This book describes certain important newly discovered elements of extrasensory perception which have never before appeared in the general parapsychological literature. The concept that a natural ESP “core” exists in all of us as a general and individualized human talent is the product of my research and efforts to develop my own ESP potential. I was able to locate my ESP core only after I noticed certain basic similar characteristics in the work of psychic subjects who had preceded me. These similar characteristics had never been commented upon, and to a large degree, it seems as if they have been ignored.
By categorizing these similar elements, I was eventually able to see that my own ESP was working (or trying to work) along lines that were almost identical to those of my predecessors. I made my first “discovery” in 1971 by going back into the research literature, right to its beginning in 1882. After 1971, I was able to observe that when other people, none of them trained psychics, tried an ESP experience, they also showed results that bore similarities to my attempts and to those of the earlier subjects.
The similarities among the historical examples (many of which are given in this book) not only help reveal the nature of the raw ESP core, but also finally establish beyond any doubt that extrasensory perception exists as a rudimentary talent—a potentially powerful one among the list of other human natural talents.
Understanding these communally shared ESP elements will be immeasurably helpful to those who want to locate and begin developing their own extrasensory perceptions. It will also be meaningful to those seeking a better understanding of general ESP, its high points and its problems.
The idea that extrasensory abilities are going to take on enormous importance in the near future is not just another empty prediction. The world’s three most important powers—the Soviet Union, the United States, and the People’s Republic of China—have mounted increasingly large programs to research extrasensory potentials. Though each of these powers is cloaking its investigations into ESP in secrecy, an imposing amount of smoke has begun rising. It is dark smoke, and terms such as the “ESP threat” or “achieving an ESP advantage” are becoming common parlance. These terms suggest the nature of the fires smoldering beneath the smoke of secrecy.
For it to have a more positive influence on our future, ESP must be found useful at the grass roots level where goal-oriented individuals can perceive its forms and applications for the common good. Only those individuals who have made some effort to locate and understand ESP as a personal experience will be in a position to comprehend more fully the potential of ESP. They are the advanced thinkers who will redefine the boundaries of consciousness and provide the foundation for the new age of applied ESP.
Ingo Swann