Can we "sense" the future? (Premonitions Part 2)
Manifest, Project Stargate and predicting the future
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Manifest
One of my favorite shows on Netflix is called Manifest, which comes closest to the feeling I had about X-files — good acting with some necessary cheesy-ness around a paranormal theme. It’s about an airplane that disappears and mysteriously comes back 5 years later with all of its passengers fully intact.
In the show, all of the passengers return with special powers called “Callings,” visions and signs of the future that they suddenly receive in flashes. These callings work in mysterious ways and aren’t always easy to follow — sometimes a blessing, and sometimes a curse.
When the Callings are followed, generally good things happen. People are saved, insights are had. This then leads them to the next clue or Calling as life continues to unfold mysteriously. But if the Callings are ignored, then this usually means havoc, destruction or death.
In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about the dangers of ignoring your callings…aka premonitions. Abraham Lincoln, Freud, and Julius Caesar, are all examples of famous people who dreamt of their own deaths but ignored these warnings, to their own peril.
The night before his assassination, Calpurnia dreamed that Caesar had been wounded, and lay dying in her arms. In the morning, she begged him not to meet the senate, as he had planned, and moved by her distress and entreaties, he resolved not to go.
And others less famous, like the Reb Hile Wechsler who dreamt and prophesized of the Holocaust, and the thousands of people who had visions before 9/11.
The reason the show Manifest has left such an impression on me and many others is because these dreams and premonitions aren’t just coincidence — there is a very large nugget of truth to all of it.
We all have premonitions.
The science of premonitions
The subconscious preview of our future emotions has been studied extensively. In multiple studies, people show very clear “anticipatory signs” before something happens.
For example, in one study participants were shown random images on a computer screen. These images were either neutral, like a brick wall, or highly emotionally charged scenes including violence or sex.
What the researchers found:
Amazingly, before the random image of a emotionally charged picture was shown, parts of their brain lit up and they showed clear physical signs like increased heart rate and perspiration.
These reactions mostly did NOT happen before a more neutral image. And the results were statistically significant. In other words, somehow people knew the content of an image before seeing it…and even before the computer was able to randomly generate it!
A meta-analysis of these types of studies concluded that at least 30% of them showed results that were very unlikely due to chance alone. Something is clearly going on here, and the quantum physicists have a bit of work to do to explain it.
The CIA has been on top of this for a while. In the 70s they had a top-secret mission called Project Stargate where they hired expert psychics that could psychically "see" events, sites, or information from a great distance and/or into the future…Harnessing these powers for obvious military reasons.
One of the projects successes was identifying the location of a Soviet spy plane in 1976. Also, NASA used a psychic who discovered Jupiter’s rings before they confirmed it with a satellite.
..But most premonitions are pointless
If you’re not a psychic, how useful is this, for you, really?
The studies suggest that we all have some degree of ability to predict or sense the immediate future, even if we can’t totally explain it. At least a few seconds or maybe a day into the future.
But honestly, most of the time it’s not useful. Like dreaming of a girl with balloons and the next day seeing a girl with a balloon. Or dreaming about the weather. They are so mundane we hardly give them second thought.
But there are times it’s worth paying attention to.
Follow the big waves
According to experiments run by nuclear physicist Edwin May who studied remote viewing and premonitions, the greater the entropy of an event, the more likely someone can view the event remotely.
Entropy = measure of the disorder, randomness or chaos in a system — like a burning building, exploding church or falling chandelier.
There is a correlation between the magnitude of the change in a physiological measure before an event and the magnitude of a change of that physiological measure after the event. This is called “temporal mirroring.”
Like my friend who had a visceral dream of the 3/11 tsunami-earthquake in Japan a week before it happened.
In other words, when you have a very strange or scary, or unusual dream — something that shakes you — you should definitely explore it further and listen to it. The ones that make the big waves in your dreams are more likely to make the big waves in the future. Or, if you have a very strong hunch about something…same thing. Follow your gut — instead of overriding it with logic— and see what happens.
Cultivating your precognitive abilities
In the last couple of years I’ve deepened my meditation practice and have been experiencing more:
synchronicity, where I have meaningful coincidences hard to explain by chance - which are closely connected to premonitions
vivid dreams with multi-layered symbology - signs on what I need to work on, acknowledge, or bring froth
Admittedly, my own premonition superpowers are nothing spectacular. The premonitions I can remember recently look like this:
Dreamt of a friend who I hadn’t spoken to, and they reached out to me
Dreamt of bitcoin’s price going down, and it did the next day (okay, this was kind of useful)
Had an intense vision of one day having a baby boy… years later it came true!
You’ve probably had similar hunches, dreams or feelings too. Honestly there’s not so much I can do with these premonitions, except notice them and appreciate the mystery of the universe. And sell my bitcoin.
Your fortune-telling skills may not be top-notch like the precogs in Minority Report, but it can be trained. Here are three ways to start to cultivate your premonitory skills:
Believe. Most ancient traditions accepted visions and premonitions as part and parcel of daily life. The big difference between then and now: they chose to take them seriously. They believed. It was only until recently that we became more logical and obsessed with the material world, shunning anything that we couldn’t explain. Simply by reading this newsletter and being open to the fact this could happen, that knowing and openness means you are more likely to experience premonitions. :)
Get in touch with the creative, intuitive side of yourself. In the Science of Premonitions, Larry Dossey suggests the following to cultivate this skill:
Give up your pet ideas of how the world should work. Dabble in poetry; play with metaphors; shun literalism. Avoid habits, ruts, and routines. Make a place for variety, risk, novelty, playfulness, generosity, and mystery in your life. As Rumi advises, “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.”
Pay attention to dreams. Carl Jung believed that analyzing dreams could help people uncover synchronistic connections between their inner experiences and external events. These can be the precursor to noticing premonitions. Of course, most people don’t remember their dreams, or forget them as soon as they wake up. The best practice is to keep a journal next to your bed and make the intention to write your dream down when you wake up: you’ll find that simply setting this intention is enough for your to remember your dream :)
I’d love to here about your experience with premonitions. 💡
Have you had any “big” premonitions in your life that predicted some major event?
Have you ever followed a strong, inexplainable hunch that turned out to be true (or saved your life?)
Thanks for the great research and excellent write-up. Love your work! 😁💪
Reading this was its own synchronicity with a dream I just had last night... 🪄
It’s been developing over the past couple years, an intense combination of meditation, healing, and a number of other esoteric modalities. As I make progress in one area, new ones flow in and compound. It’s been challenging but one of the greatest experiences of my life. And there’s much more to go! :)
Seems like you’re on a similar path?