Can psychic abilities be learned?

Psychic abilities are typically thought of as gifts that are bestowed on a person, usually at birth.  This is what makes them special and able to use ESP and other similar abilities, at least in the popular view.  What if it's not just about being born with it, but what if psychic abilities can be learned?

My personal opinion on the matter is that everyone has the potential to be psychic; most people just don't tap that potential.  I think that some people are probably more predisposed to psychic functioning than others just as some people are born predisposed to being better at math or sports or art.  Does this mean that only those born with the predisposition can have psychic abilities?  No more than it means those with the predisposition for math or sports or art are the only ones that can learn those things.

This just means that some people will have to work harder to attain the same level of skill.  This also assumes that they even want that skill in the first place.  If you don't have the desire to have the skill or to be good at it then there's really no getting it unless you've been gifted with it from the start.  Even then, with a predisposition, if you choose not to use that ability then it will atrophy and you may as well not have it at all.

Then we have different areas of psychic ability.  Most people are probably better suited to some areas more than others, just like with anything in life.  Someone may be really good with the perceptive aspects but have no skill at all with more active abilities like psychokinesis.  Some people may be better suited to experiencing things visually while others may be better suited to sensing through feeling or intuition.  Again, predispositions come into play with this.  This is the view that Pete A. Sanders, Jr. takes in his book You Are Psychic!  I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to tap into their own psychic abilities.

I think we also have to take into consideration our society and the overall worldview towards things like psychic abilities.  Children are said to have more psychic experiences than adults.  The reasoning behind this is that children are still experiencing the world in a fresh way.  They haven't had a particular paradigm imposed on them yet so they are more open to whatever may come.  As they grow up they are told that things like magic and auras are not real, but just pretend.  As they start to believe this then it becomes true to them and they ignore and close off abilities that were natural and effortless to them.  That's the popular reasoning anyway.

My advice for (re)awakening your own psychic abilities is to listen to your intuition and take note of how it feels when something is right.  Practice the more active abilities.  Work out your psychic muscles so they'll grow.  Like any skill worth learning, it's going to take some practice to get the hang of it.  You can use the Quick ESP Test gadget at the bottom of the page to see how your skills are coming along.