Psychic feeling, empathy, or emotion, also known as emotive telepathy, emotional transfer, or clairempathy, is often erroneously referred to simply as 'empathy,' which is a gross underestimation of true clairempathic psychic ability. Psychics and mediums with this affective perception preference essentially function as emotional surrogates and empathic polygraphs, as we actively embody the feelings, mood states, motivations, and emotions of others.
Clairempathy is not ‘normal' empathy, much less mere sympathy. In the context of authentic psychic perception there is a distinct difference between being empathetic towards others, as opposed to metaphysically perceiving and embodying empathic psychic impressions.
EMPATHETIC VERSUS EMPATHIC
Ordinary empathy is the ability to observe, understand, and sympathize with the mental and emotional states of other people. According to standard scientific models, empathy has three core traits:
The first is the ability to recognize emotions in others based on various verbal and non-verbal communication cues, such as tone of voice, facial expression, and body language.
The second is the ability for perspective taking; to cognitively understand the other person’s mental-emotional state and place yourself ‘in their shoes.’
The third is the capacity for sincere compassion and sympathy in response to the pain and suffering of others, or to ‘feel for them.’
Empathy is a psychosocial skill or trait that all people possess, although not necessarily automatically. Mentally healthy people typically have healthy levels of empathy, especially if they have been appropriately socialized growing up.[1] However, people possess varying levels of empathy, as opposed to ‘apathy’ (lack of interest or caring), based on a variety of factors.[2]
Most of us are therefore to some extent empathetic towards others and can identify, understand, and sympathize with the feelings and emotional experiences of others. This is known as a vicarious experience — it is an empathetic response to the observation of emotions in others.
Vicarious empathy in response to social cues is quite common in the general population and an important basis for social behavior and interaction.[3] In fact, it is so integral to prosocial behavior and our coexistence that a lack of empathy has been shown to cause severe psychological and social dysfunction, including psychopathy [4] and pathological narcissism.[5]
While ordinary empathy involves affective (emotional), and cognitive (thought) processes based on observation, logical thinking, perspective-taking, reasoning, and an appropriate emotional response, the experiences of the clairempath or ‘psychic empath,’ who has an unusual capacity for shared emotion and affective embodiment is an entirely different matter.
Clairempathy is the empathic embodiment of energy data that has no rational, logical, or subjective origin or explanation. It is essentially a shared awareness of another sentient being's feelings, emotions, mood states, and motivations, instead of a mere understanding or observation it.
Empathic psychic impressions are spontaneous and visceral — it is typically a strong emotional experience without any logic, reason, or personal origin. Just like the claircognizant ‘knows,’ the clairvoyant ‘sees,' and the clairaudient ‘hears,’ the clairempath feels. Clairempathic perceptions are not the empath’s personal emotions, nor are they cognitive observations or interpretations of another person’s emotional state. Clairempaths also do not necessarily sympathize or ‘feel with’ the other person.
For example, I can feel someone else’s anxiety or guilt when they are telling a lie, but that does not mean I pity them. I simply ‘feel’ what they are feeling emotionally in that moment, whether I sympathize with them, or not.
If someone ahead of me in a slow supermarket line is becoming extremely impatient and angry, without outwardly showing it, I can empathically ‘feel’ her rage (and most likely also perceive a clairsomatic ‘sensation’ of her heart rate and blood pressure rising.)
If I choose to pay further attention, I might also perceive claircognitive information about the circumstances in her life that may be causing her to feel so intolerant and irritable. But this does not automatically imply I will personally identify with her emotions (empathy), or feel sorry for her (sympathy).
NONLOCAL EMOTION
The clairempath actively perceives or embodies the emotions, motivations, and mood states of others. We do not merely observe what others may be feeling, we actually ‘feel’ it ourselves, as if it were our own feelings — sometimes not even immediately knowing whose feelings they might be.
Psychic empathy is therefore a form of transpersonal empathy. It is metaphysical and nonsensory in origins. It does not rely on the clairempath observing any sensory clues, or verbal and non-verbal communication. In fact, the clairempath does not even have to see, or physically be in the same place as the other person to perceive these feeling impressions.
I constantly embody the feelings of others without needing to know anything about them, or having direct contact or interaction with them. In fact, I can perceive the feelings of people on the other side of the planet. Just like claircognitive or ‘sapient’ energy data is nonlocal and omnipresent in the universal field of consciousness, so too is clairempathic or ‘sentient’ energy data.
