Psychics sometimes make correct statements when doing readings. They describe the current situation of, say, a woman, to her utter amazement. "He knew all about me," she says.

How do psychics do that? Do they see or hear spirits? Well, I don't know and I highly doubt it. If you, as I have, ask tough questions of a psychic, face to face, you'll get answers like, "Well, I just read the energy of a person, not the thoughts." Or "Well, it is not that we see the spirits, but we know that the pictures we see on our minds are put there by the spirits."

Bullshit is what I say. I think psychic powers are an old-fashion way of describing the power of the powerful computer our brain is. I refuse to believe that science knows everything there is to know about the human brain. And, like with everything else, when we lack scientific explanations, we resort to supernatural answers.

I read a book called Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. The book says that our hunches, feelings, or perceptions, come from the data our brains accumulate in our lifetime.

In the amount of time that it takes us to blink, he says, our brain collects all kinds of information from the environment and produces a verdict about the situation. We then receive a signal from the brain about such verdict, in the form of a thought, a picture, an ache, or a strong feeling.

I tend to agree with Gladwell. Furthermore, I have an example to offer about how I believe my brain processes information. It's about Mr. Bush, the president of the United States.

Frankly, I disliked Mr. George W. Bush since the very first time I saw him speaking on TV.  I was surprised that he was so popular in Texas. But then, I thought, they knew him well. I just had a hunch about him.

I was even embarrassed to tell other people of my dislike of him, since I lacked a real reason for my feelings. All I knew was that it turned my stomach to watch him speak—it still does.

Through the years, the President gave me good reasons to disapprove of him. But, I must admit, such reasons had nothing to do with my first impression. It had more to do with his decisions and policies.

Recently, as I briefly watched him deliver a speech, I finally figured out why I can't stand him.

When he talks, he delivers a sentence and then pauses with his hands open and his arms slightly open away from his body--as if he had glue in his armpits.  As he stops talking, he leaves his mouth open, too, usually smiling a little. And he does it sentence, after sentence, after sentence, ad nauseam.

I noticed, recently, that bullies, con artists, and unsuccessful salespeople also talk that way. As do clown-like egotistic, public figures. They pause with their mouth half-open and arms bent, because they are waiting for the public to start clapping. Or for the customer to say, "Yes, you're right. I do need a new car."

Popular evangelists do likewise. After saying something they think remarkable, preachers pause for the devotees to start screaming amen’s and alleluias.

Comedians also pause when they know, or expect, that the public will laugh.

Personally, I tolerate the behaviour in comedians, but I have a strong dislike for “performers” who do it to appear intelligent, when addressing issues they know little about. If I must speak to one of them, my brain continually tells me, "take it with a grain of salt, the person is a con artist of some sort."

When I first saw Mr. Bush speaking and my stomach turned, I failed to understand what my brain was trying to tell me.

But notice that I went by my perceptions. My brain only knows what I've fed it throughout life.  Just because my whole body rejects the sight of Mr. Bush, I have no right to assert that he is a con artist. The only conclusion I can reach is that I’ve met too many phonies and that I am tired of them. Or you could say that such extensive experience helps me recognize crooks right away. Who knows?

According to Gladwell, the brain "tells us" things which are not necessarily correct. What we receive matches our knowledge, not necessarily reality. With enough experience, however, our hunches may be scarily close to the truth. For instance, Blink, the book, cites the example of a tennis coach who could predict with almost 100% accuracy when a player was going to serve a fault. Just because he'd seen so many serves in his lifetime.

It follows that we should watch what our brain tells us and how it does it. According to the book, some people get a neck ache in the face of danger. Learning how our brain communicates the signals can be of utmost importance.

So, do psychics have supernatural powers or are they just finely tuned to the messages of their brain?

I say the so-called good ones listen to their brain really well. The bad ones lack even perception and common sense.

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