A Theory – Visual Fading Away (Focus 10?)

[Xanth]

http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2010/12/02/a-theory-visual-fading-away/

I have a theory that I've been tossing around in my head lately that I wish to share.

If you fixate upon a single point in front of you and are able to keep your vision from moving around due to the micro movements of your eye or from objects moving within your field of vision then a strange phenomenon begins to happen.  First, things around your fixated target begin to disappear... a line here, a corner of something there... they vanish before your eyes.  Eventually, everything starts to fade away into a background white or black, depending upon how lighted the area around you is.  Generally, during our normal waking lives, this phenomenon doesn't occur because even if there is nothing "moving" in our field of vision, the micro movements of our eyes tend to keep things moving.  Think of it as a computer monitor, the micro movements of the eye cause a screen refresh 30 frames every second.  It might be hard for some people to keep this movement to a minimum... but give it a shot and see if you can make this happen.

I feel that the fading away of the visual spectrum is the beginning of the shift into Focus 10!  I find that as this visual shift begins to happen, my mind is nice and relaxed, but that may just be me.  See how you feel when you try it.  But it's just the beginning of it.  Now, this is the reason that we usually do our practicing with our eyes closed, due to the visual distractions.  Your eyes are much easier to remain still in this state... this is also a great exercise to do to learn to "passively observe", as you need to keep your eyes passively still for the fading to initiate.

If you can get it so that the visual field you're viewing completely disappears, I think you're good to close your eyes and try it.  As I said, I think this shift is the beginning of Focus 10... it's the start of removing ourselves consciously from the physical.  If you can actually hold this (which would be hard due to having to blink), theoretically, you should be able to project even with your eyes open!

Any other ideas?  Thoughts? 

[mcdwg]

So you're saying we should be able to shift away with our eyes open, wow never thought of that, so how long did it take you to start shifting??

[Xanth]

So you're saying we should be able to shift away with our eyes open, wow never thought of that, so how long did it take you to start shifting??

That's the general idea.  But the exercise really should teach you two things... first, it should teach you to passively observe... and secondly, it should teach you that this stuff is actually much easier with your eyes closed (but that's really a no brainer LOL). 

I was just doing it a few minutes ago... I think it's easier to do in a well-lit room, staring at a pattern of some sort, in this case, the patterns on the tiles in our bathroom.
If I can keep my eyes still and passive enough, keeping the point I'm fixated on within view without it blurring or my eyes crossing (causing it to become double), then after a 30 - 60 seconds you should start to see some change in your visual field... after another 30 - 60 seconds, I tend to start to see a haze of white creep over everything I'm seeing and kind of dance around in large blobs around my view.  So, roughly 1 -2 minutes.

I haven't really got to the part where everything is faded out yet, but ALMOST there.  It gets tough on the eyes keeping them open for that long, cause you're not allowed to blink... blinking resets (re-draws) everything you're seeing.

This is why I think it's easier to project with our eyes closed OR in a completely dark room.  Because the micro movements and blinking of our eyes has gives no change to what we're seeing... so the "fading" of our field of view can happen naturally and in most cases quickly and easy.

[horaciocs]

It's part of the relaxation routine, we shut down various sensory inputs to our brain in order to shift our conscience outwards. Just like needing to go to the bathroom, hearing a sound or smelling smoke awakes us. They are all sensory inputs that can command your brain to wake up.

There is a specific pathway in our central nervous system that controls that, it's called the ascending reticular activating system, here's an exerpt from http://neuro.psyc.memphis.edu/neuropsyc/np-ugp-activat.htm that explains it:

Two Types of Reticular Formation: Ascending and Descending Reticular Activating Systems

Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS)

Fibers in brain stem which receive collaterals from sensory fibers projecting to thalamus
Fibers relay this information to the archi-thalamic nuclei, and project this information to the cortex in a diffuse manner
Reticular formation responds to stimuli from all sensory systems
Effect of different senses is weighted as to activating properties.

Its function is to wake up the central nervous system in response to external stimuli. Experiments with animals where this tract is cut off creates animals that always sleep. There are other stimulating pathways to the CNS, but this is the most important one.

All inputs can wake the cns up, and during meditation all we want to do is to shut down all systems that may create/transmit such stimuli. Closing our eyes is one way, but to willingly ignore the information the eyes send us is another way to do it.

[Xanth]

It's part of the relaxation routine, we shut down various sensory inputs to our brain in order to shift our conscience outwards. Just like needing to go to the bathroom, hearing a sound or smelling smoke awakes us. They are all sensory inputs that can command your brain to wake up.

There is a specific pathway in our central nervous system that controls that, it's called the ascending reticular activating system, here's an exerpt from http://neuro.psyc.memphis.edu/neuropsyc/np-ugp-activat.htm that explains it:

Its function is to wake up the central nervous system in response to external stimuli. Experiments with animals where this tract is cut off creates animals that always sleep. There are other stimulating pathways to the CNS, but this is the most important one.

All inputs can wake the cns up, and during meditation all we want to do is to shut down all systems that may create/transmit such stimuli. Closing our eyes is one way, but to willingly ignore the information the eyes send us is another way to do it.

horaciocs,
Damn man!  That was awesome. 
Great research!

I think it's a great way to practice passively observing.  If you can get everything within your field of vision to melt away... then you're doing great and doing it with your eyes closed should be really easy.

[Stookie]

If this means anything, I do 90% of my practice sitting indian style with eyes open. Much of the time I visualize as you would with eyes closed and ignore input from my eyes (or do my best to). It takes a lot of concentration, but that's what I want. My eyes either close on their own or an "inner" vision takes over. While difficult, I find much more freedom in this than lying in bed and trying to "get out".

[ingerul9]

This reminds me of some cool experiences I've had. The first one is staring at the sky. In my mind it formed a pattern , a sort of vortex and I was seeing it visually. It intrigued me but I dismissed it as something that the eyes are tricking me.

The other is much more like what you are seeing. Whenever I am concentrating on a meditative image with very low light my visual field narrows and it starts forming a tunnel view. The corners around me disappear and it remains only the image that I'm staring at. This is done still with no blinking. If I blink than the effect diminishes a bit.

Another experience that has happened a few times is watching in the darkness of my eyes. As I stand there watching, an image is forming. I'm absolutely amazed at this experience. I didn't do it on purpose. I was just resting. These were all done effortless and they happened spontaneously.