You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't, the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit; you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
The Tempest. Act iii. Sc. 3

Psychology:

The Collective Subconscious

Familiarity Without Awareness : The Deja Vu Theory

I am sure that we have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally,, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time - of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances - of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it.


Remember when Rose said that the "monster" sounded familiar? She just could not pinpoint the exact place she had heard it before. Also isn't it funny that Jack happened to stumble upon a source of water. Hurley found the perfect spot and the perfect tools to build a golf course. Perhaps the reason why they are able to find things and recognize sounds are because they have experienced this before, perhaps they were on the island before or were on the island in a past life.
There are three types of deja vu.These are deja vecu (already experienced), deja senti (already felt) and deja visite (already visited). Deja vecu is the most common form deja vu experience and involves the sensation of having done something or having been in an identical situation before and knowing what will happen next. These sensations are often felt through several senses: seeing, hearing, taste, touch and proprioceptive perceptions. The experience is often incredibly detailed and is usually connected to very normal activities. One experiencer says, "There came this strange, almost physical up-welling of visual experience, a visual warping, and at the same time an eerie realization that everything happening now had happened before, maybe many times". Deja senti is different from deja vecu in that the episode of recollection feels more like the recovery of long sought after information. The sensation is one of satisfaction at having retrieved a memory although the memory was not actively sought. It is as if one's dreams had simply been sucked out of the actual, physical environment and set to playing again in every detail.


There is another experience worth mentioning, especially since it may pertain to Lost; Jamais Vu. Its the opposite of deja vu. Instead of feeling extra familiar, thing seem totally unfamiliar. In this case there is too little connection between long-term memory and perceptions from the present. When a person is in this state, nothing they experience seems to have anything to do with the past. They might be talking to a person they know well and suddenly they person seems totally unfamiliar. Their sense of knowing the person, and knowing how to relate to them simply vanishes. A room in which they spend a lot of time suddenly becomes totally novel; everything seems new. Details they will have seen a thousand times suddenly become engaging.


Jamais Vu may be why the survivors are struggling and it may be why they are in constant fear. Everything happens for a reason- they are supposed to be on that island because either they have been there before or they have in a past life and perhaps the bodies that they found in the caves and themselves in a past life.


Sorry for this long theory , but it just struck me, while I was walking home- some stranger pulled over and asked me if I wanted to party- I have never seen him before, but the scenerio felt awefully familiar- and then I thought - Lost.


SawyersMuse

Re: The Deja Vu Theory


Wow, this is a very interesting thought! Any one of these scenarios could be possible here, especially as the survivors' own past memories collide with the present situations. It might take a little while to connect this to a full-fledged theory, but it's a great thought and very well explained.


And stay away from strange people who pull over and ask you to "party!" Especially if they give you deja vu...


cinderellabop