Expert: Philip A. Stahl - 7/16/2010

Question
Hi,

I am an atheist and I have no faith in any supernatural and non-materialistic forces or anything related to that. I only believe in things that are scientific and rational.
However, in last few days I found that the dream I saw while sleeping, actually came true in reality and that too on the same day. This has happened to me 2 times. These incidences have shaken the very foundation of the atheism in me and I am afraid that I may again start believing things, which I never want to.

Please help me by finding a rational solution to my problem.

Answer
Hello,

First, you don't detail exactly what the dream content was, so I've no idea whether it was religious or not. In the absence of further elaboration, I will assume it wasn't - simply that something you dreamt appeared to have manifested in waking life.

Second, when you said the "dreams came true" how many touch points were there for confirmation? Bear in mind we seldom if ever recall our dreams in entirety, usually we recall only fragments. Even those fragments may not be fully recalled, e.g. as a continuous "replay". (Think of a VHS tape that skips toward certain parts so that the image bears interference, or is otherwise unclear).

Thus, it is possible you only referenced one or two touchpoints of 2 dreams (say maybe walking along the sidewalk and seeing the same color or make of auto you saw in the dream). As I said, without much further elaboration, it's pretty difficult to conclude anything substantial.

But I don't see why this should "shake the very foundation of your atheism".

Bear in mind that one can have nonlocal events, and the brain itself is a kind of nonlocal processor. In a previous response, I actually went into this in some detail, based on what is called the 'Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics"

You might want to check it out here, and see if you have questions:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Atheism-2724/2008/7/Quantum-Conciousness.htm

The basic point inherent in that answer, is that one can have interior brain waves which bear some similarity to EM (electro-magnetic) waves. These can even have imprints or imagery enfolded, much like the "carrier" waves with which we're familiar for TV signal propagation. They certainly can carry packets of information, and some of this may appear in dreams, as dream events.

Under certain conditions, it might be that these waves can externally propagate and one can image or see a "reflection" or imitation of them in real life. The point is that the explanation can be a nonlocal PHYSICAL one and need not be "supernatural".

If you can provide much more detail about these dreams, and especially detailing ALL the touchpoints to the real life situations, I might be able to be of more assistance.