by Chet Snow

From time immemorial humanity has had a special fascination with knowledge of the future. Sages and seers across the ages have used many different rituals in an attempt to know what tomorrow would bring. A rare few have become enshrined as the great prophets of major world religions. Others, like Nostradamus, still confound us with arcane predictions which seem to match crucial events centuries later.

Edgar Cayce, an American photographer who lived between 1877 and 1945, is among the most celebrated 20th century psychic predictors. Known widely as “The Sleeping Prophet,” he had phenomenal success at mental medical diagnosis and nontraditional therapy. Over 12,000 transcripts of his psychic readings, given while he slept in a self-hypnotic trance, have been preserved by his Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE). Through this group’s efforts Cayce’s words have helped many thousands suffering from a wide variety of ailments worldwide.

In addition to his medical advice, Cayce occasionally discussed future world events. Thus he correctly predicted the start and end dates of World War II in the mid-1930s. Once he even foresaw his own rebirth in the 21st Century, a time when he would astound contemporaries with his accurate recall of his earlier life as Edgar Cayce. At that time he also noted that the USA’s west coast was in Nebraska!

Today, as humanity struggles to avoid self-destruction either by nuclear war or environmental suicide, speculations about the future are again popular. Everyone from Christian fundamentalists to the Rajneeshees in Oregon has his or her personal recipe for impending apocalyptic doom. Although such dire predictions remain outside the mainstream, our most respected scientists agree that a nuclear exchange could trigger a “nuclear winter” with the potential to extinguish physical life on this planet. Even without this violent scenario, the subtle pressure of unchecked population growth and pollution of the Earth’s water and air spell major problems ahead.

Persisting world tensions, the specter of massive starvation in Africa, and increasingly unpredictable weather make us stop and think as we enter the second half of the 1980s. What’s going on here? Are those religious fanatics right after all? Is this the end of the world? Are we now awaiting only the arrival of the fourth horseman before Armageddon?

These considerations moved Dr. Helen Wambach, already noted for her pioneering research into the mysteries of reincarnation, to look at the mechanics of future prediction. Earlier work had shown her that when taken into an altered state of consciousness, most people, indeed 90 percent, proved themselves highly capable of recalling events from previous lives. They were able to answer such mundane but statistically measurable questions as, “Are you a man or a woman? What are you wearing? What kind of money do you use for supplies?” Given enough cases, she found that her subjects’ answers related to known historical facts like population curves, sex ratios, and nutrition sources. Her analysis of this data is given in her first major book, Reliving Past Lives (1978).

During that research, Dr. Wambach noticed that 60 percent of her subjects reported being “ahead” of her questions while hypnotized. She soon realized that once in their dreaming mind, most people could bypass what we call time and space. In the Theta brain wave state where suggestions took them, her subjects apparently activated latent telepathic abilities. Dr. Wambach wondered if these capabilities could be tapped for answers about the future. As she put it, “I thought, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to hypnotize thousands of people and see what they predict about the future? Why stick with one prophet or seer when you can do it the democratic way?”

Thus, in 1981, Dr. Wambach began offering subjects the possibility of “progressing” to two future time periods, 2100 and 2300 AD, as well as returning to the past. As before, her technique consisted of asking routine, statistically-comparable questions. Since the future hadn’t happened yet (for our conscious minds at least) she focused on finding data on which a significant number of subjects agreed. In her words she became a “Gallup pollster of the subconscious.” In 1983, faced with failing health and a desire to have her research findings widely distributed, she enlisted me to help her complete the research, analysis, and writing of this study. It has become our joint project.

The results have proven startling. An early indication of something unusual came with the first groups. Simply put, Dr. Wambach discovered that not too many people find themselves in physical bodies in the future periods offered. Consistent testing by Dr. Wambach, Dr. Leo Sprinkle of the University of Wyoming, and I has shown that only 4 to 5 percent of subjects reported experiencing earthly lives in 2100 AD, while about double that number report being materially “alive” in 2300 AD. These results are consistent from group to group and researcher to researcher. These findings also seem independent of the conscious volition of individuals as expressed before the experience. In addition, they appear independent of pre-existing belief systems.

