A Concise History of the Future
Long-range
precognition, especially when it deals with events of national or international
importance- wars, revolutions, natural disasters, epidemics and political
upheavals - is notoriously inaccurate. Plainly worded, precisely-dated
prophecies have suffered the most, as the passage of time has revealed their
falsity. We may instance the prediction of Fra Giorgio Maria da Terni, who prophesied,
in 1971, to the consternation of many devout Italians, that between 1973 and 1975
"Naples
and a number of other coastal cities will be completely destroyed by tremendous
naval bombardments. Beginning with Rome ,
pillaged and sacked, scourged with pestilence and fire, numberless savage
hordes will pour into it one after the other ... thirty million Italians will
be massacred and eliminated by appalling atrocities" (Woldben, 1973) [1].
This
prophet of doom is excelled by an astrologer, A. Barhault, who in 1956
predicted the outbreak of the Third World War in 1972, followed by a Fourth World
War, which "will mainly concern Asia", in 1980, when India and China
would be the principal combatants (Barhault, 1956) [2]. Gordon Michael Scallion's
precisely dated forecasts of massive earthquakes and other earth changes have
also proved erroneous.
Prophecies
as precisely dated as these are clearly much more impressive than the more
common type of prophecy which couches itself in vague terms and does not
specify the date of the impending catastrophe. However, when disproved by the
passage of time, these precise forecasts serve only to discredit their authors
- for who could take Fra Giorgio and Monsieur Barhault seriously after such a
fiasco? - and so are generally avoided. Even Nostradamus generally avoided
dating his prophecies exactly, especially when they were likely to occur within
his own lifetime.
Such
is not the case, however, with the anonymous author of a number of prophecies
recorded in a pamphlet published in Leipzig
in 1790. The copy I consulted bears a seal indicating that it came into the
possession of the Library of the Imperial and Royal Police Office in 1792,
presumably for scrutiny as a subversive document, since the author appeared to
have had knowledge in advance of the assassination of Gustavus III of Sweden,
which occurred in that very year. In 1805 the book was handed over to the
Imperial and Royal University of Vienna Library, whose seal it now bears. That
indefatigable journalist, Cornelius Tabori, came across it in the University
Library in 1936 and noted its prediction of a World War in 1938 (Tabori, 1951)
[3].
Alan
Vaughan included a rather inaccurate translation of part of its concluding
pages in his work on prophecy (Vaughan ,
1974) [4]. Apart from these brief references, however, no serious attempt seems
to have been made to check the accuracy of these long-range forecasts, covering
a span of two hundred and ten years. Actually, as the anonymous author of the
pamphlet tells us, the old Polish monk supposed to have made these prophecies
had begun them before 1720 [5]. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this
is true. If we could prove that the book had, in fact, been in existence since
around 1720 its importance would be greatly enhanced. A precisely detailed
account of the outbreak and course of the French Revolution made in the opening
years of the eighteenth century would certainly rank as the greatest prophetic
feat in recorded history.
The
translation from German that follows adheres strictly to the original text,
apart from the fact that I have numbered the prophecies and appended a
commentary after each of them.
Notes
1.
A. Woldben, After Nostradamus, (London , 1974), p. 197.
2. A. Barhault, ("Rumelius"), Ce que sera l'avenir du monde, (Paris ,
1956).
3. Cornelius Tabori, My Occult Diary, (London , 1951),
pp. 228-131.
4. Alan Vaughan, Patterns of Prophecy, (London , 1974)
pp. 204-205. Vaughan appears to have consulted
only the 1848 Leipzig
edition, which is inferior to the original as a source.
5. The prophecies up to 1790 were not included in the pamphlet, presumably because its readers were interested in the future, not the past.
2. A. Barhault, ("Rumelius"), Ce que sera l'avenir du monde, (
3. Cornelius Tabori, My Occult Diary, (
4. Alan Vaughan, Patterns of Prophecy, (
5. The prophecies up to 1790 were not included in the pamphlet, presumably because its readers were interested in the future, not the past.
TRANSLATION:
Highly amazing PROPHECIES of an old
monk in Poland from the year 1790 to the end of the world in the year 2000,
which have accurately come true to this very day. Found and extracted from an
old monastery chronicle by Franz Lima, Leipzig ,
1790.
