Everybody would have experienced it at some time or other, this ESP thing. For example, you wake up one fine morning feeling sad and down for no reason, then suddenly you get some bad news over the phone. It could be a personal misfortune or someone close. Extra sensory perception (ESP), is a phenomenon neither wholly proven nor denied scientifically. To most of us, it's just 'one of those things.' Like ghosts and bomohs.

I happen to have these ESP experiences on a quite regular basis. I'd remember an old schoolmate whom I haven't heard for nearly 30 years, and he'd call me up before the day ends. I'd search futilely for a friend's business card, only to bump into him during lunchtime at Ampang Point. It could be pure coincidence, save for the fact that they occur one too many times. Maybe it's a normal thing after all. Certainly nothing to shout about. And unlike chronic diabetes, nothing to lose sleep on.

ESP may include sixth sense (ask Hollywood's M Night Shyamalan), telepathy, dreams, dj vu, premonitions etc., but it certainly has nothing to do with, for example, your premonition that your child would not be getting 17 As in his SPM this year.

There's something more tangible and down to earth to that, and it's called 'Forecast Results.' Not unlike what those weathermen would be reading tonight on our national TVs. And also to be differentiated with those bunch of determined 'sportsmen' consulting 'shamans' to get four digit (4D) numbers to play Sports Toto. And, invariably, getting conned in the process.

Scientific proof

There's a recent article about a group of scientists at Princeton University trying to gather data out of a machine which, supposedly, can detect 'psychological' vibrations emitted by all human beings on the globe. It works on the principle that a lot of humans simultaneously emit waves or vibrations when a major world event is imminent.

This relatively crude machine, by way of producing graphics patterns (not unlike a cardiograph or seismograph) is said to have been able to detect events of world significance. For example, the machine managed to detect the death of Princess Diana, the 911 Twin Tower attack and the recent December 26 earthquake and its resultant tsunami, hours before it happened. How, is anybody's guess.

A friend of mine swears that his wife definitely has ESP. "I may have genuine marathon meetings right past midnight and come home in the wee hours of the morning, and she'd never bat an eyelid or question anything. But if I just so much as squeeze a quick half-an-hour date with my girlfriend and come home before Berita Jam Sepuluh, she'd be waiting at the front door completely worked up and bombard me with questions that would shame our judiciary."

Ah it's that guilt on his face, I hear you say. Or that trace of lipstick somewhere, probably midway between his collar and his tie. Or that girl's perfume, faint but positively feminine. I know, and I told him that. But he was too terrified to believe that it was anything less than full fledged ESP on her part. And he has since stopped those 'quick half-an-hour dates.' The wife must be smiling, ESP or not.

So what exactly is ESP? It could be a natural phenomenon, a psychic ability, or just untapped power of the brain. They say that we are just using a small percentage of what this grey computer in our head is capable of doing.

Comparatively, it's something like having an Intel Pentium computer but only running a simple Words programme. Which means that there would be an awesome number of unused 'software applications' with an equally awesome number of unused memory space. Could some of these unknown 'application programmes' in our brains contain 'autoexec' files and thus are capable to sometimes start and run on their own, hence these random wonders?

The problem with ESP

Whatever it could be, the problem with ESP is that it can't be controlled. Just imagine what could be done if you could will your spouse to come back home for dinner. To be able to communicate with your kids via telepathy. Or simply to get somebody whom you've lost his phone number to call you back.

Of course, those would be but some of ESP's plus points. I won't even dare to touch on the negative things it could bring. Thus, I'd rather not read too much into it, and the next time I remember someone and he calls me up soon after, I'd refrain from asking him what exactly prompted him to call me. I'd just shrug it off as 'one of those things'. Like ghosts and bomohs.

Now if only I had that gift when I was sitting for SPM

ZAIM AL-AMIN is a law practitioner with a think tank. He holds many positions in various MCOBA committees. Email him at zaimhq@gmail.com .