Death is something that many people fear. The idea that we might be able to foresee our own death is comforting to some people because it would give them time to put their affairs in order or say goodbye to loved ones. For others, such a thought would be deeply distressing and could become emotionally overwhelming.
In the context of events involving death, psychologist Carl Jung described numerous cases in which individuals had precognitive abilities. Precognition refers to the perception of future events that, although according to conventional standards, cannot yet be predicted and are independent of a person’s ordinary sensory impressions or prior experiences. Such perceptions may occur in dreams, known as precognitive dreams, which contain specific information about a future event that later corresponds with what actually happens.
Precognitive dreams may also appear as warning dreams in the form of nightmares, which typically occur more often in children than in adults. Precognitive experiences may also occur as intuitive impressions or premonitions, a feeling that something is about to happen. These experiences often involve warnings of unpleasant events, such as health problems, personal dangers, or natural disasters.
According to Louisa E. Rhine, one of the pioneers of experimental parapsychology at Duke University in North Carolina, who collected reports of extrasensory perception from children between the ages of 10 and 18, precognitive dreams were reported considerably more often (52%) than intuitive impressions (25%).
Compared with adults, children report experiences involving family members and neighbors significantly more frequently, as well as events concerning people of the same sex and family pets.
Overall, the largest group of the predicted events involves everyday events (54%). Nevertheless, death (18.5%) and serious injuries (19%) can also be found, as in the case of Elias from our book Where the Light Begins. Following a recurring dream, Elias anticipated his own death with the words, “If I go today.”
In some cases, the central theme of a precognitive dream may also be shared by two or more people who are especially close to one another, such as parents or siblings. Each reports a similar dream before the event occurs.
Why do some people possess precognitive abilities while others do not?
Researchers have suggested that experiences of precognition may be associated with certain personality characteristics. According to psychologists Kirsten Cameron and Jenny Wade of the California Institute of Integral Studies, childhood trauma, particularly persistent emotional and physical neglect, may at least facilitate precognition.
The critical factor is presumably not the trauma itself, but rather the greater likelihood of developing dissociative tendencies in response to it. Dissociation may facilitate certain altered states of consciousness. One such state, known as absorption-imaginative involvement, refers to the ability to become deeply immersed in inner experiences, generate vivid mental imagery, and focus attention intensely on internal impressions.
Researchers at the Universidad Abierta Interamericana in Buenos Aires, Argentina, have reached a different conclusion. They suggest that premonitory experiences occur more frequently in individuals who are emotionally sensitive, open to unusual experiences, and not characterized by greater psychological distress.
Individuals who report premonitions have higher scores on empathy, emotional understanding, and perspective-taking. They also show elevated levels of positive schizotypy (unusual perceptions, unconventional patterns of thinking, and openness to unusual experiences) — in contrast to negative schizotypy (social withdrawal and a tendency toward impulsive and nonconforming behavior).
Some researchers have argued that precognitive dreams may point to a non-material aspect of consciousness and challenge the conventional concept of the arrow of time. From this view, precognitive dreams can be understood as a form of Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity. Thus, precognitive dreams do not represent a normal cause-and-effect relationship. Rather, the dream appears to anticipate a future event, even though, from the perspective of linear time, that event has not occurred yet.
Carl Jung’s explanation: The unconscious is timeless. Past, present, and future are not strictly separated within it. That is why future events may already emerge in dreams. Jung expressed this idea, for example, as follows: “It is as if the unconscious were already there where we are not yet or is still there where we are no longer.” A similar premonitory experience is reported by Marlon in our book Where the Light Begins.
Regardless of how precognitive experiences are ultimately explained, many children report that such experiences hold profound personal significance for them. Some describe precognition and premonitions as comforting, healing, or personally transformative.
The responses of parents, teachers, and healthcare professionals are especially important: dismissal, disapproval, ridicule, or premature psychiatric labeling may lead children to remain silent, question their own perceptions, and therefore suppress or unconsciously inhibit their memories of dreams. For this reason, adults should listen with openness and provide safe, supportive environments in which children feel comfortable to discuss their experiences.
Read true stories of children’s precognitive and near-death experiences and how they responded to them in our book Where the Light Begins: Stories of Near-Death Experiences and After-Death Communications by Children and How They Experience Them Differently Than Adults.
Ralph and Daniela Klose are German authors and long-term collaborative partners in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and consciousness research. Their book Where the Light Begins explores near-death experiences in children.
Ralph is a retired neuropsychologist with over three decades of clinical and academic experience, and Daniela is a medical writer and translator specializing in neuropsychology and transpersonal psychology. For many years, they worked as ghostwriters for researchers across Europe. They now write under their own names, connecting scientific expertise with years of hospice and end-of-life care experience to explore near-death-experiences and liminal states of consciousness. https://drklose.com
