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How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

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Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#41

Post by mensetmanusman »

CommieBobDole wrote: post #4

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

Yes, a side effect of this skill is that schizophrenia runs in the family. Super helpful for lots of other things though.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#42

Post by SanderNL »

CommieBobDole wrote: post #4

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

No, that’s hallucinating. Mind’s eye is like what you see when you remember a visual scene.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#43

Post by hutzlibu »

Hnrobert42 wrote: post #17
CommieBobDole wrote: post #4

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

I am like you. I’m guessing that the author needed to use the stuff seen by his eyes while closed as a springboard to seeing something with his mind’s eye. My dad told me about monk’s who meditate on imagining that their thoughts exist behind their belly button. As you noted, your mind’s eye is not located in the same physical space as your actual eyes. Similarly, there is no reason the thoughts you hear couldn’t be…

"But I’ve found it remarkably difficult to convince my mind that it exist anywhere other than my head. I don’t think this difficulty is based on biology. I think it’s just conditioning. But damn, it’s hard."

It really is hard. I just know the conscious effort of meditating and centering my consciousness in the center of my body (above the belly button) as opposed to my head, really helps my focus and mental abilities and general wellbeing. And everytime I use my mobile .. it helps me if I do it afterwards, to not get lost again. I wonder if the jogis would have advanced much, if they would have had a mobile close to them ..

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#45

Post by layer8 »

davidhunter wrote: post #8
CommieBobDole wrote: post #4

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

Yes. I am like you in that I cannot actually see anything visual in my minds eye but I can still 'visualise' it. For example, I can rotate a die in my minds eye without actually seeing it. It's hard to explain. It was a revelation when I found out that most people can actually see things visually in their minds eye. A friend of mine can actually place imagined objects into their field of view, like AR.

I wouldn’t be so sure that what they’re describing isn’t really the same as your “visualization”. I can’t truly see anything in my mind’s eye, same as you and others in this thread, but I can abstractly visualize it, again same as you describe for rotating a die, and I can place that abstract visualization in the 3D space I see before my (open) eyes.

I think it’s more likely that others describe this abstract visualization as “seeing” although they don’t really see it, as opposed to them really seeing it as if it were real. As you say, it’s difficult to describe. It’s like a memory of having seen something, and people might describe that as really seeing (because it’s like a memory of really seeing), but in fact it’s not.

It’s like hearing a song or other piece of music in your head that you know well, and you can hum or sing along it, but it’s not like you’re actually hearing it.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#47

Post by drewtato »

layer8 wrote: post #40

I would be careful with the eye rubbing, as that’s an important risk factor for keratoconus: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6848869/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9800344/

Maybe this is too obvious to spend words on, but it's really weird that neither actually define eye rubbing, specifically as being with the eyelids closed. The first one even has a section for the definition of eye rubbing and fully avoids defining it.

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#48

Post by Eupraxias »

CommieBobDole wrote: post #4

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

Aphantasia?

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#49

Post by nico »

izoow wrote: post #36

I wonder if this has something to do with certain people's brains being wired more towards images and others towards sound. I always felt like I'm much better with sound when it comes to recalling things and such.

Interesting. Another potential spectrum could be people wired more for concrete vs abstract

Personally I mostly think and understand the world in terms of abstract concepts, but I know that a lot of people don’t really have or care for the level of abstraction that I’m usually more comfortable with

Similar I guess to the spectrum of actual vs ideal

Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

#50

Post by [deleted] »

CommieBobDole wrote: post #4

So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…

[deleted]
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