would like to study one day. And the way it works for me is hard to explain. Most of the time is comes as feelings. sometimes I can see what's going to happen in my head.

Anyone who studies human behavior, and understands triggers can pass themselves off psychic. Calling them bullshitters is dependent on whether or not they indeed bullshit and represent themselves as something they aren't.

Considering that there's varying degrees of being 'psychic', especially since it's a practiced skill, assumptions and mistakes come in varying quantities. Another issue is that people are impressionable and if it sounds like a cool idea, it doesn't take much persuasion to get them to think a certain way.

If I were psychic I'd elaborate on some of those experiences, since I'm not, guess I can't. A shame really.

Try doing a reading blind folded without knowing who is there, without them speaking or anything. If you are reading people using sight, sounds or smells or touch then your not psychic. Psychic implies you are using something other than one of your basic senses. If you were actually psychic you should be able to read someone without using any of those senses.

What you told me was spot on and you had made a conclusion that wasn't anywhere in my posts. You're good at basic readings. The real question is, can you read a total stranger? Thats the next step in what most people consider psychic

Reading people is a mundane skill that anyone can with practice. For it to be psychic there has to be some supernatural quality to it, like being able to do it without input from your other sense.

Originally Posted by Alric

Reading people is a mundane skill that anyone can with practice. For it to be psychic there has to be some supernatural quality to it, like being able to do it without input from your other sense.

I can agree with you. It is no problem reading strangers even if you can not see them, if your skill is truely psychic and well developed.


Have you all watched the comedy TV show "Psych", it is real funny, about a guy who can pick up small details and pretends he is psychic. Check it out on netflix.

Originally Posted by juroara

What you told me was spot on and you had made a conclusion that wasn't anywhere in my posts. You're good at basic readings. The real question is, can you read a total stranger? Thats the next step in what most people consider psychic

I tend to go with my first instinct, which I guess means I'm using my intuition like Erii said. But also like Erii said, I use a lot of nuance. I don't remember what sort of balance was involved when I gave you a reading but your reaction is the same as my friends. Apparently I'm spot on.

I think I'm a very bad psychic, but maybe that makes my experience especially relevant to your questions....

Based on my experience there isn't an either-or between 'true' psychism and bullshit. You can gain an insight through 'psychic' means and it can still be almost completely wrong. When I use a Tarot deck it is like this. The cards that come up are far more targeted to my questions than can plausibly be explained by chance and subjective interpretation. But its like its drawing on a collective thought world without any discernment of whether the thoughts are actually true, it just pulls up whatever seems to be the most relevant. I did try a couple of Tarot readings for people on this site, and those seemed to be successful. Maybe I could have done just as well just with dreaming though, instead of combining them. The easiest opportunity for this sort of thing is when I've just met a person, or am about to meet them. If I already know them, then there isn't the potential for discovering something 'new' that stands out.

Based on my experience, to prove to yourself whether or not you're psychic, just keep being interested in understanding the issue, and honestly study your experiences, not pretending anything. If you're psychic that will strengthen it, and eventually produce strong enough evidence that you know with a high degree of confidence. (I assume you are psychic, but of course to find out for yourself you can't assume that. A faster route to spectacular results would be just assuming that you are psychic, but then you'll be more subject to hubris. I guess we talked about this before.) I think a good analogy is pro basketball, where confidence makes players shoot better, but it they're too irrationally confident they take shots when they shouldn't.

It seems to me that most if not all people are psychic, but all people have trouble making reliable sense out of it, and different people interpret their experiences differently. So there's nothing vain about believing you're psychic if that's what the evidence seems to show, so long as you remain objective about it and don't pretend more than you know with some degree of confidence. Since in all cases your intuitions are going to be filtered and distorted by the limitations of your personality, I think this means it always merits a 'take it for whatever it may be worth' kind of attitude when giving advice. Unfortunately, it seems that when most people realize they have 'super powers' it goes to their heads and they start thinking they're Jedi knights or something. And the nonsense that this engenders in my view probably outweighs the benefits of the psychism. It seems to me that some of this kind of pride is unavoidable, as delusional as it may be, so its a challenge to keep it in check. Personally I'd rather be dead spiritually than cultivate a messiah complex. And I'd rather be alone than feed a messiah complex in others. But I guess that's a matter of personal preference.

If you think about someone you know, they have a feel to them that is particular to who they are. They don't feel exactly like anyone else. You feel your own identity in a unique way also. If someone else's thought enters your mind, so to speak, it feels like them, not like you. Its not that the thought is a discrete object though, its more like you and the other person are both parts of a hologram, and the thought is a fruit produced by both of you. Both of your identities are in it, and it means something a bit different for each of you, but if the other person's mind is strongly involved it still stands out as being to some degree 'foreign'. This is how I tell what's "mine" and what's not, but its an ongoing process of getting better at it.

