>I think - and correct me if I'm wrong - that this is something to do with
>an idea that Shamens used in their religion.  They believed that they could 
>commune with the dead, and with eachother through the use of what are 
 described
>as "psychodelic plants".  That is, hallucinogens.
True, this can be seen in the movie "Altered States" with John Hurt, 
 although I personally have not regressed to the very beginning of life 
 as we know it.  
>Whether this is actually true, or whether they were just tripping so much that
>they made it all up, I don't know, but I too have heard stories of group 
>thinking whilst on hallucinogens.  Not just the powerful ones either - 
 cannabis
>is classed as a hallucinogen, because in vast enough quantities is too can
>produce effects like those of LSD. (I've not tried LSD, and don't 
 intend to but
>I know people who have who've confirmed this).  Whilst under the influence of
>what is essentially quite a mild drug, I have experienced the same kind of
>contact as Shep describes.
Not to sound like a complete lunatic, but let me describe my first 
 experience with it.  Three of us had gone to a concert in Niagara 
 Falls last December, and picked up three hits of acid apiece.  On the 
 way home (still under the effects), my friend Jason only said "You 
 know....." and at that point, I knew the feeling he was sending out, 
 not so much the exact comment he would make, but the overall feeling, 
 tone, or sensation; it's hard to describe exactly.  I could only 
 reply, "Yeah, I know", and I did.  He then (later he told me this) 
 knew that I DID know, and he completely lost it, getting teary, and 
 laughing, which is not how he usually reacts to anything, tripping or 
 otherwise.  At this point, I had to pull the car over, because I was 
 thrown for a loop by it myself.
My other friend in the back seat was completely clueless and kept 
 eating potato chips, which really has nothing to do with this story.
>Mind you, having said that, I've experienced some pretty frightening 
 occurrences
>of knowing what someone is going to say or do before they do it.  It's only on
>a mild scale, but I believe that although some of it may be coincidence, it
>cannot always be so.
I agree, but I don't feel this was coincidence, because what we all 
 took was from the same general batch (same people cut hits off the 
 same sheet)....I truly do believe that this sort of thing is possible. 
  It's been said that the government used to experiment with acid by 
 having people take it and just sit in a room with others or in 
 solitary and they would monitor the subjects to see what happened.
By the way, I've been subscribing to this list for quite some time, but 
 this is the first I've been posting.  This is definitely interesting 
 to read, so, if you think no one's getting a charge out of this at 
 times, I truly am!
shep
www.tripod.com/~RoadTrip/index.html