Dream FAQ Dictionary: Do dreams predict the future?

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Prophetic Dreams : Dream FAQ Dictionary - Do dreams predict the future?

Do dreams predict the future?

A. This, like many other things commonly referred to as "paranormal",is to be considered unknown. There is much evidence against it, itwould contradict the laws of nature as recognized by most scientiststoday. (Any information getting from future to past would have tobreak the speed of light, which is impossible. More on this can befound in the sci.physics FAQ postings.) However, many people insiston having experienced "deja-vu" like situations where they came into asetting they already had dreamed of. Could they prove it?

 Probablynot (cf. section 5.3) but this fact alone doesn't prove theexperiences invalid. (Proving a subjective experience *wrong* isimpossible.)

Now, how come the many deja-vus?

 A common explanation is a smallmisfunction of the brain. Some piece of information, like the look ofa particular place where you haven't been before, gets from short-terminto long-term memory via some sort of "shortcut" rather than theusual remembrance mechanism. (How this exactly works is currently notknown in detail.) Then, when matching short-term against long-termmemory, you think that you have the piece in long-term memory fromsomewhere in the past while it has entered long-term memory justrecently.

This could explain some of the instances, but the possibility of themind "travelling in time" (or place, cf. section 4.1) can not bedismissed - many people claim they have done it and can do it again.

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(See also: Prophetic Dreams, Do dreams predict the future?,   Dream Interpretation FAQ, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Meaning of Dreams)