Déjà Vu vs. Déjà Boo

I am so excited to introduce for the first time on my blog, my "blessed jewel", Dr. Lewis Roberts! Lewis has a Doctorate in Clinical Pharmacy. A born skeptic, with a passion for all things analytic; Lewis has been researching the impossible to answer questions for over a decade.

I am thrilled that he will be accompanying me on my blog periodically throughout my journey in the blogosphere.

My guest today is Mr. Titch Evans. Titch is a spirit board medium and is experienced in protective spells. He is also a paranormal investigator in the United Kingdom.

Lewis and Titch are participating in today's dialogue concerning their thoughts on déjà vu.

Lewis believes déjà vu is similar to an optical illusion. He claims ultimately, déjà vu is the unsettling feeling of trying to deal with discordant and incongruous information coming from different parts of our own brain.

Titch believes déjà vu is a spirit's past memory, coinciding with the present timeline.


Question: How old are you?

Lewis: 45.

Titch: 38.


Question: What are your religious views?

Lewis: I am a devout atheist, but I am not opposed to agnosticism. My religion is science.

Titch: I hold no religious views, I follow my own beliefs.


Question: Titch, when you say "spirit's past memory", are you saying humans are reincarnated?

Titch: Although I believe in reincarnation to a point, the "spirit's past memory", exists in the form of electrochemical charge based energies. This energy exists all around us. This is what mediums and psychics are able to tap into.


Question: Lewis, how can you exclude reincarnation from the meaning of déjà vu?

Lewis: Philosophically, I love the concept of reincarnation. I have yet to see any good evidence supporting it. The bottom line is I do not believe it is possible to be reincarnated. I think we get one shot at this miracle life, so it seems unlikely that déjà vu and reincarnation are related.


Question: Could parallel realities and time loops be a catalyst to déjà vu?

Lewis: In the thirties a physicist named Schrödinger developed a thought experiment about dual realities, to point out an anomaly in quantum mechanics theory. Basically, the math used to explain part of quantum theory allowed a probability of several "possibilities" to exist simultaneously - but once an observation was made only one actually does; in layman's terms, we typically refer to this as "reality"(the one and only).My belief is that "Schrödinger Cat", as the experiment was dubbed, was picked up by sci-fi writers and the concept of a scientific basis for "dual realities" was introduced, albeit largely misunderstood into pop culture and ultimately seized by spiritualists. So here is the deal with dual realities: For any given event there may be two or more possible outcomes, but we would only be able to observe the one that happened, not the one that didn't. It seems unlikely that there would be a déjà vu sensation evoked as a result of what is ostensibly an everyday occurrence.

Titch: The quantum level is the smallest level detected by science and many scientific findings on this subject contradict normal physical laws. The findings suggest that there are other physical laws at work in the universe, operating on a deeper level. That being said, my answer is yes.


Question: Is it possible for the subconscious mind to register information in advance of the conscious mind, therefore triggering déjà vu?

Lewis: Yes! I believe this is exactly what is going on, but we need to be clear about the definition of "subconscious". I would prefer a term like "non conscious", there is too much psycho-babble baggage associated with the term subconscious. A non conscious part of the brain is sending an erroneous signal of "familiar" that get incorporated into the "event milieu" with presumably signals from other non conscious areas that ultimately gets interpreted by the conscious mind as déjà vu. Additionally, we have a pretty good idea what part of the non conscious mind/brain it is, because we can reliably induce the feeling of déjà vu through electrical stimulation of this non conscious part of the brain.

Titch: If this were the case, we would be flooded with déjà vu on a daily basis. To suggest the subconscious mind registers information before the conscious mind indicates precognition, or second sight.


Question: What if some forgotten dreams were actually time travel to the future. Could suddenly remembering them for an instant at a certain time or place create the feeling of déjà vu?

Lewis: There is little scientific evidence supporting backwards time travel (subatomic particles)but I promised to be brief, so I will not get into that. Future time travel we do quite well, but we have to suffer through the present one second at a time to get there and there is no turning back. There are better explanations for déjà vu.

Titch: There is a theory that a person may be able to "time travel" to the future based loosely on Einstein's theory of relativity,the twin paradox experiment and our understanding of chakra vibrations. I cannot give an honest answer at the present moment, as there is not enough evidence to support it.


Question: There is a theory that we can astral project our spirit/consciousness from our physical body in our dreams. Does this relate to déjà vu?

Lewis: Out of body experience (OBE) versus déjà vu....hmmmm. I would say they are related as much as they are both perceptions by the conscious mind based on signals from certain parts of the brain. They are not directly related to each other.

Titch: I believe in astral projection, but I do not believe it relates to déjà vu. The majority of documented cases are experiencing the "here and now" opposed to the future.


Question: Is it possible for déjà vu to occur for more than a few seconds?

Lewis: I have read a brief summary of a scientific paper that implies that some déjà vu experiences may continue for "extended periods", unfortunately I have not been able to get my hands on the paper, so I am not certain what the authors meant by "extended periods". "Maybe" is my short answer.

Titch:It is scientifically proven that when necessary, half of the brain controlling logical thoughts (conscious) can shut off the half that deals with the subconscious, almost like a defense mechanism. It is my belief that this mechanism is what prevents many of us from experiencing our true potential from using our sixth sense and experiencing only seconds of déjà vu.


Question: Can a person experience the same déjà vu more than one time?

Lewis: I am not sure about this. I have read an account (online from a dubious source) that suggests at least one person with epilepsy induced déjà vu experience. I would put this in the realm of possibility - more information required to validate.

Titch: Yes and no. The same déjà vu might be experienced more than once, but I believe after the true event any further experience is more that of a recall of an individuals memory.

Thank you both for sharing. You can read about more paranormal topics from Titch Evans on his blog: www.seeingtheunseeable.blogspot.com.