Déjà vu

How many times have we all had the uncanny déjà vu feeling? Quite often, I would presume, for most of us. How many times have we suddenly met someone and instantly had a ‘connection’ with the person? Again several times I guess. How often have we suddenly felt that we have known a particular place, person, or a subject of discussion? Rare, but does happen. And how many of us have experienced a sudden burst of some hidden talent from deep within that takes us by surprise also? Quite rare, I would feel, but does happen.

So is it just a probability of random occurrences, and coincidences? Most scientists and rationalists would say so. Some would go a bit further and explain that maybe we had passed that person, place or subject somewhere and our sub-conscious mind had registered it. Or we could have imagined and dreamed about something that we then can relate it to the chance encounter of déjà vu. Quiet possible, all of these.

Doppelgangers have always been an area of deep interest for the romanticists, and the paranormal researchers equally. For the unawares, doppelgangers are a couple of people having similar looks or behavioural qualities. Some of my mathematically inclined friends claim that it is equivalent to a probability of throwing a coin 6.4 million times, and the coin falling on the same side every time! Unless this is a coin from our film “Sholay”, I don’t see this as possible. But this calculation and analogy assumes the two persons have to look and behave exactly similar. With slight variations in looks, and slight variations in personalities, I think the permutation and combination starts becoming much more reasonable. After all, how many variations does one have in the “first impressions of physical appearances” – the hair, the skin tone, the eyes, the body structure, the nose, the lips, and the cheek bones? And basic personality types? Maybe even fewer. Some say 4, some 6, some 9, but most believe it is not more than 16 variations. The mathematical outputs start fitting in a normal calculator now.

The supporters of doppelgangers claim that there are 7 others exactly similar people in the world as you! Could it be because 8 people are born at about the same time, and longitude and latitudes? Could the positions of the stars and the planets at that moment make this group of 8 very similar? Maybe in behaviours and personalities, but I cannot explain the looks part! Maybe the ancient wise people hence appropriately called the doppelgangers as “alter egos” or “double spirits”.

There are also many theories now, with empirical evidence also, of reincarnations, and of a group of souls travelling together through the multiple lives in physical forms. Science says to believe in what you see or what you can consistently predict in a simulation model. On that yardstick, the soul theory might fall a bit weak. But what you experience is sometimes even more powerful than what you see – whether science can explain it or not. Science still does not have answers for many questions. And I am sure most of us have “experienced” those feelings, those instances, those encounters where our minds could not answer but some part within our body knew the answer. Could this be the soul? The soul that recognises another soul it has met in the past lives, the souls that have been through a lot together, and share a lot in common. Could very well be, if we believe a lot of people who have undergone intense past life hypnosis sessions.

Or could the explanation lie in quantum theory? The theory states that a matter can exhibit both wave wave-like and particle particle-like properties, and upon observation it can exist in parallel in two dimensions or two universes. Like layers of bread. A lot similar, but still different. So there might may be several of similar people living different lives, in different universes, or maybe on this same Earth!Should we call them “splits” – something that may be acceptable to both the scientifically and the spiritually inclined?

But the splits phenomenon of humans can probably happen when a person is at a very low point in his or her life, and then has to take one of two decisions to get his or her life back into shape. One decision shapes that individual’s life, and the other decision creates the life of a split. But the universe realigns itself to give continuity of time to the life of this split. After that, who is a split and who is the original - nobody can say! The universal supreme power or energy makes the observation in that singular moment, that low moment of an individual I mentioned earlier. And then the quantum theory applies, making the matter, the individual in this case, split into different worlds!

Whatever be the explanation, we can take a dual comfort in the realisation that we are unique in our own ways but also have someone sharing the secrets, knowledge, talents, history, and future of our souls!