I’ve noticed that when I’m lying in bed in the dark with eyes closed, a sharp unexpected sound (like the popping of a settling structure, not necessarily all that loud) will cause a flash of light across my visual field. I wonder if that is a side-effect of this kind of connection.
The eardrums move when the eyes move
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Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Until you pointed this out, I hadn’t noticed it, but it has indeed always been there. I wonder what other sensory anomalies we experience without realising ?
This is why buddhist monks talk about reality vibrating - the continuity of reality is an illusion constructed by the brain, while the actual perceptions generated are a series of discrete experiences. Also, eye saccades are a great example of this. If you look at your own eyes in the mirror and switch between looking at your left and right eyes, you don't see your eyes move. If you watch someone else do this, you do…
The monk comment on reality thing vibrating is really fascinating.
Sometimes when it's quiet and I'm laying down. I can feel vibrations, for many years I attributed them to subtle deep earthquakes or even perhaps the house or something shifting. But after having felt a similar vibration in many states. Many floors up or on outside ground. It's all quite similar. Although I've never had any formal meditation training, I have read and practiced it a lot before. I wonder if I'm feeling reality vibrating or perhaps at least in the sense the monks meant.
Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's one of the automatic functions of the tensor tympani muscle. It also does it when you talk, and as part of your startle reflex. Fun fact: some people have conscious control of this muscle and can voluntarily "screw up their ears" (at least that's what it feels like, it also makes a roaring/rushing sound) to dampen sounds.
Are you talking about the rumbling sound you hear when you yawn with your mouth closed?
I don't really yawn with my mouth closed, but just tried mimicking it and yes, same sound as long as I tense the top of my jaw under my ears. It's more or less the same the same tone as closing your ears manually by pushing the tragus over the opening with your finger, but a bit louder for me.
Re: The eardrums move when the eyes move
#64There is a medical condition where people can hear their own eye movements. > The bizarre phenomenon of being able to hear the sound of the eyeballs moving in their sockets (e.g. when reading in a quiet room) "like sandpaper on wood" is one of the more distinctive features of this condition and is almost exclusively associated with SCDS. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_canal_dehiscence_sy...
Similarly, when I'm really still and reading a book, I can hear some sort of grinding sound when I turn my neck ever so slightly. The sound reminds me of a little stepper motor. I have no idea if that is unique or not but I always thought it was interesting.