Clairvoyance

Opening The ThirdEye

by Judith Meites

The word "clairvoyance" has such amystique around it that many people aretotally put off by the term. Sometimesthe word conjures up image of gypsies peering into crystal balls...of weird and suspicious table-tapping in the dark...or of turbaned charlatans supposedly telling your future. These things are window dressingrather than clairvoyance itself. Just as everyone has a body—though some clothe it indesigner gowns and other in faded jeans— everyone has clairvoyance. And just as some people try to ignore their body as much as possible, others will vehemently deny thatsuch a thing as clairvoyance even exists. (These people are usually very clairvoyant.)

Well, what is clairvoyance, anyway? That's easy, becausereally it is a very simple thing. Webster's defines it as"clear-seeing." Obviously, we are talking about a kind ofinner vision that you do with your physical eyes closed.That's all: the ability to see clearly. See what? Again,that's up to you. Some people use their clairvoyance to seecolors, shapes and images. Some use it to "see through"other people— to see what's happening to them or where theyare coming from. Some use it to imagine things. Others us itto see abstract ideas or how things fit together. Stillothers may use it very concretely. Sometimes even veryenlightened people have the most amazing misconceptionsabout clairvoyance. J.G. Bennett, a marvelous spiritualteacher with whom I studies in England for a short time,used inner visualization as a central part of his teaching.We were taught, and practiced, a wide verity of innervisualizing. Again and again, we were shown how to open the"third eye." We used these techniques daily, as Mr. Bennetthad used them for many years. Yet in a lecture to hisstudents, Bennett said:"I cannot understand what people even mean when they saythey can have visual images. I cannot picture to myself whatit is like to see something I am not looking at with myeyes. The idea that one can close one's eyes and evoke apicture of something! I believe it because people say theycan, but nothing like that ever happens to me."(From

Creative Thinking, by J.G. Bennett, Coombe Springs Press,1964, p.82)Mr. Bennett was undoubtedly one of the most highly developedclairvoyants I've met. Yet the prejudice against "beingclairvoyant" was so strong that his thinking mind totallydenied this ability even as he was using it daily.What is this ability that even very highly developed peopleare so unaware of? Could they be afraid? And why? Theability itself is so wonderful— so clear and miraculous. Toanyone who uses clairvoyance, it is obvious that there is noreal threat to it, just clarity and perspective. The threatenters when people who deny their own clairvoyance are soafraid of their own abilities (and of what the clairvoyantmight actually see ) that they will go to great lengths tostop others from using their abilities.Seeing something clearly has a power all its own. Once yousee something, you know you have seen it, not matter whatanyone else says. I think this is the heart of the "threat"of clairvoyance. The clearer your vision is, the lesssubject you are to being controlled.First you see, then you do (usually). If you are afraid touse your own inner vision, your ability to act in the bestinterest of your own spiritual growth will be impaired.Another way to control clairvoyance is to promote the liethat clairvoyance is only for very special people, probablysaints. The common man shouldn't mess with it. Throughoutreligious history, a lot of fuss has been made abut peopleseeing vision. Just look at all the to-do made about SaintJohn the Divine, the mystic saint who had the visiondescribed in "The Revelation of Saint John the Divine," thelast chapter of the New Testament. Clairvoyance carries ataboo rooted in centuries of fear, awe and persecution, andbelief that clairvoyance is a sign of craziness or the "workof the devil" is still not uncommon. Fears too deep to beadmitted are slow to die. But these fears and prejudiceshave nothing to do with the experience of clairvoyanceitself.

As a society, if people are told: "don't do this" from thetime they are tiny, most people learn not to do it.. or, atany rate, they'll have a hard time owning up to doing it.They may think they are crazy when it happens, in spite oftheir attempts to turn it off. Our society has made a verystrong agreement not to be psychic, not to use theseabilities—spiritual abilities—that everyone with a bodyhas! But if we can't help having these experiences, we mustshut up about it, because the abilities are bad ordangerous. So what happens? You learn to turn your trueabilities down— or off. Invalidation is the great destroyerof clairvoyance, or of any sensitive ability. (And yet, Ihaven't met very many people who have never had theexperience of having a dream that contains some visualimagery. This is clairvoyance at work: after all, your eyeswere closed.)Clairvoyance—for me, personally— works something likethis. I sit down to do a reading or to work on myself. Somedays, my head feels clear; other days, heavy and stuffy. Iam aware that there is a connection between how clear myhead feels and how well I "see," so I start by clearing outmy head. When there is energy from other people in my head,"looking with me" I usually don't see much. (Sometimes myclearing out process works better than at other times; thereare many variables.)As I read or work, what I see is again very variable. When Ilook at part of someone's aura, I may see a very distinctcolor, or a vague image of a color or symbol— sometimesnothing. When the latter happens, it can be because I'mmaking a mistake (there are lots) or because the persondoesn't really want me to see his aura, so he tucks it awayso I won't be able to see it.From time to time, and this happens more often the longer Ipractice, I'll get a distinct flash of something so clearand unexpected that I'm totally surprised. These flashes arereally enjoyable to me; they're my favorite of being aclairvoyant.How to do it: