His Gift

Bina Bibi, you`ve done it again!

I was wondering, did you know there is an entire branch of US government devoted to this phenomena of knowing other peoples`secrets?

It is called the National Security Agency (NSA) and though the people who work there are not diagnosed with mental illnesses, they usually end up with mental illnesses at the end of their careers !:)

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Bina:

Why the postscript?

regards,

Fascinating and gripping! One more for Bina Shah.:-)

I believe many psychics suffer from schizophrenia, Bina. Schizophrenics almost exclusively attest to hearing a voice (or voices) in their head that often dictates actions they should take.

By the way, for another explanation of psychic phenomena, read Carl Sagan`s excellent book, ``The Demon-Haunted World.``

-!K!-

Bina dear,

What happened to your entry of ``Fish hook``in a short story contest???You should enter this one too if it is still open.!

Thanks to everyone for their positive comments.

To the person who asked whether I was doctor or patient, the answer is: neither, but I was a psychology student in college and grad school. I took classes in Abnormal Psych, Biopsychology, and Physiological Psychology. We had to memorize the names of all the mental disorders, their symptoms, and all the prescription drugs for our exams.

Interestingly enough, the ``symptoms`` David presents can`t be pinned down to any one mental illness. At first he seems to display a generalized anxiety disorder, then symptoms of OCD, displacement (which could be attributed to any one of the borderline personality disorders), and finally schizophrenia. This was meant to show that David might not actually be a candidate for medication/therapy after all...

And also, at first I meant to write this story about someone who was just mentally ill, but then halfway through thinking about, I thought I`d give it a twist.

As for entering this story into competition - I`m really flattered but not really sure whether it`s competition-worthy material. I just wrote this for fun, and as something different from my usual fare. I wanted something with a happy ending! Hope you enjoyed it.

- Bina.

Bina, enjoyed reading this story. I agree with you that it is definitely not competition material though.

My question to you, were you inspired to write this story after watching the movie ``The sixth sense`` by any chance?

As for psychic abilities, I think all that is just plain hocus pocus. People wish there were psychic abilities so that they would add meaning/spice/direction to their otherwise mundane lives. I do not know of a single intelligent person who takes this psychic babble seriously. Psychic abilities have never been demonstrated or substantiated in a scientific manner. No one who has claimed to have some paranormal powers has been able to come in front of a panel of people or an objective t.v camera and demonstrate their purported powers.

Yes there is a correlation between psychic abilities and psychological powers. The people who claim to have them are either frauds or are demented. And the people who believe them are just plain deluded.

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re; studebaker #11

but there is always a possibility about fraud or exploitation. what is a fake psychic is exploiting the simplicity of his or her clients and cheating them into giving money? the history of humanity is filled with such cheats who clung to positions of power.

what if what you think is harmless causes someone a great deal of harm? for example your ``harmless`` prediction that a person may find luck in gambling may cause financial ruin of that person. or your suggestion that a person avoid certain things may cause them to miss out on lucrative possibilities.

have you ever wondered whether you have caused harm to people through your fake psychic abilities (as you have yourself confessed??)

Re: Bina,

Interesting story, I was thinking about your

phrase ``He knew things without knowing how he knew them`` could also apply to the Prophets of various

religons. After all they received revelations from

an angel Gabriel (who could only be seen by the Prophet and no one else).

Obviously some thought these Prophets were mad and others thought there is some validity to their visions. Often some real life miracles like Moses

parting the sea, Jesus Healing the ill, and an illiterate Prophet Mohammed reading reciting the poetic verses of the Quran were to be the concrete proofs of such visions.

Regards,

Fozia

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``Almost any thing can be used as fraud & also there is a``sucker born evry minute``as the cliche goes.No i have not harmed any body for i myself admit that it is nothing more than say fortune cookie in the chinese restaurant almost in every town small & large.BUT that is not to say that i.....psychological powers of players.

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Hello Mr. Baker:

My God, this was like a series of complex equations. I am sorry to jump in this trench of 2nd differentials :-) just happpened to read YOUR RESPONSE and laughed and laughed and then thought I will acknowledge your ability to complex things that can be described clearly. I guess probably it was meant for Ibna-e-Sina only therefore it happened to be so complexed.

Well, the apparent shortage of good articles on chowk is becoming quite obvious and the very fact that folks are making everything a fiction is quite apparent. Lack of Originality is so damn apparent that I have requested some friends to create ripples by sending their beautiful and original thoughts to this ezine.

On another note, I am not sure where did those poets disappear who said that:

Interestingly enough, as Fozia states, the many miracles of Islam - visions, psychic dreams, revelations - could be seen as ``paranormal events``.

In fact, psychic dreams are a strong part of Islamic tradition. They are one of the forty-six branches of prophethood. You can check out the writings of Ibn Seerin, who was one of the most famous Islamic dream interpreters. There are many examples in the Quran of psychic dreams, too - for example the Pharoah`s dream which was interpreted as seven years of abundance, then seven years of famine.

- Bina

re zahra

`Lack of Originality is so damn apparent that I have requested some friends to create ripples by sending their beautiful and original thoughts to this ezine.`

but i wonder zahra will these thoughts see the light of day here what with the very questionable editorial policy in effect chowk is deluged with thousands of articles on a regular basis i find it hard to believe that alot of what actually makes it is the cream of the crop id love to have a look at chowks cutting room floor