What is Deja Vu?

[Sheila]

That was a great article by Julia Johnson.

Samsara, you bring up an interesting point that one aspect of déjà vu in w/d might relate to the extraordinary vividness of memories that we experience (both on the meds and in w/d).

I think déjà vu is one of those phenomena that it is best to approach pluralistically. In other words, it can be the result of different processes. It’s not just one thing.

Sometimes, it is most likely a neurological burp – a processing error that creates a misleading impression.

Sometimes, it’s likely just having had a very similar conjunction of events before.

Sometimes, it might be a memory of a past life.

But, it seems likely that sometimes it’s the result of precognition or the memory of something you experienced but don’t remember, such as an out-of-body experience while asleep. I also think time slips happen – where you suddenly travel forward or backward through time.

BTW, temporal lobe epilepsy has been associated for centuries with psychic ability.

Another interesting angle on this is how is déjà vu related to synchronicity. I’ll retrieve the synchronicity thread starter from SA and post it here.

I do get déjà vu, but only rarely. I am more likely to have synchronicities, and I’ve noticed synchronicity increases as I heal and in windows of feeling better – and much more so than before w/d.

So, Luc, you say you’ve had a lot of déjà vu prior to drugs, less during waves, and more again during w/d windows. Here’s my question – in windows, are you having *more* than before meds? If so, this might jibe with my theory that recovery from neuro damage can lead to increased psi. Possibly, déjà vu is more likely to occur when you’re more relaxed, with more alpha and / or theta waves.

[Cosette123]

I have often had these experiences of "Déjà vu". The strangest one was in Norway, when I was 20 years old: I was in a deserted valley and I had the sensation to have one day lived there. Strange thing: an etymologist said to me a day that my surname had probably a norwegian origin...

[Sheila]

That is a very cool anecdote, Cosette! And it makes me think of another few hypotheses –

Collective unconscious – a) via genetics – you have memory fragments from your ancestors in your DNA, b) via consciousness – you are picking up on other people’s memories through the field of human consciousness. Some call this the Akashic records, some call it morphogenetic fields, c) both – you are picking up on *your* ancestors’ memories more easily *because* you share a lot of DNA with them.

When I was a teenager in the rural suburbs of New York, there was a spot on the road that, in a certain quality of afternoon light, always made me think, “Ah, yes, I saw this in ancient Rome.”

I have never been to Italy. I had not studied ancient Rome. Maybe it was the memory of a scene from a movie. But, I always felt it was more than that, and it was an uncommon experience for me. I don’t particularly *feel* reincarnated, so I’m more inclined to one of the collective unconscious processes mentioned above.

Which leads us to another interesting question. Whether you think your déjà vu is a neurological burp or a paranormal experience, you can still pay attention to an incident and ask what might be the message for you from it? What creative thing might you gain from having had *this* particular déjà vu incident?

[Luc]

So, Luc, you say you’ve had a lot of déjà vu prior to drugs, less during waves, and more again during w/d windows. Here’s my question – in windows, are you having *more* than before meds?

Before the meds I had it far far more often. Even to this day I remember particular situations from my pre-drug life when the deja vu happened (and I remember it even despite not remembering 90%+ things from before WD and the on-drugs time).

[Sheila]

Luc -- Well, that doesn't support my hypothesis, darn it. But, we'll just keep an eye on you and see if, once you heal further, the deja vu starts to exceed what you experienced pre-meds.

We should probably start a thread on the mysteries of memory and w/d, but, just briefly, I want to reassure you that my memories of my life pre-w/d are coming back more and more. It's a really fascinating experience.

Now, it's really interesting that you remember pre-w/d deja vu incidents a lot more than anything else. What is that about, I wonder?

<< Didn't I just see that?...

[Sheila]

Discussion thread on déjà vu (and synchronicity and precognition) from the Icarus Project –

http://theicarusproject.net/forums/v...hp?f=21&t=7188


Highlights –

Lovely turn of phrase one person comes up with – “time seizures”

And another person quotes Terence McKenna as saying schizophrenia is a disorder of space-time, which approaches what Luc said the other day about w/d making us out of synch with the universe.

One person had a lot of déjà vu before and on anti-seizure meds. Another reports déjà vu before taking Lamictal, none while on Lamictal (xenobia’s poignant post).

Another reports having more déjà vu and synchronicity while manic, none since being on meds. She says, “I would marry synchronicity if I could. :)”

Someone else says they used to have it a lot as a kid, but other people shut it down.

Here’s an interesting theory: “To me it seems as if some aspect inherent [to] reality keeps people repeating the same problems over and over until they solve them properly and move on to solving other problems that arise.”

Another proposes that we are having unconscious / pre-conscious premonitions bubble up and that's what causes the experience of deja vu.

[Luc]

Talking of synchronicities and precognition, have had a bunch of those this recent time. No idea what that means, but will figure this out at some point, I guess.

[Sheila]

Luc -- Now you're having precognitions? Cool!

[Junior]

I've had a few deja vu experiences. I always thought it was a form of astral travel. Don't know where I heard that though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection

The most recent one was when I was dreaming one night about our upcoming trip to Europe. The trip we had in August last year. I was in a hotel and looking at the stairs when I realised I didn't have to use them as there was a lift. When I woke up I just thought, meh... I'm obviously thinking about our trip.

When we were at our hotel in Prague, I had to walk past a set of stairs to get to the lift. Took me a few times to notice but then I walked past, back tracked, and thought WHOA.. those are the EXACT same stairs that I dreamed about

[Sheila]

Yeah, I would probably put that under the heading of precognition and/or out of body experience (OBE) / astral projection. One of the challenges of studying psychic phenomena is that none of the types of experience can be clearly defined as different from the other types of experience. They all sort of overlap.

Anyway, a very exciting experience with the stairs! Thanks for sharing! You have quite a lot of "psi" (psychic phenomena) in your life, Junior! You would be a very helpful research participant if we ever look at the interaction of psych meds / neuro changes and psi.