The past is a bucket of ashes.
1
The woman named Tomorrow
sits with a hairpin in her teeth
and takes her time
and does her hair the way she wants it
and fastens at last the last braid and coil
and puts the hairpin where it belongs
and turns and drawls: Well, what of it?
My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone.
What of it? Let the dead be dead.
2
The doors were cedar
and the panels strips of gold
and the girls were golden girls
and the panels read and the girls chanted:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.
The doors are twisted on broken hinges.
Sheets of rain swish through on the wind
where the golden girls ran and the panels read:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.
3
It has happened before.
Strong men put up a city and got
a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women
to warble: We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.
And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened
and paid the singers well
and felt good about it all,
there were rats and lizards who listened
… and the only listeners left now
… are … the rats … and the lizards.
And there are black crows
crying, "Caw, caw,"
bringing mud and sticks
building a nest
over the words carved
on the doors where the panels were cedar
and the strips on the panels were gold
and the golden girls came singing:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.
The only singers now are crows crying, "Caw, caw,"
And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways.
And the only listeners now are … the rats … and the lizards.
4
The feet of the rats
scribble on the door sills;
the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints
chatter the pedigrees of the rats
and babble of the blood
and gabble of the breed
of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers
of the rats.
And the wind shifts
and the dust on a door sill shifts
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the greatest city, the greatest nation
where the strong men listened
and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.
This poem is in the public domain.
Carl Sandburg was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes in his lifetime—the first in 1919 for his poetry collection Corn Huskers, the second in 1940 for his biography Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, and the third in 1951 for Complete Poems.
One in five American adults (19%) believes they’re psychic, and Gen Z leads all generations, with 30% identifying as psychic and reporting about two intuitive moments per month, double what baby boomers experience.
The most common “psychic” experiences involve simply knowing something is “off” (33%), sensing dishonesty (28%), or feeling it’s time to walk away from a situation (26%).
35% of respondents admit they can’t reliably tell the difference between a real gut feeling and anxiety, and nearly half blame social media and tech for dulling their instincts.
Americans are a practical bunch, at least on paper. But scratch the surface and roughly 49 million adults, about one in five, quietly believe they have psychic abilities. That’s the headline finding from fresh survey data released this month, and it lands at an odd moment in history: a country flooded with data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence is also a country where millions of people trust a hunch over a headline.
The figures come from a Talker Research poll of 2,000 American adults, which set out to map how everyday people use intuition in their decision-making. Across the full sample, 19% said they consider themselves psychic. Another 71% said they rely on intuition at least sometimes. Only 11% dismissed the concept entirely. Over the past year alone, the average respondent reported 18 moments they’d chalk up to some kind of psychic flash.
The numbers suggest that belief in a sixth sense hasn’t faded alongside the rise of science and smartphones. If anything, it’s holding steady, and in some corners of the population, it’s growing.
Who Believes They’re Psychic in America
Gen Z leads the pack by a wide margin. Thirty percent of Gen Z respondents consider themselves psychic, and they report roughly two intuitive moments per month, double what baby boomers say they experience. Millennials and Gen X fall somewhere in between, though each generation has its own specialty.
Gen X respondents were the most likely to say they can predict how situations will play out, with 21% claiming that particular skill. Millennials scored highest on what the survey dubbed “dream-tuition,” also at 21%, referring to hunches that arrive during sleep. Gen Z reported the most “lucky” moments triggered by a feeling, at 15%.
When money enters the picture, the generation gap closes fast. Gen Z and baby boomers tied for financial intuition, with 14% of each group saying their gut steers their wallet well. On the dating front, Gen Z and millennials were neck and neck at 14%, both reporting a sixth sense about romantic prospects.
25% of respondents reported a gut feeling that something was about to happen. (Photo by Wyron A on Unsplash)
What Psychic Americans Say Their Intuition Tells Them
Respondents described the situations where their inner voice speaks loudest. The most common answer, cited by 33%, was simply knowing when something is “off” without being able to explain why. Sensing dishonesty came in second at 28%, followed by the feeling that it was time to walk away from a person, job, or situation, at 26%.
