What is Deja Vu?
Deja vu is a common experience among people. Deja vu is the definition given to the weird feelings of recognizing something when a person has an experience or feeling that they’ve already had that same experience before. It is experiencing the past in the present and you are experiencing an event that already happened or something you have already seen. The words "deja vu" literally means "already seen". So anytime someone has an experience where they’ve already experienced it before it ever happened or somehow had already seen the experience take place, they call it deja vu. There could be many causes of deja vu, but no one knows exactly why it happens or why people experience it.
Here are some theories around what causes deja vu to be experienced:
Reincarnation: The theory surrounding reincarnation is that you have lived a life before and died to come back and be reincarnated into a new body, but you still have some of those old memories from your previous lives. Since you carry those memories with you in your mind, probably buried deep in your subconscious, they can come back out when you recognize something you know you haven’t seen in this life, but you saw it in a previous life. This is your brain recognizing and confirming that you actually have seen this before just not in your current lifetime, but in a previous one.
Precognitive dreams: Precongnitive dreams are dreams in which you seem to have knowledge of the future or are dreaming about future events. Many people claim to have dreamed about things they have never seen and then happen to actually see it in real life one day. This has actually mysteriously happened to me and it was pretty spooky. Once I dreamed about going to a house I had never seen or been to before. There were a couple of key features on this house that differentiated it and made it stand out in my mind. There was bright green carpet in one room, it had a very long hallway, several rooms and a large wooden front porch with a man sitting on it playing a banjo. Little did I know at that time that later that year my mother would soon meet someone who had a house that fit just this description, not to mention that he also played the banjo, very weird indeed.
Extra Sensory Perception and being psychic: Using extra sensory perception or being psychic could have something to do with the occurence of deja vu. Possibly being extra sensitive to your surroundings and memories can help you recall things and places when you encounter them. If we are all a little psychic you could have the knowledge of the near future or of places or events that are yet to happen in your brain, but you don’t realize it until it happens, then your mind flashes back to having already seen it in your minds eye.
Your memories : Your brain stores so many memories. The brain likes to categorize and fit together things and your brain will remember everything it gets from your senses, like tasting, touching, smelling, hearing and feeling. It could be said that the brain recognizes a similiarity in all your senses and remembers it from a past experience to make you feel like you’ve already experienced or seen that situation before.
A glitch in time/space/perception : It’s theorized that deja vu could be like a glitch in time, space or your perception playing out. For example, like in the movie "The Matrix" where time is reset momentarily and the main character in the movie sees the same black cat walk by twice. Maybe it could even be a glitch in our brains or perception making us think we have seen the same thing before. If we are in some kind of a simulated reality (like in "The Matrix") or computer simulation it could be a glitch or error in the system. Also, it could be theorized that it could be possible to see a short glimpse into the future or that your brain predicts the near future, like what might happen in the next minute or two. If you have already seen or predicted what you might see or experience in your braiin and once it actually comes true or you experience it just as your brain predicted then you get the feeling of deja vu because it is just as you saw it happen just a few minutes ago.
Destiny: Some say that experiencing a moment of deja vu is like an affirmation that you are exactly where you should be, doing exactly what you should be doing in this time/place/moment you are in. It is an affirmation confirming your destiny or some plan that has already been mapped out for you. Some think that deja vu is a confirmation that you are living out your destiny just as you should be. Things are right with the world at this exact moment and your experience of deja vu confirms that you are on the right path to reach your destiny.
Have you ever had deja vu? Perhaps you went somewhere you know you’ve never been to before but once you got there you could’ve swore you have been there before. Perhaps you see something you know you’ve never seen before but you get those weird feelings like somehow you have seen it. There are most likely many other theories surrounding the topic of deja vu which parapsychologists are trying to study.
Sources
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-science-explain-deja-vu/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu
- https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/what-causes-deja-vu
Posted with STEMGeeks