People tend to take strongly opposing views on the question of telepathy. Any kind of telepathy: waking telepathy or dream telepathy.
Whether or not we believe in it seems to depend on our world view. Some believe that everyone is separate, that we cannot ‘inter-mesh’ with other people’s minds as they are entirely separate from our own mind. Consciousness is believed to reside in the brain, and the brain is viewed as separate from other brains: brains are housed in our own individual skull and die when we die, so there can be no ‘telepathic’ overlap. Any evidence that suggests mind to mind communication is shrugged off as coincidence.
Other people seem more open to the possibility of porous minds. These people often believe that we don’t just disappear altogether when our body and brain die. They take the view that consciousness continues after death, and feel that ‘mind’ is vaster than ‘brain’. They also tend to believe in universal oneness: we are all drops in the same infinite ocean, not separate at all on any significant level. If this analogy is followed through, it makes sense that what one ocean drop ‘knows’ could also be ‘known’ by other drops in the same ocean without overt communication, since ultimately they are one.
Are we all drops in the same, infinite ocean?
But who is right? And what about evidence of dream telepathy? Has it ever been proved under rigorous scientific conditions?
In fact, scientific research into dream telepathy has been going on for quite some time. A major ten-year study into dream telepathy took place under controlled conditions from 1964-73. Eminent psychiatrist Dr Montague Ullman and psychologist Dr Stanley Krippner led the experiments at the Maimonides Medical Centre in Brooklyn and their fascinating book, Dream Telepathy: Experiments in Nocturnal ESP details the successes and failures of their dreaming subjects as well as the many questions raised by their research:
Our main surmise is that the psyche of man possesses a latent ESP capacity that is most likely to be deployed during sleep, in the dreaming phase. Psi is no longer the exclusive gift of rare human beings known as “psychic sensitives”, but is a normal part of human existence, capable of being experienced by nearly everyone under the right conditions. …We may discover ourselves to be less alienated from each other, more capable of psychic unity and more capable of closeness in ways never before suspected… Perhaps all forms of life are vitally interrelated in ways we do not yet clearly understand. (Dream Telepathy, Ullman & Krippner, p.227)
Every year, the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) organises a dream telepathy contest based on the Maimonides experimental method, and this has become one of the many highlights of the annual IASD conferences.
IASD Dream Telepathy Contest
- Four independently chosen images are placed in sealed envelopes. One “sender” is chosen, as are independent judges.
- The sender publicly picks an envelope, then takes it back to wherever she or he is sleeping that night, opens it in private and spends the night focusing on the target image.
- Anyone who wants to enter the contest can focus their intent on picking up information about the target image through their dreams.
- Everyone writes down their dreams.
- The following morning, all four images are displayed, with boxes underneath them.
- People slip their dream reports into the box belonging to the image they think they correspond to. At this stage, nobody knows which one is the target image.
- The dream reports are read by independent judges to see if there are any which seem to tune in accurately to the target image. Then a winner is chosen.
The IASD Dream Telepathy Contest is fun to enter but it can blow you away if you get a strong telepathic ‘hit’. I know this from personal experience. Back in 2004 I won the contest with the most direct hit the judges had ever seen. And it was from a lucid dream.
Recently, I interviewed Dr Krippner for IASD’s DreamTime magazine, and at the start of the interview I recall the telepathy contest:
Dr Stanley Krippner’s work with dreams has touched many lives.
In my case, it began with a lucid dream of a tree. But this was no ordinary lucid dream, and no ordinary tree.
It was the night of the 2004 IASD Dream Telepathy contest and my dreams were flooded with green. As I strolled through a dream park, I heard a woman’s voice shouting the word ‘TREE!’ over and over. In the next dream, I met the telepathic sender, Beverly D’Urso, and lucidly asked her how transmitting the image was going. She told me she’d been shouting the word inside her head and I remarked that in my last dream someone had been shouting about trees. Just before I awoke I stood before a big, leafy tree.
It turned out the target image was a big, leafy tree.
I won the contest and my mind reeled with questions. How could this happen? How is it possible to receive information from another person through a lucid dream? Are minds really so porous? If so, what can this teach us about the nature of consciousness?
