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+--- Thread: Jimbo's Journal (/showthread.php?tid=2299)
Re: Jimbo's Journal - David - 02-21-2013
It sounds like you've figured out that practicing the right way to see is nothing special and you just have to keep doing it. And as you do it you can use positive reinforcement by reminding yourself that you're seeing the details you are because you're paying attention to a small enough area to be able to process them. You only have a limited amount of brain power, and it takes away from what you can see in the center if you try to divert those resources to see too much outside the center.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 02-22-2013
Thank you, David. It does seem to be getting simpler. All the theorising is helpful to a point, but it does, or should boil down to something anybody can understand and do.
When I take my son for his swimming lesson, like today, I find the environment of the swimming pool helpful with experimentation with my vision. It is a big brightly lit area with a lot of visually interesting things (I'm not talking about ladies in swimwear). There are signs and colours and activity and I can see it all from higher up in the viewing area. I discovered something which perhaps to many Bates students is basic, but for me has been a transfer of knowledge from my head to real experience. I will explain:
I am still learning what central fixation really is. I have learned that it is not a narrowing of your field of vision. Today, in fact, I learned that it is quite the opposite. Up until now I have still been narrowing my field of vision to a degree. This has happened by me focusing a bit too much attention on an area in the centre of my vision. Yet this area of central fixation has still been quite wide. This has helped but I found an approach which has so far worked better. Whilst in the swimming baths, I widened my general visual awareness to the point where I was more aware of most of my field of vision while at the same time paying more attention to a small spot, or area at the centre. There was no effort on this and it felt natural and also satisfied the impulse to see everything at once equally, yet I wasn't really doing that because I had more attention on various details, or blurs at the centre. It is difficult to describe but it feels the same way as when you have a clear flash. I was more aware of the centre while being generally aware of everything else. Of course, I experienced another quantum leap in my vision. My attention was on the move a lot more because I was more aware of my whole field of vision instead of narrowing it in an attempt to find central fixation. As broadened my awareness of the wider field of vision I felt able to be more aware of a much smaller area at the centre. I can only liken it to looking at an entire blank page of paper and noticing a tiny black spot in the centre. I continued practising this outside in the daylight with good results. It felt natural and easy. For he first time in a long time it was ok to take everything in, but as long as I was paying more attention to the centre. It worked really well in good light but is a bit more difficult in the house with lower lights levels. Big expansive spaces seem to help in getting a wide general visual awareness. In fact it seems that the wider my visual awareness, the smaller the point of central fixation by comparison. Before this discovery the widest comfortable area of my vision did not have enough attention on it as I thought this was the wrong thing to do. But it is just about proportion. Taking in the whole of your visual field is fine, as long as there is a point of central fixation at the centre.
I actually find it difficult to try and see all things equally. My eyes naturally want to find a point of central fixation, one which is often shifting around all over the place. I think that what I and perhaps many others have been doing is in an effort to see detail (before we discovered Bates) we have narrowed our whole vision to a point where everything else is excluded from our attention. This has caused strain and more blur. So we then widen our attention to take in everything else, but for some reason we are still blocking attention to the the remaining wider area. We are stuck with attention which is somewhat focused around the centre, but is quite a big area and it is all seen equally. When we dare to widen our attention again there seems to be a corresponding reaction with our central fixation in which that area gets smaller. So it is like two circles the same size, one over the other, and as one widens, the other narrows. But I think this balancing act on,y happens if we are aware of the principle of central fixation. What I am trying to say is that narrowing our general awareness of what we see within our full field of vision is not helpful and makes central fixation more difficult and less effective. Therefore, I think that central fixation is attention on a very small point IN COMPARISON to our GENERAL awareness of our FULL field of vision. If our general awareness has been narrowed because we think that is central fixation, real central fixation is going to be impossible because it requires such a correspondingly tiny area by comparison that we cannot visually detect it.
Well, that was a lot of theorising. I am trying to explain something which is utterly simple in practise but I think it helps to understand why something works so that we can have confidence in it. A few times in the past I just widened my visual awareness for whatever reason (or because I got tired of central fixation how I was attempting it) and found relaxation and visual clarity. It didn't make sense why that happened because it seemed to contradict Bates teachings. I soon lost the clear vision and relaxation because I didn't understand why it happened and therefore how to maintain it. On another occasion I read somewhere about how working on your peripheral vision can help improve your eyesight. Again, this seemed to contradict Bates, but it didn't really.
