thanks for looking in my post. Nice headline, isn't it? 8)
Now Bates claimed that through relaxation, imagination and a high degree of central fixation visual acuity is unlimited. This seems to make sense. Now I'm wondering whether he tried to take it as far as possible by working on his own eyesight and trying to set records. Is there any evidence in his articles that suggests that?
Obviously, he had problems getting his approaches through against the majority of eye doctors that didn't believe in natural vision improvement. So why didn't Bates just surprise the whole science world by improving his own eyesight so much that it would just blow away the eye doctors. He could show them how he reads signs from miles away and stuff like that. They would have problems denying his method after that. :
I ponder that too at times. A man who has so much NVI knowledge could push his eyesight to infinity. I don't think it would have had much impact in the scientific world. If the fact that he was able to cure almost all visual refractive errors didn't blow anyone away, I doubt that this would.
I think the question is objectionable because of its implicit assumption that Dr. Bates did not cure his own vision to a degree sufficient for him to offer carnival side-show freak performances of "super-vision".
Dr. Bates said that "I did ... cure myself" and obtained "...accommodative range of fourteen inches, from four inches to eighteen..." In other words, after self-treatment of his own presbyopia, Dr. Bates was able to read comfortably at anywhere from 4 to 18 inches, optimally at 14 inches, distances all well within his arm's length. Dr. Bates describes his self-treatment in "Presbyopia, its cause and cure" (Chapter 20, Perfect Sight Without Glasses)
Biographical sources indicate that Dr. Bates cured his presbyopia about the year 1912.
When people clear their vision, say from 20/70 to 20/20,
under THEIR control with THEIR IVAC Snellen, they simply
go pass the DMV, avoid the majority-opinion OD, and
get on with their life with NO PRESCRIPTION LENS.
As you have seen yourself, you were prescribed
a "distant" lens in your bi-focal.
You used Bates and cleared your distant vision,
so you no longer need glasses.
You "near" vision need some "work" also -- but
in due course you can clear that.
But when you do all this vision-clearing work -- no
one will:
1. Believe you or,
2. Follow your leadership.
When you do all this yourself -- it never 'counts" as
a success.
One poster has just denied you were successful. If you
believe him you would not have been successful.
I didn't see where somebody denied that Christine improved her vision, but there is a physiological component to this that limits the absolute acuidty that somebody can achieve with their vision. It has to do with the density of rods and cones on the human retina. Higher density is like more pixels on a computer screen or a digital camera: sharper resolution.
So maybe everybody can reach their maximum vision, but there will still be differences between people as far as best vision goes.
Thanks for writing, but I think the first poster in the topic was talking about Dr. Bates and not me, although my vision problem is the same -- presbyopia.
Just to let you know, I was never prescribed bi-focals but only "reading glasses". I got my first driver license at age 39 in 1987 and had no problem reading the Snellen. I went an optometrist for first time in my life in 1996 at age 48. My first "prescription" had no correction whatsoever for distance, but I myself chose to purchase both "progressives" and single-vision glasses. I never once noticed any problem with my distance vision during the whole 11-12 years that I wore glasses. It was always the 2nd & 3rd optometrists who decided to add some correction to the distance. Even so, every prescription, including my last in 2000, was "for reading only".
Yeah, go figure. Apparently the optometrists never heard the expression "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
But having enjoyed excellent vision for 48 years, I know what it is like to see clearly at both the near and the far. I am not practicing Bates Method to clear my distance because it is already clear. When my near-vision is restored to completely clear, I can always verify by reading my own Snellen.
I am now daily experiencing every benefit of Bates Method "imagination cure" (including clearing of my near-vision). I am now reading again, indoors and out, without glasses using Bates Method techniques. I am my becoming my own "imagination success". And I don't care who believes me. Furthermore, I do not expect anyone on this or any other planet to "follow my leadership".
anonym Wrote:I think the question is objectionable because of its implicit assumption that Dr. Bates did not cure his own vision to a degree sufficient for him to offer carnival side-show freak performances of "super-vision".
Subject: Infinity visual acuity -- did Bates say that?
Mzero> Now Bates claimed that through relaxation, imagination and a high degree of central fixation visual acuity is unlimited. This seems to make sense.
Otis> I think that Bates suggested that you could get
to excellent vision, which is generally considered
to be the ablity to see 20/20, or 1 minute-of-arc
resolution.
Otis> If you mean by "unlimited", the ablity to
see 20/1, I believe he never said this.
Otis> I have read Bates, and his book is indeed
extensive on the subject. But I do not believe
he said that Visual Acuilty could reach 20/1.
Otis> Perhaps David, who knows Bates, could
clarify this issue.
Kazekage Wrote:In the magazines, he reports one patient managing to reach a visual acuity of 50/10.
This is many times higher than normal eyesight!
That is the highest I know of...
If Bates really says that one patient was able to reach 50/10, which is equal to 20/4, then that means you can achieve better vision than eagles! (assuming eagles' vision is 20/5, which I've read somewhere) :o It would be awesome if you could tell us where in his magazines he said that.
