Observations placeholder
Winning at poker
Identifier
004190
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Dr Shafica Karagulla, born in the Lebanon but whose research took her to the USA and the UK, was a neuro-psychiatrist who spent eight years researching ordinary people who appeared to have extraordinary abilities. She started off being a skeptic as most scientists are [including me] but over time the evidence seemed overwhelming and she set up a research project to find out more. What brought her into the area was a book about Edgar Cayce, what kept her going was an open mind and an insatiable curiosity. Where she is remarkable is that she had no experiences of her own to confirm her eventual conclusions, but like all the very best scientists forgot her own life and concentrated on the observations and evidence.
Her research subjects were carefully chosen. She rejected all those who claimed they had these abilities but instead by a laborious process of enquiry and referral managed to find those who carried on normal professions and who never talked about their abilities but just used them.
A description of the experience
Breakthrough to Creativity – Dr Shafica Karagulla
One day I met a well-known Publisher who was looking for someone to write a book on Higher Sense Perception. As soon as we met he asked me if I proposed writing a book on the subject. Certainly some day I would have to, but I explained to him that I still knew too little about it. He continued to discuss the subject of Higher Sense Perception and I asked him why his great interest in this particular topic.
When I promised faithfully that I would never mention his name in this connection he was willing to discuss his own ability.
He told me that when he played poker or bridge with his friends he invariably found himself knowing what cards they were holding. This finally became so disturbing to him that he preferred not to play. He recounted numerous telepathic experiences which could at times become embarrassing to him. He tried to inhibit these, feeling that they put him a little outside the normal. However, when he had had a few drinks and his usual mental processes were less inhibited he found that in spite of himself he knew what people were thinking and what they were going to say next.