Premonitions and Spirituality

Spirituality involves an awareness of being connected with something greater than the individual ego or self. This "something greater" has traditionally been called God, Goddess, Allah, Great Spirit, the Almighty, the Absolute, and many other names. Some consider it as the Universe, or as a sense of infinite order and beauty. Many individuals prefer to attribute no name whatever to it. But whether named or unnamed, the awareness of a connectedness with something greater than the "I" has been a source of strength and meaning for individuals throughout human history.

Individuals often find that their power of sensing and knowing expands as they mature spiritually. These expanded capacities often involve the capacity to know yet-to-be events that lie in the future, as the unbroken stream of prophets, visionaries, seers, and shamans throughout history attests. A modern analog of this ancient ability to know the future is premonitions, sometimes called intuition, gut feelings, or sixth sense.

Premonitions are often regarded as unrelated to spirituality, but there are profound connections. The most obvious involves love, as in the following example.

Amanda, a young mother living in Washington State, awoke one night at 2:30 A.M. from a nightmare. She dreamed that a large chandelier that hung above their baby's bed in the next room fell into the crib and crushed the infant. In the dream, as she and her husband stood amid the wreckage, she saw that a clock on the baby's dresser read 4:35 A.M. The weather in the dream was violent; rain hammered the window and the wind was blowing a gale. The dream was so terrifying she roused her husband and told him about it. He laughed, told her the dream was silly, and urged her to go back to sleep, which he promptly did. But the dream was so frightening that Amanda went to the baby's room and brought the child back to bed with her. She noted that the weather was calm, not stormy as in the dream. Amanda felt foolish -- until around two hours later, when she and her husband were awakened by a loud crash. They dashed into the nursery and found the crib demolished by the chandelier, which had fallen directly into it. Amanda noted that the clock on the dresser read 4:35 A.M. and that the weather had changed. Now there was howling wind and rain. This time, her husband was not laughing.

Amanda's dream was a snapshot of the future -- down to the specific event, the precise time it would happen, and a change in the weather.

Love appears dramatically as a mediator of premonitions in sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS, the abrupt, unexplained death of an apparently healthy baby between one and twelve months of age. Premonitions are a recurring feature in the experiences of SIDS parents. An example is Don, a physician in a large metropolitan area. During the first trimester of his wife's pregnancy, he sensed the happiness his son's birth would bring would not be lasting. A few months before the birth, he would occasionally find himself contemplating a nearby cemetery, where his son would eventually be buried. The day he was born and Don first held him in his arms, he felt, for no obvious reason that the newborn was not supposed to be with them. Beginning around two to three weeks before his death, Don would be awakened from his sleep with thoughts of SIDS. The day before his son died, he heard a voice very similar to his own say repeatedly, "Take a good look. This is the last time you will see him."

Don's apprehensions increased when his wife planned a flight with the baby to visit her parents, who lived in another state. Although they disagreed about whether the baby should go, Don didn't make his fears clear to his wife. As he was driving them to the airport, negative feelings came flooding in. At the airport, walking to security, he heard a clear warning that he'd never see his son again. He knew his baby would die during the trip. While walking back to the parking lot, the voice told him to go back and get his son. Finally the voice softened and stopped, as Don ignored it and kept walking. Early the next morning his wife called, hysterically relating that their son had died. He later would find that his aunt had similar apprehensions about the baby.

Looking back, Don said, "The process has been a shock to me since I knew before-hand this [death] was going to happen. The only thing I didn't know was when and where... I have no idea of its meaning. The only thing I can say is that perhaps if I would have listened to 'my heart' many mishaps could have been prevented... I think people have the ability to perceive things and give it a purposeful meaning which can be used for any future event."

Many of the SIDS parents experienced dreams, visions, or feelings of being in contact with their infants following death. They felt uniformly positive about these experiences, and were left with a sense that their baby was being cared for and was in a better place.

There are other benefits that are profoundly spiritual. Premonitions open us up to each other and to the greater world. As mentioned, they show that we are part of something larger than the individual self, that we are an element in the great "pattern that connects," as ecologist-philosopher Gregory Bateson put it. Premonitions suggest that we are linked with every consciousness that has ever existed, or that will ever exist.

Many outstanding scientists have realized this. The renowned physicist David Bohm said, "Each person enfolds something of the spirit of the other in his consciousness." Nobel physicist Erwin Schrödinger also believed that minds are in some sense united and one. He said, "To divide or multiply consciousness is something meaningless. There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousness.... [I]n truth there is only one mind."

