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Remembering things not your own

Bosbaba

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Messages
149
Has anyone had the experience of remembering or recalling experiences/languages that were not their own?

I have been bothered by this ever since I was in primary/junior school - When bored and just daydreaming as a kid I was able to write in a script that was not our normal alphabet and also heard and later spoke a language that was not English. The ability has persisted into adulthood, although greatly diminished and I am curious a) if anyone has had a similar experience and b) if anyone knows where I can go to figure out if the 'language' is authentic or just gibberish?

My success in the various jobs that I have had has come largely from an ability to do pretty much anything. I seem to a large extent to know what to do even in a situation I have never encountered before. Sometimes doing things I get a sense of deja vu and can't help wondering if I just have a great ability to 'cop on' or if it is something more.

Any suggestions/theories appreciated.
 
I've had a similar experience. When I was about five years old, my Dad took me to the museum. There were a couple of university students who were doing research on ancient writing and symbolism, and they were trying to see if children could figure out what the writing meant. Well, they were blown away when I could tell them exactly what everything said and explain the symbols to them in about five minutes. Supposedly most kids could figure out one or two. My Dad still talks about it.
 
Quite simple, you are a very old soul.
Probably in one of your very last incarnations and you have learnt most of what you need for perfection already. The gibberish and script are either languages you learnt in a past life or could even be angelic/aramaic meaning that you are advancing along quite nicely.
You are not strange or warped or weird, just an old soul.
Congrats
 
Bosbaba said:
Has anyone had the experience of remembering or recalling experiences/languages that were not their own?
I experienced this when I first started to learn French. The teacher would give us vocabulary tests and I would occasionally write down words which were old or obsolete French. The teacher used to be gobsmacked. And me.
The only reason I can think of is that I maybe had picked them up inadvertently from an English dictionary that gave word derivations. :confused:
 
I remember reading a Daphne Du Maurier book which touched on this subject.

She hypothesised that as every cell in our bodies is genetically handed down from our ancestors, why not 'full' memory cells?


Fascinating stuff.....
 
Bosbaba & cosmicbaby

I'd be interested to know which 'Scripts' you were able to write/understand. do you remember?

Fascinating stuff.
 
The problem with what I write/speak is that I have no clue what it is - as a kid I used to think it was just gibberish, now I am not so sure. There is enough repetition in the written symbols to worry me and the language itself always seems to be triggered by certain people/events - it is not something I can call up at will which I should be able to do if it was just gibberish. Anyhow, it has flared up in a big way over the past two weeks so I am hopeful of sorting it out this time.
 
Perhaps you could post an Example? someone here might be able to identify it?
 
I have two vivid memories of events which are not(?) mine
I can clearly recall the Wilberforce monument in Hull in its original position and I also recall the day it was moved
This was in 1935, may years before I was born
Another is the crash of the airship R38 in 1921
The memory of this is even clearer and I recall standing with hundreds of people watching it burn and crash into the Humber and collecting a piece of the wreckage from the foreshore
The oddest thing about both of these memories is I don't recall how old I was: I just remember being there
Neither of these events were as a result of converstions with my family that I recall and I won't have seen any TV or newsreel of either event
I was the source of amusement for my teachers and friends at school the first time I mentioned the monument (I think I was about 10 at the time) but the fact that I could recall so much detail convinced me (and still does) that I was there
 
'masmara' is the word that is floating around the most at the moment.

I will post more examples as they crop up.
 
Bosbaba said:
'masmara' is the word that is floating around the most at the moment.

I will post more examples as they crop up.

A quick google search shows it seems to be a Malaysian word. crops up as a surname and name of a few tour companies. all Malay. don't know what iot means tho :)
 
I have Malay ancestry down my mother's line - don't some old cultures believe that heritage is transmitted through the mother?

Will try to remember to write down what comes into my mind next time and post it here - maybe we can get to the bottom of this.
 
A lot less fascinating than the above, though still experienced by me from time to time, is that I can be watching a film where something happens and I think to myself "I know exactly what that feels like." Only it's never mundane, it's usually when someone is pointing a gun at someone else, falling down a manhole.etc.
Though I can never recall a specific memory (which I would imagine would be pretty unforgettable) to back up why I feel like that. Maybe it's just an exaggeration of a long forgotten memory, but it is very odd.
 
There's a photograph of a big, old house in the tin of family photographs at my mother's house. Ever since I was a kid it has seemed familiar to me, although no one seems to know where it was and I certainly have never visited such a house.

Carole
 
Have done some google searching and seems the words are pretty varied in origin:

Mordesh is either an alien race or an ancient Jewish name, Dormera is an Afghan village of no great repute and some of the other words appear to have latin roots.

Very interesting.

will keep trying.
 
Bosbaba said:
When bored and just daydreaming as a kid I was able to write in a script that was not our normal alphabet and also heard and later spoke a language that was not English. The ability has persisted into adulthood, although greatly diminished and I am curious a) if anyone has had a similar experience and b) if anyone knows where I can go to figure out if the 'language' is authentic or just gibberish?

