Dreams of the future …
A compelling true story of the ‘sixth-sense’ in dreams
A true story; an excerpt from ‘Infinite Mind: an exploration of psi and the capabilities of the human mind’:
Jasmine’s eyes flickered open and slowly adjusted to the early morning light. She stretched luxuriously and gently — the familiar surroundings of her bedroom came into focus and her dream fell away. She realised that she was exactly where she should be: in her student apartment in Seattle, Washington.
It had been such a strange and intense dream — the hospital room, her father standing next to her, the presence of her mother. She was sitting up in the hospital bed, cradling an infant baby in her arms. Lovingly, she had turned to look down into the eyes of the newborn child. The confusion of that moment was still palpable.
Jasmine was 23 — old enough to start a family — but university life was a fulltime commitment and she wasn’t currently dating. Even in her dream, she questioned this fact. She had no recollection of a pregnancy and no concept of who the father might be. Who is this baby? Where did it come from? When was I pregnant? Nothing in the dream made sense. For this reason, it should be dismissed as inconsequential — the random imaginings of a nocturnal mind. But something about the dream hung on her like a thick blanket of significance. She could not shake the puzzling visions it had brought her.
Thanks to her American father and Malaysian mother, Jasmine had olive skin, brown wavy hair and eyes the colour of melted chocolate. She had always assumed that her children would share these physical traits, so she had been startled by the baby in her dream. It was a boy with blonde hair, blue eyes and the fairest of skin. It was a Western European baby and Jasmine remembered referring to it, in her dream, as a little Frenchman.
Despite the initial confusion, Jasmine’s connection with the tiny baby in her dream had been deep and profound, and this sat with her as she lay in bed in the early Seattle sunlight. Deep inside, she knew this was not just any baby. This was her baby; her little Frenchman.
The feeling did not leave her all day. Raised to be logical and pragmatic, Jasmine tried repeatedly throughout the day to shrug the dream off as an irrational illusion, but in vain. Finally, she accepted that somehow, in her sleep, a tiny blue-eyed infant had wrapped himself around her heart. When her phone rang that evening, it was a welcome distraction.
Darain was an old friend from high school. A year older than Jasmine, Darain had watched over her throughout their teenage years in Honolulu — like a protective older brother. He had left Hawaii several years earlier to attend the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, and it was only by chance that they had both ended up in Seattle — Jasmine studying nursing at the University of Washington, and Darain with his first duty station with the Coast Guard.
Jasmine was pleased to hear his voice and was even more delighted when he suggested a night out later in the week. Darain explained that his brother, Robin, was in town and it was a perfect opportunity for the three high school buddies to have a fun reunion. Jasmine’s eerie dream was forgotten, and she glided through the week in a pleasant and comfortable routine.
From the moment Darain picked her up, they were absorbed in conversation. He explained that he had invited a couple of extra friends, but Jasmine barely registered this as she slipped into the front of the car and continued their lively dialogue. The laughter, banter and gossip continued into the restaurant.
Darain sat opposite Jasmine, and Robin, keen to hear her news, sat beside her. As they took their places, Jasmine glanced further down the table realising that she was yet to acknowledge the other guests. Her gaze flickered past the first companion, a Coast Guard friend of Darain’s, and came to rest lightly on the second stranger.
He had not yet uttered a word, in fact he was still settling into his seat, but the message in Jasmine’s mind was immediate and emphatic. This man is going to be in your life, for the rest of your life. Jasmine looked away swiftly, struggling to find a rational reason for such a bizarre thought. It was a few moments before she turned back to look at the stranger at the opposite end of the table.
In that instant, her body froze. There, looking back at her, were the familiar features and cornflour blue eyes of the baby in her dream.
His name was Kevin. Originally from the East Coast, he had just received his commission into the Coast Guard and had been stationed to a boat in Seattle. Darain had taken Kevin under his wing, and was keeping him company while he assimilated to his new life on the West Coast.
Kevin was quiet that evening. He watched as the three friends engaged in enthusiastic and nostalgic conversation, interjecting only occasionally to offer a witty or humorous remark. But for Jasmine, the connection was immediate and intimate. Despite the protests of her logical mind, the quiet stranger at the end of the table felt like he was already part of her family. She felt like she already knew Kevin, and she was keen to investigate why.
The next day, she contacted Darain. “Who is Kevin? Where do I know him from?”
Darain’s reply was both intriguing and revealing. “There’s no way you would know him,” he said. “His name is Kevin Beaudoin. He’s from Massachusetts, but he’s half French.”
A week later, thanks to Darain, Kevin and Jasmine met again, this time at Jasmine’s apartment. It was only a brief visit, but it served to reinforce the feeling within Jasmine that Kevin was to be part of her life. That evening, after the two men had left, Jasmine’s roommate watched her running through the apartment gleefully yelling “I’m going to marry that man!” Her prediction proved to be correct.
After a year abroad with the Coast Guard, Kevin returned to Seattle to enjoy his first official date with Jasmine, and they were married less than two years later. They currently have two daughters — one is blonde with cornflour blue eyes.
Psi in dreams: Sidestepping the senses
According to researchers, psi-related dreams (dreams that include telepathic, clairvoyant or precognitive information) are the most common form of psi experience. In fact, studies from around the world show that about half of all spontaneous psi experiences happen while the recipient is dreaming, and most include a subject of great emotional impact or importance*.
In 1966, in response to a growing volume of anecdotal evidence, psychiatrist Montague Ullman began a series of clinical tests at the Maimonides dream laboratory in Brooklyn, New York. Over the next seven years, Ullman and his colleagues completed a total of 379 dream-psi sessions and produced some of the most compelling evidence for psi ever collected.
The success of dream-psi experiments, and the regularity with which prophetic dreams appear in the wider population, suggests that psi is fundamentally an unconscious process. As a result, it seems to be naturally heightened once the distraction of the five physical senses has been removed or neutralised. On a cultural level, this may explain the use of altered states of awareness by traditional shamans — such as meditation, drumming and psychoactive drugs — when attempting to receive intuitive insights and messages.
According to researchers, precognitive dreams (like the one Jasmine had) tend to be exceptionally poignant and clear, and often contain unusual or bizarre information. Although many of these dreams carry a sense of significance, it can initially be difficult to identify them as precognitive or symbolic. However, because psi-related dreams are relatively common, it is possible for anyone to learn to identify them as they occur.
The first step in identifying psi-related dreams is to learn how to identify normal (non-psi) dreams. Non-psi dreams are:
1. generic; a dream influenced by the previous day’s activities and thoughts, or
2. wish-fulfilling; a dream of a desire or aspiration, or
3. anxiety-disclosing; a dream which reveals an unconscious (or conscious) fear or concern.
Dreams that feel significant, that are full of unusual content and do not represent any of the above categories, may be psi-based. Often, these dreams involve precognitive or telepathic messages; psi information that is bypassing your conscious mind, while you sleep.
*Based on cross-cultural surveys: Stevenson & Prasad, 1968 and Rhine, 1964
