Oh, Rats, I'm Not a Xerox Machine!
Preparing for the Real Results of Dream Telepathy Experiments
© 2002 Linda Lane Magallón
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Science fiction and fantasy have some very vivid and enchanting descriptions of what it means to be psychic. Problem is, they're fiction. Usually, the authors have done little research in verifiable psi. So instead we get great stories and magical tricks. Well, that's just fine as long as we want to flit about in the airy-fairy realms of imagination. But comes time for an experiment in dream telepathy and we're back to the stable ground of reality. Or so we think. Yes, the target of telepathy is going to be something hard and physical...like a picture. Something we will be able to see, something that will be repeated a gazillion times on computer screens around the globe. And guess what we're looking to match that photo-realistic image? Why, another Xerox of it, of course. A mechanical replica within our minds. But our assumptions about psi imagery aren't based on a lot of first-hand experience. Oh, no. Compared to our decades of eyeball sight, you, I, the public in general, the average TV documentary producer, the scientific establishment and the amazing Randi are all psi neophytes. Fresh off the TV screen comes our wide-eyed conception of psi. So we expect to act like Star Trek Betazoids, stamping perfect reproductions on our inner visual screens. Direct hits on demand. Someone forgot to remember that we're human. Has anybody bothered to do reality checks on our presumptions about psi results? Believe it or not, one of the most well respected laboratory experiments was in dream telepathy. This occurred beginning in the late '60's at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dreamworkers Stan Krippner, Monte Ullman and Bob Van de Castle participated in that series of projects. Unlike simple targets of waking psi (like dice or Zener cards), the targets for these experiments were well-known art prints. The rationale for choosing such targets was that they would probably contain universal emotional appeal. After a night in the lab, the dreamer would be given eight art prints (or 12 depending on the study), including the target picture. He'd be asked to rank the prints as to which was the actual target, according to his dreams dreamt during the night. If the target picture was rated one through four it was considered a hit. If five through eight, it was a miss. A "direct hit" was a dream matched with the actual target picture. The pictures and dream reports were also sent to three independent judges who went through a similar procedure. Like all psi, the experiments had their critics, who were quite willing to poke holes in the protocol. That meant that every time the researchers went back to the lab, they fixed another flaw in their methods. From the results thus attained, nine out of the thirteen major studies considered the experimental results to be "statistically significant." But that was 4 decades ago, before dream psi funding dried up. Dream psi experimentation using picture targets moved out of the lab and into the field. The criteria became softer, but the experience was a lot more fun. In the meantime, waking forms of psi were being put to the test under guidelines even stricter than Maimonides. Some experimenters began to use a sensory deprivation technique called "ganzfeld." They took up where the dream researchers left off and continued the practice of updating procedure. Their current protocol is one of the most stringent in the scientific field. There are also lab results to ponder from waking extra-sensory perception, out-of-body experiments and the very well funded remote viewing research. One of the principals of OBE and RV research was Ingo Swann. When Swann first became involved in ESP experimentation, the established procedure was to narrate psychic impressions into a tape recorder. He realized that to talk about his subtle psi sensing depended on the peculiarities and limitations of the English language. In 1971 Swann had a dream. It suggested he use sketches or drawings to describe the targets. Swann and the observing scientists were now able to see results that used very simple (and universal) shapes, lines and forms. He and other waking psychics could sometimes perceive at a distance with detailed drawings uncannily like the target. But not always. The truth is, no human gets perfect results all the time. Years of practice in retrieving picture targets during waking state trials yielded Swann the knowledge that most results were other than exact reproductions of the target. He found that these results weren't all random. There were constants, appearing in one experiment after another. And he isn't the only one who noticed, nor even the first. So did ganzfeld researcher Rex Stanford. And René Warcollier out in the field of waking psi. I've never seen a detailed discussion of how dreams might act when they aren't direct psychic hits. But fortunately, those waking psi researchers have paid close attention to the experimental results. They have been compiling lists of the structure of ESP. I have discovered that their lists also apply to telepathy experiments during sleep, both in the lab and out in the field. I've also found examples among the dreams in my own experiments. And I've added some items to the growing list. Only a few of them are illustrated here. Now I can say to dreamers who experience these alternate results, well, you may not be a photocopy machine, but you definitely are telepathic. Right up there with the best of the tested psychics. So, check out some of the real results of dream telepathy before you jump to conclusions about your abilities. You may be more psychic than you think! |
Some Results of Dream Telepathy Experiments (Press Names to see Illustrations) The Whole Yes, like lab dreamers, OBEers, RVers, ESPers and ganzfeld subjects, you can get a "direct hit," where the correspondence between your dream and the picture target is quite similar. Notice that this dreamer didn't take a hypnogogia snapshot like he was an observer from afar. No, he was deeply asleep. Dreaming is a video event, with you as producer, director and actor. In a dream, you can be the star of the show.