It was during the autumn of 1790 when I commenced
my journey from Riga
to Salen. Since it was late in the year the roads were in a rather bad
condition; and as I had never been to that country it was quite on the cards
that I should get lost in a big forest one day. I was alone with my horse when
night fell and caught me in the forest. There were neither moon nor stars to
point the way and I drifted more and more from the correct path. As I wandered
about, I discerned a light in the distance and directed my horse towards it. I
came upon a huge building which I took to be a monastery. As I had discovered
on several previous journeys, there are gentle and upright people among Catholics
and it is therefore unjust if one forms hatred against such people who do not
practice religion our way. I therefore knocked at the gate, which was shortly
afterwards opened by a monk whose face bore an expression of righteousness and
charity. Bidding me a hearty welcome he took a step towards me, saying:
"You are a traveller who has lost his way. Come and enjoy the hospitality
of our monastery until you feel fit to travel again."
My clerical host served me food and drink and then
pointed the way to the bedchamber. I went to sleep and did not waken until the
monk summoned me to breakfast. When scrutinising my lodging and the man who had
received me so warmly, I realised it was the abbot himself, to whom all the
other monks turned with great love and respect.
During breakfast we had the opportunity to get to
know each other. The present war with the French, a people who no longer wished
to respect all law and God's commandments, was our first topic. During the
conversation the Father spoke in such a prophetic manner that he reminded me of
the prophets of the Old Testament. I was quite astonished, and on several
occasions professed to disagree with him only to be silenced by his forceful
and convincing argumentation. He spoke of the future consequences of the French
war as if God himself had revealed them to him.
"My gracious friend," I said, "how
is it possible that you can speak with such authority on matters to come which
are only known to God alone?"
"You are right in some respects," he
responded. "However, do we not have the same God whom the prophets and
patriarchs of the Old Testament had? And should it therefore not be possible
for that God to reveal himself as he has done before?"
"No," I retorted. "God does not do
such things any more!" "I too thought this way in my younger
years," he said, "but sixty years have taught me to think
differently. I arrived at this monastery at the age of ten in order to dedicate
my life to God. An eighty-year-old monk was abbot then, and whenever I saw him
or spoke to him I felt such respect that he too noticed it and came to like me.
On his deathbed he handed me a manuscript, which he had drafted for me only.
With great surprise, I have since found that since then everything has happened
in the year mentioned in the book."
Greatly astonished at this revelation, I begged the
monk to allow me to copy it and thus I am able to give a short extract from the
book here. The book contains a history of the world from Adam to the year 2000
A.D. As the world since Adam had existed some two thousand years until the time
of Moses' Ten Commandments and since a further two thousand years had passed
between then and the birth of Jesus Christ, the ninety-year-old Father had come
to the conclusion that the world would not exist beyond the year 2000.
Everything that had passed in the world prior to the writing of the said book
had been recounted, partly from the Bible and partly from history books.
From that time onward, however, the prophecies
commenced, prophecies which my host had found to be accurate for the past sixty
years. To my great astonishment. I found that the present war with the French
had been predicted by the Father long ago. As past events are already known to
us I will briefly list only the prophecies which relate to the future.
[I
have starred* those prophecies which proved accurate. J.D.F.]
PROPHECY 1:* During the
year 1790 and 1791 the French people will continue their revolution and royalty
will become but a shadow.
COMMENTARY: True. The French Revolution, which had begun in
July 1789, continued its momentum throughout 1790 and 1791. By 1791 Louis XVI
was a virtual prisoner and the power of the Jacobins and other extremists was
growing steadily.
PROPHECY 2:* The people
will elect persons from among their midst whose laws and orders will be
followed.
COMMENTARY: True. The Constituent Assembly dissolved itself in
September 1791, being replaced by the newly elected Legislative Assembly.
PROPHECY 3: The war
between Prussia , Austria , Turkey
and Sweden
will come to an end when the German head dies.
COMMENTARY: False. Presumably the manuscript had predicted a
war between these countries. The statement may be partly true in that Frederick
II of Prussia
had died in 1786.
PROPHECY 4:* The French
King will try to escape but will thus worsen his fate.
COMMENTARY: True. Louis attempted to flee from France in June
1791 but was turned back at Varennes, as prophesied in a famous quatrain of
Nostradamus. Since it was learnt that he had meant to re-enter the country with
an Austrian army and restore the ancien regime, his attempted escape boded ill
for him.
PROPHECY 5:* In the
year 1792 one of the kings will be assassinated (the King of Sweden ).
