: PRECOGNITION
A paradox is truth standing on its head to attract attention.
-NICHOLAS FALLETTA
Is there such a thing as precognition, or seeing the future? This ancient
concept is present in every religion, going back to the oracles of the
Greeks and Romans and to the prophets of the Old Testament. But in
such tales, the gift of prophecy can also be a curse. In Greek mythology there is the tale of Cassandra, the daughter of the Ring of Troy. Because of her beauty she attracted the attention of the sun god, Apollo.
To win her over Apollo granted her the ability to see the future. But
Cassandra spurned the advances of Apollo. In a fit of anger, Apollo
twisted his gift, so that Cassandra would be able to see the future but
no one would believe her. When Cassandra warned the people of Troy
of their impending doom, no one listened. She foretold the treachery of
the Trojan horse, the death of Agamemnon, and even her own demise,
but instead of taking heed, the people of Troy thought she was mad and
locked her up.
Nostradamus, writing in the sixteenth century, and more recently
Edgar Cayce have claimed that they could lift the veil of time. Although
there have been many claims that their predictions have come true (for
example, correctly predicting World War II, JFR's assassination, and
the fall of Communism), the obscure, allegorical way in which many
of these seers recorded their verses allows for a variety of contradic-