An illustrative example occurred when Helen appeared before a Chicago seminar sponsored by the Association for Research and Enlightenment. Here there was a large group of 225 persons whose conscious minds knew of Edgar Cayce’s prediction about his return around 2100 AD. Naturally, many of them wanted to be there to witness that event. Some had even indicated this beforehand. Even so, their future percentages remained at 4.5 percent for 2100 and about 12 percent for 2300 AD.

What can we make of this surprising lack of response? One answer may be that the subconscious mind tends to resist progression more than regression for karmic reasons. Perhaps we have more lessons to learn from the past than from the future! It is also possible that the very newness of the idea of taking people to future lifetimes makes it more difficult to experience.

This is consistent with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake’s morphogenetic fields theory, also known as the “Hundredth Monkey Effect.” Basically this theory states that learning new skills becomes progressively easier as more individuals, even if separated in time and space, pass through the same process. By this theory, it would be easier for the subconscious mind of ordinary people to choose past lives than future ones, due ironically, in part, to the very success of Dr. Wambach’s earlier research.

Of course the most obvious explanation for the small number of future returnees is also the simplest: fewer physical bodies will be available then than today. This presumes that for some unknown reason the earth undergoes a steep population drop between 1985 and 2100 AD. This thesis most easily explains the discrepancy between 2100 and 2300 AD as well, for it is reasonable to expect that the effects of a severe depopulation in the late 20th or 21st Centuries would be more dearly visible in 2100 than later. Apparently humanity is on the rebound by 2300 AD.

A closer analysis of the reports of about 100 subjects who have been progressed to 2100 AD reveals additional evidence in support of this thesis. Contrary to popular futurist analysis, virtually none of the subjects in this study describe a future world like ours today, only bigger and better. In fact, many report conditions which can be viewed as negative by current standards, either in material or psychological terms. Dr. Wambach and I have found several important correlations for this 2100 AD group. First is the sex ratio already discussed in Helen Wambach’s earlier books.

Once again, even in this fairly small sample, the male/female ratio is nearly 50/50 (51 percent females reported). This appears to be a human constant even though about 80 percent of our subjects are women in this lifetime. Another key statistic is average lifespan. In opposition to current trends, the mean age at death for the 2100 AD group is just 62.4 years. There is a broad range, however, from accidental death at 14 to dying of “old age” at 152 years. Five subjects even report that they simply do not die, while nine others say they choose to die through will power when life tasks are completed. So much for today’s passion for artificial hearts or baboon transplants.

A total of 72 of the 2100 AD cases were complete enough to make detailed comparisons. We decided to correlate them by a single, neutral variable to see what patterns would emerge, so we divided the reports up by their physical environment. This gave us four distinct social groups which seem to share the Earth and its environs along with some surprising visitors. Group sizes ranged from 14 to 22 subjects each.

Life in a space colony, or off Earth, marks the first group (Type I). A majority report living in dome-covered cities, eating processed food, and wearing one-piece, metallic uniforms and boots. Life seems basically communal, but families still exist. A universal credit system has replaced currency. Space travel, within the solar system at least, is common, as is contact with extraterrestrials. “Buck Rogers all the way” is how one participant expressed his 2100 AD space lifestyle.

Type II represents the budding of the New Age on Earth. These subjects report a “green, lush, well-cared-for” environment. Their modernistic buildings feature a harmonious marriage of technology and nature. Light-filled temples, flowing garments, telepathic communication, and positive feelings abound in these New Age utopias. An awareness of Earth’s emptiness of people is about the only flaw here. Locations mentioned include India, the Andes, Greece, and Florida.