Specific experiences over the past year painted a familiar picture. A quarter of respondents said they’d had a bad feeling about something that turned out to be accurate, and the same share reported a gut feeling that something was about to happen. Twenty-four percent thought of a friend moments before that friend texted. Nineteen percent said they knew what someone was going to say before the words came out.
Still, 35% of all respondents admitted they aren’t sure they can tell the difference between a real gut feeling and plain old anxiety. That admission matters, because mistaking one for the other can lead people to act on fear dressed up as wisdom.
The Forces Pulling Americans Toward, and Away From, Their Gut
Adam Dickinson, a former FBI intelligence analyst who now advises clients on balancing logic and intuition, offered a way to tell the two signals apart. “Intuition is a second intelligence channel: it arrives quickly, feels light and steady and quietly points you toward what fits,” he said. Anxiety, in his framing, works differently. It’s urgent, repetitive, and trying to simulate every possible bad outcome at once.
Respondents had clear views about which modern forces help their intuition and which ones dull it. Therapy and mental health care topped the supportive list at 44%, followed by easier access to expert advice at 40%. Dickinson said he sees therapy’s rise as a kind of training program for reading one’s own inner signals.
On the other side of the ledger, social media led the list of distractions, with 46% saying it has made them less tuned in. Remote work drew 40%, and a heavier dependence on technology overall was cited by 47%. Forty-three percent pointed to the rise of artificial intelligence as a reason their trust in their own judgment has slipped. News consumption split the room almost evenly: 36% said current events had sharpened their intuition, and another 36% said the news cycle has left them less sure of themselves.
Whether 19% of Americans truly have a sixth sense or are simply skilled at picking up on signals most people miss is a question this survey can’t answer. What the numbers do show is that intuition, real or imagined, remains a force millions trust when making decisions about money, love, work, and safety. In an age built on data, a surprising number of Americans are still listening to something they can’t quite explain.
Survey Methodology
The findings come from an online poll of 2,000 American adults with internet access, conducted by Talker Research between March 5 and March 8, 2026. The sample was drawn from the general population, with results broken down by generation for cross-age comparisons. Talker Research participates in the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Transparency Initiative, which means its full methodology is publicly available. The data comes from a commissioned survey rather than a peer-reviewed academic study, so the results reflect self-reported beliefs and experiences rather than clinically measured abilities. No independent verification of respondents’ psychic claims was attempted, and the survey captures attitudes at a single point in time rather than tracking changes over a longer period.
Consciousness creates all material reality. Biological processes do not create consciousness. This conceptual breakthrough turns traditional scientific thinking upside down. In An End to Upside Down Thinking, Mark Gober traces his journey – he explores compelling scientific evidence from a diverse set of disciplines, ranging from psychic phenomena, to near-death experiences, to quantum physics. With cutting-edge thinkers like two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Ervin Laszlo, Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences Dr. Dean Radin, and New York Times bestselling author Larry Dossey, MD supporting this thesis, this book will rock the scientific community and mainstream generalists interested in understanding the true nature of reality. Today’s disarray around the globe can be linked, at its core, to a fundamental misunderstanding of our reality. This book aims to shift our collective outlook, reshaping our view of human potential and how we treat one another. The book’s implications encourage much-needed revisions in science, technology, and medicine. General readers will find comfort in the implied worldview, which will impact their happiness and everyday decisions related to business, health and politics. Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time meets Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now.
Dr. Edward Hoffman, a world-renowned thinker and writer in humanistic psychology, reveals how the Kabbalah exerted a profound influence on the establishment and growth of Western psychological thought through such towering thinkers as Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Abraham Maslow. With a new introduction and updated bibliography, The Way of Splendor: The 25th Anniversary begins with an historical presentation of Kabalistic metaphysics and cosmology, then discusses the psychological dimensions of Kabbalah on such topics as dreams, meditation, sexuality, community, health and emotions.
Robert Anton Wilson’s The New Inquisition seeks to rescue science from fundamentalist materialism, and the rest of us from the broader implications of this approach. It is at once a philosophical treatise and an act of cognitive defiance. His message is more important right now than it was when he wrote it. Our digital fundamentalists see human beings as an engineering problem to be solved. Behaviors and thoughts that do not conform to our algorithmically generated profiles are to be eliminated, and humans shepherded into the reality tunnels that obey the laws of rationality alone.
