Have you ever had the sudden feeling that what
you are experiencing already happened? And you feel
like you are so familiar with it that you can even
‘predict’ what is coming next? Déjà vu, literally “already seen”, is the term for this
phenomenon of having the strong sensation that an
event or experience currently being experienced
has already been experienced in the past.
There are many theories about déjà vu. It could
be an irregularity of memory, a flashback of one’s past
life or even a proof of the existence of a parallel
universe. So far, there is no certain conclusion. But
déjà vu is, undoubtedly, commonly experienced
by the majority of human beings.
MOMENTS WOULD STUT TER AND HICCUP AND FALTER AND REPEAT. SOMETIMES WHOLE
MORNINGS WOULD REPEAT. ONCE I LOST A DAY. TIME SEEMED TO BE BREAKING DOWN ENTIRELY. —Neil Gaiman
WITH SHRUNKEN FINGERS WE ATE OUR ORANGES AND BREAD, SHIVERING IN THE PARKED CAR;
THOUGH WE KNOW WE HAD NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE, WE KNEW WE HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE.
—Margaret Atwood
A previously done study discovered that incredibly 65% of the world’s population experiences déjà vu. However, so far there is no certain explanation of this phenomenon of experiencing familiarity. What causes it? Could this be the reason? Maybe that is why it happens? While scientists keeping asking themselves these kinds of questions, so do many ordinary people with curiosity.
Maybe a parallel universe really exists somewhere. Maybe there is another you in it. And there are some moments that both of you would share. But the other you just happened to experience it earlier than you. Voilà, now you have déjà vu.
Could déjà vu be the flashback of one’s past life’s memory? Suppose we were born with the memories of our last lives, but forgot them when we grew up. These memories are not lost, just forgotten. And they visit us when we are in some similar environments where we’ve been in our past lives. Could there be a possibility that reincarnation is real?
Is déjà vu related to our forgotten dreams? People might have dreamt about a similar situation or place and then forget about it. But one day, they seem to be mysteriously reminded of the situation or the place while awake. This could explain why people feel surprised or even shocked when experiencing déjà vu in a new place. Because they are so sure that they‘ve never been there before: at least in reality.
Maybe déjà vu is caused by a failed recollection of memory. When the new setting you are in has some similarities with a previously experienced scene, your brain tries to recall that certain scene. The brain might fail, sometimes, to find the original but even the oldest experienced scene leaves traces in memory. You can hardly see where they begin but they do exist—like spiderwebs that linger in the air. So the brain decides to just let you know that you are familiar with the current scene.