AFFECTIVE PSI
The emotive or affective aspects of psychic phenomena seldom receive much attention in parapsychology and psi research. This lack of interest is probably another consequence of the orthodox Newtonian approach to psychic research. It is obviously simpler to verify empirical facts in a laboratory, rather than ‘ineffable feelings.’
Researcher Christine Hardy however reports some psi research does point to the significant role of emotion or affect in psychic phenomena, instead of it purely consisting of mental (mind-brain) content. Spontaneous psi experiences are often triggered by emotionally charged events; this could, of course, be due to a form of selective reporting, but at least some investigations of target emotionality and psi in telepathy tests suggest otherwise.[6]
Hardy cites experimental ganzfeld and telepathy data that finds “emotionally and / or sensorially rich targets seem to be more conducive to psi than highly abstract or neutral ones,”[7] and “affective relationships between sender and receiver seem to enhance success in telepathy tasks.”[8] She also adds that this finding is consistent with what has been generally observed in spontaneous cases of psi.[9]
EMOTIONAL CONTAGION
A psychological phenomenon related to clairempathy, that has been studied more extensively, is the phenomenon of ‘emotional contagion,’ in which one person's emotions can directly trigger similar emotions in others. It is an instantaneous and unconscious process by which emotional states or moods literally spread like ‘social viruses.’
For example, a 2012 study finds depression can be highly contagious among teenagers within a certain social group. “Over time, adolescents' depressive symptoms increasingly converged toward the average levels of their peers.”[10] Research further shows that we seem to ‘synchronize our feelings’ with each other in social settings and that feeling strong emotions can make people’s brains ‘tick together.’[11]
CRISIS EMPATHY
Clairempathy is also observed in the psi phenomenon of crisis impression. A crisis impression is a sudden psychic awareness that another person is in extreme danger, or worse, that they have died. A typical crisis impression is usually an inexplicable ‘shift in mood’ at the time of a loved one’s death — to the extent that the subject is overcome with sadness or despair, or conversely, experience elation or a profound sense of inner peace.
Crisis impressions are also characterized by an abrupt change in the person’s emotional or mood state that is not caused any apparent external ‘trigger,’ and these feelings always coincide with an unreported event or death involving a loved one, which the perceiver at the time is not yet aware of.[12]
MASS HYSTERIA
An extreme example of clairempathy is the unusual phenomenon known as mass psychogenic illness or ‘mass hysteria.’ It is a well-documented psychosocial phenomenon in which a group of people or a crowd, or an entire community, experience a spontaneous outbreak of shared psycho-physiological distress.
Another documented case is the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic of 1962, in which villagers in several neighboring communities engaged in unstoppable laughter for months, after a group of students at a boarding school started the initial giggling. The villagers could not stop laughing, and some even experienced pain, fainting, skin rashes, bouts of crying, and respiratory problems.[14]
Similar ‘mass hysteria’ outbreaks have been documented in schools, workplaces, and communities all over the world. Science currently has no conclusive explanation for this phenomenon of collective obsessional behavior, or so-called ‘epidemics of the mind.’[15]
A recent example has been the widespread hoarding of toilet paper and other essentials, including the emotional outbursts of manic buyers fighting over these ‘coveted’ items in stores, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.[16]
Psychologist Samah Khaled Zahran believes the origins of these phenomena may be found in the human biofield, or human energy field (aura), also known as the morphic field. He proposes the human biofield serves as an energy umbrella or atmosphere that represents human physical and psychological status that connects us to our surroundings and helps us to adapt to our environment.[17]
A 2014 cross-disciplinary study confirms the hypothesises that emotional states generate corresponding metabolic bio-magnetic fields that radiate in patterns reflecting these emotional states, and that these energy fields can be shared in a crowd through paramagnetic sensitivity that may be proportional to crowd numbers.[18]
EMPATHIC MEDIUMSHIP
When I do mediumship readings, I often tell clients that the dearly departed no longer feel the ‘petty’ human emotions we so often indulge in, but they certainly make me ‘feel’ these emotions while I am channeling. The empathic energy data of the deceased is in my experience always loving, compassionate, peaceful, and unmistakably selfless. It is never hateful, angry, vengeful, jealous, remorseful, or even apologetic — but I do experience such negative emotions when I channel the akashic information of the deceased person. The energy data of the dearly departed never ‘tells’ me they are angry or sad (because they are indeed not). Instead, their energy essentially causes me to feel angry or sad ‘on their behalf’ as the ‘medium.’
