More Imagination Insights

Have you ever mused upon what our vision really is? What does it mean to see? We naturally believe our vision is "real", that is, identical to the world around us. Like if there was a computer screen inside our head where each object would be reflected in a few pixels. All seen equally well, at the same time.

However, we don’t really see any "pixels" or any undigested lights and shadows. In fact, we are unable to see anything at all until our mind recognizes or makes the best guess about what we are actually looking at, basing on what the mind has learned through its entire lifetime. If it’s an unfamiliar object, the mind will analyze the smaller parts of it to see if they are familiar. In this way the mind will learn the new object and recognize it in the future.

In other words, to see means to perceive interpreted, already meaningful information about real objects based on your mind’s past experience. We see a tree with leaves and apples, but not a colorful patchwork of lights and shadows. We know what an apple tree is.

We see an object with the visual center of our mind and by imagining the object. Imagination, that is, building images from the raw data, be it eyes or memory, is a wonderfully accurate word for the process.

Imagination as a mental activity is the driving force of the visual system, not another way around. Without imagination you’d be totally blind even if the eyes still provided raw electric signals – they just wouldn’t be used by the mind. When imagination is at work, it also directs mind's attention to interesting details and drives the muscles of the eyes to shift and focus them accordingly, all happening automatically and unconsciously.

It’s clear now that lowered eyesight occurs when you underuse or suppress imagination, usually by replacing it with an abusive fixation of attention on the eyes as physical organs, in vain attempts to command them "to see better". You can feel it as strain and it causes all sorts of trouble. The attention is no longer properly directed by the imagination process, and tends to see all (and nothing) at once. The eyes become misfocused and their shifting stops because the eye muscles no longer receive meaningful commands.

It’s hard to tell what is the cause and effect of this condition, we have a bit of "chicken and egg" problem here. Perhaps somewhere on the edge, where imagination fails due to actual lack of information, like too far or too dim, the mind may happen to insist on seeing the impossible and instead of imagining finer detail, somehow turns its attention to the eyes. The vision lowers, so the imagination works further worse, and thus the vicious cycle is born, which becomes permanent if the abuse is practiced long enough.

Fortunately, it’s not likely that the visual mind completely stops imagining. We are still able to recognize most objects, even though the image is blurry. The blur is in fact only a failure to imagine finer details and textures of objects. The mind imagines objects in large strokes, ignoring details and thereby not producing the finer attention and shifting and focusing commands to the muscles of the eyes.

Therefore, to cure imperfect sight, you should use all means to divert attention from the eyes and wholeheartedly relinquish the control to imagination. It is important to realize that vision is an involuntary process happening in the mind, not in the eyes. The eyes should be ruthlessly left alone, and then imagination of finer details instantly becomes possible again.

One technique that recently helps me leave my eyes alone is to imagine that the image I see doesn't come through the eyes but is already in my mind. Like if there was no bone dome over the brain an the image projected directly on the visual mind. It takes me several seconds to believe, and when I get it, it's usually an instant relief. Also, that funny calm feeling that the image is "already there" and should not be made out, is exactly the one that previously accompanied all my clear flashes.

Why Imagination Works

I agree that imagination is perhaps the most important technique. Or it's memory. (I can't really tell the difference between memory and imagination. You can't imagine anything you never saw, so even though formally imagination is defined as visualizing things that you didn't see, it is still composed of things that you did see. At least, imagination and memory feel the same to me, so far. But Dr. Bates did discriminate imagination and memory.)

It turns out the imagination is as essential as vision itself. People with normal sight continuously imagine what they're looking at, and in this way they see it. The normal mind is focused on imagining the regarded object, and vision just follows it, filling the imagined detail with real data. The strained mind is focused on the vision — blurry vision, and imagination is suppressed. David is right in saying that imperfect sight is a disorder of attention. Imagination drives attention and shifting from one detail to another. Without concurrent imagining the object you're looking at, you cannot shift and therefore cannot see.

I have been ignoring imagination techniques for a long time. I found it kind of boring and childish. There seemed nothing interesting to remember or imagine. Besides, when I tried to imagine anything I began to conjure up words. Pictures didn't really come to my mind, and I was wondering if I understood imagination the right way at all. I couldn't understand how much really vivid and visual the pictures should be.

It turns out that the imagined pictures should be just as vivid as vision, and getting them is easy. You should just want to imagine something, let it come to you and stop preventing it.

I recently watched an old series "My name is Earl", where Earl tried to compose an essay, but couldn't imagine anything. His imagination was screened as a plain white space with no objects around, except Earl himself, and a black-eyed gymnast, a haunting image from another guy's essay, about whom Earl didn't want to write. The gymnast kept popping up driving Earl crazy and then he (the gymnast) said "I won't go away until you stop thinking about me!" Then Earl somehow managed to let go of the fixed idea and his imagination immediately fountained.

After a good laugh I thought that the gymnast is exactly what happens to me when I try to imagine anything, where by gymnast this time I mean the focus on vision. My mind cannot imagine anything until it's locked on seeing, even with my eyes closed. When I somehow manage to stop worrying about seeing just for a second, I am immediately flooded with a bunch of shockingly vivid images and memories. So far it doesn't last longer than a second, because it's just overwhelming, and my scared mind jumps off to habitual "seeing" again. But I am sure that with practice, it's possible to persuade the mind that it's okay to keep imagining.

Even glimpses of imagination do wonders to vision. All tension and pulling sensations around eyes disappear, redness of sclera clears up in few minutes, and clear flashes begin immediately. And what's great about imagination-induced clear flashes, is that it feels different, like if you already have the detail, you're no longer making it out.

So I'm now a big fan of imagination techniques. It is important to find inspiring images to imagine. Personally I find it good to imagine well-lit objects like rocks, trees, sea shore on bright sunny days, surrounded with bright blue sky.

One other technique I currently use is to keep telling myself to not try to see under any circumstances, even when I "need" to see. Trying to see always fails and is therefore useless, but the habit is deeply ingrained, an it increases the strain to the degree when you can no longer imagine anything. So take a couple relaxed breaths, stop trying to see and then imagine. Swinging the head slightly, noticing the movement relative to stationary shoulder or feet is another good way to stop trying to see. Keep repeating like that all the time. We need to persuade our minds that not trying to see is okay, and go for imagination. Gradually.