I have a question about Chapter XIII of Bates's book. If I imagine a black period, I can only hold it for about a second. Does this mean that I am straining? I can only hold the memory longer if there is some kind of motion in the image.
Mihai_alexandru Wrote:I have a question about Chapter XIII of Bates's book. If I imagine a black period, I can only hold it for about a second. Does this mean that I am straining? I can only hold the memory longer if there is some kind of motion in the image.
THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE SOME MOTION!!!!!! Bates said many times that if you try holding it still you will FAIL and strain and it's no good! Let it swing back and forth like a pendulum without trying.
Mihai_alexandru Wrote:I have a question about Chapter XIII of Bates's book. If I imagine a black period, I can only hold it for about a second. Does this mean that I am straining? I can only hold the memory longer if there is some kind of motion in the image.
Try to print periods of many sizes on a piece of paper and spend some time of the day gazing and shifting on the periods from close to your eyes. At a distance close to the eyes where your vision is quite good, you can actually see the period quite sharply and you can also see it swing. When this is done for a period of few months ( or weeks) the memory imprint of the swinging periods become good and it should be possible to imagine it with eyes closed and later with eyes open. I have been working on this for about 3-4 weeks and my ability to hold a period has increased slighly through not to a level I would like to have. Dont try to make an effort to remember - it will always fail. If you cannot swing the black period, try to imagine two periods side by side and move your attention alternatively between them. If this is also difficult, try to imaginr a period of different colors changing them as soon as you feel the period is disappearing from your mind. After some practice it should be possible to hold onto a swinging period though I dont have the experience to speak of it.
"When the period is seen perfectly, it is not stationary but moves in various directions with a slow, short, easy swing. It is a fundamental fact that a period is seen best when it appears to move a distance of about its own diameter. When the period has a slow, short, easy swing, the eye is at rest and when it is at rest it is always moving to prevent concentration, trying to see and other efforts to improve the vision." --March 1928 (BEM)
Chapter XIII: Memory as an aid to vision