I wouldn't be surprised, though, because Bates frequently reported cases of telescopic sight, especially in children. One girl was able to see the moons of Jupiter with the naked eye!
By the way, my brother (he's 21) has 20/10 vision. I know he doesn't see that way all the time though, because sometimes he says his vision is a little bit blurry and can't read the 10 line from 20 feet perfectly. Hardly anyone has perfect (or imperfect) sight continuously. And that's why I think it's an awesome goal to achieve permanent telescopic and microscopic vision!
I do know that he repeated multiple times that one can always improve their eyesight, regardless of how good or poor it is. I think that's the "infinity visual acuity" that you guys are alluding to.
The text books on the eye which have been published during the past hundred years or more, state that normal vision is limited by the anatomical structure of the retina. They describe the size of the center of sight to be so small that it is not possible for the normal eye to see the line marked 20 on the Snellen test card at a greater distance than twenty or thirty feet.
It is well-known that persons can read smaller letters, or letters one-half that size, at the same distance. It can be demonstrated that the small letter O with a white center, which can be imagined to be whiter than the margin of the card, can be seen perfectly at any distance when one cart imagine the white center perfectly white. Some patients become able to imagine such a letter perfectly at thirty feet, a vision of 30/10. Others can imagine the small letter perfectly at a distance of forty feet, 40/10, at fifty feet, 50/10. The perfect imagination of the letter O, or of other objects is always associated with perfect sight of other letters or objects not known."
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====================
"A child, at some previous time, may have had an inflammation or disease of the eyeball, which caused his imperfect sight. For example, a scar, sufficiently thick to interfere materially with the vision, may have formed over the front part of the eyeball. A perfect memory or imagination of a letter with the eyes closed, always lessens the opacity, and the vision is always improved, at last temporarily. By repetition, the short periods of improved vision occur more frequently and last more continuously.
The imagination is very important, much more so than many of us believe. Some people think that imagination is simply another word for illusion. However, it is possible to imagine correctly as well as to imagine incorrectly. Some people can imagine a truth perfectly, but react differently when they imagine things imperfectly.
A girl, twelve years old, had unusually good vision. She was able to read the 10-line of a strange card, which she had never seen before, at fifty feet, 50/10. She said that she could look directly at one letter of the 10-line and see it continuously, but when her eyes were observed while she was doing this, it was found that she shifted almost continuously.
Her memory was also unusually good. She was the only member of the party who could remember the names of the officers on the different steamers on which she had traveled to Europe. She remembered the numbers of her staterooms, as well as the numbers of the staterooms of the other members of the party. However,when she imagined all these things incorrectly, she felt decidedly uncomfortable, but when she remembered to imagine things perfectly, she felt no discomfort.
At school, her teachers considered her stupid because she disliked some of her studies and devoted no time to those lessons. Her poor scholarship disappointed her family very much. She was very unhappy and decided to prove what she could do. About a week before the examinations, she read through her Latin textbook and remembered it perfectly. She also read her other textbooks and remembered what they contained. She asked to be examined in all her subjects and much to the surprise of the teachers, she passed all the examinations with unsually high honors."
- The Prevention of Imperfect Sight in Schoolchildren - By W.H. Bates, M.D.
- Better Eyesight, August 1927 - Vol. XII, No.2 (See page 497 in TRQ's publication)
====================
Here is a reported case of 30/10 vision by Emily Lierman -
====================
Stories from the Clinic
No. 4. Three of a Kind.
By Emily C. Lierman.
George, Gladys and Charlie are three children who came to the eye clinic of the Hqrlem Hospital at about the same time. They were all of the same age, nine years; they were all suffering from about the same degree of defective sight; they all had headaches; and they got into a very interesting three-cornered contest in which each one tried to beat the others at getting cured. George and Gladys are colored, and Charlie is a white boy of a most pronounced blonde type, with fair curls and blue eyes.
George was the first of the trio to visit us. He had been sent from his school to get glasses because of his headaches; and it was easy to see from his half-shut eyes and the expression of his face that he was in continual misery. My first impulse was to try to make him smile, but my efforts in that direction did not meet with much success.
"Won't you let me help you?" I asked.
"Maybe you can and maybe you can't," was his discouraging reply.
"But you are going to let me try, aren't you?" I persisted, stroking his woolly head.
He refused to unbend, but did consent to let me test his vision, which I found to be 20/70, and to show him how to palm and rest his eyes. He also continued to come to the clinic, but for three weeks I never saw him smile, and he complained constantly of the pain in his head.
Then came Gladys, accompanied by her mother who gave me a history of her case very similar to that of George. Her vision was 20/100, and in a very short time I improved it to 20/40. At her next visit it became temporarily normal, and this fact made a great impression upon George. I saw him roll his black eyes and watch Gladys while I was treating her, and later, when he thought I was not looking, I saw him walk over to her, and heard him say:
"You ain't going to get ahead of me. I came before you. I wanna get cured first. See?"
I separated the two children very quickly, for I foresaw trouble; but all the time I was very grateful to Gladys for having, however unintentionally, stirred George up.