By linking minds across space and time, premonitions reveal the oneness of which these scientists -- and many spiritual traditions -- speak. Premonitions therefore imply that we are not isolated individuals, but beings whose consciousness operates outside the present and beyond our physical body. They suggest that in some sense we are nonlocal or infinite in space in time. When we deeply sense this, we may become "transparent to the transcendent," as mythologist Joseph Campbell put it.

Through love, premonitions link human beings across space and time. There is no more fundamental aspect of spirituality than love. Premonitions are a window through which we glimpse our connection not only with one another, but with the Infinite as well.

(This essay is based on The Power of Premonitions: How Knowing the Future Can Shape Our Lives, by Larry Dossey, M.D., published by Dutton/Penguin, 2009)

Comments

[Whalen1776]

I believe

[krypton86]

...that robots are stealing my luggage.

[tploomis]

Charles Darwin said what I believe~ “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifferen­ce.”

[BigBagel]

The full statement was "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference now lets go get a beer."

[pm247]

Actually, observing life as we know it reveals the universe to be a predatory place - neither blindly indifferent nor lovingly protective.

Living beings are provided with raw awareness which, through the pressures of predation, they must enhance and develop. Upon dying, that enhanced awareness returns to the lender: the unknowable. This is the design, the purpose, that mystics find as our reason for existing. To enhance raw awareness, by the struggle for survival, for the ultimate benefit of unknowable forces of creation.

Darwinian randomness and mechanistic evolution seem a bit obtuse by comparison.

[BigBagel]

I've read what you wrote twice. It makes no sense.

[Soundofthunder]

These accounts are as anecdotal as people who claim their "prayers were answered". What about the MILLIONS of people who have a bad feeling about a loved one every day and guess what: nothing happens. Given the population of the planet, odds favor that a few people will correctly "predict" an occurrence, which then gets some attention as the MILLIONS of incorrect predictions are ignored. Also, that story involving the precise time is laughable. People will mentally back fill the dreamed up time to match the time on the clock, and there is no third party eyewitness of this fact, so it, like ghost stories and visitations and Jesus talking to people in their heads, is probably the product of an imagination geared to accept the supernatural as part of normative reality.

SOT

[weatherwaxx]

I could give you a couple of incidents that had 3rd-party verification, but you would dismiss them as 'anecdotal­.'

There is more to human consciousness than can be measured physically - and this added dimension is not dependent on any particular dogma.

You have already made up your mind; there is no evidence that you would accept. Why bother with this discussion at all?

[elwoodey]

Then how is it measured and what is it dependent upon. It sounds like your mind is made up as well, but you bother with the discussion. Have you no stomach for debate,
perhaps blogging is not your schtick. Soundofthunder offers a valid point.

[DonCosenza]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

[AtheistUS]

You contradict yourself.

"There is more to human consciousness than can be measured physically" - what does this mean? This mean that you can talk about this "more" only as about a fantasy.

On the other hand, if you "could give ... a couple of incidents that had 3rd-party verification" - then it means that whatever you are talking about can be observed systematically, recorded, measured.

The thing is, whatever new appears, scientific community is eager to grab it and research. And if it is not yet in scientific journals and not yet scares away all people who love the word 'supernatural' - then this means it is still in anecdotal stage, nobody yet presented good evidence.

[Soundofthunder]

Were these incidents verified using scientific methods, or are those automatically biased because they don't include changing the scientific method to prove your point? As someone posted below, that's called Confirmation Bias. In science, the outcome, be it positive or negative, is reported as is. Anything else is bad science or not science. That's what "spiritual" people don't get. Those of us who disbelieve are willing to believe, but not based on ghost stories. Measure it, study empirically, repeat the experiment, and you'll have leagues of "believers", just like evolution and general relativity.

SOT

[futate01]

because most people live in a state of fear and chaos and that creates physiological turbulence. When you are driving in a terrible thunderstorm how easily do you see the road? ... but on a sunny day you can see a bee or butterfly on a flower on the side of the road. Peaceful minds have more clarity. Angry, frustrated, fearful, repressed minds are like an inner thunderstorm. Unfortunately this is the state of the majority of people on this Earth. Look around most people insist they hate war/confrontation yet we are always fighting, gossiping, struggling to keep up with the Johnses, etc.

[midwesthousewife]

Is it "supernatural" or natural? Just because you haven't experienced such a thing doesn't mean it doesn't exit, or that you won't experience it yourself someday.

