From: jmcasey@pacific.net.sg
Date: Sat Aug 07 1999 - 20:27:45 MDT
What do you remember about the events of the day previous to these dreams?
If you're willing to undergo a bit of a thought experiment, I'd like to pose a series of questions which may facilitate recreating the event and codifying how to replicate it.
Are you game?
jmc
----Original Message-----
>From: paul@i2.to
>To: extropians@extropy.com
>Subject: PSI: Skeptics Opinions Needed.
>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.com
>Date: Thursday, August 05, 1999 7:18 AM
>
>I'm going on record now (and risking my humble reputation) by
>admitting that I've had several experiences which I have yet to
>explain within current scientific knowledge. This may be due
>not to any 'paranormal' phenomena, but my own ignorance
>of science itself. I'm *not* claiming nor do I wish to be labeled
>a psychic. Quite the opposite. Instead, I'm urging the more
>skeptically and scientifically inclined list members to scrutinize
>me report and offer their opionions.
>
>During my life, I have had numerous experience that could be
>labeled as clairvoyant, out-of-body-travel, and telepathy.
>However, these may not be accurate terms if what I experienced
>was instead an elaborate set of hallucinations. Therefore I have
>included below only those experiences I have yet been unable to
>rule out with that explanation.
>
>====
>
>Case 1: (Summer '87)
>
>I had a dream in which I woke up only to realize that I was still
>dreaming. This 'lucid' dream became exhilarating. Since I often
>fly in my dreams I decided to start flying around the room. In
>this dream my room was dark, but there was still some ligh
>from the sun which had recently set. The dream felt unusually
>real. I continued to fly around the room and attempted to fly
>through the roof. It worked. Soon I was flying about 100 feet
>above my apartment complex. I flew to the other side of the
>complex. In the sky their was a crescent moon and Venus
>shining brightly. I started to smell something on a BBQ.
>I flew down and heard a conversation of the BBQ'ers that
>sounded like Arabic. It all seemed very real. Suddenly I
>awoke on my bed. This time I really did awaken. I ran to
>my roommate Don and told him of this incredibly vivid dream
>I just had. I asked him to follow me outside. It was indeed
>late dusk. Venus and the crescent moon were in the sky.
>I told my friend that if my dream was right there should
>be two Arabic guys cooking at the other side of the complex.
>So we both ran to the other side only to find the two Arabic guys
>cooking chicken at a the BBQ.
>
>Case 2: (spring '95)
>
>Another lucid dream. I was flying around again although this time
>I was not in any place familiar. The scenery was beautiful - lots
>of rolling grassy hills with colorful flowers everywhere. It was
>sunny and balmy.. I flew over the plains of grass and flowers with
>exhilaration. I couldn't believe how real everything seemed.
>The smells were completely vivid and real. I saw a tree in the
>distance. It was immense. I flew up to it and I saw my friend
>Nathan sitting underneath it. He was sleeping. I tried very hard
>to awaken him. After a moment, his eyes began to open and he
>was delighted to see me hovering above him. I asked him to
>come with me and he fell asleep again. The dream ends.
>A few moments later I woke up. My friend Nathan had stayed
>the night and was sleeping on the couch. When he woke I
>started to tell him my dream, when I got to the tree part, he
>said "wait a second, this describes my dream. In my dream I
>was hanging out under this huge tree also surrounded by lots
>of flowers. I saw a bunch of birds in the sky. I focused on one
>bird and it kept getting bigger and closer. Then I realized
>it was you! I couldn't believe it. You laughed at me and told
>me to fly with you. That's the last thing I remember". When
>he finished his description, I broke down in tears. I was
>overwhelmed that somebody else experienced the same dream.
>A dream in which we both shared.
>
>======
>
>Despite these two experiences I remain skeptical, but open to
>the possibility that psi phenomena may still exist and eventually
>be explained within a scientific framework. Because of the
>highly spontaneous nature of my experiences there is no way
>I could reproduce them. If I could, I would every single night just
>to experience the hedonistic qualities alone. But of course, without
>reproducibility we don't have science. I may still be a skeptic
>but I cannot deny my own experiences and their validation by
>other observers.
>
>Comments?
>
>Paul Hughes
>
>
>
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