(Read the full feature)
Dream telepathy is a fascinating topic and anyone who is deeply in tune with their dreams is likely to notice precognitive or telepathic elements in their dreams. How it works is not yet known, and although researchers such as biologist Dr Rupert Sheldrake have documented telepathic experiences and developed theories about them, more studies are needed. In the meantime, it’s good to keep an open mind.
There are so many mysteries in life; so much still remains to be discovered! We can’t possibly have it all figured out already. Staying curious and alert allows lucidity to come into our lives, and with it come many possibilities.
Among them is the possibility of discovering who we really are and what we are capable of.
I have for many years had occasional frightening dreams of someone being in my bed, when I know I am sleeping alone.( I have since learned this to be a part of sleep paralysis). This was always a very frightening experience and very much a sexual thing. I could feel the weight of this entity sitting on my bed, and moving around the bed under the covers and engaging in sexual activities with me. I would lay there unable to move, or react..After a few of these experiences, I recognized during the dreams that I was in fact asleep I would desperately try to wake up, but would only partially wake, and fall strait back into the same deep scenario. I was always a large athletic faceless male figure.. Very sensual but frightening at the same time. I was also hearing it speak to me and hearing other sounds which were not there. After a few years I decided I would fight these dreams away.. I started to yell at the entity when it appeared in my dream.. I’d yell “Get out! You are not real.. Get out now!!” Suddenly it would vanish.. I was in control.. I would manage to wake myself very violently. I would then get out of bed for a few minutes and when I returned all was ok again.. After doing this only a few times, these dreams stopped. During my entire life I have also dreamed almost nightly that I can fly. Since taking control of these frightening dreams, I have learned to take control of other dreams such as my flying dreams.. It’s truly amazing. Just recently I have actually started to take even more control of my sleep paralysis type dreaming, and it is wonderful. There is a special person who I have developed a friendship with in my waking life. This man is married and committed to his wife, as I am also committed to my husband, but he is clearly attracted to me as well.. We have never verbalized this attraction but have become sounding boards to each others troubles.. Neither of us would ever betray the trust of his wife or my husband. However, in my dream time, during this “Paralysis” sleep, I am able to summons him to me. I am able to put myself deliberately into the sleep phase which is required to enable this physical feeling of dreams to occur. It all feels so very real. I can see him, feel him, hear him and converse with him.. It’s magical.. I don’t know if he is connecting with me the other end, but I suspect he may be, as every so often I will use special words or expressions in my dream, and when I repeat them to him in waking hours, he has a reaction, as if he knows what I’m up to.. Our friendship and trust has become very strong..
Hello, it can be very frightening when things like this happen in sleep paralysis, I’m glad you managed to take control of these frightening dreams.
Thanks for sharing your recent very vivid dreams/sleep paralysis visions of your friend. It can be magical when we deepen our connection with another person via the world of sleep and dreams.
Thank you for sharing this candid post, it’s always good for other readers to see that overcoming the scariest of sleep/dream experiences is possible.
Lucid wishes,
Clare
I have taken the approach on lucid dreaming as a way to have more control during ego death.
I have been able to control my dreams since i was 10 years old. I decided to stop the lucid dreaming after several months of dealing with self awakening.
Hi Osorio, sometimes it’s good to have a break when we are dealing with a lot in our waking lives, but lucid dreaming doesn’t have to be all about controlling the dream. When we allow the dream scene to dissolve and float bodiless in light, this can be incredibly healing on every level. I wish you peaceful and healing dreams, Clare
Wow! That sexual entity that you’ve been experiencing sounds a lot like mine too! It doesn’t have any particular appearance, just gets the one from whoever I’m dreaming of, but I can totally fell his weight too on top of me, every touch. When partially waking up the feeling would disappear and come back again when letting myself fall asleep again. For me, most of times it’s been pleasurable. But I’ve also wondered whether it was a creation of my own mind or some sort of weird spirit like an incubus… But it feels as vivid as (if not more than) real life.
My TF did the dream telepathy thing at least once.
I just learned what this is called today, but considering all the fun things Ive experienced in this lifetime, its like.. oh.. ok.. its another thing I never could have expected confirming our psychic connection.
So Ive had this dream character I was trying to find in the real world. [spoilers, my twin is him]
but I didnt know my twin was him.
