Another application of psychic functioning would be to aid human communication generally. Not only do we communicate verbally and by complex and subtle "body language," but psychically as well. If we could learn something about the conditions that improve accurate psychic functioning, perhaps we could communicate with each other more fully and accurately. Psychic processes could be used in therapy, both medical and psychological. Physicians and therapists might use telepathy and clairvoyance to aid them in diagnosing medical and psychological problems which they might not be able to learn about otherwise. Conceivably, they might even be able to correct or heal or cure problems psychokinetically. Even today, this may be happening much more frequently than we think.

There are also some ethical implications of this work in parapsychology. What our findings are suggesting more and more is that we, as human beings, are connected and interrelated much more closely than we have suspected. We are not as separate as we appear to be. And if this is so, who is to say where "I" end, and where "you" begin? If we are as closely related and as in touch with one another as psychic findings suggest, perhaps it is unwise to think of society as composed of "us" and "them." And perhaps the kind of ethic compatible with that view is also unwise. An entirely different ethic goes with a view that we are all connected, all one. Perhaps we could treat each other with more love, kindness, and respect if we were to realize that we really aren’t that separate, different and isolated after all.

What are some possible practical applications of psychic ability?

I. Psychic diagnosis. Telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition could be used for purposes of medical and psychological diagnosis. These abilities would be particularly helpful if there were need for rapid diagnosis or for diagnosis of disorders not detected by other, more conventional, means. Precognition could provide an early warning of disorders which might develop at a later time and thus could serve a preventive function. It is likely that very effective physicians and clinicians are already using psychic abilities unconsciously in their diagnostic work. This may be an important component of the "art" of healing.

2. Psychic healing. Psychokinesis could possibly be used for the correction and "cure" of certain medical and psychological disorders. It has already been demonstrated that a variety of biological systems can be influenced via intentional psychokinesis. (examples in experiments with animals, plants, and micro-organisms) These systems include the growth rates of yeast, fungus, grass seeds, bacteria, and tumors; the activity of enzymes; physiological reactions of distant persons; behavioral reactions of animals; rate of recovery from ether anesthetization; rate of healing of skin wounds. These systems have been studied in controlled laboratory tests.

It is difficult to assess possible psychokinetic influences upon ill persons in everyday life situations. One has to consider such "contaminating" factors as "spontaneous remission," general expectancy or placebo effects, the effects of other concurrent treatments, and the nonpsychic effects of the psychic healing procedure itself. Very detailed diagnoses before and after treatment are needed. Unfortunately, few if any reports of psychic healing meet all the criteria necessary to determine whether psychic effects actually occurred. However, future work may be better controlled to allow more satisfactory conclusions.

Psychic healing could be used as an adjunct to more conventional treatments. In Great Britain, for example, the National Federation of Spiritual Healers has been granted the right to help treat patients in that country’s fifteen hundred national hospitals if the patient requests their services and the attending physician gives permission. more on psychic healing

3. Investigative work. Psychic abilities may be used for the purposes of finding missing persons, missing objects, for investigative work, detection, crime solving, and customs inspection. Police forces in various countries frequently seek the assistance of psychics in difficult cases. This is especially common in the Netherlands, in which well-known psychics such as Gerard Croiset and others have provided very useful information. In the U.S., the Los Angeles Police Department has been known to make use of the services of psychics, as has Scotland Yard in Great Britain. more on investigative work

4. Finding hidden resources. Clairvoyance, typically in the form of "dowsing," might be used to find hidden natural resources such as water, oil, and mineral deposits. Dowsers may be called upon to locate underground telephone cables, water mains, and electrical power lines. Dowsing may also be used to locate impurities in foodstuffs and other materials. An interesting case has been reported in which the well-known dowser Henry Gross allegedly located water wells on the drought stricken Bermuda Islands, 800 miles away from his home in Maine. He accomplished this using a map of the islands.

The late parapsychologist J. B. Rhine reported the successful clairvoyant detection by a man/dog team of land mine targets buried under sand and under water. In Vietnam, engineer units of the First and Third Marine Divisions reportedly used rods made from bent coat hangers to locate enemy tunnels, booby traps and mines. more on finding hidden resources

5. Archeological finds. Clairvoyance might be used in the discovery of archaeological sites. Psychic abilities might also provide information about the dates and functions of artifacts found in archeological digs. The "remote viewing" (distant clairvoyant) studies  conducted by physicists at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) indicate that geographical and geological target sites can be accurately described psychically at a distance. Perhaps this ability extends to underground "targets" as well. Winckelmann's work at Pompeii, Evans’ work at Crete, and Schliemann’s discovery of Troy may have had psychic components. In fact, psychic or intuitive archeology seems to be increasing in popularity and acceptance. more on archeological finds

6. Agricultural uses. Well-controlled laboratory work has found evidence of psychokinetic influence upon plant growth. Large-scale agricultural use of this finding might be feasible. It may be possible to increase yield and growth of crops and decrease the likelihood of plant disease through psychokinesis. 

7. Accident avoidance. It is likely that all of us are already using our own psi abilities in everyday life to avoid accidents and to increase the likelihood of encountering favorable circumstances. Avoiding accidents via precognition usually takes care of itself, happening in an unconscious, non-intentional way. It may be possible, however, to "formalize" precognitive accident avoidance. It may be possible to collect and study detailed premonitions that citizens might submit to some central bureau. If a large number of premonitions are received about a particular situation (e.g., a particular airline flight), a kind of "early warning" could be communicated urging unusual care in that situation, more detailed inspection, etc. Thus, accidents might be prevented or resulting damages minimized.

Apparently this kind of accident avoidance is already going on. A parapsychologist, W.E. Cox, investigated 28 serious U.S. railroad accidents. The number of passengers was significantly smaller on days of the accidents compared with the same days in previous weeks. Cox suggested that people precognized the disasters and decided not to travel on those critical days.

Central Premonition Registries have been set up in London and in New York. The Registries collect, date, and study predictions sent in by citizens. There has been much success in recording disasters, unexpected events in space flights, and the like before they happen. The Registries could conceivably serve an early warning function, etc., if a great number of consistent predictions are received.

8. Business uses. Parapsychologist Douglas Dean and his associates have spent a number of years studying the possible use of psi by successful U.S. businessmen. Dean found that successful top executives (those who had doubled their companies’ profits in the previous five years) scored significantly higher in computerized precognition tests than did the less successful executives. Dean argues that successful businessmen commonly use ESP in their business dealings, often following their "hunches," "intuitions," or "gut feelings" rather than what logic would dictate. These ESP leads often result in good outcomes which would not have occurred otherwise.

A number of outstanding corporation presidents have provided testimonials to the usefulness of ESP in their own lives. An interesting statistic is that the number of believers in ESP among successful businessmen is three to five times as great as the number of disbelievers. This ratio is well above the national average of the 53 percent belief in ESP reported in one Roper poll, a belief which is strongly correlated with increasing levels of education and income. For both data and speculation on the role of psi in business, the reader is referred to the book Executive ESP by Douglas Dean and Lynn Schroeder. more on business uses

9. Suicide prevention. An unusual application of psi which has been reported is in the area of suicide prevention. A certain psychic near the East Coast is apparently able to psychically distinguish high-  from low-risk suicide threats with exceptional accuracy. This would allow appropriate amounts of attention to be devoted to the threateners. Apparently, this psychic’s "hit rate" is considerably higher than any obtained through the use of other, non-psychic, methods.

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