This book presents the Extra-Consciousness Hypothesis: a unified model that connects UFO encounters, near-death experiences, Fae folklore, religious visions, cattle mutilations, and the Skinwalker Ranch hitchhiker effect into a single coherent framework grounded in plasma physics, neuroscience, and consciousness studies. It draws on the work of Jacques Vallée, Jeffrey Kripal, Patrick Harpur, Bernardo Kastrup, Roger Penrose, and dozens of other researchers to propose that the Phenomenon is not arriving from another planet. It is arriving from another mode of reality that has been with us all along.
Jupiter’s vastness is measured not only in mass, but in relation – its moons in orbit, its storms in dialogue. The fleeting white outbreak and the ancient Great Red Spot coexist within the same dynamic system. Across scale and time, the universe appears less as chaos, and more as intelligible process. (Featured Image from New Thinking Allowed)
New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Apr 23, 2026 Ike Baker is an author, lecturer, and independent scholar specializing in Western esoteric traditions. He is the host of the Arcanvm YouTube channel and podcast, where he produces documentary-style presentations exploring the history and practice of magic, mysticism, and occult philosophy. Baker is also a senior adept and temple chief within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and an initiate of several related initiatory traditions. His books include AEtheric Magic: A Complete System of Elemental, Celestial & Alchemical Magic, Esoteric Mythology: The Generative and Transformative Power of Imagination, and A Formless Fire: Rediscovering the Magical Traditions of the West. Ike explores the philosophical and practical foundations of Western magical traditions, focusing on the principle of correspondence between the human microcosm and the cosmic macrocosm. He explains how subtle energies—often described as etheric, spiritual, or elemental—can be understood, cultivated, and brought into balance through disciplined awareness and symbolic systems such as the Tree of Life. Baker bridges ancient metaphysics and modern psychology, suggesting that imagination, consciousness, and embodied practice are central to engaging what has historically been called “magic.” 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:15 Foundations of magical theory 00:07:00 Microcosm and macrocosm relationship 00:12:30 Awareness of the inner cosmos 00:18:30 Tree of life and correspondences 00:22:09 Four worlds and causal influence 00:30:29 Spirits and imagination in practice 00:41:13 Elements, quintessence, and balance 00:49:28 Aura and sphere of sensation 00:58:30 Conclusion New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on March 3, 2026)
New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Apr 24, 2026 This video is a special release from the original Thinking Allowed series that ran on public television from 1986 until 2002. It was recorded in about 1995. It will remain public for only one week. Edward Hoffman, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and has been an adjunct associate professor at Yeshiva University in New York City for more than 20 years. An award-winning author, his books include Paths to Happiness, The Wisdom of Maimonides, and The Kabbalah Reader and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lectures widely on psychology and Jewish spirituality throughout the United States and abroad. Now you can watch all of the programs from the original Thinking Allowed Video Collection, hosted by Jeffrey Mishlove. Subscribe to the new Streaming Channel (https://thinkingallowed.vhx.tv/) and watch more than 350 programs now, with more, previously unreleased titles added weekly. Free month of the classic Thinking Allowed streaming channel for New Thinking Allowed subscribers only. Use code THINKFREELY.
Tonight, Uranus will re-enter Gemini — and this time, it’s here to stay until 2033.
Uranus first dipped across the threshold last July, giving us an early taste of what was coming, before retrograding back into Taurus for one final chapter. That retrograde period was an invitation to complete what needed completing — to finish releasing what the Taurus years had asked us to let go of.It’s worth pausing to honor what Uranus in Taurus asked of us. From May 2018 through today, this planet of radical disruption moved through the sign of the body, the earth, and everything we thought was solid and secure. The pandemic, the housing upheaval, the rewiring of our relationship to money and livelihood — all of it carried Taurus’s fingerprints. On a personal level, you were likely asked to release your grip on external security and to rebuild your sense of worth and stability from the inside out. That was real work which prepared you for this. Now, a new seven-year era begins.Gemini is the sign of the mind, of language, of the connections between things. It rules how we think, how we communicate, how we learn, and how we relate. It governs our local environments, our daily exchanges, and the nervous system itself. And Uranus — the great awakener, the cosmic rule-breaker, the planet associated with genius and revolution — is now electrifying all of it.This means that over the next seven years, the way we communicate will be transformed beyond recognition. Artificial intelligence is a significant part of the Uranus in Gemini story. The tools we use to think, write, research, and connect are going to evolve so rapidly that adaptability will become the most vital skill you can cultivate.