So what I have discovered and explained is, I believe, nothing new. It is just something we would discern from Bates teachings if we didn't misunderstand them as we so often do.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 02-27-2013
270213
I had difficulty a few days ago with gaining clearer vision through my practise of central fixation. In the past I would have given up and assumed I got it wrong because it stopped working. This time I have chosen to learn from it. I think that journaling has been helpful in perseverance.
I think that when something stops working so well, it is an opportunity to take the next step on the learning curve. I was doing something right, but I was also doing something wrong. Now is the time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Or I could just give up like I have done in the past. This kind of giving up is not the good sort which can lead to relaxation, but the bad sort where you are left utterly confused and dejected.
I decided to turn my attention back to my mind and away from my eyes as this felt more comfortable on this occasion. Sometimes it is the other way around. I decided to give my attention more freedom of movement between my vision and my thoughts and any other experiences. I wasn't going to hold my attention on my vision as this was now beginning to cause strain after several days of this kind of practise. Also, I have not been trying too hard to think about what my attention is, or where it will go next, or what it is doing. I can only describe what I am saying as this: Attention is a pure thing. Any over-analysis of it stops it from working properly. At this stage it is very difficult to describe what I am doing when it comes to attentiveness and also dealing with negative feelings about my eyesight. It is very subtle. It is so subtle that I don't think we can easily notice the difference between correct and incorrect use of attention. All we do notice is that our vision is better/worse but we don't really know why.
In practise what I have been doing in everyday situations is notice what I am seeing, then my attention may go to a thought about what I am seeing or a thought about something seemingly unrelated, and at this point my seeing is more passive yet I may notice that my seeing is centrally fixated and have found that it is ok to put my attention back on that for a bit as I won't let myself feel bad about correct or incorrect practise, (because I generally feel that too much attention on seeing is counter productive). I will let my attention rest on whatever feels restful, or dynamic (interesting thoughts/observations) then I may notice that in looking at a particular thing there is strain and blur but I don't reject this, and neither do I deny that I want to see it clearer, but I accept the situation and immediately allow my attention to take the next step away after acknowledging the strain and I may be attentive to a thought about my eyesight and then my attention may have naturally moved onto something else, whether it is in my field of vision or my head. All of this happens naturally, easily, effortlessly, and very quickly. This, I believe is the choreography of the graceful dance of relaxed attention which brings about clarity of vision and thought.
The results have been more mental focus, a greater sense of relaxation, and clearer vision. Although the vision clarity has not been as good as when I was initially practising central fixation of the vision only. I'll tell you why I think this is:
Underlying strain. There have been times when I have brought about correct use of the vision processes through various good habits and central fixation. Or it may have been one very simple kind of thought. The result was amazing clarity of vision and I thought I had arrived - I had cured myself, or at least permanent 20/20 vision seemed to be just around the corner. What was actually happening was a level of underlying strain in bringing about a surface relaxation to my vision. So, my eyes were relaxed, but my mind was taking all the strain. For example, the time I experienced 20/20 like vision for an hour or so came about by the simple thought that it is mental strain which causes bad eyesight and not physical strain. This may or may not be true, but this thought alone caused me to experience a great deal of relaxation leading to the clear vision. But I could not maintain this thought without, ironically, causing mental strain. My eyes and mind were relaxed by the thought, but eventually carrying the thought itself became a strain. This is what I mean by underlying strain. It is the strain we create maybe in our minds, to bring about relaxation of the eyes. I had a very similar but longer duration experience with swinging. Then after a few days it completely stopped working. Attention to swinging had become a strain after a period of time. These episodes can produce dramatic results where I think I have been cured. But beneath it all was just increasing strain. Then I would almost despair of the Bates Method because of the let down after some days. Of course, the problem isn't with the Bates Method, it is with me.
