Yes, We Are All Psychic. It Will Be Okay.
Right now we are living in an exciting time where sensitive people who can feel, know and see things beyond the average person are finally able to be out with their skills without the fear of being burned at the stake or locked up in an insane asylum. There has been an increasing interest in spirituality in general and many of us are trying to figure out what to do with new thoughts, new feelings, and new data we are collecting in the world around us. As we grow in our consciousness, we will begin to see things in a new way. That in itself can be pretty scary and cause us to want to diagnose or pathologize our experiences.
For thousands of years, we have bought into the fear and stigma that the words “psychic” or “intuition” conjures up. While it is less so with intuition (these days), the word psychic continues to be a source of fear. If you look at the history of the word, psychic derives from the word psyche, meaning “the soul.” It does not mean the dark witch who is here to do the work of the devil and destroy lives! Psychics are every day people with high levels of sensitivities. In our modern era, yes, they are probably almost fully vegan and comment that the lighting at a venue is too harsh!
When I was dating in graduate school, many men would joke and ask if I could read their mind. I always responded that I would make more money if I did. Years later, when I went on my spiritual journey, my sensitivities from childhood came back and I realized that while I couldn’t read minds, I certainly could sense things that others did not want me to see. I am highly intuitive and my journey has been to learn to embrace it and use it for the betterment of our society. It was a return to who I was as a child and it felt good to embrace my true nature.
For thousands of years, “enlightened” folks have had to live amongst other people who simply did not believe in the importance of the soul. Right now, this type of conversation, which I will jokingly refer to as crystal talk, is triggering people on both sides of the conversation. And it should. It is bringing us back to the basic foundation of who we are and opening up the door to get clarity on what our values are. I do understand both sides of the argument and all the fear that goes with being around psychics.
That clarity is starting to look like neuroscientists working with yogis to better understand why the ancient practices of yoga biohacks the brain so efficiently. It is starting to look like meditation as a regular avenue for anxiety and stress reduction when it used to be the sole purview of spiritual people (including psychics) to clear their energy. Energy healing and acupuncture is being prescribed by mental health practitioners. We have entered a time with science and spirituality are having a reunion and a much needed conversation.
If you take the field of psychology as an example, this conversation is highlighted in the well documented debate between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Jung, who is credited with laying the foundation for the transpersonal psychology movement, was noted as often criticizing Freud for thinking too scientifically. Freud’s theories were based more on biological drives and Jung’s were based more on spiritual experiences. However, the two of them delved deep into what makes a human being so complex and their individual bodies of work, and that of those who followed them, opened up Pandora’s box about the role of the human mind in shaping our behavior. They both left an indelible mark on the history of modern depth psychology. Unfortunately, at least in the United States, psychology’s own insecurity with being seen as “scientific” has led to a generation of psychological interventions that ignore both Freud and Jung in a search to fix symptoms as quickly as possible. We have forgotten the main purpose of depth psychology — it was designed to heal the wound not put a bandaid on it, even if that bandaid does an awesome job for a period of time of holding us together.
In many ways, our spirituality also sometimes has a bandaid approach. It is easy to engage in spiritual bypassing when we are trying to escape from suffering. We would prefer to have an amazing meditation session than struggle with our practice on the days we want to throw our cushion out the window. It is thus true that psychics without a solid spiritual base DO take advantage of others. They do real harm. There are spiritual leaders who engage in sexual misconduct or use their sensitivities and gifts to manipulate others with trauma histories.
It doesn’t mean we throw it all away.
In our attempt to keep people safe, we have slid into a dismissiveness of psychics, intuition and spirituality altogether. But what is really missing is the acknowledgment of the serious commitment needed in any of the spiritual/healing arts. We all have the capacity to be intuitive (and thus psychic) but we don’t all have the capacity to commit to serving others. We all have the ability to connect our mind to our body and to our soul. What we do not all have is an easy journey to discovering that this is indeed possible or access to the teachers to help us get there. When humans are faced with experiences or situations that seem impossible, the default is to judge and criticize. It is rarely seen as an invitation to explore. To dismiss and avoid is the easier path.
This is unfortunate. For those of us who have well developed intuitive and, yes, psychic abilities, we know that our spiritual journey inevitably calls us to help others. We open our sensitivities. We see things other’s don’t see. We hear things they don’t hear. We feel in ways that don’t make sense all in hopes of helping someone who is suffering to get the clarity that they need to make a change in their life. True psychics and healers who are called to this path take their role very seriously. They wait for people to be ready and then they give everything they can to help that person rise. How many helpers never step on the path simply because they don’t have access to harnessing the power of their intuition or are too afraid of the blowback to do so?
I know I spent the better part of my life living in that fear. I know highly psychic people who never use their skills to help others. It’s not okay.
We are all capable of learning the skills of a psychic. Some of us choose to. Others chose not to. It is all okay as long as we don’t judge an individual’s decision. To judge is to diminish the role of intuition and psychic skills in life in general. We all could use more intuition and less judgment in our lives. The crystal talk conversation can continue without doing harm to each other if we are willing to open ourselves up to the idea that what it is we need to learn is not always something that we agree with. Psychics and intuitives have a lot to learn from stoicism and science as stoicism and science has a lot to learn from spirituality. It is time we all got along and left our egos behind so we can help each other rise above the fear. It is time.
Dr. Jennifer B. Rhodes is a licensed psychologist, relationship expert and the forthcoming author of Toxic Insecurity: Our Search for Authentic Love. You can connect with her on Twitter and Instagram @jenniferbrhodes.