COMMENTARY: True. Gustavus III of Sweden was assassinated on 29 March
1792, during a masked ball held in his palace.
PROPHECY 6:* Austria and Prussia will throw their full might against France .
COMMENTARY: True. February 1792 saw the formation of the
Austro-Prussian alliance against France .
PROPHECY 7:* However, the French will move into Germany
and cause great havoc and devastation.
COMMENTARY: True. In October 1792 the French crossed the Rhine after capturing Mayence. In March 1793 the
Rhenish-German National Convention voted for annexation to France .
PROPHECY 8: The residence
of a spiritual ruler will suffer most.
COMMENTARY: Unclear.
PROPHECY 9:* 1793. This
year will see blemishes that cannot be removed; the King will terminate his
life like a common criminal.
COMMENTARY: True. Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793.
PROPHECY 10:* Man's
ingenuity will invent a device by which both King and Queen and many thousands
will lose their lives.
COMMENTARY: True. A reference to the guillotine, invented in
1789. Note that the execution of Marie-Antoinette (October, 1793) is also
prophesied.
PROPHECY 11:* Many cities
will again be taken from the French, who will cause great devastation to many
areas.
COMMENTARY: True. The formation of the First Coalition against
France in February 1793,
coupled with the declaration of war against France
by the Holy Roman Empire in March 1793, led to the loss of considerable French
territory, e.g. Corsica and the French settlements in India , as well as the re-capture of the
Rhineland and Belgium .
There was widespread devastation.
PROPHECY 12:* Prussia
and Russia will divide Poland between
themselves.
COMMENTARY: True. Russia
and Prussia effected the
second partition of Poland
on January 23, 1793.
PROPHECY 13:* A German
trading city will come under the Prussian eagle.
COMMENTARY: True. Danzig, Thorn, Posen, Gresen and Kalisch were
taken by Prussia
in May 1793. The reference in our text may well be to Danzig ,
the most prominent of these cities.
PROPHECY 14:* The year
1794 will be most fertile.
COMMENTARY: True.
PROPHECY 15:* The fields
will be covered with fruits of all kind, but the war with France will
cause great price rises in many regions none the less.
COMMENTARY: True. Inflation was rampant in many parts of Europe in 1794 as a result of the war.
PROPHECY 16: Great battles
will ensue and the blood of the slain will flow like water and drench the
earth.
COMMENTARY: Partly true. Though there was much fighting in
1794 the great battles came later.
PROPHECY 17:* Despite all
this the French will not accept peace or lawful order.
COMMENTARY: True. The French Revolution continued on its
course, the Great Terror of June and July 1794 culminating in the execution of
Robespierre.
PROPHECY 18: In 1795 all
European rulers will unite against this vermin.
COMMENTARY: Partly true. The First Coalition of European
rulers had taken place in 1793. The Second Coalition was not formed until 1799.
PROPHECY 19:* The war will
take many years and spread over all the earth.
COMMENTARY: True. Europe was not pacified until 1815, by which
time all of Europe and many European possessions (e.g. India , Ceylon ,
West Indies and Cape of Good Hope ) had changed
hands.
PROPHECY 20: 1796 will
see many earth tremors even in regions previously unaffected. These will cause
severe devastation in many places
COMMENTARY: Unverified.
PROPHECY 21: - as will be
the case in Calabria
in 1883.
COMMENTARY: False. The great earthquake in Calabria did not occur until 1908. But our
prophet was not too far out.
PROPHECY 22:* In 1797 and
1798 the citizens of free towns will rise against their authorities and the
rulers will unite and divide them among themselves.
COMMENTARY: True, though somewhat unclear in expression. This
refers both to the overthrow of the Helvetic Confederation (1798) and to the
proclamation of the Cisalpine
Republic (1797). In each
case formerly independent states broke loose from their former rulers only to
fall under control of France .
A similar fate befell Genoa , which became the Ligurian Republic
(1797) and Venice (1797), which was handed over
to Austria .
In the case of the Cisalpine Republic , risings in Milan ,
Bologna , Ferrara ,
Ravenna and Reggio, which were normally 'free
towns' but actually districts loosely attached to the Papal
States , led to their incorporation into a new Republic.
PROPHECY 23: There will
be a few years peace on Earth.
COMMENTARY: False. The war increased in intensity after 1798
with the formation of the Second Coalition in 1799, the year in which Britain and Austria rejected Napoleon's offer
of peace.
