An Experiment with Time

J. W. Dunne’s An Experiment with Time, first published in 1927, sparked a great debate in the scientific community — as well as a fair amount of controversy. Dunne (1866–1949), an accomplished aeronautical engineer and a designer of military aircraft, experienced a series of strange and vivid dreams that came true with shocking regularity. Using his precognitive dreams as an alternate model of time measurement and its relationship to dreams, Dunne proposed a concept of multidimensional time leading to higher levels of consciousness, and, eventually, immortality. This life-altering insight accounted for many of life’s mysteries: the purpose of dreams and prophecy, the phenomenon of déjà vu, the concept of higher consciousness, and the belief in eternal life.