Clairvoyance noun from late 17th century French [clair (clear) & voyant (seeing)] - is defined as a form of extra-sensory perception whereby a person perceives distant objects, persons, or events, including perceiving an image hidden behind opaque objects and the detection of types of energy not normally perceptible to humans (i.e. radio waves). Typically, such perception is reported in visual terms, but may also include auditory impressions (sometimes called clairaudience) or kinesthetic impressions.
The term clairvoyance is often used broadly to refer to all forms of ESP where a person receives information through means other than those explainable by current science. Perhaps more often, it is used more narrowly to refer to reception of present-time information not from another person, there being other terms to refer to other forms: telepathy referring to reception of information from another person (i.e. presumably mind-to-mind); premonition and precognition that refer to gained information about places and events in the future. The terms clairsentience and remote perception are often used in reference to psi phenomena falling under this broader context.
As with all psi phenomena, there is wide disagreement and controversy within the sciences and even within parapsychology as to the existence of clairvoyance and the validity or interpretation of clairvoyance related experiments (see Parapsychology).
Developing clairvoyant abilities
Current thinking in clairvoyant circles posits that most are born with clairvoyant abilities but then start to turn them off as children are brought up to adhere to demonstrable social norms. Numerous institutes offer training courses that attempt to revive the abilities present in those early years.
Another school of thought claims that our sixth sense grows when we do spiritual practice. With regular spiritual practice done according to basic spiritual principles we increase our spiritual level and are able to perceive and experience the subtle world to greater degrees.