By Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Copyright Visionary Living, Inc.

In paranormal and sci-fi dramas, there are often characters who have developed amazing powers of mind and can mentally move and manipulate objects and people, sometimes with stunning force. Fiction exaggerates for the sake of plot, but the existence of such mental power is very real. It is called psychokinesis, or PK. You may not know it, but PK is part of daily life. It is a force behind healing, miracles and manifestation. It is one of our abilities of the future — we are learning more and more about how PK operates and what it affects.

Psychokinesis literally means “to move at a distance by soul or lifebreath.” Essentially, PK is the use of your thought and will to make some sort of change in the physical world. In scientific experiments, researchers have studied subjects who can affect the roll of dice, the sequence of numbers in a random generator machine, the temperature in a room, the physical properties of water, the movement of compass points, and so on. Some research investigates the ability of the human mind to affect subatomic particles and time itself.

PK happens both spontaneously and deliberately. It has been recorded since ancient times. The acts of shamans, such as bringing rain, are PK events. Many of the miracles of the saints, such as bilocation, levitation, controlling the forces of nature and manifesting food, have PK elements. Healing at a distance involves PK. Real magic involves PK.

Some people are born with extraordinary PK ability, just as some people are born with extraordinary artistic talent. For example, Ted Serios could look at something and apparently create an approximate photographic image of it on film. A healer named Ted Owens also seemed to have remarkable PK ability, and could influence the elements.

PK can be cultivated deliberately through training concentration and intent. There are many ways, and techniques vary. Thought and will are at the basis. One of the fundamentals of both magic and mysticism is that thoughts are things, and thoughts create reality. You become what you think and believe. Your life reflects what you think and believe. The universe orders itself around you according to your thoughts.

Thought powers the Law of Attraction, setting forces in motion that draw to us the people and circumstances that match our beliefs and expectations. If you believe deep in side of you that you are creative, that you are talented, that you are a winner, you will consciously and unconsciously fulfill those thoughts. The same follows if you think negatively. If you go around thinking that you “always” fail, then you will. Mental power in the form of concentration, self-belief, ambition, goal-setting, intent and visualization is incredibly strong. Just ask any athlete, artist or business superstar. You don’t get to the top without mental focus.

But thought isn’t everything. To be truly effective, it has to be united with action. Your thoughts have the power to magnify your action. You can do more, accomplish more. Thought without action becomes wishful thinking. Harnessing the power of your thought takes effort. Thousands and thousands of thoughts, many of them conflicting, pass through our minds every day. The majority of our thoughts do not come to pass in reality because they are not organized into sufficient energy, powered by will and intent.

The cultivation of PK works best when we call upon higher powers. The universe is a dynamic, living thing with constant forces in motion. The people who develop their powers are in touch with a higher reality. They understand that the ideal state of all things is harmony and wholeness, and that love is the strongest force of all. Shamans, mystics and healers call upon higher powers, whether it is God, the gods or the forces of nature, in their PK. They become instruments for higher powers to work through them.

There is magnified PK power in groups that unite their thoughts and wills together. This is why rituals are done in groups and why people pray in groups, and why teams have a collective spirit and force. History is the outcome of a complicated play of united group consciousnesses interacting with each other.

I’m often asked if it is possible to control other people through PK. Actually, this has been studied secretly by various governments looking for ways to wage covert warfare. However, it seems that ultimately, you are not going to force anyone to do something that goes against their deepest will. You are not going to turn someone into a slave, for example. The most responsible and productive use of your mental power is to improve your own life, help other people and make positive change in the world. You are a force field of energy.

People also ask me, “If PK is real, then why don’t more people win the lottery on purpose or make a killing in the stock market?” It is possible to influence the roll of dice and the arrangement of numbers in machines – this has been demonstrated scientifically in the laboratory. Chance is 50-50, and overall study results fall barely above chance. Statistically, this is very significant, though it doesn’t seem so from a what’s-in-it-for-me perspective.

Also, there are subtle group factors involved. When you enter a lottery, for example, you are going up against the hopes and intents of potentially millions of people. That’s a lot of wills mixed together. The stock market is a complex entity involving global events and a large group psychology, of which a single person is a tiny part.

We will continue to advance our understanding of how mental power works, and be able to adapt it in practical and reliable ways. Already researchers are working on computers that respond to thought. Sci-fi scenarios in which we use thought to operate a variety of machines will someday come to pass. Will we be able to flip objects through space like fictional characters do today? To do so would require some sort of interaction with the law of gravity. We know that this seems possible, because we have historical testimonials of saints, yogis and spiritual masters levitating in altered states of consciousness. (For saints, these experiences usually came during raptures brought on by intense prayer and meditation, and by a lifestyle totally devoted to spiritual study and practice.) Most of these experiences seem to happen spontaneously. Whether we will learn how to make them happen on cue, and to manage the experiences themselves, is another matter.

Research also will help us understand how other forces affect PK. For example, studies show a relationship of PK to electromagnetic forces. There are even studies that suggest that lunar cycles may indeed be a factor as well. Since the dawn of history, humankind has believed in the power of the moon to affect all areas of life. Some gambling studies show a slightly better hit rate during full moons than during new moons. I stress that these studies are inconclusive, but they do show that we have a lot to learn about the complex dynamics of the universe.

Our emotions and expectations are factors in the process, too. It is well established in scientific research that believers in psi have a higher hit rate in experiments than do disbelievers. Studies have also shown that people who are generally happy and relaxed have a higher psi hit rate than people who are tense, anxious and self-doubtful.

I also believe that we will increasingly learn how fluid is time, and that it can be expanded and contracted. Athletes in “the zone” know this. And some scientific experiments attempt to examine retro-PK, or influencing the outcome of events that have already happened in linear time.

As with any advancement, there is always the potential for abuse. There are always people who seek to turn things to their own selfish or negative interests. Ultimately you experience the consequences of your actions. If you use your abilities for good, you will experience good. If you use them to manipulate or harm, you will experience the fallout of that, too. Always take the high road!

How can you harness PK? Know yourself and your purpose and set goals. Visualize, affirm, meditate and pray daily. Follow with action. Develop your intuition — it is a power related to PK.  Above all, put yourself in partnership with higher power and make love the center of your life.