TELESTESIA (τῆλε = distant and αἴσθησις = sensitivity). – A term used to designate that particular form of direct clairvoyance in which the relationship of knowledge takes place at a distance between “mind and things,” with the exclusion of every possible intervention by the ordinary senses or by the subconscious thought of third parties. Richet sought to replace the term with that of cryptesthesia.
The phenomenon has been demonstrated, by positive evidence, to belong to the natural order; it is not possible, however, in the present state of experimentation and of our knowledge, to explain its mechanism (v. CHIAROVEGEGENZA).
From the moral point of view, t. does not fall spiritism (v.), except in the case in which it is used with the presumption of discovering future events connected with the unfolding of free will.