So the point is, if my vision improvement is not as impressive through allowing attention to roam free instead of focusing my attention solely on my eyesight, then I prefer that slow and steady improvement to the false hope of perfect vision within a week. At the moment I do not believe there is any underlying strain with allowing my attention to shift away from my eyes and onto all the other things which demand my attention, which of course are all the thoughts, feelings, actions and interactions of life.
The simple trick is: One thing best. But I have not been trying to think, do or see one thing best because the act of trying itself divides that attention. I have just got to let it happen.
I have reassessed what relaxation is as well. Today while shopping, my wife and I were separated. I spent about forty minutes trying to find her (and as usual she had left her mobile phone at home). I was quite stressed and angry. But my vision was better than usual. Why? I was making sure that I was accepting the situation and accepting my feelings. I wasn't happy about either, but I chose to be relaxed in the situation in as far as I wasn't trying to attain some unattainable relaxation euphoria in a stressful and frustrating situation. Relaxation is accepting a situation, including tense feelings, and not actually trying to do anything to change it, or at least choosing to be relaxed with the tension. A bit of a paradox perhaps but it really is more simple than perhaps I am making it sound. It is like being ok with being stressed. That is relaxation. Relaxation is not trying to conjure a seemingly impossible feeling when you are in a situation where your own natural emotional and bodily reaction is to be tense (that survival instinct). Trying to suppress this will not work and make you more stressed.
I think that maybe this is the key in any pressured situation from reading words on a TV screen in your front room to a life or death situation to trying to find your wife in a busy high street.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-05-2013
050313
I have previously written about how we must allow our attention to shift between what we see and what we think and feel etc. This is a good thing to remember when it seems that we are trying to keep our attention shifting within the visual field only. The reason is that being attentive only to what we see will ultimately cause strain. Our vision is passive a lot of the time. There are also plenty of times when other things demand our attention, such as being attentive to our thoughts when conversing with somebody, as we are engaging our mind with their mind.
I find, though, that without a default practise, I end up causing strain by trying to take control of, or be too attentive to this shifting process between vision and mind. So it seems to me to work best when I practise central fixation of the vision first and continue that way until either it becomes burdensome, or something else demands my attention. This is better than thinking "where does my attention go now?", which is only another form of strain. As for visual shifting, this is not something I try to do so much as I just follow my visual attention which remains on the move if I don't try to see a particular thing more clearly.
Over the past several days I have been following this procedure of visual attention but allowing my attention to shift to my thoughts whenever it feels right. I had a thought come to me. Now this thought could have come from a deeper part of my mind which is trying to teach me how to see clearly again, so I chose to trust it, (this happens quite a lot). The thought was that I just need to place my attention on the thing which I am looking at. This attention has got nothing to do with how clearly I see it. It is just a simple practise of placing my attention on this one blur among many other blurs. What makes this blur special, though, is that I am looking at it. Now this reminded me of one of David's articles saying that we must look at things like they are the most important thing in the world. When I first read this I thought that this practise sounds like strain. But often it is my understanding of it which makes it seem like a strain. Now I think I know what he means, and it is nothing like strain. So I practised placing my best attention on the things I was looking at, as they were, and even as I felt about them. When I got it right, I had a clear flashes giving me better vision than I could normally achieve which would have previously been facilitated by a lot of underlying strain (the sheer mental effort in practising good seeing habits without mental relaxation) accompanied by a sensation of complete release around my eyeballs.
My conclusion, at the moment is this: When we are looking at something, we think that we have our attention on it. But if we do not see it clearly, our attention (our best attention) is not there at all. When we do place our best attention on the thing which we are looking at, we see it clearly.
So, speaking for myself, I look at something and I think I have placed my attention there also purely by the act of looking at it. I may shift on it, centrally fixate upon it, put all of my effort into seeing it, but as it is still a blur, my attention is not on it. My attention is somewhere else. Where? Who knows?! I am not concerned as to where my attention really is, but I know where it is not. So how do I get my attention on the thing which I am looking at? I cannot make it happen. All I can do is wait and allow my attention to come to it. It seems that my attention does find it and I experience the flash. This flash also brings the clearness and sense of clarity of mind which would make sense if my attention is truly brought into the moment.
