Jamais vu- the yang to the yin of Deja vu

I’m fairly certain that you, dear reader, have cognizance of déjà vu..... it’s the strange familiarity we have with a present experience simply because we have experienced it in the past.

For instance, I read the first two novels in the Robert Langdon series by author Dan Brown in quick succession. While the theoretical content in the books was vastly different, I felt that the protagonists were essentially the same personalities masquerading under different names. So, when each time ‘The Da Vinci Code’ (the second book) dealt with character evolution/development, I involuntarily experienced a déjà vu moment. At the end of the read, I was left slightly confused and asking for more because I was able to predict twists in the behaviour of new characters merely due to the similarity (with Angels and Demons) of the circumstances.

For instance, each time I read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, my perceptions change. I feel like I’m meeting a bunch of people for the first time in my life and I perceive their characters under different light each time around. That, my friends, is Jamais vu for you!

It is the phenomenon where you meet the same people or visit the same places repeatedly, but each time is a first. everybody is always a stranger and NOTHING is ever familiar.  Considering the parallels that can be drawn with amnesia, it is a rather eerie experience.  Jamais vu is, thus, the yang if déjà vu if the yin; the black if déjà vu is the white. 

Tell me, how many times have you not been able to remember how to spell a simple word (such as ‘conscience’) that you’ve spelt multiple times previously? Or even worse, have you ever been in a class and at the end year seeing someone who’s rather quiet said, "He's in our class? I didn’t know!"  This is how jamais vu manifests in our daily lives!

But why have most of us never heard of jamais vu before? Or is it one of those things which we’re mentally aware of but do not know how to describe? (that’s Presque vu, by the way. Yes, my knowledge of psychology and French improved dramatically in the little time I spent writing this article!)  Coming back, I attribute its relative obscurity to two reasons.

Firstly, déjà vu is a more tangible idea because it’s easier to comprehend and less overwhelming. Secondly, jamais vu is a forgettable experience and is completely erased from memory until it happens again; by which time it’s too late to realise what’s happening. (If you’re wondering, that’ll be déjà vu) 

The fragrances that lace the air,

The floorboards that creak when I tread along corridors
The faces I see each day; faces that smile and faces that glare,
I find impossible to now recognize. 
I know I ought to remember
But an inexplicable amnesia grips me
I know I can remember
But the memories just don’t gush forth free.
That, is said, is jamais vu 
The feeling of knowing that you don’t know
It’s all in the mind, as scattered bits which once you glue
Resurface from hidden depths below. 

With that, I bid you adieu. I’m fairly certain that you, dear reader, now have cognizance of jamais vu, as well……. It’s the strange unfamiliarity we feel with repetitive experiences (well did that seem familiar? Déjà vu much!!)

So long!