I fell asleep on the couch one day at my twins house, and had a dream the dream character said he didnt love me. It was weird and disjointed. I woke up feeling very angry. I dont think it was obvious I was mad, and I didnt have anyone in particular to be mad at.
My twin was right next to me, beside the couch, and he acted apologetic.. like suspiciously apologetic..
considering how he is adept at telepathy as it is, it isnt too large a leap to say this was dream telepathy.
When I say hes adept at telepathy, let me put it this way..
he gives me the impression he wants to do the thing where twins become completely mute and only speak to each other telepathically at times.
but that sounds annoying and awkward, and I dont even know whether Im able to tell when Im picking up on his thoughts or not.
When I do feel like Im talking to him, I call it channeling. but what he does is clear telepathy.
Thank for the confirmation. How do you stop the dream therapy, and communication? Especially when you have to work a 10 hr day as soon as the alarm goes off. It’s frustrating, and it affects my work day. Please Help😎
Hi, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your dreams and their content, it’s helpful to do a short yoga nidra practice (after work, for example). This deep relaxation actually improves your night of sleep and will generally induce calmer dreams.
I used to dream of snakes, vultures and what not for a while. But it all stopped when I cut off a certain someone from my life.
I actually now know someone whom I think is my twin flame and I want to tell him my feelings for him. But it’s a little tricky to tell him in real life. So much safer and clearer to do this in dream. How ironic!
But if anyone is reading this , pray I succeed. We really deserve this union. I hope we stay together our entire life. I really love him so much.
Hello
I do have experienced similar things and not sure the first thing came in my mind was ParaPsychology Dream Telepathy.Then I searched the internet and came to know there is such term exists.
I am interested to connect to IASD, please help me.
Thanks Kinjal. You can connect with IASD via our Facebook group (look for International Association for the Study of Dreams) and our website: http://www.asdreams.org
I wish you wonderful dreams!
Clare
Am still wondering what happened to us, while I was sleeping with my girlfriend at night we were in a serious conversation but we were not talking as I was asking her questions she was replying and replying with the perfect answer,it was like a dream, I asked her many questions and she replied with the right answers,after she asked me the question that seemed to be the last in our conversation I woke up while smiling and wondering, I asked her what’s going on, she said we have been communicating, she laughed and said the devil is using us lol, that’s how I came to reach here wondering if there other people experiencing this
Hi Gerald,
telepathy seems higher in dreams than in a regular waking state of consciousness, and there are many reports of dream communications, mutual dreams, and so on. It’s nothing to worry about, it seems to me that we all have this innate ability to an extent, and it is stronger in the dream state.
Enjoy your explorations!
Clare
Is telepathy dreams a real thing?
Hi Herim,
in dreams the boundaries between minds seems much more porous than while we are awake.
There are many reported instances of dream telepathy, check out the literature to find out more.
Extraordinary Dreams by Stanley Krippner is a classic in this field.
In Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming I go into this too as part of an exploration into the larger mind.
Hope this helps.
Clare
I used to dream of snakes, vultures and what not for a while. But it all stopped when I cut off a certain someone from my life.
I actually now know someone whom I think is my twin flame and I want to tell him my feelings for him. But it’s a little tricky to tell him in real life. So much safer and clearer to do this in dream. How ironic!
But if anyone is reading this , pray I succeed. We really deserve this union. I hope we stay together our entire life. I really love him so much.
I’ve had the ability to control and manipulate my dreams ever since I was a young boy. I’m now 35 years old and I’ve been doing this for around 25 years. Every single night I control my dreams. I harness that energy to my advantage, and of course to have some amazing dreams. But usually if I’ve had a bad day I can relive that day over and over detail for detail in my dreams to seek answers to why things were bad. Or I manipulate outcomes to assess where I could have avoided certain areas that caused me the trouble.
I’ve recently met someone new. She’s absolutely amazing and the connection that’s growing between us is incredible. She is an energy healer and practices Reiki healing and is big into meditation. But her dream states are not as powerful as mine. But I’m conducting my own experiment on dream telepathy between the two of us. It’s always been a fantasy of mine to connect with someone via the dream state. I’m using all my dream power to dream the same dream Detail for detail over and over for the next two weeks in hopes I can connect with her dream.
