by Frank L. Hammer

What is telepathy? Telepathy is a faculty of mind, and is the power which the mind has of communicating its own thoughts and receiving the thoughts of others without employing the known channels of the senses or any other physical agencies.

Telepathy is no recent discovery nor is it occult in manifestation, but is old as thought and normal as thinking. That thought forces arrive at their objective, regardless of distances or barriers, has long been known to many philosophers, and that the mind has the power of affecting inanimate objects and persons at a distance dates back to prehistoric times.

As there are forces in the human personality besides those employed for muscular and chemical purposes, so there are faculties in the mind that far transcend the ones we use in objective thought and thinking. These higher faculties, most fortunately, are yet dormant in mankind as a whole. Better give children dynamite than entrust the creative powers of thought to selfish and ambitious men.

Peculiar are some of the notions entertained about telepathic communications. Many people deny this power to man, but have no doubt that animals possess it. Still more singular is the idea that the radio transmits and receives vibrations via the ether, but that man has no such power. Regardless of what anyone believes or disbelieves, it is only too evident that our minds are constantly filled with a surge of ideas, coming and going, over which we exercise little control.

Most people are helpless victims in regard to telepathy because they are not cognizant of it, and, consequently, do not select their thoughts which are constantly in their atmosphere. Their minds have not been trained to discriminate, or choose only such thoughts which are useful, constructive and beneficial, and reject those which are selfish, destructive and pessimistic. They are at the mercy of every adverse thought which comes their way and readily succumb to dejection, melancholy and moods.

Many people mistake telepathic suggestions as emanating from their minds, whereas they have been sent them by individuals who wish them to act in a certain manner. It is always unwise to accept any thought or suggestion without first examining its purpose and purport; for, unless we know from where suggestions come, we are mere tools in the hands of people who may be designing and unscrupulous. All people are the recipient of others’ thoughts and not always to their benefit.

Rulers are well aware that thought is no imaginary thing, but a powerful force to be reckoned with and, whenever possible, to be controlled. Not for nothing does every country employ hordes of skillful and high-salaried propagandists, for the leaders fear, more than anything else, the awakening of the masses. It is only because their minds are controlled that the people follow their leaders to death and destruction.

How telepathy works escapes all analysis. Numerous theories have been advanced to account for its operation, the most logical one being the omnipresence of mind. Through the existence of a universal ether, constant and pervading all space, all minds are in continual communication with other mentalities, and have the power of influencing them without the aid of any mechanical devices.

Whatever this force may be, it must pass across a greater or lesser distance to produce its manifestations. It cannot be transmitted across a void. It must have some means of conduction. The “carrier” for thought vibrations is this magnetic mind substance, and telepathy underlies and ramifies through all the diversified effects and is the basic principle of all mental phenomena.

Thoughts are not indefinite abstractions, but are powerful, vital forces endowed with form, color and odor. They are visible to clairvoyants and audible to clairaudient people. They have motive power, traveling with incredible speed, reaching almost instantly the remotest spheres, and there is no diminution of power or strength regardless of the distance traversed. We know for a certainty that entities who no longer employ physical organs of any kind can and do transmit and receive telepathic messages.

Uninformed people often scoff at telepathy on the grounds that experiments performed are frequently far from being accurate or reliable. Telepathy is perfect. But telepathy as a faculty and as a mode of communication are entirely different. One is the method of communication—the other is the mind’s ability to communicate in that way. They are as different as thought and speech. There is the ability to think, while language is merely the system of symbols used for the expression of ideas. Everyone has experienced difficulty with the ambiguity of words. We have certain thoughts in mind, but when conveying them to the mind of another, in speaking or writing, often an entirely different idea is formed. Is it any wonder, then, that error should prevail when untrained instrumentalities undertake to read minds?

Successful mind reading requires years of persistent practice and intense concentration. Also, there are several obstacles which prevent any appreciable degree of accuracy. Chief among these are a phlegmatic temperament, dense organism and lack of rapport between transmitter and receiver. Just as some people are born to sing and others are not, so some people are naturally endowed for the pursuance of the mental sciences. While these faculties can be cultivated to a limited degree, these powers appear to be more or less hereditary for they often run in families for generations.

Experience has proved that an emotional relationship forms the best basis for thought transference. Parents and their children are in close rapport, for mothers often intuitively know when their offspring are in danger. Husband and wife have been found very susceptible to each other’s thoughts, particularly if happily married for a period of years.

