Déjà Vu Psychic or Physical Phenomenon

Have you ever traveled to distant place had the odd feeling you have been there before. Maybe you saw a house that you know you have seen in a dream and you know you have been here before, but that is imposable this is the first time in your life you have traveled to this location. Is this just an uncanny coincident? No this is déjà vu (meaning "already seen" in French).

The experience of déjà vu is frequently accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of eeriness this experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience has genuinely happened in the past.

The experience of déjà vu has been a quite common occurrence among people of all ages, and has been referred to throughout history, indicating that déjà vu is not a new phenomenon. While it is common experience and certain medications have increased the possibility of this phenomenon, it has been nearly impossible to recreate in a laboratory setting. So this lead to the question is déjà vu a spiritual or medical phenomenon. To help answer this question I will try to provide information on both sides and allow you to decide for yourself.

There are more than 40 theories as to what déjà vu is and what causes it that range from reincarnation to glitches in our memory processes.

One popular belief is that déjà vu might result from an accumulation of life experience, but science says otherwise. Statistically déjà vu occurs more in late adolescence and the frequency of episodes declines with age.

Scientifically speaking, the most likely explanation of déjà vu is not that it is an act of precognition or prophecy, but rather that it is an anomaly of memory, giving the impression that an experience is being recalled.

Early researchers believed déjà vu was connected to some serious psychopathologies with the hope of finding the phenomenon of some analytical importance. However, there does not seem to be any particular association between déjà vu and any psychiatric conditions.

The scientific explanation is that it has to do with memory processes. The basic idea is that there are portions of the brain that are dedicated for the past, the present and the future. In general, the frontal lobes are associated with the future, the temporal lobes are associated with the past, and the underlying, intermediate portions (the limbic system) are associated with the present. When these are functioning normal, in a normal states of consciousness, the feeling that 'something is going to happen will only surface when we are thinking about the future, worrying about it, anticipating it or planning for it. The sense of the past will only surface when our memories have been triggered in some way.

Ordinarily, this integration of the past, present and the future are seamless. In simple terms, we experience something in the present, compare it to similar experiences in the past, and choose how to react. The time frame can be very brief. Although every now and then, there can be an overload of communication between short-term and long-term memories. When this happens, then the present might feel like the past, and those perceptions will feel like they are memories, and the person will feel that they are re-living a memeory stored in long-term memory.

In conclusion all we have are theories and beliefs. There is no scientific proof that déjà vu is not a glimpse of a past life but as far as usefulness in understanding our past life it is of little value in my opinion.