Abstract

One enduring problem in ESP research lies in determining which aspects of a percipient's mentation might relate to the target, and which are not relevant. Perhaps this is a false dichotomy and ESP is instead "imagination that relates to the target," an extension of a continuous process wherein our internal state is perturbed by a multitude of external forces but one in which we have been able to extract useful information from those perturbations. These perturbations will not be strong or else they would be directly perceived, but instead enter into conscious awareness as subtle alterations to "normal" thought processes. These may manifest as a sense of unease or awareness of difference, or, as occurs with weak or indirect sensory information, in a symbolic form. ESP can then be envisioned not as a single "sense" but instead as a symbolic unification of a stream of weak and indirect information from a variety of sources.