Next week Charlie came. He looked very sad, and his mother, who came with him, was sad also. His headaches were worse than those of the other children had been, and were actually preventing him from going on with his studies. Promotion time was near, and both mother and child were very anxious for fear the latter would be left behind. They hoped that by the aid of glasses this tragedy would be averted. Of course I explained to the mother that we never gave glasses at this clinic, but cured people so they did not need them. Then I tested Charlie's sight, and found it to be 20/100. Next I told him to close his eyes and remember a letter perfectly black, just as he saw it on the test ard. He shook his head in dismay, and said:
"I can't remember anything, the pain is so bad."
"Close your eyes for part of a minute," I said, "then open :hem just a second and look at the letter I am pointing at, hen quickly close them again. Do this for a few minutes, and see what happens."
What happened was that in a few minutes Charlie began to smile, and said:
"The pain is gone."
I now showed him how to palm, and left him for a while. When I came back his sight had improved to 20/70. I was very happy about this, and so was Charlie's mother. She was also very happy to think that he did not have to wear glasses.
Charlie continued to come regularly, and was an apt pupil. One day he told me that he had been out sleigh-riding with the boys, and that the sun had been shining so brightly upon the snow that he couldn't open his eyes, and, his head ached to that he had to go home and go to bed.
"Why didn't you palm for a while and remember one of those letters on the card?" I asked.
"That's right," he said. "I wonder why I didn't think of it."
The next time he came there had been another snowstorm, and he could hardly wait to tell me what had happened.
"I went sleigh-riding some more with the boys," he said, as soon as he could get my ear, "and the pain came back while I was having fun. But this time I didn't go home and go to bed. I remembered what you said, covered my eyes with the palms of my hands right in the street, and in a little while the pain all went away, I could look right at the snow with the sun shining on it, and I didin't mind it a bit."
From the start, the two colored children were greatly interested in Charlie, and thinking that a little more of the competition that had proved so effective in George's case would do no harm, I said, "See who beats." They needed no urging from me, however. Every clinic day, an hour before the appointed time, the black and white trio was at the hospital door. If there was a crowd there, the children forced their way through without much ceremony, and then started on a dead run for the eye room. There they practiced diligently until Dr. Bates and 1 arrived, and I fear they also squabbled considerably. There was no lack of smiles now in the case of any of the children, and as for George, he had a grin on his face all the time.
Charlie was the first to be cured. In just a month from the time of his first visit his vision had improved to 20/10. Usually patients do not come back after they are cured, but this boy kept on with the practice at home, and returned to show me, and incidentally his two rivals, what progress he had made. We had a visiting physician at the clinic that day, and I rather suspected Charlie of trying to show off when he walked to the very end of the room, a distance of thirty feet from the card. To my astonishment, and the great annoyance of George and Gladys, he read all the letters on the bottom line correctly. The colored children made haste to suggest that he had probably memorized the letters; so I hung up a card with pothooks on it, such as we use for the illiterate patients, and asked him to tell me the direction in which those of the bottom line were turned. He did not make a single mistake. There seemed no room for doubt that his vision had actually improved to 30/10, three times the accepted standard of normality. Not more than one other patient at the clinic has ever become able to read the card at this distance. Charlie returned several times after this, not from the best of motives, I fear, and I took great pleasure in exhibiting his powers to the nurses and to visitors.
George and Gladys were cured very soon after Charlie, both of them becoming able to read 20/10. I was sorry that they could not have done as well as Charlie, but since their vision is now twice what is ordinarily considered normal, I think they ought to be satisfied."
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And here is a letter to Bates reporting 30/10 -
====================
"Dear Dr. Bates:
I knew you would be interested in the children's compositionsâââ‰â¬Âthey are wonderful, and the children were just as alive as their compositions.
Four times a day, immediately after the opening of school in the morning, two recesses and noon, the school victrola is rolled in. classical music by piano, violin, orchestra or the principal song from the broadcasted opera is played. The disc chosen is played all week. They were taught to palm and why. Sometimes they are to use their imagination on the music and weave that imagination into a three-sentence paragraph. Sometimes the memory is brought into play and we have created on paper, sunsets that were as impressionistic and brilliant as any of that class of painters could produce. Another time "Crack the Whip" was used. The papers were full of life and motion. Anything that they are interested in and touch with their daily activities, brings the best results.
Ten or fifteen minutes at noon we wanted to see how well they could read the Test Card, and the few who could stand 30 to 36 feet away and read the 10-ft. line were very proud of their eagle eyes, as they called them.
We kept a record of the improvements. Their own stories tell most plainly how much they enjoyed it, what it did for them and others. These children are now in another room and palm when they feel the need of it. The effect is wonderful."
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Subject: A PREVENTIVE study, conducted by YOU
and other preventive people.
The general attitude towards these preventive
efforts (successful or otherwise) is that
they DO NOT WORK, and all who advocate
them are "nuts", "kooks", and other
such pleasantries.
I OBJECT GREATLY TO THIS ATTITUDE!
It is both arrogant an profoundly ignorant.
But that is why I object to the proven fact
that there was no "follow-up" to the
successful 1913 study.
What a profound tragedy of a "missed opportunity".
