In The Grandmaster, the protagonist has a number of psychic powers that he uses to escape a Nazi concentration camp. But a botched resistance attack lands him in another concentration camp. This time the Nazi commander is also a powerful psychic.
If you could have any one of the following powers, which would you want? And more importantly, how would you use it?
Astral projection: the ability to send your astral form outside of your body and travel great distances
Telepathy: the ability to read, or cloud, minds
Empathy: the ability to read and alter emotions
Telekinesis: the ability to move objects with your mind
Psychometry: the ability to gather information from the “psychic residue” left behind on objectsClairvoyance: the ability to gather information about a person or object when said person/object is beyond the scope of the standard five senses. i.e. the “6th Sense”
No, I don’t have the power to grant you paranormal abilities. But I can grant one lucky winner a free copy of The Grandmaster! Just post your answers here as a comment. And next week I’ll select a winner to receive a free copy of the book. All you’ll need to do is supply a mailing address if you win. If you didn’t win last week, you can try again this week. If you already one, you can still answer but you can’t win again. And yes, I will ship outside the U.S. if you win!
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Comments: 16
The one power I wouldn't want is Psychometry, because on the off chance I ever manage to get another date I'd rather leave the past in the past. I can do without a firsthand look thanks very much.
Astral projection would be safer, given some proper precautions. As for what I would use it for: Observing and learning things that I could not normally get to see. Observing animals in the wild is one area of personal curiosity that immediately springs to mind as something I'd try.
Seriously, though, I'm not sure I'd want to know what people are thinking about me. Empathy doesn't seem helpful or fair, and I wouldn't want to astrally project, I'd just want to go there.
Plus, with telekinesis, I could fly, couldn't I?
Might be fun, also, to know what the profs are really thinking - or maybe not!
On the other hand, with astral projection, perhaps I could leave my body to go look up the answers myself?
Decisions, decisions!
I think I would choose the astral projection. At first I really thought that was the lamest of the powers, but after thinking it over, my love for travel generally won out. Of course, I would like to visit everywhere in the world in person, but life being what it is, it doesn't seem likely that I will go everywhere I want. So I'll take astral projection, and if anyone sees a body swooping over the Pyramids or the Great Wall of China, that'd be me.
No, it didn't really work.
For me it would be a close call between astral projection and telekinesis. I think telekinesis would win out in the end, especially if I became good enough at it to lift myself and fly as another poster suggested.
The problem with this grand power is that there are so many ways to use it. I would love to be like a beauty contestant and say I'd use it for world peace, but the truth of the matter is I would be an AD-MAN. I would use my power to air commercials with messages that pull the emotions of the watchers. "EAT MORE GREEN GIANT SPINACH" and throw in a message that the companies didn't pay for, like "recycle and quit cheating on your spouse." Of course I would be filthy rich by the endorsers and I would feel like I'm evening things out by putting in emotional messages that make the public just be a little more decent to each other. Wait, maybe it would be world peace! Can I get my crown now?
I would like telekenesis so that the house would clean itself while I write stories and poems, but with the price of gas, I think I would choose astral projection because I like to travel. Then I could tell people what I have seen through my travels and let them choose how to react.
And I could hire a maid to do the housework because of all the money I saved on airfare and hotels. Yes, definitely, astral projection.
I would love to experience the outlook or emotions of another being within myself. Of all the elements involved in effective communication, empathy seems to be the component that is most powerful yet is easily overlooked. And boy do I love to communicate.