What do atheists think about deja vu and/or dreams that come true?

Question

I have experienced deja vu on several occasions, and it usually happens when I am in a new place--somewhere I have never been before. Yet, I distinctly remember being in the same place before--as if I had previously experienced a vision of that precise moment in time. On some occasions I actually recognize a particular experience from an old dream of mine.

How can this be? As one who tends to believe in God, I have wondered if some of my dreams could actually be visions or small glimpses of the future. Other than that, what would be a possible explanation for re-experiencing a new experience?

Answer 1

I have deja vu a lot. Like every other day. Although there is a lot that is not known about this, I jst think it has something to do with associations to mental, physical, and verbal commonalities.

Dreams that come true? Well, again, associations to events that are and probably will happen in your life.

Answer 2

It's called deja vu.  It *feels* like you have experienced it before, but we know sensibly that you haven't.  We know that the brain is capable of many strange things.

As far as the dreams go, you are probably unconsciously forcing the memory of the dream to conform to the experience.

Answer 3

Deja vu is generally just a minor mental glitch; something being imprinted with the feeling of familiarity when it is, in reality, entirely unfamiliar.

Answer 4

Deja vu is a glitch in your memory processing.

Your brain stores the new experience in long term memory before letting you consciously access it as a new experience.  

Answer 5

i don't think it has anything really to do with God.

i'm not an atheist, but it's all up to spirituality.

Sylvia Browne said that if you experience deja-vu, you're on the right path in your life. apparently, before we came into the world, we'd pre-determined our lives. so the more often you have deja-vu, the more you're on your right path. recently, i went in somewhere to get a job and i'd seen the place where the interview was being held. i knew that everything was right in that moment.

i really don't think deja-vu's got anything to do with god and most people interestin in nuerology will tell you what causes it scientifically, but i like to go with that theory of pre-determination.

:3

Answer 6

I tend to think of it as coincidence, or seeing something else that reminded me of that place.