As a new staff member at IONS, I was tasked with helping the Science Team prepare for a unique dream experience. It turned out to be quite the experience for me!
Background of the Faux Experiment
The experience or faux experiment was conducted with attendees at IONS Board and Circle Weekend, the first in-person event in three years. The goal was to determine what object was hidden securely in an electromagnetically-shielded box at the EarthRise campus. The first step included waking up in the middle of the night and listening to a brief recording of IONS Scientist Garret Yount calmly instructing the listener to write down their dreams. If they didn’t remember any dreams, he urged them to simply write down something like “I woke up and I don’t remember any dreams.” Then the listener is encouraged to go back to sleep and try to have a lucid dream, a dream where we know we’re dreaming.
I’ll admit I was skeptical at first. I believe in psychic abilities, but how could I see what’s out of view? Any form of telepathy was welcome, yet what do dreams have to do with remote viewing, the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen subject, purportedly sensing with the mind? Nonetheless, I fulfilled the required duties and was surprised I had a lucid dream the night after first listening to the recording. Dreams can be so intriguing. The IONS Lucid Dreaming Pilot Study has demonstrated that lucid dreaming has the ability to heal PTSD.
The second step of the experience was to complete a survey describing what we think is in the box. I filled out the survey to ensure its functionality. I was going through the process from a purely logistical standpoint. The survey asked if the object was light or heavy, hard or soft, single color or colorful, and more. Finally, the survey requires the input of any three words to describe the object. I pictured a cute rainbow, sparkle stuffed animal. Maybe it’s what I would choose to put in the box. The words I chose quickly, intuitively, were “rainbow”, “sparkle”, and “animal”. I saw a kid’s plush toy. Then I moved on to the next duties of the day and looked forward to meeting my new colleagues in person at Circle Weekend in Sonoma, CA.
The Reveal
I test the website and recording for technical glitches. I meet with Garret who led the experience. He shows me a photo of what’s in the box. I couldn’t believe it! I nearly fell over in shock. I want to grab the phone out of his hand to see the photo again. Oh my gosh! What the hell? This is unreal! It’s a rainbow sparkle plush unicorn! My brain had trouble processing this revelation. I couldn’t believe it, or could I? At this time, the name of the toy was not yet shared.
I’m a firm believer, from several first-hand experiences, that the words we repeat can manifest. The director of our team recently began calling us “Team Unicorn” for our unique skill sets. I might not have nailed the unicorn part, but “rainbow” and “sparkle” were spot-on. The following day, we were to reveal the results of the experience. “Cute”, “furry,” and several colors were the most prominent words shared by participants.
PowerPoint slide of the reveal of the object
It was that morning when the name of the toy was shared. The name is “Rainbow Sparkle Poops.” Again, I’m shocked and overwhelmed with a feeling of “wow, how can this be?” When the scientist initially suggested the toy as the target object, he assumed they would change the name before “going public.” It was the name his daughter had given to the toy. The Chief Scientist said “No – keep the name.”
Before learning that the toy’s name was given by a child and was not the brand name, I searched the internet for an explanation. Is this unicorn from a popular cartoon that may have seeped into my subconscious? Did I see this toy before? A part of me craved a logical explanation. The answer was no, I had never seen this toy anywhere before. Only in my mind.
Precognitive Remote Viewing
The scientists insisted from the beginning that any form of telepathy counts. It did not need to be a vision in a dream. Any means to determine the target object was valid. In this case, it could also be precognition, the phenomenon of seeing or otherwise becoming directly aware of events in the future. Maybe it’s both, precognitive remote-viewing. Maybe you can do it too.
Remote viewing has some of the most robust scientific evidence in parapsychology with clear practical applications.
From this experience I’ve learned when we can’t explain a situation our minds search for a logical explanation, and when one doesn’t exist clearly, it can be more comforting to deny it. By not remaining open-minded and curious we’re depriving ourselves of a crucial opportunity to learn more about our full potential.
