I always get it. Whether it's when talking to a friend, or doing something, or witnessing something happen. For some odd reason I feel this sensation. As if it's been done before. Then it is gone within a few minutes. What is de ja vu? What was its origin? What does it exactly mean??
2007-01-25 08:05:51 · 12 answers · asked by eve 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
ALSO.. my father once told me.. he was on a truck driving by a poor/destroyed region.. and he felt like hes been there before.. but he never has. does this mean hes been there in a previous life?
2007-01-25 08:21:27 · update #1
The term "déjà vu" (IPA:/deʒa vy/) (French for "already seen", also called paramnesia) describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate French concentrator at the University of Chicago. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eerieness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past. Déjà vu has been described as "Remembering the future."
The experience of déjà vu seems to be very common; in formal studies 70% or more of the population report having experienced it at least once. References to the experience of déjà vu are also found in literature of the past, indicating it is not a new phenomenon. It has been extremely difficult to invoke the déjà vu experience in laboratory settings, therefore making it a subject of few empirical studies. Recently, researchers have found ways to recreate this sensation using hypnosis.[1]
2007-01-25 08:14:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
"Deja vu," the term of which is French for "already seen," is a phenomenon that many people have experienced. It is not so much a flashback as it is a conscious visualization of something that has not been experienced before, but seems familiar when it happens.
In other words, a person will physically be in a place or in a situation of circumstances which he knows he has not been in before. He may be walking down a street in a foreign country or he may be talking with people at a particular place for the very first time. Suddenly, the exact same situation seems very familiar, as if they had been there or have experienced the very same things before, but without anyone knowing why.
There have been many theories in regard to this phenomenon. Those who believe in reincarnation have speculated that the individual is receiving a moment of recall from a past life, or otherwise, a quick precognitive image of an incident which they have seen before coming into life. Scientists, on the other hand, feel that the phenomenon may be caused by a synapse of the brain waves in which immediate sensory information has been interrupted and then re-transmitted to the neural centers.
Whatever the cause of this phenomenon, either metaphysical or scientifically physical, most of the theories behind deja vu may only be considered speculation. One thing is for certain in that many more people have experienced it than those who have not.
2007-01-25 08:41:49 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well you've already defined de ja vu. There are many different theory's as to why we experience it.
One theory does go hand in hand with what your father said. Some people believe that we have all been reincarnated for whatever reason, and that we do our lives over until we get it "right". And that de ja vu is the result of our past life not being fully erased from our memories. I know it sounds like a bad sci fi movie, but that's what I've read in many books.
2007-01-25 08:37:04 · answer #3 · answered by photogrl262000 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To me, it is when you are going about your life and you almost have a flashback, a really strong feeling that this event has happened before.
Hope this helps:
The term "déjà vu" is French for "already seen" describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate French concentrator at the University of Chicago. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eerieness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past. Déjà vu has been described as "Remembering the future."
The experience of déjà vu seems to be very common; in formal studies 70% or more of the population report having experienced it at least once. References to the experience of déjà vu are also found in literature of the past, indicating it is not a new phenomenon. It has been extremely difficult to invoke the déjà vu experience in laboratory settings, therefore making it a subject of few empirical studies. Recently, researchers have found ways to recreate this sensation using hypnosis.[1]
2007-01-25 08:15:05 · answer #4 · answered by Stephanie D 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I would say that your father could of been experiencing de ja vu. Some people say that your soul travels while you sleep. Most stay near by buy some have been documented as traveling over seas. I used to experience the same thing as you a lot. It has slowly gone away as I've gotten older.
2007-01-25 14:34:49 · answer #5 · answered by Tasha 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
De Ja Vu is exactly what you experienced............. Experiencing something like a time laps ie/something that has already happened.
Isn't it strange ? I just get goose bumps when it happens to me.
Is like you are re-experiencing a moment in time.
I don't know if this answered your question, but it was sure fun to answer,
I'm giving you a star for this....THANKS !
2007-01-25 08:32:03 · answer #6 · answered by Bridget 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
To me.. Deja Vu is either a remembrance from a past life or dream
Or it's a lil road sign telling me i'm on track bc that moment was put in my chart.
2007-01-25 08:48:31 · answer #7 · answered by debimoonfae 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I know the common explanation is that it is something that has happened to you before, but I've always wondered if maybe it isn't that you've experienced it before but instead had a precognition of what is about to happen just milliseconds before it happens. For me it usually happens during a conversation rather than something visual. Just a thought.
2007-01-25 09:06:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In simplest terms, it means it has already happened.
EX: the smell of cookies had a de ja vu because I had had cookies at my grandmothers. It reminds you of somethng or u think it has happened to you before
2007-01-25 08:33:04 · answer #9 · answered by NOT aNOTher blonde! 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In french, it means "already seen".
2007-01-25 08:15:31 · answer #10 · answered by Sarah 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