Through one line of my family have come stories down the generations of precognition. My mother told me that the dreams she had were not like dreams, they were like reality itself. When it came my turn, I found she was right--the experience is unlike any before. When one has a premonition, there is a piercing feeling of certainty and truth that is unmistakable. Unlike what you portray, it isn't a vague sense of unease, or a fanciful thought. It is strong and sure--and for most of us, very, very rare during a lifetime. Disturbing as well, since it flies in the face of how we view this world--linear time, random events. I say that as someone who was raised an atheist, and who is a scientist.

Having experienced such things personally, I have no doubt that something is at play. I don't need current science to back it up. I figure science will eventually catch up and be able to explain it--just probably not in my lifetime.

Sadly, our culture is so closed to this, people don't talk openly about their experiences. Get the bereaved to open up and many will tell fascinating tales surrounding a death--stories they are reluctant to share because of their fear of being ridiculed or dismissed the way you have.

[AtheistUS]

If some phenomenon exists, can be verified, recorded, understood - then it is not 'supernatural' anymore. Then sooner or later it will be researched, studied and will take proper place in human knowledge - and of course it will loose all attractiveness then for all who just love the word 'supernatural'.

[GodIs]

The belief in this type of unholy nonsense can be directly attributed to the extensive reading of so-called "science' fiction by our young people, a poisonous rot about creatures not of God's making, alien societies w/o a good Christian among them, and raw sex between non-human beings with three heads.

[Cosmic-Zantor]

How bored are you to just copy/paste the same 3 or 4 posts and post them over and over and over again for months at time? Whether you're delusional or just being satirical, it's just pretty silly, isn't it?

[incognito-ergo-sum]

Is there such a thing as Cooked S*X)?

[stevesrant]

If it's hot enough, you're cooking.

[JoeAlvord]

You have just identified yourself as someone who has never read science fiction.

[TheLastWallStreeter]

I call Poe.

[BetteB]

So GodIs, are you indicating that there are "bad Christians?"
Love
Bette

[XCITIZEN]

"Premonition" is, unfortunately, a loaded word. I would say 'precognition' is a better word - at least for my experience. For me, it is the ability to 'see' an image of the underlying truth of a situation, either as it is happening, or prior to its unfolding. There is a kind of diagram or projection of energy that is filled with information - hard to describe, but it involves receiving and processing information that is not apparent in the physical world, visualizing without making an effort to do so.

I used to be able to jokingly predict what characters on TV would do next, what they would say, or I would have an image of something in my mind, and turn the corner and it was there. Of course there are experiences on a deeper level. The remarkable thing is that this experience, for me, is more of a 'realization' than a surprise.

I don't really believe there is anything too amazing about 'precognition'. Jung developed the idea of synchronicity, which I believe is a completely natural occurrence, and we all have access to archetypal images or concepts in our individual and collective unconscious. It seems that synchronicity, or precognition, occurs when one of these archetypes is activated in anticipation of an event in the physical world. How it happens or why - I have no idea.

[DonCosenza]

Or could it just be actual "premonition" in the mundane sense of the word... a combination of coincidence and the ability of the mind to model and predict behavior and events based on present information- rather than some kooky notion of supernatural "energies".

[hayness]

Wow, you could predict dialogue and action in a TV show? That is amazingly talented. You should certainly contact the Amazing Randi and claim the million dollar prize right away for your astounding supernatural abilities.

Did it ever occur to you that life is pretty predictable, much less a TV show?

[XCITIZEN]

You missed my point completely. And if you live in a world where 'life is pretty predictable', and you base your perceptions of reality on that, then there is not a lot I could tell you to help you open up your mind.

[whoknew---]

Well, I actually do believe in a certain amount of synchronicity potential.

I remember when my kids were little one time they were literally driving me crazy. Out of frustration I was sitting on the bed overloading and I was thinking (not out loud) if I have another child I going to have an abortion (okay not a very nice thought but there you go). So when things settled down a bit my youngest son who was presently three years old at the time cupped his hands on my belly and said, "You killed the baby".

That floored me, there was no way I said anything about an abortion out loud prior ever and I don't think my son at three years old even knew what an abortion was. He never mentioned anything of that nature prior or since then.

I have asked myself why would he say that and to this day still wonder about the whole episode.

There have been some other things that have happened in my life that do make me believe there is a potential.

[XCITIZEN]

That's a pretty amazing story. Jung theorized that from birth children are fully immersed in unconscious life, and therefore, are immersed in psychic activity - that is, the activity of the psyche. They emerge only gradually from the unconscious, as 'consciousness' develops, and 'the unconscious' recedes and 'goes underground'. By the time they reach adulthood, the 'conscious' mind has completely dominated the unconscious, and in fact, for many adults, the 'unconscious' is literally out of reach.

