Dreaming Ahead of Time

This is an excerpt from one of the presentations featured in the Pari Center’s event Re-Visioning Consciousness, in Pari from June 6 to 12, 2022.

with Gary Lachman

Can we see the future in our dreams?
Does time flow in one direction?
What is a ‘meaningful coincidence’?

The historian of esotericism Gary Lachman has been recording his own precognitive dreams for forty years—dreams, that is, in which he has caught a glimpse of the future. In a unique and intriguing new book, Lachman recounts the discovery that he dreams ‘ahead of time,’ and argues convincingly that this extraordinary ability is, in fact, shared by all of us.

Dreaming Ahead of Time is a personal exploration of precognition, synchronicity and coincidence drawing on the work of thinkers including J.W. Dunne, J.B. Priestley, Arthur Koestler, Colin Wilson, P.D. Ouspensky, and C.G. Jung, as well as the latest scientific and statistical evidence for precognition and other paranormal abilities. Lachman’s description and analysis of his own experience conveys the uncanny power of our dreaming minds, and reveals the illusion of our careful distinctions between past, present and future.

Most speakers are careful not to send their audience to sleep, but Lachman will hold workshops on how to enter the ‘half-dream’ hypnagogic state, a liminal condition often associated with precognition. You are welcome to attend. In the meantime, sleep on it.


Gary Lachman is the author of many books about consciousness, culture, and the Western esoteric tradition, including The Return of Holy Russia, Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump, Lost Knowledge of the Imagination, and Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson. He writes for several journals in the US, UK, and Europe, lectures around the world and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. In a former life he was a founding member of the pop group Blondie and in 2006 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Before moving to London in 1996 and becoming a fulltime writer, Lachman studied philosophy, managed a metaphysical book shop, taught English literature, and was Science Writer for UCLA. He is an adjunct professor of Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He can be reached at www.garylachman.co.uk.