PROPHECY 24: The year
1800 will see terrible floods, particularly in Holland .
COMMENTARY: Unverified.
PROPHECY 25: East Friesland
too will suffer, but will benefit by a rich crop in the following year.
COMMENTARY: Unverified.
PROPHECY 26: Whilst Holland will have to
import its grain at great expense from neighbouring countries.
COMMENTARY: Unverified.
PROPHECY 27: In 1804 new
upheavals will occur in Poland .
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 28: The richest
landlords and citizens will look for peace and security under Prussia and settle in Lithuania .
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 29:* The year
1805 will see a war between France
and Austria
and if the latter does not sue for peace it will lose all.
COMMENTARY: True. Napoleon defeated the Russo-Austrian forces
at Austerlitz .
PROPHECY 30:* 1806 will
bring war between Prussia
and France .
COMMENTARY: True. Prussia
declared war on France
in October 1806.
PROPHECY 31:* In 1807 the
same war will spread across the whole of Prussia .
COMMENTARY: True, in that the Treaty of Tilsit (July, 1807)
cost Prussia all Polish Territories
and all territories west of the Elbe .
PROPHECY 32: 1814 and
1815 will see two great battles, the second one between Alsace
and Lorraine .
COMMENTARY: Partly true. October 1813 witnessed Napoleon's
defeat in the battle of Leipzig
in which the French alone lost 50,000 men. 1815, of course, was the year of Waterloo . Alsace and Lorraine
were not involved in any battles.
PROPHECY 33: Should peace
come about however, then a new war will break out.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 34: A battle
will ensue and France
will be partitioned in four.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 35: From 1815
the teachings of Christianity will decline.
COMMENTARY: False. 1815 marked the beginning of a broad
revival of religious faith throughout Europe .
PROPHECY 36: Prussia will use its power to enforce the true
religion of the reformation.
COMMENTARY: False. After 1815 even Prussia
was prepared to support the revival of papal power in Europe .
PROPHECY 37: In 1824 the
Turkish Grand Vizier will start a war against the Emperors of Austria and Russia
and threaten the whole of Europe until Prussia ,
Sweden and England join in
and bring this war to an end in 1835.
COMMENTARY: False
PROPHECY 38:* In 1830
another revolution will sweep France .
COMMENTARY: True, the revolution of
July 1830 installed Louis Phillippe on the throne of France as a constitutional monarch.
PROPHECY 39: - which
will see a new government of short duration.
COMMENTARY: False, the government was stable until 1848.
PROPHECY 40: The Turks
and Persians will be subdued.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 41: Constantinople will
become the residence of the Roman Emperor.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 42: Persia
however will be seized by Russia
for all time.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 43: In 1840 the
House of Orange will die out and Holland will be ceded to Prussia .
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 44: The years
1846, 1847 and 1848 will be blessed with rich harvests.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 45:* In 1848 a
terrible revolution will spread across Europe
and topple kings and emperors.
COMMENTARY: True. A brilliantly accurate prediction! 1848 was
the Year of Revolutions. Two Emperors (France and Austria ) were forced to abdicate.
PROPHECY 46:* This Revolution
will culminate in France .
COMMENTARY: True. Louis Phillippe abdicated and France was the
only country whose governmental structure underwent marked change as a result
of the revolution.
PROPHECY 47: The French
Emperor will endure the same fate as in 1793.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 48:* A better
time will come for France .
COMMENTARY: True, if this refers to the Second
Empire .
PROPHECY 49:* France will not be able to treasure its freedom,
will abuse it, fall apart and destroy itself.
COMMENTARY: True, if this refers to the events of 1870-71.
PROPHECY 50:* In 1849 even
divided Germany
will see better times.
COMMENTARY: True, if this refers to the convocation of the
National Parliament (May-December, 1848) and its subsequent Declaration of the
Fundamental Rights of the German People.
PROPHECY 51: The people,
armed with good spirits and sound minds, will demand their rights and obtain
their freedom by force if need be.
COMMENTARY: False. The National Parliament failed and the
democratic risings were suppressed.
PROPHECY 52: As for Germany and neighbouring countries, 1849, 1850
will also be blessed years for England
and Ireland .
COMMENTARY: False. Ireland was still suffering from
the terrible famine and depopulation caused by the second failure of the potato
crop in 1846. And although England ,
as Macaulay put it, had "order in the midst of anarchy", 1849 and
1850 were years of economic instability and high unemployment.