This act of bringing the attention into something is an act of the mind which seems to be caused by a simple and sustained intention but without strain. This practise is not an exercise involving manipulating the eyes, or doing anything with the eyes. It is purely an exercise of the attention. Along with this comes accepting what is seen and not judging what is seen. The only "pass" criteria is that attention is being drawn to whatever it is that is seen, no matter how bad that state of vision is. I think in order for us to bring our best attention into any situation (not just seeing) we need to have an intention to do so and when that situation is perceived more clearly, it is a measure of how much attention has been released from other things and placed upon the current thing.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-08-2013
080313
A simple thought today: Clarity of vision is not built on what the eyes see, but what the attention notices.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-09-2013
090313
Another thought: There is a difference between trying to see more detail, and noticing detail which you don't normally give enough attention to.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-12-2013
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A few thoughts and theories here:
Seeing correctly is a gentle process. People who don't see correctly see "hard". When that moment of relaxation comes through practising the Bates Method, we are not often aware of what caused the seemingly spontaneous flash because we cannot reproduce it. We may have been practising good vision habits for a while, or not at all, but suddenly a flash comes from nowhere. Whilst in that state we cannot put our finger on what we are doing to maintain it. Actually we are doing less than what we were doing before to try to see clearly. Seeing gently is about simply placing your attention on the small point at the centre of your field of vision, whilst being aware of the whole field. You cannot increase your attention on that area as it will translate into eye strain, but you can acknowledge that your attention is not really there. Then you can accept what you see, and allow the attention to settle there more completely. This is actually a roundabout way of learning to accept the blur which leads to relaxed perception and resulting in clear flashes.
Diffused attention means a lack of focus and concentration and a general loss of ability in most aspects of life. This does not mean that people with poor eyesight are stupid or under performers, but it does mean that we are not performing at our best. If we can learn to focus our attention in the area of our eyesight (where the problem manifests itself the most obviously) then that will translate into our thinking and performance. I believe it works like this:
Focused attention is like two people playing catch with a ball. The ball represents the attention which is constantly moving between two or more points. Now to represent the diffusing of attention we will introduce a second ball to be thrown at the same time but from the opposite person to the one who has possession of the ball at that moment. Now there is a much more difficult process going on where the attention is equally in two places at once. Achieving central fixation with the vision is like removing the second ball. One person catches one ball - central fixation of the vision is achieved. Then the ball is thrown to the other person, and then central fixation of the mind is also achieved. Back and forth the attention goes.
There is an illusion which occurs when our attention is centrally fixated and operating properly. The illusion is that we think we really are doing and perceiving many things at once. When we look through our eyes, we think that we can see everything equally. This is how poor eyesight was able to creep in without us noticing we were doing anything wrong. The attention moves so quickly that we are not aware that really we are only doing one thing at a time. That time being a fraction of a second. Therefore if you try to see one thing best or think one thing best, you will stall the attention anyway. You need to allow the attention to move by itself. This is probably where relaxation comes in. To move attention which is stuck only requires a gentle nudge perhaps. Just like the time something momentarily distracted you from your effort of seeing and you had the clear flash you couldn't explain.
So, how am I doing in practise? Very well at the moment in comparison to how things have usually been with my vision. It seems that new realisations are coming to me on a daily basis. Some days I need to take one step back but I think that progress with the Bates Method is very much two steps forward, one step back. I have become much more intuitive with my vision improvement and it seems that my God given vision processes are trying to directly re-educate me in how to see clearly. But more than this, my mind is trying to achieve the optimum performance it was made to achieve. I suppose it is like a system reboot or a mechanical re calibration based on the original program or blueprints. I don't use a Snellen chart or any kind of precise measuring of my eyesight, I just know that I see more clearly most of the time compared to the condition of my eyesight before I started my journal. There has also been a dramatic decrease in migraine type headaches and significant eye discomfort during this period. Clear flashes have become much more frequent again after a very long period of no flashes at all.
