Prompt: Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.
Every now and then, there is an occurrence that forces me to question something which was, hitherto this, nothing but ordinary. I was sitting in English class one day when something exceedingly commonplace happened. It was an eerie feeling, the kind that is so terrible it makes me want to crawl out of my skin, yet it somehow is simultaneously intriguing. It was a case of déjŕ vu.
As an individual who is fairly critical towards anything deemed paranormal, I decided that this phenomenon, like all, must have a scientific explanation behind it. Upon a few moments of contemplation, I developed my own theory as to what the mysterious workings of déjŕ vu might entail. Perhaps the cause is a sudden extreme increase in the speed that the mind processes the body's senses. If there is usually a delay, however small, between the instant that something happens and when the brain actually realizes that it happens, then this bizarre experience could be nothing other than the lack of this delay. Furthermore, since the human body is accustomed to this delay, if it was to suddenly disappear or even be radically shortened, it might induce the feeling that an event has happened in the past.
When I got home, I used the Internet to research my theory, and I discovered that the cause behind déjŕ vu is yet to be discovered. I found this to be somewhat enthralling; perhaps I will be the first expose the secrets behind déjŕ vu in my psychological studies.
Every now and then, there is an occurrence that forces me to question something which was, hitherto this, nothing but ordinary. I was sitting in English class one day when something exceedingly commonplace happened. It was an eerie feeling, the kind that is so terrible it makes me want to crawl out of my skin, yet it somehow is simultaneously intriguing. It was a case of déjŕ vu.
As an individual who is fairly critical towards anything deemed paranormal, I decided that this phenomenon, like all, must have a scientific explanation behind it. Upon a few moments of contemplation, I developed my own theory as to what the mysterious workings of déjŕ vu might entail. Perhaps the cause is a sudden extreme increase in the speed that the mind processes the body's senses. If there is usually a delay, however small, between the instant that something happens and when the brain actually realizes that it happens, then this bizarre experience could be nothing other than the lack of this delay. Furthermore, since the human body is accustomed to this delay, if it was to suddenly disappear or even be radically shortened, it might induce the feeling that an event has happened in the past.
When I got home, I used the Internet to research my theory, and I discovered that the cause behind déjŕ vu is yet to be discovered. I found this to be somewhat enthralling; perhaps I will be the first expose the secrets behind déjŕ vu in my psychological studies.