I may continue beyond my set time frame for this.
Wonderful, Leon, and congratulations on your new friendship!
Clare
Hi, how do you control your dreams please
My mother recently had the strangest experience otherwise I never would have heard of dream telepathy. She walked into the post office, an unknown older lady opened the door for her and by here eyes she could tell she was smiling. The lady said I’ve been waiting for you, everything you have told me is true. You are such a godsend, I have to tell you I love you. Confused my mother said I don’t think I know you, when have we talked? She told her they are always talking in their dreams. Then she said how do you think I knew you’d be here now in a flower shirt. She then said she would talk with her later and left. Been wondering about steam telepathy since.
Thanks for sharing this experience of your mother’s. It’s always interesting to see how dreams and waking life intersect, sometimes in surprising ways!
She also has had dreams of people who passed. In several cases passing on information that turned out true. In one case a warning she would end up in a hospital if she didn’t see a truck with a big A. The next day when driving to an airport for the first time ever. Parents saw a truck with a big A driving erratically. They watched it closely and got away from it quickly. Dreams seem to have many capabilities. Only just now hearing of people possibly communicating though. Any recommendations on ways to remember dreams?
Yes, dreams can tune into information not consciously available to us.
Lots of tips on how to improve dream recall in each one of my books. Create a firm intention to recall your dreams. At every mini-awakening in the night, think back to what you were just doing/how you were feeling. This often causes a dream memory to surface.
Enjoy your dreams!
Clare
I’m currently reading your book “Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them”. I’m finding all the different possibilities extremely interesting and exciting to think about experimenting with. I’ve had a number of spontaneous lucid dreams over my lifetime but somehow never considered deliberately trying to have them. I’m now working up to doing this using some of the techniques you describe.
Here’s a (rather odd) spontaneous lucid dream I had not too long ago. I’m standing near a railroad boxcar that’s sitting on a siding all by itself. All of a sudden I somehow know I’m dreaming and decide to “experiment” with the boxcar to see just how real it is. I go over to the boxcar with a screwdriver in my hand and start tapping one of the wheels on the boxcar with the metal shaft of the screwdriver. Sure enough, it sounds and feels like I’m tapping an actual metal wheel. Somehow, this gives me a sense of satisfaction that yes, objects like this in dreams are “real” and I end the dream there.
Anyway, many thanks for your book. I’m getting a lot of interesting ideas for lucid dream experiments from it!
Hi John, I believe Dr Stanley Krippner wrote that book, not me 🙂 Perhaps you meant a different title?
Either way, I am glad to hear that you are exploring the fascinating potential of dreams!
Clare
Sorry, Clare. I did mean I’m reading your “Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming”. It’s right next to Krippner’s book in my Kindle TOC, so I mistakenly copied the wrong title. Thanks for your response!
Ah yes, easily done, John 😉 Sounds like you have some great reading material, Dr. Krippner has done such amazing work. Happy you are enjoying mine, too!
I would like to do lucid dreams. can anyone help me? also, I used to set alarm at 5.30 am every day and when the alarm sounds, I wake up and sleep with consciousness. I started this without knowing anything about lucid dreams but during this time I saw some dreams with consciousness is it possible to develop this and dream what I want? also, is it harmful?
I had the same dreams as my best friend and we spent all of the day before together and then we had two dreams that were the same but from different points of view. I don’t know if this is because during the day we did all the same things or if is was something else.
Someone I know just as a neighbor (a couple) is getting in my dreams and making me see disturbing strange dreams. How can I impede him?
It might be helpful to work with these dreams, don’t assume this is the neighbour’s doing – try looking first at what the neighbour symbolises for you, explore associations and look into what you are being “shown” in these dreams. My book Dream Therapy (Mindful Dreaming in the US) looks at how to unwrap dreams. The Art of Transforming Nightmares looks into how to unpack and work with distressing dreams of all types. Hope this helps.
For a while, an ex and I have been dreaming of each other on a constant basis. it’s been four years since we’ve broken up and the way we finished things weren’t good. Just this last night we both dreamed of each other and we don’t talk to each other on a constant basis either. When we talk we both bring something up that leaves us in like “what the heck”. I think it’s weird but also there has to be something behind all this.