The most encouraging thing is that all of my conclusions seem to agree with Dr Bates teachings, which I am glad about because I trust them completely. I have just not always been able to embrace them because of my misunderstanding and level of strain. I am grateful to those who have contributed on this forum as they have made a major impact on my understanding.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-15-2013
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I have so far learned that relearning to see means simply noticing/ paying enough attention to detail in the things you see. You should not try to see more detail than you already do, but you need to be bothered to actually take note of what detail you see. Also, it is not about narrowing your vision. This is what happens when you are so intent on trying to see more detail that the periphery becomes less and less distinct. I believe good eyesight produces the illusion of seeing all things equally, so do not be scared of this seeming to happen, but just notice the actual details within that field of vision. You will only notice one detail at a time but your attention will be moving quickly around your field of vision and your eyes will follow that attention without you necessarily being aware that they are moving. This is shifting and central fixation happening as a result of you choosing to mentally notice what detail you can really see, rather than thinking "What's the point? - It's too blurry and does not deserve to be noticed as detail". If you find yourself narrowing your field of vision, then "open" it back up to take in the whole scene, but continue to be mindful of the details of that scene - the little blurs, the indistinct mushes etc. While your mind is getting round this you will probably find more fluctuation of vision and even for the worse, but the trick is to simply notice what detail is there, even if it is less than before. So, the small detail suddenly disappears into a bigger mush, well just notice and accept the mush if it is the smallest detail you can see at that point. Relaxation is important. Acceptance is important. Leaving the eyes alone is important. Attention alone to what is on the screen of your mind is the key. Think of it like a TV set which is giving you a bad picture. You cannot do anything about it apart from simply watch what is there. Your eyes are the TV set. Don't mess. Your attention is you watching it. The difference is, your eyes will fix themselves but a TV set won't.
I need to get to a place where my attention is more easily stimulated and where clear vision becomes something which happens with increasingly less and less mental involvement. It really must be about waking up the chronically lazy attention. In order to do this I think we need to be prepared to take what may seem to be a backwards step in our visual performance. For example, a few days back I could obtain clear flashes by the technique of placing my attention on what I am looking at, then acknowledging that my attention was not fully there if the blur did not improve, followed by a bit of patience, relaxation and acceptance, then the flash would come. Today I will not even try to duplicate that process in the hope I can do it again. Today I need to find a way which is more subtle, requires less thought and mental energy, but using the same principles. So, initially I find that using a less demanding way of seeing produces little results, but my mind and my eyes remember. They just need to be pushed a little to respond to less stimulus. Eventually, according to my theory, clear eyesight will seem to happen automatically without any kind of mental initiation. So the pathway from conscious shifting, centrally fixating, other good vision habits starts with quite a bit of deliberate intervention, but as the vision system wakes up and attention wakes up, it will seem we need to do less and less to induce clear vision. Then we can get to a place where we can see clearly even in stressful situations or situations which demand clear eyesight.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-18-2013
EASYVISION CO
INTERNAL MEMO
TO: ALL STAFF
RE: HOLIDAYS
It has come to the attention of management that staff are not taking enough holidays. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that holidays are as important part of our work as time clocked in. Our experience shows that staff who work too much are dull. We don't do dullness. It's not what we are about.
Get a life.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-18-2013
180313
I don't know about anyone else, but when I find an angle on the Bates Method which works for me, I use and abuse it until it's ineffective. So, for several days it works really well and it makes sense and I think I have figured it out. Then it just becomes a strain. Today was such a day.
Actually, it wasn't really a bad day. My vision has been quite good compared to it's previous state, but maintaining it has been more challenging and there has not been any actual progress. In the end I stopped trying anything at all to induce clear vision as I know that a break from this can be beneficial.
After work I went to do some shopping and my eyesight was ok (for me). I did not want my eyesight to deteriorate but neither were any of my approaches to inducing better eyesight working that effectively. So I just decided that the environment I was in was more interesting visually than the state of my eyesight. I think I was on to something there as my eyesight for the rest of the day improved.
So here is the theory: The actual things we look at must be more interesting to us than how clearly we are seeing them. In other words, blur is not allowed to matter. Clear vision should not be made too much of a fuss about. Don't try to see just for the sake of seeing. Seeing serves a purpose. The purpose is seeing is perception, understanding the world, interacting with the world. When the object we see becomes more important than how well we see it, it is seen clearly.