It's entirely possible that your child understood exactly what you were thinking, and in fact, with his limited vocabulary, stated back to you the precise concept you had formed in your mind. Children have this incredible power because their 'unconscious' awareness is so strong. Your son may have simply read what was happening in your unconscious and brought it to your attention. Thanks for sharing that great story.

[FIGI]

My 5 yr daughter read my mind once (once only thank god). Also, she became and still is an animal communicator, very talented. BTW, animals have feeling and thoughts just like humans do. You'd be surprised.

[Epiphany2b]

Those who do not have a spiritual nature will never understand those that do, because you require proof. But by its very nature, spirituality defies the scientific proof you require. Scientific minded people don't believe in faith or trust outside themselves. But consider that much of what you do during the day depends on you having faith in something, often something you can't yourselves define.

The faith/trust you exhibit comes from your experience; you know your wife will have supper on the table, you trust the elevator to get you to the top floor, your sure that chair will hold your weight . . . all provable, through experience. The faith other people have is obtained the same way, but not visible to your eyes. We trust that the money for the mortgage will be here somehow, that they'll be enough food to last the month, that the car will hold together until the money is there to fix it, etc. because our experience has taught us that we can depend on our God because He care for us. You can't understand it because you have not had the same experiences. But the fact that you ridicule it only shows your lack of experience in that realm, not that you are wiser.

[bootooyoo]

So, what did the little child who dies in a car accident do to piss off God?

[HumeSkeptic]

For every "premonition" that came true, there are millions or more that didn't. Were the percentage of those coming true high, we would be using dreams and "contemplations" to plan our lives. We don't.

As for physicists talking about premonitions, that is a classic example of a type of fallacious argument called "Appeal to False Authority -a variation on "Appeal To Authority", but the Authority is outside his area of expertise.

The physicists provided no basis for their opinions in the laws of physics - their expertise.

I like the concept that something broader than our individual selves and self-interst should dictate what we do. However, I feel no need for "spirituality" or any outside force, natural or super-natural, to justify that. I derive the concept from the goal of preservation, continuation, betterment of all life. It is from this goal, in my view, that one can derive all moral principles. For example, I need to care for the less fortunate because it is consistent with the goal of "betterment of all life", which I have accepted.

It would be nice to have scientific evidence of "brain waves" or other phenomena connecting people at distances. But, for the time being, lets use the internet. In fact I have done so recently in ways I never thought possible.
.

[Shavano]

I knew you were going to write that...and I knew I was going to write this. Wow this stuff is really powerful.

[HumeSkeptic]

Funny!

[weatherwaxx]

Try checking up on the research of Dr. Felicitas Goodman, Dept. of Anthropology at Ohio State University (emeritus.­)

Interesting that you use Einstein, who was a bit of a mystic himself. Intelligence and spirituality are not mutually exclusive; ignorance and dogmatism are linked in lockstep.

[DonCosenza]

Einstein was "a bit of mystic himself" huh?

Methinks someone's premonitions have just gone screwy.

[TheLastWallStreeter]

Please don't show your ignorance by claiming that Einstein was a "mystic." He was in awe at the beauty of the Universe, but he had outright disdain for claims of miracles and the supernatural. Contrary to what all the religionists may have told you, Einstein was an outspoken atheist when confronted on the topic. Now he did like the more poetic language of spirituality and religion to convey his sense of awe at the beauty of the fundamental simplicity of the Universe, but he was not using terms like "god does not play dice" literally.

[Bernardo Castro]

So this is what scienceblogs is always talking about...

[sassafra]

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?....

[Shavano]

My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends....

[yorkriver1]

Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends...­.

[nanjemoy]

Prove it.

Paranormal? Prove it.

Extra sensory? Prove it.

Premonition? Prove it.

Let's see, introduce the person who consistently demonstrates this intuitive knowledge of the future. Put it to a test, like we would anyone who forecasts the weather, the stock market, tomorrow's lottery number.

[rinpochet]

No need to prove it. It is personal and one day it will happen to you. It may have already if you care to admit it.

I recall when my twins were infants. I was holding one and the other was asleep in their room. I had the sudden feeling that I needed to to check on my daughter. No crying, just a need. When I walked in she was turning blue and choking. I held her upside down (she was only a few weeks old) and hit her on the back and she started crying. I actually was crying too! If I had not gone in, she would have died.

