About a month ago I had this dream about a male friend of mine who I hadn’t seen for years, but still felt a very close bond with. The dream started with me having this huge party which I wasn’t aware of the event for doing so. All of my friends where there, including my male friend who I was delighted to see after such a long time. Near the end of the party I felt a deep sadness, and I knew that he was going, for a long time, maybe forever. He was leaving by car, but I knew that this was the last time I was ever going to see him. I kissed him goodbye on the cheek, and felt a huge wieght in my heart.

The next day I was informed that this friend had only last night flown to another country, half way around the world, and that he would return home in a month. This surprised me because I had never dreamed about him before and now on the night of his departure I had this dream of him saying goodbye to me. The most frightening part is that on his return flight back into the country, the aeroplane that he was travelling in had engine failure and all 265 passengers on board died.

This dream has helped me come to grips with his death, and I hope that you will be able to give me some guidence into what exactly my dream had to do with this terrible event.

--Rose, Age 18, Murtoa, AUSTRALIA

Hi Rose -

I am sorry to hear of your friend’s death, and of the other passengers on that flight. It is sad when anybody dies, and especially sad when people die young.

Your dream is extraordinary, and I am sure it has caused you many questions. First, I would like to say that I do not believe that your dream - in any way, shape or form - influenced the events that transpired on the fateful day when your friend died. It is true that you dreamed of his death in advance, but again, this does not mean in any sense that you are responsible for, or could have prevented, the accident or his death.

Science today does not definitively know how pre-knowledge of events occurs. Many people would balk at including a scientific explanation at all in such a discussion, prefering instead to look to spiritual explanations, but I think we can find a happy medium between the two approaches.

As far as the scientific approach is concerned, quantum mechanics (which is the latest knowledge we possess of the laws of physics), has convincingly demonstrated, as Einstein predicted, that time is not linear and constant but rather is flexible and varying. We don’t fully understand it, but the universe on the physical level essentially is more mysterious and full of surprises than we may have guessed yet.

On a spirit level, again it seems our knowledge is young. If you read some of the other dreams included on this website, you will find many convincing accounts of “supernatural” events - the most common of which are precognitive dreams. Most people you ask will be able to relate a precognitive experience in their life. We’re not really sure how or why they happen. Is our spirit communicating with us? Or are we very sensitive beings - more sensitive than we usually give ourselves credit for - who actually are able to pick up on these quirks of time that scientists say indeed do float around us?

Certainly, for yourself, this experience is a bit of an initiation. You have had a bit of your, and the universe’s, extra-sensory ability demonstrated to you. As you said in your dream report, having had this experience has helped you come to grips with your friend’s death. I suspect that this is because your dream has caused you to become assured, in an intuitive way, in life after death. And I think your dream has shown you that there is a great deal in this world that we don’t know yet - that remains to be discovered, both scientifically and spiritually.

Thanks very much for writing.