Mrs. Upton Sinclair for one is able to get her husband’s thoughts when thousands of miles apart. Furthermore, she is also able to see what he is doing. However, this phase of psychic perception is properly called clairvoyance. Interior and distant hearing is designated as clairaudience. It is sometimes erroneously believed that these psychic senses are extensions of the physical ones. They are in reality, soul senses, for the spiritual body has faculties analogous to its physical counterpart. Blind people frequently have their psychic senses highly developed, which accounts for their amazing ability to sense colors, location, etc. Everyone knows what Helen Keller has accomplished.

We read recently about a James Holman, who lived in London during the last century. He was known as the sight-seeing blind man, for, although totally blind, he traveled around the world alone, in utter darkness, and wrote several excellent travel books describing his adventures. “God took away my eyes that my soul might see” is sometimes true.

Clairvoyant people can easily see across oceans and continents, into closed boxes, sealed packets, etc. Clairaudient persons can hear at any distance, and also hear thoughts as distinctly as if spoken audibly. These faculties enable one to see and hear what is positively obscure, unseen and unheard by the physical senses. Some people exercise their psychic powers naturally and freely, while in others their activity is entirely dormant.

While only a minority of people have unfolded their spiritual faculties, telepathy, on the other hand, is the property in different degrees of all created things, both animate and inanimate. Jeans, the eminent astronomer, tells us that the planets have a system of intercommunication. Animals rely on telepathy almost exclusively, and some get the thoughts of human beings quite clearly. Birds, too, communicate with one another, and there have been a few great naturalists who could understand their language. Trees, plants and flowers have a telepathic interchange of thought which is compatible with their degree of consciousness. Flowers, particularly, are extremely sensitive, and like to have people to talk to them. And they know who loves them!

Many people marvel at the astounding accuracy of mind readers, who perform at fairs, bazaars and theatres. Accomplices and codes usually account for their amazing ability to get the right answer. Those with genuine occult powers do not commercialize them, or use them for the amusement of a curious, skeptical, and often vulgar, public audience. Indeed, they could not if they would. The delicate organism necessary for the catching of the subtle thought vibrations could not long endure the coarse and cross currents prevailing in such an atmosphere. Sensitive people would speedily become ill and their powers diminish and decline.

Some of the Hindoos possess genuine powers of high degree, and we have seen them read minds with perfect accuracy. But we must remember that in India the culture of mind is thousands of years old, while the Occidentals are just beginning to discover its existence.

Telepathy is the clue to the baffling mystery of several inventors simultaneously working on the same invention. Each believes he is the sole discoverer, then he learns another has patented the identical invention. It is said that when Professor Bell was perfecting his telephone, at least three other inventors were developing the same thing. In wireless telegraphy Marconi had three competitors, and, in many other inventions, who was first is still in dispute.

Men think ideas emanate from their minds, whereas “ideas are in the air,” and inventive minds are naturally in rapport with the same ideas. This is also true with composers, musicians, writers, artists—all those engaged in creative work. They unconsciously draw upon this mental force that generates rays in myriad directions, and the sensitive souls catch most readily these helpful influences.

It is by means of telepathy that we can communicate with the dwellers on the Other side, for communion with the saints is a fact whether men ignore or deny it. We can send messages to the disembodied far more easily than to those in the flesh, because in their case we have not the heavy, physical matter to penetrate, but can contact the mind directly. Furthermore, as thought is the language in the world of spirit, no misunderstandings arise. Space, not even millions of miles, is no barrier; but it is our dull unreceptivity which prevents reception of thoughts.

Our loved ones “Over There” not only know what we are doing, but know what we are thinking. And the people of earth do not realize the agony and heartbreak that is experienced when they see that we no longer remember or have ceased to care. A loving thought is as welcome to the senses of the disembodied as is here a loving word or tender caress. If earthly people could only know how much comfort and happiness is derived from these thoughts of love and remembrance, surely none would be left lonely and neglected.

When a soul departs from this life, he should always be accompanied by thoughts of love and peace, by aspirations for his progression. The beloved “dead” assuredly have a claim on our love and care, and should never be forgotten and ignored when our kind and loving thoughts can reach them instantly and are treasured beyond all price.

Excerpt from Life And Its Mysteries