J.R.R. Tolkein wrote a story about a boy who received messages in Elvish in his head
(I think it was called The Lost Road)
and was supposed to be partly autobiographical
he was certainly obsessed by Anglo-Saxon at an early age

Personally I think it is the speech centres of the brain (Broca's, Wernicke's) dreaming by themselves
 
This is a fascinating thread. Especially from a science point of view. It somewhat links with another thread about transplants and memory. I mean if we can inherit memories it would make sense that some people remember what their ancestors learned and it would explain transplant memories.

The only thing that has intrigued me since childhood is my affinity to the middle ages, especially around 1200. I have to honestly say that I am not at all interested in history but anything medieval has always felt "homy" to me. I used to be awstruck in old buildings, castles or churches from that time. When I was forced to go to church I hated every minute of it apart from when they sang songs composed at around that time. It almost made me cry and I got the same feeling you get when you hear a song from 10 years ago and long for those lost days.
I always feel as if I used to be there but am not anymore and it is all just a memory.
Also I only get this with the middle ages, all other times leave me as cold as ice.
 
Dingo, I feel the exact same way about the ocean. It's to the point where I have to wonder if I was a fish in a past life or something. (No, I'm not mocking your post. I'm 100% serious. Feel free to say I'm crazy :D )
 
RainyOcean said:
Dingo, I feel the exact same way about the ocean. It's to the point where I have to wonder if I was a fish in a past life or something. (No, I'm not mocking your post. I'm 100% serious. Feel free to say I'm crazy :D )

can you perhaps explain how you feel about the ocean? I only ask because water, particularly large amounts of water give me a strange (usually good, but often sad) feeling. I also dream about the ocean pretty much every night.

Sorry, I know this is a bit OT, but its something I've never been able to explain to anyone so it'd be nice if it turns out I'm not the only one!
 
Wow, I don't know if I can but I'll try.

Basically, I get a feeling of connection when I'm around water, espcially the ocean (hence my name). With the ocean speciffically, when I'm around it, I feel like it's magical somehow. Like there's something special about it.

And I probably sound crazy now...
 
Well i have a recurring dream about a house. Always i am driving along a country road and i see it and drive to this house and it is familiar. Always when i go inside i visit a different part of the house, but i know where all is, it is completely familiar to me. It is like i am home. Honestly when i am driving i seem to always look for this house. I don't know if it is a memory or somewhere i am supposed to be in the future. The only thing i can say about it that in my dream i always feel as though i am home. Maybe its just a dream, but it doesn't have that far away feeling that most of my dreams have it really feels like a memory.
 
A particular shade of blue really twangs something deep inside me when I see it. It's a memory of some kind, but I know it's not of the life which I'm living in now.

I can remember it bugging me vividly as a child, especially when I saw it against a dark back ground.

Sometimes the memory is on the tip of my tongue but I can't for the life of me fathom what it's about and where it's come from. All I know is it's not mine from this time frame as such.
 
Tyger Lily said:
A particular shade of blue really twangs something deep inside me when I see it. It's a memory of some kind, but I know it's not of the life which I'm living in now.

I can remember it bugging me vividly as a child, especially when I saw it against a dark back ground.

Sometimes the memory is on the tip of my tongue but I can't for the life of me fathom what it's about and where it's come from. All I know is it's not mine from this time frame as such.

Oh my goodness, I know the exact feeling you are talking about. With me it is a printed calico fabric that exists only in my memory- brown background with a small pink and white floral print. It's been with me for my whole life, and for some reason I especially associate it with wood-stoves and cold weather. There have been many times where it seems I can almost- almost grasp where I know it from, and then it recedes and I completely lose it.

It's nice to hear from someone else with this same experience This is a fascinating topic. :D
 
Hestia said:
Oh my goodness, I know the exact feeling you are talking about. With me it is a printed calico fabric that exists only in my memory- brown background with a small pink and white floral print. It's been with me for my whole life, and for some reason I especially associate it with wood-stoves and cold weather. There have been many times where it seems I can almost- almost grasp where I know it from, and then it recedes and I completely lose it.

OT but I read that about the fabric and it instantly reminded me of the Little House on the Prairie books. It seemed like every other page, Laura Ingalls described the fabric of a dress in that similar way. Always calico. I now automatically associate calico, sprigged or otherwise, with those books!

Or striped candy, there was always mention of being given a treat of candy every other page. Or so it seemed.

You weren't a pioneer in your previous life were you Hestia? ;)
 
It's going to sound silly but, that floral pattern? I've seen it before as well. From the 1970's I think. Most probably from clothing, fabric used in children's deck chairs, possibly even wall paper.

Everything was brown in the 1970's. No idea why.

Another thing, that word "masmara" - appears in Malaysia yes, but also similar words in New Zealand, and for sites in English, Spanish and in others.
 
Your Posting

I can "remember" the sinking of the submarine "Thetis"-but Thetis sank before WW2(ie before 1939) and I was not born until 1945. A rational explanation might be that I heard a radio broadcast about it.
 
Have done some google searching and seems the words are pretty varied in origin:

Mordesh is either an alien race or an ancient Jewish name, Dormera is an Afghan village of no great repute and some of the other words appear to have latin roots.

Of course the spelling could be inaccurate, if the original language doesn't use the alphabet. Have you tried different spellings?
 
There really ought to be a Quantum Leap reference on this thread.
...and i suppose there is now.
 
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