The gaining of information about an object or a contemporaneous external physical event by alleged paranormal means. The term precognitive clairvoyance is used to refer to the supposed paranormal gaining of information about an external physical source which will come into existence at some time in the future. Together with telepathy and precognition, clairvoyance makes up one of the three main categories of extrasensory perception, and as such is a major topic of current parapsychological research.
The term Clairvoyance is often used to refer to impressions gained by clairaudience and clairsentience as well as other psychic senses. Clairvoyance can also be psychologically connected to ESP. Clairvoyance is also known as remote viewing
As with all psi phenomena, there is wide disagreement and controversy within the sciences as to the existence of clairvoyance and the validity and interpretation of clairvoyance-related experiments (see Parapsychology).
Clairvoyance through history
There have been anecdotal reports of clairvoyance and claims of clairvoyant abilities throughout history in most cultures. Often clairvoyance has been associated with religious or shamanic figures, offices, and practices. For example, ancient Hindu religious texts list clairvoyance as one of the siddhis, skills that can be acquired through appropriate meditation and personal discipline. But a large number of anecdotal accounts of clairvoyance are of the spontaneous variety among the general populace. While anecdotal accounts do not provide scientific proof of clairvoyance, such common experiences continue to motivate research into such phenomenon.
Clairvoyance was one of the phenomena reportedly observed in the behavior of somnambulists, people who were mesmerized and in a trance state (nowadays equated with hypnosis by most people) in the time of Franz Anton Mesmer. The earliest record of somnambulistic clairvoyance is credited to the Marquis de Puységur, a follower of Mesmer, who in 1784 was treating a local dull-witted peasant named Victor Race.
Clairvoyance was a reported ability of some mediums during the spiritualist period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was one of the phenomena studied by members of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR).
While experimental research into clairvoyance began with SPR researchers, experimental studies became more systematic with the efforts of J. Perhaps the best-known study of clairvoyance in recent times was the US government-funded remote viewing project at SRI/SAIC during the 1970s through the mid-1990s.
Some parapsychologists have proposed that our different functional labels (clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition etc.) all refer to one basic underlying mechanism, although there is not yet any satisfactory theory for what that mechanism would be.
Developing clairvoyant abilities
Current thinking among proponents of clairvoyance posits that most people are born with clairvoyant abilities but then start to subliminate them as their childhood training compels them to adhere to acceptable social norms.
Another school of thought claims that our "sixth sense" grows when we do spiritual practice. Clairvoyance is one of the abilities which may be gained by such discipline.
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