Deja Vu
Posted: Monday, May 23, 2011
by Dianne Lehmann
Artisan Jewelry from SyZyGy
I feel like I've been here before. There's a song lyric in there somewhere. I can hear it but can't quite put a mental finger on it.
What do you write about when you seem to have nothing to write about? Why write at all? Well, outside of your commitment to write. We've all been down this road a time or two. So maybe that's not really déjà vu.
Rain coming down all around.
Cold, fat drops of water.
Falling incessantly from the sky.
Pelting the tender new leaves on the trees.
Singing a song of sibilant wetness.
Shhhhh.
Ticking at the windows.
Sliding down the gutters.
Rasping on the roof.
A robin searches the moist earth for insect bounty.
Doves huddle in the trees.
And I have locked myself indoors, away from it all.
In my life, I have had several moments of déjà vu wherein I was absolutely certain that I had seen or done, said or heard, the very thing that had just happened before. Physicists have speculated that it has something to do with their theory of multiple universes. That on some level (maybe quantum entanglement) we are connected with all of our other selves and that one of those other selves had previously had the experience you just called déjà vu.
It's a good thing we are not more intimately connected to those speculated other selves. Life is all ready too confusing. Imagine if I were privy to the lives of just four other mes. Me to the fourth. How could I ever keep it all straight? Did I just boil over the pasta or was that me1? Was it me2 who did the laundry? And if so, why is there a basket full of clean towels waiting to be folded sitting atop my washing machine? Did me3 get that sock that I am missing since emptying the clothes dryer? And is she scratching her head just back of her right ear with her right hand while a small, tight frown creases her brow and wondering why she has an extra sock? Did me4 suddenly begin to cry for no apparent reason?
Frankly, I think there should just be one of me. I'm a good enough mess without multiplying me by some multiple-universe-factor or other. Still I suppose it could be useful. Like the time I was waiting, first vehicle in line, at a traffic signal. The light changed to green and I didn't go immediately. The car behind me honked just as a car flew through the intersection. I didn't so much have a feeling of déjà vu as relief … and vindication … for the person who had honked. Imagine how they must have felt when they realized that, because of the timing, I would most likely have made it past the red light runner but they probably would not have.
Does the theory of multiple universes explain what happened? Are the universes just a little bit out of sync? Did me1 enter the intersection right after the traffic signal changed to green so that the following vehicle was struck by the red light runner? Was the experience so upsetting that it reverberated throughout the universes until it came to rest in my brain and caused me to pause? Have I been watching way too much "Fringe?"
Some researchers believe that déjà vu is just a brain anomaly … random firings of synapses creating a feeling of familiarity. Still, how do you account for knowing things that you have no way of knowing other than the divine, supernatural or multi-universal?
When I was about to enter junior high school, I had a dream. I had the dream several days before I was to take a "dry run." We were to go to our assigned bus stop, ride the bus to the campus and once there receive an orientation. School busses are pretty much all universally the same. They might vary slightly in appearance from the outside, but they are all the same on the inside. The same uncomfortable seats, the same smells, the same sticky aisles. So it was not odd that the bus seemed familiar. But upon arriving at the campus which I had never been to before, I realized it looked exactly as it had in my dream. I knew how it was laid out. I knew where my classrooms were located. I knew where the office was and I knew the faces of all my teachers. Freaky.
So, you know, if you find yourself feeling like you've been somewhere before … maybe you have … figuratively speaking. And look! I found something to write about after all.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Yes Dianne, when I went into the service although I've never experienced military life before.As I was drilling it seemed like I've done this before.Hi David.
I imagine it wouldn't take long for the sameness of all that to set it. And I just detest doing the same thing over and over and over again. I'd probably go nuts. :)
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Hugs,
Dianne
I love the topic, and personally have experienced it several times in my life. I also believe that there could be several explanations for it. But the one I heard about on the radio one time, still intrigues me. He said it had to do with the neural velocity changing, slowing and speeding up, so that we were in fact "remembering" something because one thought was going slower than another. Oh well. Thanks for your wonderful article. There, I got to write something too.Hi Christofer.
That is a totally weird (as if they wouldn't all be) explanation for it. It hurts my brain to contemplate that. Thoughts going at differing rates is kind of scary in a way. Just think if you had two thoughts at the same time like "that might be poisonous and I probably shouldn't eat it" and "wow, that looks yummy" and the latter thought wins the race. Hmmm.
So, want to tell us a bit about your deja vu experiences? I'm curious.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs,
Dianne
I've had those experiences too Dianne where you're doing something or someone walks into a room and you know exactly what's going to happen next because you've been there before, or it seems as though you have. As for multiples of me, I agree with you on that and I think my husband would too. One Brianna is enough. Very interesting article for someone who didn't know what to write about. :)Hi Brianna.
It's such an odd feeling when that happens isn't it.
As for multiples of me, Bernd laughed out loud when he read that part. I didn't ask for clarification. :)
Thanks for reading!
Hugs,
Dianne
Dianne,
Wouldn't life be dull if we didn't dream, imagine, create, contemplate, remember, disremember, associate and disassociate ... ? We as humans are a marvelous piece of engineering, yet unmatched or created by anything/anyone less celestial. It is fun to wonder why, but much more fun to be.
Enjoyed the piece.
JohnHi John.
I enjoyed YOUR comment. :)
Yes, life would be immeasurably dull otherwise.
Glad you liked it!
Hugs,
Dianne
Having several of ourselves walking around would be an interesting thing indeed. Here, the world is really not ready for more of one of me.
You did write a nice piece and it makes us contemplate, think. I'd say you raise a most amazing question about having been in a situation before, or having experienced something. Makes you think about the reincarnation question or, on a lesser scale, sixth sense abilities.Hi Heidi.
I try to keep an open mind about all that ... stuff. :) You just never know what will prove to be true in the future. Had a friend once that loved cheese burgers. It was his contention that in the future, "they" would determine that cheese burgers were about the healthiest thing you could eat. Yah, right. :) But then look at what they are saying about coffee these days. Go figure.
Thanks for stopping by. It's always a pleasure.
Hugs,
DianneMy pleasure too. My granddaughter would love the cheeseburger thing - she loves them.
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