This is a difficult learning curve for someone like me who has a tendency to obsess about my eyesight and it's improvement. I need to spend less time learning to see for the sake of seeing alone, and more time enjoying what is seen for what it is. I say again - I must be more interested in the object of my attention, than I am interested in how well I can see, or potentially see it.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-18-2013
I would like to expand upon my last post, because I think it is important.
I said that the object we are looking at must be more important to us than our ability to see it clearly. Or, in other words, our ability to see an object clearly needs to be less important to us than the object itself. (I mean this from a perception point of view. I don't mean that a dirty pair of socks you have seen on the floor must be more important to you than your eyesight in general!)
Here is an illustration and an explanation as to why I think this is important:
Two men look at a sports car parked a little way in the distance. The first man is myopic but is practising the Bates Method (but doing so incorrectly...actually this is probably me). The second man has normal, good vision. The myopic man sees the car but since he is anxious to improve his eyesight, he is primarily interested in seeing sharp lines and details. The car itself, though interesting, is only of secondary interest to the myope. He is only interested in the image of the car. The second man sees the car clearly. (He doesn't even make a mental note about the clarity of his eyesight as it is as un noteworthy as breathing.) the second man wonders what it is like inside, what the car is like to drive, how much it would cost to buy....he is primarily interested in the car itself. He may well note that he sees it more clearly than his myopic friend, but this would be of secondary interest at best.
The myopic man has short-circuited the process of perception by stopping at the image. The image is supposed to serve the purpose towards complete perception, but he does not get that far and treats the means like the end. The man with the normal vision has completed the process of perception by seamlessly moving from seeing an image to comprehending an object. (This could be why when we see something we do not understand we become temporarily myopic, according to Dr Bates.)
So, does this mean that I have to think about everything I look at? No. That would cause strain and huge inefficiency. People with normal vision automatically think about the things they see, no matter how briefly. Myopes do it too - every image triggers a thought, even just for a moment. But myopes will stop the process of perception at the point of the image. There would be a whole pile of negative thoughts, rejection of the image, frustration, trying to see the object clearly even when the nature of the object is already known. What we need to do instead is immediately move on from the blurry image and perceive the object. The image, there and then, by comparison, is not important. Otherwise, what is the point in looking at something if the thing you are looking at is less important than the means of looking (the eyesight)? But for the myope, the image is all important. This is a pointless and futile engagement.
How do we move on from the image? Unfortunately it is a habit. All I can do is stop myself stalling the perception process when I notice I am doing it and form a new habit of truly engaging with the thing I am seeing. If I see something so indistinctly that I do not know what it is, then this is a good place to use my imagination instead. This is really all about engaging with life and finding things in the world more interesting than the condition of our eyesight. This is a difficult transition for the myope who is fixated with only images. You cannot force this process, or that will cause strain. Just recondition the mind to be more interested in the things you see again, and to be less interested in the seeing of things.
Applying clear vision techniques and establishing good vision habits has it's place at appropriate times of the day, but I think that most of the time we should be forgetting about our eyesight and instead place our best attention on what is seen, rather than how it is seen.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-19-2013
190313
Since my revelation yesterday, today I made a conscious effort to change my priorities of interest whereby my primary interest is in the things I am seeing for what they are, and less interested in how the image of those things appears. Psychologically it is a bit like looking through the blur to the essence of what is seen. But this is not meant visually. If you tried to visually look through a blur then you would end up straining. By essence I mean the actual thing you are looking at and all that it means to you in a moments perception. The actual image of the thing is less important and being fixated with the image (how well I can see it) causes strain. The moment of perception and the associated thoughts about an object you are seeing are what happens when there are not other thoughts blocking that perception such as thoughts about the clarity of the image.
I had a good day with my vision. It was different in how it felt and the quality of clear vision phases was just as good as previously, but without the feeling of being fixated on the image. Instead I was fixated on the purpose of the image, which was to perceive the world as it was happening around me. It is all the more obvious to me how I was doing it wrong before by fixating on the image because when I experienced strain and blur, force of habit wanted me to try to clear up the image. Instead now, I don't worry about the image, but instead make a mental connection with the object of the image. This has felt much more relaxed.
