When we experience déjà vu, we feel as though history is repeating itself. We get the most uncanny sensation of intense familiarity, as though we have lived through a particular moment before and are now experiencing it again, even though in reality we’re doing it for the first time. Very often this sense of déjà vu occurs over trivial incidents. For example, you might be chatting to a friend in a café about the film recently, and you suddenly feel as though you have done exactly the same thing before, in every detail you saw . Déjà vu is a French phrase which, translated literally, means ‘already seen’. It happens entirely spontaneously and can’t be consciously triggered. Years may go by between episodes.
WHAT IS IT?
There are several theories about déjà vu. Some people regard it as nothing more mysterious than a brain malfunction, in which the brain is briefly unable to detect the difference between the present and the past. Indeed, déjà s a recognized symptom of tempora epilepsy: someone has a strong sene of déjà vu either shortly before or during an epileptic seizure. Another theory states that it is wish fulfilment on the part of the person having the experience, although this doesn’t explain why some very mundane situations can trigger a sense of déjà vu. In psychology, the experience is known as paramnesia. Another theory is that déjà vu is related to a past-life experience, and we feel that we’ve been somewhere before because we have.
I’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
Although not every experience of déjà vu is likely to be connected to a past life, some are so striking that the theory is definitely worth considering.
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