What is Déjà vu?
Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/amp/articles/317895
It has happened us all at one time or another. We experience something and we feel as though we have lived the experience before. We call it Déjà vu.
Here is the Wikipedia definition of Déjà Vu:
Déjà vu is the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before. This is a French phrase that translates literally as "already seen". Although some interpret déjà vu in a paranormal context, mainstream scientific approaches reject the explanation of déjà vu as "precognition" or "prophecy".
How common is it?
We can't say for sure, but estimates from various sources would suggest it is betwwen 55 and 80 percent of the people. Wow, that's a very high percentage of the population. So whatever causes it must be a widespread phenomenon that affects large swathes of the population. Based on those numbers, Déjà vu is very very prevalent. So what causes it?
The cause of Déjà vu
Source: https://www.thecut.com/2016/08/new-theory-on-deja-vu-its-your-memorys-fact-checker.html
How long is a piece of string? This is one of those areas that's not black and white. It's difficult to even study this phenomenon as Déjà vu happens without warning and typically in people that do not have any underlying health issues.
Regarding the root cause, most agree it that it relates to memory in some way. Theories like split perception and minor brain malfunctions are put forward as potential explanations. The former means that we basically have seen or experienced the event before but were not fully engaged in it - for example we saw it from the corner of our eye or overheard something that we were not actively listening to. Then when we re-encounter the sound or sight, we believe it is our first time seeing it. Actually we have seen or heard it before and our brain stored some partial traces of it which explains the Déjà vu feeling.
The latter suggests that your brain glitches in a similar way that an epileptic fit happens. The glitch can cause new short term memories to kind of short circuit and end up in our long term memory bank instead. So we then get a semblance of reliving an event from the past, when this is not the case.
Of course it may be neither of these explanations. Maybe this is just one of those things which we don't or can't understand.
Déjà vu in popular culture
One exampe springs to mind in a movie i rewatched recently - The Matrix.
Image source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix
When keanu Reeves charcater Neo is first inside the simulation domain, he has a déjà vu experience when a black cat passes by him two times. What does this mean?
Image source: https://manresamaine.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/glitch-in-the-matrix/
This was the Wachowski's clever way of showing us the glitch in the matrix. If your have not seen this movie, go watch it or if you've seen it, go watch it again! It was original and that's what I loved about it - an original unique movie.
The Celestial Prophecy
Source: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-celestine-prophecy-9781742751054
I remember reading this spiritual book years ago and there were twelve spiritual insights explored within its pages. The first of the twelve insights was as follows:
First Insight:Synchronicities (meaningful coincidences or connected events that can not be explained by ordinary science) are real, frequent, meaningful, purposeful, and enlivening.
Could this be the answer? Some sort of unexplained and not yet understood parallel universe? Maybe, but probably not. They are all just theories and until we have evidence, we have no way to be sure what causes this strange phenomenon.
A glimpse in a parallel universe is something we've always thought of, with my wife. Dreams, for that matter, feels like a window in parallel reality. You can always find its pragmatic explanation, but that's boring 😁
Ha ha!! You're so right!
It's like a constant battle for me between my logical side and my more open minded side!
Parallel universe it is then. And hey, maybe you're really asleep right now and when you fall asleep, that's your real life! 😁
It could be glimpses into parallel realities. Or maybe it's a tiny wrinkle in space time. We experience time in a linear fashion, but time is not linear.
Damn right!