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69 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Idea of Premonitions Drives Me Nuts, But..., May 4, 2009
This review is from: The Power of Premonitions: How Knowing the Future Can Shape Our Lives (Hardcover)
Although a substantial part of my career as a psychologist has been devoted to parapsychological matters for more than 50 years, one part of the field has always been especially troublesome to me, the idea that people sometimes get information about the future, premonitions, precognitions, when there is no reasonable possibility of them getting it, given what we know about the nature of the physical world.
I am thoroughly acculturated, like practically everyone, to believe that the past is gone, the future is not yet here, only the present moment is real, so time marches on. Sure, we can predict probable things - the sun will rise tomorrow - or things we know the causal mechanism of - the car will stop running soon if I don't put more gasoline in the tank. But then you can't help but hear stories on the order of "I dreamed this really improbable set of events that resulted in my being run down by a green car on such-and-such a street, although I don't usually go there, and sure enough this green car suddenly dashed around the corner and would have killed me if I hadn't been forewarned by the dream and so alert enough to jump back."
The devoted materialist has no trouble with such stories, banishing them with words like "coincidence." In Dossey's new book he mentions the medical version of this: a story that indicates something you don't believe in is an "anecdote," one that confirms your beliefs is a "careful case history."
In my recent book The End of Materialism, out just a month before this new Dossey book that I want to praise, I am forced to include precognition with what I call the Big Five psi phenomena, the ones that have been so thoroughly and rigorously tested that I see no reasonable doubt that they exist (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis and psychic healing). Yet while I include precognition there because there is so much evidence for it in rigorous lab studies, in point of fact I find the idea of knowing the future so incomprehensible that I don't really think about it. When I discovered massive precognition effects had sneaked into my own laboratory data, e.g., I found I wasn't even psychologically "defended" against the idea, premonitions were just too far out to worry about.
Now Larry Dossey, well-known physician, author and alternative medicine expert, has devoted a whole book to all aspects of premonitions, and I'm going to have to think about it. Indeed I've told Dossey that his book captured me. I have very little time for reading, I'm sent dozens of books people want me to read and that, given my interests, I would like to read, but never get time for. The Power of Premonitions: How Knowing the Future Can Shape Our Lives is so readable and fascinating, though, that I read the first 190 pages continuously and have taken it on my camping vacation with me to finish. It's too good! Spontaneous cases from real life, lab experiments, connections with the latest understanding of brain functioning, and, especially important, why it would be useful to develop our premonitory abilities, are all covered. I can't recommend it highly enough!
Charles T. Tart, PhD
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back to the future..., May 18, 2009
This review is from: The Power of Premonitions: How Knowing the Future Can Shape Our Lives (Hardcover)
"O, that a man might know the end of this day's business ere it come!" Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene I.
Time and other thieves... The good Doctor has unleashed an outstanding contribution to our attempts to understand the chaos of being, and the very nature of time itself.
In a work that manages to be both deeply scholarly and highly entertaining, Dr. Dossey has fashioned a mosaic of strange bedfellows that will at the very least help us to start asking the right questions.
As expected, the book is a masterpiece of research, supported by acres of notes and references, dealing with numerous core topics, such as the block universe, chaos, entropy, repression and a look into the paradox-drenched quantum arena as a whole.
While the case examples are fascinating and well chosen, the book also looks into cases of people successfully acting on premonitions, and the rituals of some cultures whereby destructive dreamed premonitions might be negated and dark outcomes averted.
For me, the book's crowning magic lies in the closing sections, in which Larry Dossey cites examples of how mystery and embracing the unknown can be good for our psychological and physical wellbeing. We do indeed seem to need just enough chaos and uncertainty in our lives. In the same way, one of the theories about reincarnation is that we are not supposed to remember details of our previous lives, lest it bias our thoughts and actions in our current life.
There's an allegorical song by Ani DiFranco called Little Plastic Castle, in which she sings...
"They say goldfish have no memory
I guess their lives are much like mine
And the little plastic castle
Is a surprise every time..."
Good job, given the dang size of the bowl...
Dr. Dossey takes the unusual and insightful step of asking the reader whether they want to invite premonitions into their consciousness, given the responsibility that may come with it. This dilemma was beautifully captured in the Garth Brooks classic, The Dance.
"Hey who's to say, you know I might have changed it all
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end, the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance..."
Live with passion.
Steven Cain (Sirius Moonlight, One Star Awake)
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An extraordinary soul who truly walks the walk, August 3, 2010
First off: apologies to dear Dr. Dossey and fellow Amazon readers for not reviewing the actual book that due to time restraint I only just ordered this minute!
However, I felt guided to write a few words about Dr Dossey, the human being, and would like to share what impact his noble, kind soul has had on this life.
Until recently, I only knew of Dr. Dossey, had read some of his earlier books years ago, liked them very much, followed his blog in the "Huffington Post" that I found deep and very enjoyable, and seen his name pretty much every where, like at Barnes and Noble, or on the covers of many of my dear friends' books.
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be in Denver where Dr. Dossey was the guest of honor at a major conference, and a dear author friend had asked me to relay greetings should I bump into Dr. Dossey.
This, I did, both, bump into Dr. Dossey, who was just about to start eating dinner at the hotel restaurant, (didn't want to bother him, really, but meant to also stay true to my promise to my friend), and relay the greetings, said 'Hello' and apologized for interrupting his dinner.
Dr. Dossey was very kind and made me feel welcome in a way of one equal spirit greeting another one, took the time to write a kind personal note a few days later and has been most supportive just this past Sunday yet again on another occasion.
The way he lives the Golden Rule left a deep impact, as did his compassionate mindfulness, which is rare in these rushed, hectic times, especially considering that he probably has his plate full with projects, yet clearly chooses his priorities carefully and with loving consideration and doesn't hesitate to extend human kindness whenever the opportunity presents itself.
I have met some of Dr. Dossey's peers-major best selling authors who write the most beautiful books and most of them were equally lovely, but two of the most praised ones were abrasive and almost rude to several people when meeting them at conferences and as a native European, I find it fascinating to see how the public persona and the simple human being can differ, just like they can in each and every one of us.
Well, Dr. Dossey clearly is an exception, his mindfulness and the time he took for personal interaction on several occasions flowed over into this life and inspired me after a recent surgery to be equally mindful when it comes to dealing with the aftermath of some complications, treat dealing with those medical issues not differently from dealing with anything pleasant, like loving interactions with other souls, reading a good book (I greatly looking forward to this one!).
Abiding as non local awareness has come easy to this soul, yet the daily nitty gritty of some rough medical issues didn't always, and Dr. Dossey's pure and compassionate Presence reminded deeply of the all encompassing sameness of Pure Conscioussnes also in what is termed 'daily human life'.
It seems this reminder was necessary and timely, and it once again showed how deeply not only are we intrinsically connected non-locally as One Pure Awareness only anyways, but also how much each and every one of us influences every other one 'out there' within the 3d hologram.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, dear Dr. Dossey!
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