I have learned the importance of always listening to my instincts. When I do, I never go wrong.

[brooklyncitizen]

Yeah...thi­s happens. One thing though it isn't always bad.

When I moved to DC years ago I was staying with friends while looking for an apt -nothing was affordable and right for me. After a day of looking at crappy over-priced apartments in NW in Cathedral heights I stood on the corner of Newark and Wisconsin ready to weep.Then I heard a voice say go ask there- there? where? "there" was a low-rise apartment building on the corner with no visible vacancy signs posted . I said no, I'm not going to look. waste of time. The voice/feeling was pushy.I walked away from the building/ but the feeling was more insistent and I finally said ok and turned back and crossed the street and up the stairs and rang the bell.

THe super answered and I inquired about any vacancies she looked me up and down and said no that there was one empty unit but there was someone who was taking it and they were doing a credit check etc....the­n she asked if I wanted to look at it...I did I said (though what was the point?) It was amazing ...huge, lots of light,beautiful and rent-contr­ol...I wanted it.

I left my info and asked her to call me if the other deal fell through. Days passed and then I got the call that it was mine if I wanted it. I lived 5 happy years in that place.

[bimplebean]

Unless you can provide the real names and residences of these people and back this up with more than hearsay, I call cr@p. Anyone can say "someone had a feeling" and idiots worldwide will take it as the truth. Still others can actually have these actual feelings and even be right once in a million times. There is no causative proof.

There are things that can be proven. There are things that can be disproven. I like those.

Then there are things that can be neither proven nor disproven. Those fall into the realm of faith, which I choose not to put too much stock in.

[MyNameIsJames]

I agree with you to a certain point.

From a scientific view - Evidence is important. However, what do we consider "evidence' when most people experience the world from their own subjective viewpoint? Our every day experiences, feelings and hunches are hardly verifiable on a moment to moment basis.

First hand accounts of ones personal experience is the trickiest evidence to trust and I agree that it should be at the bottom of the list in terms of reliability.

This is the paradox in terms of spirituality - Most experiences of it are overwhelmingly subjective, non-verifiable, and often non-repeatable.

Yet, it can have a significant impact in the life of the individual who experiences it, and also those who believe in that person's experiences. This is subjective truth, and it often has more meaning to most humans than the objective stuff that we can verify.

[darkclouds55]

Well, if someone tells me that they're hearing the voice of god, my first suggestion would be for them to get a cat-scan. If that was negative, I would suggest being evaluated for possible schizophrenia. Just because a person honestly "knows" something happened, doesn't give it any more validity. Near death experiences invariably substantiate someones own beliefs. IE: "I spoke to St. Peter" , "Virgin Mary" etc... that doesn't make them "real" outside of that persons own mind.

[Shirley Fisk]

5/3/09
7:11pm
Alexandria,VA

I.agree.wi­th.you..
And.this.is.the.reason.I.have.never.talked.about.these.things.in.the.past.except.with.my.family.
Now.that.I.am.older.(58).
and.have.had.so.many.premonitions.and.visions,I.really.do.care.if.people.believe.me.
and.would.like.to.submit.to.some.kind.of.test.in.order.to.prove.it.

This.isee.future.events.sometimes..This.is.reality.

[rinpochet]

I don't share but follow my own instincts and inner voice. If I do, things seem to be on the right track. When I push back and make the choice to deny my instincts, things go wrong. Maybe one day I will learn to always listen.

[weatherwaxx]

You can call anything you want. People who accept the notion of intuition and allow the subconscious input generally find that hunches occur more often and they are often right. Those who silence that voice and live mechanistically find that they don't get such intuitions and they do not believe in them.

Both sorts of people are right - for themselves.

[Anandas]

It is good to see information like this being shared with people who need to see it.
This high sensory perception is available to all who are open , and able to clear
their own blocks, fears, and negativity, and particularly, the clear limitations of
"science". What is described in the article is natural, not "super" natural, although
those quite removed from direct experience of it will continue to use the word supernatural.
It is our birthright.
Once it becomes natural to you, you will know.

[citizensrus]

I would be afraid to have a premonitions that would give me the power over life and death as that mother had, but she is blessed in that she saw the future and changed it.

[Harmony1812]

Is this something new? People has had premonitions since, well, people. If existance transends the known universe (and we can never "know" the entire universe) then it would only be reasonable to accept the unknown as possible. It is then possible that things exist in other realities of matter, time, energy, space which are unknown to us. Why not, then can these uknown things be detected by some anomoly present in our own known existance?