Spiritually: what is the significance of de'ja'vu-like encounters or premonitions?

[curious_moper]

Sometimes I am doing something new and, oddly, I recognize it as something I have done already, even though I haven't. Or sometimes I dream about doing something with others and, later in the day, it happens exactly as it was meant to according to the dream, even though me or the people I were with were not consciously aware of it until I was consciously aware of it after it had happened.

A true example (for those who are skeptical) was one day when I was having breakfast. I was eating a bowl of Special-K cereal at a certain place at the kitchen table when my dad says a particular something to my older brother, who responds in a particular manner. Then, my mom walks past the microwave behind my dad and that's when I thought, "Huh, de'ja'vu...", as if it had happened subconsciously before the actual event.
I'm sure people have had similar set-ups to a de'ja'vu-like encounter.

So my question is: Spiritually speaking, what is the significance of de'ja'vu-like events or premonitions that lead to de'ja'vu-like events?

 

[philosophyangel]

I like Andy's response. But, in reality, deja vu experiences are not supernatural, they are not premonitions, they are not spiritual. They are caused by a neurochemical glitch in the brain so that a person seems to remember something before the cognitive brain kicks in that he or she sensorily perceived it. It's just perceptual functions not quite working in the right sequence. Deja vu is very common and is not a sign that anything is wrong with a person except if it occurs with some other symptoms (such as in people with epilepsy). If you look up deja vu in the R&S search field, you will see many Q&As on deja vu--and many that I've answered.

 

[MichaelThibideaux]

The brain plays tricks on you. Its clever like that.

 

[AndyDe]

This is a result of the U.S. government screwing up the space/time continuum with their black project experiments.

 

[CorkyThatcher]

Aberrant brain functions. One time I was looking in the mirror and I got this really weird feeling like I'd been this person before and I'd be this person again and it was like life was some kind of continuous recurrence.

 

[Somebodyelse'sGrandpa]

Deja Vu is the feeling that you previously experienced what you are currently experiencing. It is known to result from two different causes:

1. Part of the mind accidentally and erroneously perceives the current experience as if it were a memory, rather than a current experience. Theoretically, this only happens infrequently.

2. The mind realizes that the current experience is familiar, even though the previous experience has been forgotten. This is also infrequent, except that it occurs much more frequently to people who suffer either long-term amnesia or selective amnesia.

The latter often leads to a pseudo-religious belief in having lived a previous life, or to blaming unfamiliar memories on dreams.

If it happens to you a lot, and freaks you out, you may have repressed memories, or selective amnesia. If you've repressed memories, you probably had good reason to repress them, thus you panic when threatened with the possibility of remembering them again.

At the same time, you may feel very curious about them, because they represent part of who you are. After all, what we experience determines what we learn, and what we learn make us who we are.

Take care with this curiosity. Don't try to remember repressed memories without the help of an experienced psychologist.

 

[r_u_really_that_scared]

Personally, I think it's God's reminder that we are eternal and walk in eternity NOW... not just in the future pie in the sky... He is there in the past, present, future at the same time, and I think we are now as well, but at this moment we walk linearly... just my 2 cents

 

[greenfly_23]

There are a number of explanations for 'deja vu'. One is that sometimes the subconcious brain records events very slightly before the concious brain is aware of them, and this leads us to think we've been in a particular place before etc. Other explanations focus on the brain remembering similar but different situations/events and we think we've been in exactly the same situation before.