Expect breakthroughs in how information moves, how education is structured, and how language itself is generated and shared. But don’t let that feel like a threat: Gemini loves novelty, and Uranus rewards those who are willing to stay curious and innovate.On a deeply personal level, Uranus in Gemini is asking you to liberate your mind and open to new allies. Old mental patterns, inherited narratives, and limiting stories about who you are or what you’re capable of are all up for revision. Relationships — especially those built on intellectual compatibility, friendship, networks and shared ideas — are about to get more electric, more surprising, and more alive.
The people you meet in the next seven years may arrive as sudden lightning bolts who rewire your thinking entirely. And the ideas you dare to speak aloud — the ones that feel too strange, too unconventional, too “you” — are precisely the ones the world now needs. Uranus in Gemini is the era of the brilliant misfit, the gifted communicator, the learner who refuses to be boxed in.Most of all, this transit carries a spirit of genuine excitement. Gemini is the sign of the butterfly — it moves between worlds, gathers pollen from everywhere, and refuses to settle. During Uranus in Gemini, learning and understanding becomes more quicksilver, more surprising, and more luminous.
Welcome to a whole new reality…
Until May 15, I’m offering Uranus in Gemini Personal Audio Readings a recorded audio astrology reading crafted specifically around this transit and the powerful Uranus trine Pluto aspect that will define this era.
In your reading, we’ll explore how Uranus in Mercury’s quick-thinking sign of Gemini activates your horoscope — where the lightning strikes, which parts of your life are being upgraded, and how to work consciously with the radical potential moving through your chart right now.
We’ll focus on 2026 and 2027 and how this first phase of Uranus in Gemini will create opportunities and challenges for you to get up to speed with.Uranus is known as the Great Awakener for a reason and when it enters a new sign – and a new natal house – it illuminates our blind spots and calls for a re-calibration to a new reality.
I share my evolutionary astrology expertise and insights with you in this reading and I think you’ll find yourself returning to it again and again as the transits unfold. Let’s explore what creative breakthroughs Uranus in Gemini has in store for you. Order your reading today!
Michael Tilson Thomas Oct 25, 2024 Presented as part of PBS’ award-winning American Masters series, Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is documents MTT’s life and career—from his childhood in California to his ascension to the world stage and leadership roles with the New World Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. The documentary sheds light on formative experiences in MTT’s musical life—the central influence of his father, his first time hearing the music of James Brown, his early clashes with classical music orthodoxy—all of which shaped his personality, artistry, and goals along his path to becoming one of America’s most important musical figures. The film features original interviews with MTT and classical music luminaries, including composer Steve Reich; Los Angeles Philharmonic CEO Chad Smith; pianist Ralph Grierson; Boston Symphony Orchestra CEO Mark Volpe; San Francisco Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman; the BBC’s former head of music and arts Humphrey Burton; and Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, as well as commentary from world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, with whom MTT collaborated in designing the New World Center, and Joshua Robison, MTT’s husband and partner. The documentary incorporates concert footage from his youth through the present, performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony, among other orchestras. The film also includes scenes from MTT’s day-to-day life at the New World Symphony, the postgraduate orchestral academy in Miami Beach that he co-founded in 1987 to prepare young musicians of diverse backgrounds for leadership roles in classical music. Most major American orchestras count New World Symphony alumni among their ranks, and several former Fellows were interviewed for the documentary. ___ Credits Directed by Susan Froemke and Kirk Simon • Edited by Deborah Dickson • Produced by Catherine Mulry Ludlow • Executive Producers Mina Farbook & Sarah Arison • Director of Photography Buddy Squires, Asc. • Associate Producer Michael Beuttler • Executive Producer for American Masters Michael Kantor
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