Skydiver. © Norman Kent, Lucidity Project, 1985 The Parts It's far more likely that you will perceive bits and pieces of the target. Swann makes the important point that even physical eyes never see an entire image simultaneously. Rather, the scene is built up, usually starting with what is most important to you, then going on to lesser details. Of course, this happens so fast you aren't usually aware of it. That is, not until you start to use psi sight...and the details begin to stand out in your dream reports. For instance, you might get only one layer of an picture, while the remainder of it is not perceived. Some information will be missing, but what you do get will be correct. In this case, the background was more important to the dreamer than the central image. So striking, in fact, that the dreamer made not one but several sketches of what she had seen in her dream. Arches, © 1992 Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., FATE Magazine, 1992 The dreaming mind separates wholes into parts. Sometimes they recombine, sometimes not. You might get just a few of the puzzle pieces, especially if the target is complex. This volleyball net and surrounding foliage was dreamt as cylinders and sticks by three different dreamers. Volleyball, American Psychic Magazine, 1992 At times only the major object is perceived, but it is so lacking in details that it will have no meaning for you, in terms of the actual picture. Three dreamers focused on different aspects of the central item in this picture, translating a giant camera into a rectangular block, its lens into a circle with wavy lines and its shutter into a handle of an upside-down teacup shape. Giant Camera, FATE Magazine, 1992 Associations As you can see, you might not perceive the target itself, but things associated with it. The target can be replaced with something or someone it reminds you of. There can be instances in which you get the shape or form just fine, plus the general gist. But you mislabel the object, calling it something other than what it is. In this experiment, the dream target was a poster of a futon, or Japanese bed roll. Dreamers dreamt other options, all different. Nevertheless, they all associated the elongated form with the same basic concept, "lying down...on the ground."
This group of cut flowers translated into a pot of chrysanthemums. In addition, the dreamer dreamt of sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. All together, these are hints about the theme, which was a Thanksgiving dinner. Notice that the cut flowers are located right in the middle of the picture. The central image sparks the central theme. Thanksgiving, Novato Center for Dreams, 1986 Given the nature of dreaming language, it's most likely that the target will be described in symbolic terms, as a metaphor or as a simile. What is the Emerald City of Oz, but an enchanted crystal?
This dreamer dreamt that she was cutting her husband's body with a large sword, making two incisions at each side of the waist clear to the backbone. Afterwards, he was placed in a long underground trough which was covered with a canvas top. Her dream might be referring to the traveling voyager, caught half-way between this world and the next, with the edge of the universe cutting him in half. Or you might get a chuckle out of the fact that this image was make from...a medieval woodcut. Wood-Cut, San Francisco Dream Festival, 1987 Often, the target will be associated with something quite personal. Recent day residue or past nostalgia are prevalent in dreams, as well as the rambling thoughts of sleep. This dreamer likes to dream about people in her home town. So she used some of those people as characters in her dream play. The play was staged on a Tarot card.
This case is an about-face on the usual practice of dream converting mundane to metaphor. Although the picture's theme was quite symbolic, this dreamer associated it with his daily life. Again, he's incorporating personal folks into his dream drama.
In both dreams and psi, the laws of physical reality are loosened or may not apply at all. As you prepare to retrieve a target dream, you tap into hyperspace and hypertime. You can slip and slide in time. You will dream the target, but not on the day you expect. Your dream might occur ahead of the target date and be precognitive. Or it might happened afterwards. If you still haven't seen the target picture, your dream can be retrocognitive. You may slip and slide in hyperspace. For instance, you may not get the target at all. Instead, you can perceive other objects surrounding it. If, as in the Maimonides experiments, there are several targets to chose from, you might dream not about the one selected. Rather, your dreaming mind will hone in on the one that attracts your attention or interest. On the other hand, if the target is a picture cut out of the newspaper, you can dream about the rest of the articles on the page (even if they are not attached any more!). You might even perceive what is on the opposite side of the piece of paper. Researchers have to be careful to select or create clear targets, unless they want to demonstrate such characteristics. For this experiment, the actual target was the Thanksgiving dinner already mentioned. But this contrary dreamer ignored it entirely and dreamt of logs in the water. They correspond to the graphs displayed on the back of the magazine page. LogGraphs, Novato Center for Dreams, 1986 At times you might pick up the thoughts or activities of the person who handled the picture. This dreamer, who knows me well, dreamt of the volleyball game in a very particular way.
Actually, the volleyball was completely out of sight by the time the photo had been snapped, so I had to fake it. I created a ball using a removable adhesive label dot, cut to the correct size with a paper punch. Then I stuck the cut-out yellow dot on top of the green foliage in the photo. My friend's dream caught me in the act. |
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What do these realistic results mean to you, as you prepare to participate in a dream psi experiment? One thing should be obvious sketching your dream impressions definitely helps! So if you get a clear correspondence, that's great. First time psi participants, especially, seem to benefit from psi "beginner's luck."
Good luck and have fun! |
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