Telepathy 

Have you ever found yourself suddenly thinking of a friend or family member and feeling that they are in danger?  The feeling is overwhelming and you must act upon it without delay.  Before you can make the call the phone rings and they’re on the other end calling from the hospital to let you know that they have been in an accident and that they’ve been trying to call you but couldn’t get to a phone.  This is a common example of telepathic communication. 
Parapsychologists group telepathy in roughly the same realm as precognition (knowing something will happen before it occurs) and clairvoyance (seeing people, places or things that exist outside the physical surroundings of the viewer).  This is one aspect of ESP (extra-sensory perception) that continues to be measured and rigorously tested. 

In testing for telepathic ability the receiver or person who is to telepathically receive, clarify and interpret the information is placed in a room devoid of sound, smell and sometimes even light.  They might be reclining with devices attached to monitor body temperature, brain wave function, heart rate, blood pressure and other vital signs.  The sender (person focusing on the images, sensations, sounds and messages to be conveyed) is placed in another location and directed to focus on an image or circumstance to be mentally sent to the receiver.  Often the receiver and sender have never met, which is generally considered to further validate the results. 
The situation with your friend and the accident is an example of “latent telepathy” in which there is a distinct time lapse between the sending of the information and its reception.  Other forms of telepathy are commonly accepted, such as precognitive telepathy where one has knowledge of something that will be coming into another’s consciousness before it occurs.  It’s kind of like knowing that your mother is going to renew an acquaintance with an old high school friend that they haven’t seen, heard from or perhaps even thought of in years. 

Many practitioners offer classes or study groups to help receivers hone their telepathic skills.  The lack of consistent, measurable and reproducible results fans the flame of skepticism, however.  The two differing schools of thought seem to be: 

The precepts of psychism are subjective, and this is a point that might never be resolved between traditional scientists and parapsychologists.  This should not be surprising since the foundation of any psychic work is belief … one believes that the practice works; that the results are real.  And with a solid foundation of belief and a desire to practice, practice, practice, perhaps we all have a chance to excel at one of the most studied aspects of psychic experience.