PROPHECY 53: In religion
brother will feud with brother, professing to have the right belief.
COMMENTARY: Unclear.
PROPHECY 54: A split
commencing in 1850 will climax in 1858 with the complete expulsion of the
Jesuits.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 55: In 1854 Venice will perish in one
night and none will escape death for all will drown.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 56: 1860-65 will
see major earthquakes in Italy
and ports will sink into the Mediterranean .
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 57: 1866 will
see a revolution in England .
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 58:* 1870 will see a new discord between the Pope and
the House of Austria .
COMMENTARY: True. In July, Austria revoked the concordat with
the Papacy after the decree of Papal Infallibility.
PROPHECY 59: The Pope
will be subdued after bloody battles and become a paid priest of the Emperor.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 60: In 1870 the
whole of Italy
will be subject to the Emperor.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 61: In 1882 Poland will ask the German King to take over the
country so that Germany 's
protection and laws may be enjoyed.
COMMENTARY: False
PROPHECY 62:* A big fleet
will be constructed enabling Germany
to fight on sea as well as on land.
COMMENTARY: True, though the expansion of German naval power
did not begin until later in the century.
PROPHECY 63:* In 1889 a
pestilence will sweep across Europe claiming
some 100,000 lives.
COMMENTARY: True. A major epidemic of influenza decimated Europe in 1889, claiming thousands of lives. This appears
to have been the first outbreak of this new viral strain.
PROPHECY 64: People will
flee all over the world and Europe will become
depopulated.
COMMENTARY: False, in this context, though emigration from Europe reached new heights in the 80's.
PROPHECY 65: New
countries will rise in South America which will surpass Europe
in law, religion and everything else.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 66: In the year
1890 an earthquake will destroy many German cities as well.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 67:* So strange
as many a century has been, the twentieth century will be the one where all the
most terrible things will befall mankind.
COMMENTARY: True, at least in this commentator's estimation.
PROPHECY 68:* 1900. At the
beginning of the century many princes will turn on their fathers, citizens
against their governments, children against their parents and nations against
nations.
COMMENTARY: True.
PROPHECY 69:* This will go
on until 1938, when a general world war will threaten the whole of creation.
COMMENTARY: True, though World War II did not actually begin
until 1939. An astonishing hit!
PROPHECY 70:* Whole
countries will be destroyed by the ravages of war and many of the big cities
will be destroyed and emptied of their population.
COMMENTARY: True. And equally astonishing in its accuracy!
PROPHECY 71: Only the
year 1986 will finally see peace.
COMMENTARY: False, unfortunately.
PROPHECY 72:* Only a few
years later many will carry on religion in a different way. There will only be
a few who will remain true to the Bible and the true teachings of Jesus.
COMMENTARY: True, as far as much of Europe
is concerned.
PROPHECY 73: In the year
1987 a great darkness will spread across the earth, but it will last only a few
days.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 74: In 1988 a
sizeable comet will appear in the heavens which will assert such gravitational
pull that the oceans will overflow and drown whole countries.
COMMENTARY: False.
PROPHECY 75: In 1996 an
earthquake will shake the whole world and devour Italy ,
Naples , Sicily ,
Portugal and Spain .
COMMENTARY: False as of November 1996.
PROPHECY 76: 2000.
Finally the Day of the Lord will come when He judges the living and the dead.
Stars and comets will fall from the heavens and set fire to the earth and thus
this earth, which has existed for six thousand years since its creation, will
perish. The judgement will commence, a joy to the righteous and a terror to the
sinner. Judge of the world have mercy on all!
COMMENTARY: Apocalyptic milleniarism.
This is what I wanted to report of the strange book
which is now over seventy years old and which has seen many a prophecy come
true, so one may gather that the other prophecies too will come true.
When you read the foregoing, be thankful to the
Lord that he did not let you be born at a time when you would have to see and
feel all these horrors.
Treasure God's word at all times, love your
neighbours and you will not need to cry out; "Oh you mountains, fall upon
us, you hills cover us?", but rather; "Praise, honour and glory be to
God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."
(Seal
of the Imperial and Royal University Library, Vienna, 1805).