It goes both ways, if other people can influence your mind you can influence them. Obviously there is all kinds of potential here for inappropriate or obsessive psychological manipulation. I think this is a primary reason people aren't more psychic than they are, they shut it down so they can protect themselves from other people.

I think we are all pshycis if we just allow ourselves to observe the information and not are skeptical and judge ourselves.

There is a biological explantion though, with more DNA strands the psychic ability somehow enhance, if you are interested look up the stories about Indigio Children from China.

Good luck with your readings though, I practise Remote Viewing myself and I guess that is a psychic ability practise.

Seems like you're an empathetic person. It may be a gift but it doesn't necessary mean you're psychic. You're just able to understand people better than most people do.

If you hate believing you're a psychic, then cut the shit. Stop giving readings. You are propagating misinformation for your own benefit (being considered "special" or "psychic" by those too stupid too see through your act).

When did I say I hated it? You don't know the first thing about it so perhaps try making less assumptions.

It is certain that you are a bullshitter.






...Whether or not that means you aren't psychic I couldn't say.

Honestly I really don't think I'm psychic. I just enjoy giving out general life advice under the guise of psychic readings.

Originally Posted by shadowofwind

Unfortunately, it seems that when most people realize they have 'super powers' it goes to their heads and they start thinking they're Jedi knights or something. And the nonsense that this engenders in my view probably outweighs the benefits of the psychism. It seems to me that some of this kind of pride is unavoidable, as delusional as it may be, so its a challenge to keep it in check. Personally I'd rather be dead spiritually than cultivate a messiah complex. And I'd rather be alone than feed a messiah complex in others. But I guess that's a matter of personal preference.

It is an important point you make here. Developing special powers can lead to feeling special. It is dangerous ground. Every person can experience all of the same things, they just are not. I seperated from my Kundalini Master after about 5 years because he could not help being a bit of a cult leader. People were amazed at the things he could do, and boy did it go to his head. That is one reason I have avoided teaching very much. I am as weak as any other person, and never want to believe I am special.

"The kingdom of God is within you, even the least among of you can do what I have done and greater..." - Jesus

Think about it...

Yeah I'm personally very corruptible. Fuck I don't even have any power and I'm already corrupt.

I don't think "psychic" and "bullshitter" are the only options. One implies you have some kind of power, while the other implies you knowingly mislead people.

The third massive category consists of people who THINK they're psychics, but are really not (e.g. dowsers).

I would say you are just good at reading people, if a person can read faces and pick up signs about their situation from cloths, posture, tone of voice, ect. you can often predict something about their lives even if you don't know you are doing it. That's what I think you're doing.

I agree that psychic and bullshit aren't the only options. It sounds like you are genuinely reading people and giving them advice that they want to hear and find helpful, so that doesn't sound like bullshit to me. You also seem uncomfortable with the psychic label. (and maybe equate psychic with receiving the information from a outside spiritual source?) Why not just call yourself intuitive and call it a day?

Originally Posted by Original Poster

My friend gave me a tarot deck and I've been messing around with that lately, but even then I have no idea what the cards I'm reading mean. The pamphlet explaining them doesn't allow me to give proper readings. They just enable me to better excuse what is essentially reading people.

I have been doing occasional Tarot and palm readings for years. This is actually similar to what I do, and doesn't sound like bullshit at all to me. The meaning isn't really in the card or on a line in someone's hand, those just give you something to focus on while reading the person. The last time I gave a really good palm reading (which I was a little drunk for), I was focusing on the guy's hand, but not looking at any specific line, and just saying whatever came into my head. I don't remember what I said to him, but afterwards he said the reading was "frighteningly accurate". Tarot works the same way for me.

Originally Posted by Original Poster

So I have a question for the psychics on DV. How does your gift work? Is there anyway for you to prove to yourself that you're actually psychic? Can you tell the difference between your own guesses/opinions and what you're actually receiving from others?

I would define myself as mildly psychic, because a few times when doing Tarot readings, I would receive visions or pictures in my head which allowed me to describe a person, situation, or place I had never seen before with a high level of detail. In these cases, a detailed vivid picture would instantly flash into my head that was distinctly different from my own thoughts. I know a large part of what I do is simply reading people's body language and intuiting their emotions, and receiving information from others has only happened a few times, but it was dramatic enough for me not to ignore it.