I don't understand why it is necessary for "psychic phenomena" to be proven scientifically (whatever that means) for it to be accepted as the truth. The truth is whatever you experience for yourself, as it is, with or without official recognition.
Besides which, one cannot scientifically prove anything about perception because one can only perceive from within, it is impossible to be completely objective about that which is completely subjective.
There doesn't have to be unequivocal "proof" or "complete objectivity" in order to gain scientific insight into a phenomena - I merely asked for evidence (of which subjective anecdotes, as newsoul has pointed out, can be considered as such).
one cannot scientifically prove anything about perception
Anything? This is a very bold claim and I'd be interested in how you back it up.
We
might not presently be able to prove
certain aspects regarding perception e.g. as in the classic philosophical argument for our individual sensation of colour. However, we know that objects are "coloured" (reflecting certain wavelengths of light) and we also know how the eye transmits these wavelengths to the brain i.e. how our mind perceives colour. The fact that we are currently not able to prove if my sensation of redness matches yours doesn't take away from the scientific fact that the light that I call red is the same as the light that you call red. This has a lot to do with perception.
The thing is, these phenomena often exhibit spontaneously and are not generally able to be studied subject to the scientific method.
I don't quite understand this. Could you clarify?
I've heard enough anecdotal stories, however, to come to the conclusion that various psychic phenomena do exist. I have personal experience with it as well in the form of intuitive knowledge. For example, once I had a very strong dream about a person I hadn't seen or talked to or much thought about in several years. The dream was so strong that I continued to remember it throughout the next day, which is quite unusual for me. That afternoon the person called me. After having many such experiences, I have come to understand that there is some kind of connection that we have to people beyond the physical that we don't understand.
I've had such an experience myself, as well as many others I know. However, I can't come to a conclusion on a connection "beyond the physical" based on this or of anecdotes alone because I can't rule out the very real possibility of coincidence.
If we were to study such experiences statistically, I'd imagine we'd find that the odds are not as far-fetched as we might 'intuitively' imagine (see the
birthday paradox). However, I'm not a statistician and I wouldn't know where to begin to calculate the odds in dreaming about someone preceding an impressive incident about them. The problem, however, is that at each given moment in our lives, we are prone to experience an eerie coincidence. We never consciously think about all the times that we miss these opportunities, yet when it does happen on the rare occasion we tend to see some significance in it.
So I'm sceptical on basing my conclusions on personal experience alone. I also think that science may have a lot to say on the matter, especially if we are to ever come to a conclusion or fact or "truth".
Topic: Capacity for perception in humans