This evening I have been experimenting a bit with this concept and trying to maybe develop it further. Work still needs doing as I still get strain, of course, and I have not yet mastered this state of mind where I put the object first and the image second (or even further down the importance list). I held my iPad (which I use most of the time) far away enough so that small letters on an email were completely blurred. Then I focused my attention on wanting to know what the words say. I did not focus my attention on wanting to see what they said. I wanted to know what they said. It was almost like I was using my mind to send an order to my eyes instead of trying to do it directly myself. The result, after a some concentration and a little bit of persevereance, was, of course, a clear flash with the perception of pulsating characters on the screen of the iPad. There was no sense of strain, or discomfort. Also, I was quite insistent to my mind that I wanted to know what the out of focus words said. I gave my mind a firm command, and then my mind obviously decided that this job could be delegated to the eyes as they were the most appropriate sense to use to provide the information which I was demanding. But the hierarchy is a funny one. My eyes take orders from my mind. My mind takes orders from me. But my eyes do not take orders from me, only from my mind. Or another way of looking at it is this: By insisting that I know what the blurry words say, my attention is activated in it's entirety. A much greater part of my attention is now on the task of finding out the information which I want. But if I insisted on seeing the letters clearly, then I am limiting my attention to the eyes only. Of course, it is a job for the eyes, but it is almost as I have to give my whole being the opportunity to perceive what the words say before the eyes are allowed to set about doing their job. But this agrees with Bates teachings in that the mind and the imagination have to be involved. I believe that the imagination plays quite a passive role in seeing in that we tend to automatically produce thoughts about what we are looking at. If we do not see a thing clearly, then instead of straining the eyes we allow our imagination to work on the problem instead. I have found this approach beneficial.
It may be possible to get to the point where I can demand a clear image, but I need to command my mind to carry out the task and not my eyes. If I do achieve a clear image this way then it would be important to then move on to perceiving the object and not just remain transfixed by the image. In other words, take the clear image in your stride and remember the reason why you wanted to see the object clearly in the first place. If we have a habit of testing our eyes then we will not be looking at things with genuine interest and once the sharp image is obtained there may not be enough interest to maintain this clarity, which will just cause us to get stuck with the image and then strain will return. This is why clear flashes go away after a while. We are besotted by the clarity but the world is still just an image to us. This serves no purpose to the mind and the process of perception is stalled. The image fails because the perception has been aborted for the sake of the means - "Wow, I can see clearly!" (But I am not interested enough in what I see, I am only really interested in the fact that I can see, which is pointless. There is nowhere to go from here but only backwards towards no vision.) It is almost like an insult to the perception process which says, "Here is clear vision, now let us perceive!" and you reply "No, I am in love with the clear vision. I don't care for it's purpose, as long as I can see everything and anything at all clearly, the journey ends here."
I am teaching myself here because I have had this attitude and it could very well be the single reason why I have wasted so much time and failed for so many years with applying the Bates Method. My recent successes with the Method all started when I began journaling after concluding that clear eyesight comes from "thinking one thing best" which remains the essence of my approach. This idea of thinking one thing best has developed in my understanding to "attention" and where to place this attention, and how to use attention. This all ties in with my latest realisation and with Dr Bates teachings. It also ties in with brief successes in the past but when I did not know what it was which worked at the time.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - eaglevision - 03-23-2013
jimboaxeman Wrote:The myopic man has short-circuited the process of perception by stopping at the image. The image is supposed to serve the purpose towards complete perception, but he does not get that far and treats the means like the end. The man with the normal vision has completed the process of perception by seamlessly moving from seeing an image to comprehending an object.
stunning observation, this is precisely how we use our hearing and our sense of smell, why should our eyesight be any different!
enjoying these posts.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - Tsukiomi - 03-24-2013
Fascinating train of thought. I can vouch for the squelching of perception bit. I notice that during my clearest flashes, all my other senses are sharper, especially my sense of smell (which is usually non-existent). Also, it is far easier to develop a line of thought deliberately and the sensations that I feel are far more real feeling. I think what we are dealing with here is literally mental efficiency.