CONCLUSIONS:
There
is an obvious correlation in this work between the number of successful
predictions and the contiguity of the event to the prophet's own time. In
general, the accuracy of the prophecies decreases as they advance into the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries [1]. The most dramatic achievement is
undoubtedly the forecasting of developments in the French Revolution and the
execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Equally impressive is the
prediction of the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, both of which are assigned to
their precise year. The long-range forecasting of World War II, accurate to
within a year, is nothing short of astonishing. One can only hope that the
other prophecies of destruction for the closing years of the twentieth century
stem from traditional theology rather than clairvoyant vision.
The
distortions and omissions, however, are almost as noteworthy as the successes.
Our clairvoyant. failed to see the ascent to power of Napoleon and the
subsequent protracted war that culminated in Waterloo (1815). He also overlooked the rise
of Germany and the United States
and completely missed World War I. Nor did he forecast the October Revolution,
the emergence of Bolshevism and the spread of Communism across half the globe.
Above all, there is no mention of the development of modern technology, though
one could have thought that the very ubiquitousness of the motor-car would have
forced itself on the prophet's attention, to say nothing of atomic fission and
fusion, the Damocles' sword of our age. In compensation, he lists many
disasters - earthquakes, wars and other catastrophes - which mercifully never
occurred, among them the destruction of Venice
in a single night in 1854, with all its inhabitants. One is almost tempted to
adopt the hypothesis of an alternative future, developing along another
world-line in a parallel universe, in which history unfolded itself as our
prophet had predicted.
This
disturbing work convincingly disproves the contention, advanced by some
parapsychologists, that precognition involves perception, not of some future
event, but rather of some future individual experience on the part of the
percipient or of some other person. It also completely disproves the so-called
"active hypothesis", first put forward by Angelos Tanagras and later
amplified and reformulated by Jules Eisenbud, which asserts that the
clairvoyant is himself the cause of the event precognised [2]. We are therefore
thrown back on physical theories such as those which attempt to link
precognition with quantum mechanics and probability functions [3].
All
in all, in spite of its divagations from actuality, this is a startling and
depressing document. Startling, because of its large number of successful,
precisely dated predictions. Depressing, because it shows how little of the
future is actually revealed to even the most psychically gifted. Truly, we see
"through a glass darkly". The document also raises the old question
of freedom of will. If Louis XVI had read this pamphlet would he have been
forewarned and thus escaped his fate? If World War II was destined to begin
place around 1938-39 then of what avail were all the forces that tried to avert
war during the twenties and thirties? In the light of these considerations we
should rejoice that our prophet was so often wrong. For surely all of us would
prefer an open universe based on freedom to a closed, determinist universe in
which we were moved like programmed robots towards our inevitable ends [4]
NOTES
1.
This effect has also been noticed with the prophecies of Nostradamus. See J.E.
Orme, "A Note on the Nostradamus
Prophecies," JSPR, Vol. 55, No. 781, September 1979, and Liberte le
Vert, The Prophecies and Enigmas of
Nostradamus (New Jersey, 1980). Le Vert asserts that Nostradamus "was
nearly always wrong" when trying to prophesy the distant future.
2.
See A. Tanagras, Psychological Elements
in Parapsychological Tradition (N.Y. 1967) and J. Eisenbud, Paranormal Foreknowledge (N.Y. 1982).
3.
Benjamin Fal-Or has argued that time is not necessarily irreversible. D.F.
Louden has postulated that there are two types of time, namely physical and
psychical.
4.
A useful discussion of the complex philosophical and scientific issues involved
in precognition may be found in Danah Zohar, Through the Time Barrier (London, 1982), pp. 115-164. Zohar
observes (p.161) that "the only future to which a faculty such as
precognition could possibly have access is an indeterminate probabilistic
future consisting of all the 'might-be's' packed into the Schrodinger
wave-equations. Thus the inaccuracy noted in reported cases of precognition
would simply be mirroring the fact that in reality itself there is ample scope
for any number of alternatives in the direction future events might take."
If so then we would appear to have some minimal degree of freedom to alter our
future, though some events would come very close to being inevitable. We can
only hope that the numerous forecasts of planet-wide destruction during the
early years of the twenty-first century will prove erroneous. In particular,
let us hope that Psi-Tech's forecasts of mass epidemics and destructive
hurricanes, achieved through Technical Remote Viewing which claims one hundred
per cent accuracy, turn out to be false alarms.
[Published in
Journal of Alternative Realities, Vol
3, Nov 1996]
COPYRIGHT (C) 2010 J D FRODSHAM
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