Some clients, who have been victims of family trauma or abuse, typically do not care much for this, nor do they wish to understand how everyone on the other side can always just be so ‘pollyanna’ happy and positive. Instead, they want to know that their parent or grandparent is truly sorry, or that their sibling or child is sincerely begging for their forgiveness. Experiencing such emotive impressions can therefore be exceptionally healing for the sitter. But to meaningfully convey this information from the akasha, I need to function as a psychic surrogate or ‘channel,’ and actually ‘feel’ the emotional significance of what is being channeled.
SENTIENT SHAPESHIFTING
It is important to note clairempathy is not limited only to humans. Author Dawn Baumann Brunke, for example, reveals how through the art of shapeshifting or therianthropy (moving in and out of shared awareness with other sentient beings) one can experience different forms of consciousness ‘through the eyes’ of other beings, and integrate these experiences into a greater awareness of our own being.[19]
© 2022 Anthon St. Maarten
REFERENCES
[1] Wagers, K. B. & Kiel, E. J. (2019). The Influence Of Parenting And Temperament On Empathy Development In Toddlers. Journal Of Family Psychology.
[2] Lockwood, P.L. et al. (2017) Individual Differences In Empathy Are Associated With Apathy-Motivation. Scientific Reports.
[3] Rothen N. & Meier B. (2013). Why Vicarious Experience Is Not An Instance Of Synesthesia. Frontiers In Human Neuroscience.
[4] Lysaker, P.H. et.al. (2014). Social Cognition And Metacognition In Schizophrenia. Academic Press.
[5] Urbonaviciute, G. & Hepper, E. G. (2020). When Is Narcissism Associated With Low Empathy? A Meta-Analytic Review. Journal Of Research In Personality.
[6] Christine, H. (2000). Psi As A Multilevel Process: Semantic Fields Theory. The Journal Of Parapsychology.
[7] Bierman, D. (1995). The Amsterdam Ganzfeld Series: Target Clip Emotionality, Effect Sizes And Openness. The Parapsychological Association.
[8] Broughton, R. & Alexander, C. (1997). Autoganzfeld: An Attempted Replication Of The PRL Ganzfeld Research. Journal Of Parapsychology.
[9] Schouten, S. (1982). Analysing Spontaneous Cases: A Replication Based On The Rhine Collection. European Journal Of Parapsychology.
[10] Kiuru, N. Et.Al. (2012). Is Depression Contagious? A Test Of Alternative Peer Socialization Mechanisms Of Depressive Symptoms In Adolescent Peer Networks. Journal Of Adolescent Health.
[11] Nummenmaa, L. et.al. (2012). Emotions Promote Social Interaction By Synchronizing Brain Activity Across Individuals. National Academy of Sciences.
[12] Stevenson, I. (1970). Telepathic Impressions: A Review and Report of Thirty-five New Cases. American Society for Psychical Research. University Press of Virginia.
[13] Bauer, P. (2020). Dancing Plague Of 1518. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica.com.
[14] Rankin, A. M. & Philip, P. J. (1963). An Epidemic Of Laughing In The Bukoba District Of Tanganyika. Central African Journal Of Medicine.
[15] Balaratnasingam S. & Janca, A. (2006). Mass Hysteria Revisited. Current Opinion in Psychiatry Journal.
[16] Bagus, P. et.al. (2021). COVID-19 And The Political Economy Of Mass Hysteria. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health.
[17] Zahran S.K. (2019) Human Bio-field and Psychical Sensitivity. Journal of Psychology & Clinical Psychiatry.
[18] McDonnell, A. (2014). The Sixth Sense-Emotional Contagion; Review Of Biophysical Mechanisms Influencing Information Transfer In Groups. Journal Of Behavioral And Brain Science.
[19] Baumann Brunke, D. (2008). Shapeshifting With Our Animal Companions: Connecting With The Spiritual Awareness Of All Life. Bear & Company.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents.
He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology.
Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.
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