The unfortunate truth of the matter is, at some point along the line we though that forcing our attention at one place or trying to do everything at once/ forcing the eyes to do things messed up this process. I always notice that when I find myself "trying" to do something its like I force myself to get stuck and things become incredibly uncomfortable and exhausting mentally. One caveat to this though: I noticed that being obsessed with how we do things actually makes my strain FAR worse, being obsessed with how you do something rather than the thing itself creates a weird type of mental disconnect for me. So I end up with my attention fixation on how i should do this and other thoughts rather than the thoughts and aspects of the experience itself. I think this is one of the main underlying reasons/distractions that keeps us from making better progress.
Re: Jimbo's Journal - jimboaxeman - 03-27-2013
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Whatever technique or thought I use to clear my vision, it always ends up in strain, unless I can do it as close to effortlessly as possible.
I decided to re read Dr Bates' book Perfect Eyesight Without Glasses as reproduced on this site. It has been a long time since I last read it and I needed to go over a few areas where I may have misunderstood. A few things became apparent to me which I did not appreciate before, despite having read them before. Here are those things:
Dr Bates very clearly identifies the culprit of poor eyesight as "mental strain". I was not entirely confident with the idea of mental strain being the cause because I thought that Dr Bates only mentioned it briefly, if at all. Funny how we remember things all wrong isn't it?
Any effort brought to act upon the senses causes strain. This simple idea has brought a lot of relief to me. I find everything in life an effort! So, by keeping this thought in my mind, I find that I can feel positive about not trying to do anything about my vision at any particular moment if it feels like an effort. This benefits my vision at the times when I just need a rest from Bates practises.
When we shift, we should notice the last item we regarded as less clear than the current one. I had understood this before but found the idea of the practise burdensome. So I practised shifting without it. What a surprise - shifting was a strain and I stopped doing it. Now when I shift I follow this important aspect of doing it and find that shifting does work when it is done properly.
So, I have started incorporating these "exercises" back into my life. This is how I have got on:
I find that when I am at work I am most proactive with my vision. I work in a warehouse and I am on the move all day and have to use my eyes a lot to read numbers at a distance not far beyond my vision level. The job can be boring as well so being occupied with Bates techniques is quite good here. At first I just remembered that effort equals strain. Therefore my eyes did not strain any further and did relax a bit as demonstrated by improved vision. At this better level of relaxation it felt right to move onto the thought of being content to be less aware of my surroundings than what I was actually looking at. This thought I could carry out fairly effortlessly and there seemed to be a benefit and a realisation. The realisation was that my fixation can be so eccentric that I want to see everything clearly beyond 180 degrees! Crazy. It was enough to be content with what was in my natural field of vision rather than worrying about everything outside of it. Then I moved onto the idea of moving my attention with my eyes. It seemed to me that my attention was getting stuck on the last thing I looked at and while my eyes had moved on, my attention was still trying to see the last thing. Attempting to move my attention with my eyes by acknowledging the greater importance of what I was looking at now compared to what I was looking at then was achieved to a degree with maybe a little too much effort. More practise required here another day. I was doing the things yesterday. Today was similar but when I wanted to have a break from the exercises I remembered that I need to observe without effort and I knew that it is less of a strain to apply my attention to a small area than try to see everything equally at once. So I did this. In so doing I noticed how strong the habit still was to take in the whole field. All I did instead, and without too much effort, was to deliberately notice a smaller area at the centre if my field of vision and to do this every time I looked around. It actually felt a bit more restful and brought about good vision results over a reasonable period of time. I did not try to see the centre clearer, I just noticed it. I also realised that in centrally fixating, we do not "miss" everything else as we fear. This is because the whole field is still observed, but less clearly than the centre. Nothing is missed, and in fact, more is seen as the mind and eyes respond to the correct use. After a while though, strain did set in and practising this central fixation became less effective. This is where I know it is time to change my approach and I needed a more complete rest. On the way home from work I decided to do what I did before I wrote my last couple of posts, and that was to focus my attention on whatever my attention would otherwise be focused on if I did not have an issue with my eyesight. I focused on where I was going, what I was doing etc - just as I would if I was a person with normal sight. I elevated my mindset to the reason I have five senses which is to perceive and interact with life. As much as my hearing is not an issue and does not give me cause to think about it, so with my vision. This has produced positive results right up to the time of writing. No doubt at some point I will need to be more proactive again with my vision before bad habits and apathy set in, but what works now is what works now.