If Type II heralds a dawning New Age, then the third type marks the triumph of a “Brave New World”. Also on Earth, these survivalist and technocratic societies exist inside huge bubbles or domes. None of these subjects report contact with the outside environment, and, in fact, four mention dying from fumes when air supplies accidentally fail. Some report living partially underground. If they can see out (half cannot) they see a hot, barren wasteland there. It is far removed from Type II’s Eden. Type III cities do appear to be linked with the Type I space colonies, however. Their clothing is similar and communal living seems common. Their artificial food resembles space colony fare while several urban dome dwellers report routine contact with extraterrestrials and spacecraft. A credit system has replaced cash here, also. Type III locations include Australia, greater New York, France, and Louisiana.

Type IV consists of 15 rural and 3 urban cases which share a primitive, non-technical, or post-disaster setting. They are all out in the open air, but, unlike Type II, their surroundings are old ruins or rural primitive farms. The three urban survivors find themselves living in the ruins of old cities they identify as Moscow, New York, and Los Angeles. The rest live in log cabins and wear traditional homespun clothes. Spacecraft are never mentioned and metal coins and currency are used for money. Life seems uncomplicated but a bit lonely for these small settlements. Locations include Canada, eastern Brazil and Nepal.

Such is the way the world of 2100 AD appears to our subjects. How should we interpret this remarkable picture? The easiest answer is either to ignore these reports or to demean them as fantasy or mere psychological projections. I predict such responses from the intellectual establishment. However, as therapists and researchers who know the value of alternative ways of viewing reality, I think that we need to take them more seriously.

I would propose two reasonable interpretations of this data. First, we can accept the pictures given as real, if incomplete, sketches of the world about a century from now. This may be seen as similar to past life reports, many of which have been shown to depict actual events but with lapses and inaccuracies. If this is true, then it demonstrates once again that our linear time and space models of reality do not apply to the subconscious mind. It, like our immortal soul, lives beyond such boundaries. Under the right conditions it can view the figure simultaneously with the past and the present. What then of free will? In this view it operates mainly at the nonmaterial level, where basic scenarios are developed, leaving conscious free will only in charge of day-to-day details. As Helen Wambach puts it, “You have free will in choosing when to pop down here (to Earth).”

Edgar Cayce’s view was similar: we are really immortal spirits who don physical bodies to learn and to grow. He nevertheless insisted that it is those often-neglected “day-to-day” details of our lives on Earth that really matter.

Does this mean that we should all be heading for bomb shelters or Greenland tomorrow? Of course not. Even if the parameters are set for a sudden drop in the Earth’s population in the next half century, many details affecting the timing and nature of that event remain open for conscious action. Let us bend our efforts rather to raising human consciousness of our true spiritual identity and help avert the nuclear holocaust which seems the worst way to solve current Earthly problems.

Further, modern physics has given us a second serious way to view the implications of these reports of 2100 AD. We all know that quantum mechanics presents an alternative probabilities model to explain the nature of time and space. Applied to our data, this concept suggests that the futures depicted by our progressed subjects may represent alternatives of potential realities. This viewpoint, while it returns more free will and choice to our conscious, material level, also puts the burden as to which of these potential future realities we will create, squarely on our shoulders today. In effect, quantum mechanics theory says that the choice between the vision of New Age cooperation and harmony with nature and the “Brave New World” of technocratic survivalists is ours to make today. As therapists and as citizens of this bountiful planet, we must accept this responsibility and act accordingly. Only in that way will future generations share and enjoy a beautiful and natural world in 2103 AD and beyond.

Summary

Fear of nuclear holocaust, massive famine in Africa, and persistent environmental pollution are cause for reflection as we approach the year 2000 AD. Is the predicted Apocalypse just around the corner? Will we build a New Age or a Brave New World in the next century? Dr. Helen Wambach, noted past-lives researcher, and I have undertaken to answer these questions by hypnotically “progressing” thousands of subjects to the future. Preliminary results reveal a sharp depopulation of the Earth before 2100 AD followed by a gradual rise in population thereafter. Four distinct 21st Century societies appear likely, including men living in space and others in dome-enclosed technocratic cities where survival is a paramount concern. Are these “mass dreams of the future” real or illusory? As therapists we must take seriously the combined visions of our contemporaries. For, as the famous American psychic, Edgar Cayce, so aptly stated: “Mind is ever the builder; the physical, the result.”