Wouldn't it be horrible if you could always tell what a person is thinking? That you could read minds?

Answer 1

Not necessarily. It depends on how much control you have, and no, not just of the "can I turn this telepathy thing off?" variety.

It also depends on how much self-control you have in terms of how well you cope with someone else's voice inside your own head.

Last month's issue of _Scientific American: Mind_ dealt with this very issue, the notion of "voices" inside a person's head, and how this is a bit more common than previously thought, and how *by itself* it is not a guarantee of psychosis or schizophrenia. It was a nifty article and should be searchable at their website:

http://www.sciam.com/

So yeah....I'd say if you have enough self-control to not freak out over it, that being able to read minds *in itself* isn't such a bad thing. The catches are:

--You have to have it together enough to be able to distinguish between your own thoughts and any "strays" that enter your mind,

--You have to have enough sense to *not listen* to everything you "hear". Sounds obvious, but it isn't easy to do when the sound is coming from *inside yourself*. Your best bet is to find a way to *journal* and leave a written record of everything you hear that is potentially *unhealthy* so you can look at it later, when you are calm and safe, and pick it apart, figuring out if it is a real incursion into your head-space or something you're doing *yourself*. And either way, whether you can do anything *about it* and if so, what.

--It also helps immensely to find someone who *is not* going to lock you up and assume you are an incorrigible psycho at the first mention of the *word* "voices". These people are few and far between, but if you suspect that what's going on is telepathy and not delusion, you *will* need someone objective to watch your back.

Society recognizes the existence of delusions and schizophrenia, but not anything resembling telepathy, sorry. So yeah, you will need someone to look out for you in a positive, non-back-stabby sort of way.

Point is. Actually being able to read minds is a *gift*...only other people's poorly-informed reactions make it otherwise. :)

Hope this helps....and thanks for your time!

Answer 2

In my opinion people do all the time without knowing. In that aspect I agree with Bradley P. Thoughts stray into our heads all the time and we allow it because most of us don't block our space sufficiently or don't know how to. Worst case scenario, a person may turn out schizophrenic. When you ask a question, don't look for the obvious answer, try and think out of the box.

Answer 3

It would be nice if you had the power to turn it off and on.

Answer 4

Actually, I can do that myself. And you should be ashamed of what you just thought.