Dear Tim:

On the phenomenon of having the same dreams it is actually coincidence if and when that happens. People's dreams are remarkably the same. The same symbols and scenarios occur over and over again amongst the human race.

We can never underestimate mathematical probabilities of coincidence.

A famous example is the Birthday Paradox. In a group of people, what are the odds that two of the people present will have the same birthday?

In a group of 23 people there is a 50% probability. In a group of 57 people the probability is 99%. And when the group reaches 366 people the odds are 100%. The last one of 366 people is rather obvious, but it is fascinating that there is a 50% chance with only 23 people and 99% chance with 57 people.

Given that dreams are similar among people in general, there is little doubt that two people may meet who have similar dreams. But that is only the beginning of the phenomenon.

In addition to that, someone has to tell the other first about their dream. Once that happens, the two feed into each other with information and prompts that allows the subconscious to fill in the gaps so that a similar dream appears when it was unlikely that there was much similarity in the first place.

This is the way the brain works -- it picks up pieces of information and then automatically fills in the gaps. This is the cause of the so-called Déjà vu or promnesia experience. In the case of Déjà vu the brain perceives the geometry of a room, or the trees, or a person's face. It then searches its memory and when it finds memory that contains similar geometry it fills in the missing gaps so that one has a feeling they have "been here" before or met a person before.

This is illustrated by the following. With each added line I draw to the image, think about what it reminds you of:

What I am drawing is a cat head. For those who are cat lovers the thought that this was a cat may have pop into the mind by the fourth drawing, or even before. For those who have no thought of cats they might not recognize this until I draw the whiskers

How we can recognize the cat long before all the lines are drawn is because the brain analyzes the geometry. The geometry of a cat head is already in the memory. After seeing only a few lines, the brain finds the similar geometry in memory and fills in the rest of the lines and wallah! you think of cat.

A similar process explains the "same dream" phenomenon.

Your friend, however, has taken this to a dangerous and dark place. That is the problem with paying too close attention to dreams -- it often leads to improper and even spiritual dangerous avenues. This is what has happened to your friend.

The "prayer" your friend is doing to facilitate this "dream meeting" is not to God, even if they think it is. God does not play these sorts of occult games. What your friend and his buddy are doing is playing with demonic powers.

Your friend needs to stop this. They are flirting with occult powers of darkness. God has not intended us to "meet in dreams." Such ability is facilitated by the devil, not God.

Those two are not just flirting with the darkside, but risking demonization.

God bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary