Closed Eye Visualizations

Hey there fellow ATS members,

now, I have been looking for an explanation about a phenomena that occurred to me multiple times over the course of 3 months. It took me about a year to find something that more or less reflects my experiences, and apparently it's being termed "Closed Eye Visualizations/Hallucinations".

These types of hallucinations generally only occur when one's eyes are closed or when one is in a darkened room. They are a form of phosphene.

Link

What's phosphene you mas ask?:

A phosphene is an entoptic phenomenon characterized by the experience of seeing light without light actually entering the eye. The word phosphene comes from the Greek words phos (light) and phainein (to show).

Phosphenes are flashes of light, often associated with optic neuritis, induced by movement or sound. Phosphenes can be directly induced by mechanical, electrical, or magnetic stimulation of the retina or visual cortex as well as by random firing of cells in the visual system. Phosphenes have also been reported by meditators (commonly called nimitta); people who go for long periods without visual stimulation (also known as the prisoner's cinema); or those who are using psychedelic drugs.

Link

You all have experienced it, the blobs of light and random colors moving around when you have your eyes closed.
But what I have experienced was somewhat different, as I closed my eyes and concentrated on the shapes and forms that would appear in a rather blurry manner, my eyes would suddenly start to rapidly move uncontrollably and in a frequency impossible to imitate by will. As a result of this process the blurry images would become crystal clear, representing seemingly three dimensional objects, people and even whole environments.
I was in awe, never have I pushed the visual capabilities of my brain so far, amazed by the beauty and perfection of it all, and yet scared of the rapid movement of my eyes and feelings that overwhelmed me.
The first time didn't last long (about 3 mins), the muscles of my eyes noticeably exhausted and my whole body hyped up. I went to sleep in hope that I would get to experience it again the following night, and I did, each time lasting longer (3-20 mins), getting more intense and becoming more lucid. In fact over the course of three months it happened every single night, lying in my bed while waiting to drift to sleep it would suddenly start again. I must stress that I was fully awake and not asleep.

The procedure went as follows:
Stage 1: Concentrating on the usual closed eye visuals
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f394e9dde83a.jpg[/atsimg]

Stage 2: Onset of rapid eye movement, a grid starting to appear, two dimensional
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/dd873698f4f8.jpg[/atsimg]

Stage 3. Grid becomes three dimensional and object starts to take form as movement becomes more rapid
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/eb598333be8e.jpg[/atsimg]

Stage 4: Object gets more distinguishable (Can be anything, quite random, a table, a vase, a face, an animal etc)
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/059309ee8640.jpg[/atsimg]

The following stages are hard to depict, so my words will have to do:

Stage 5: Environments start to form around the object, as if each object that appears has a setting where it belongs to.

Stage 6: Textures start to overlay the object and the surroundings

Stage 7: Now everything seems as if its actually there, a place just a real as reality.

Awe-inspiring to say the least, the brain has the capability to construct whole realities...
Astral Projection?
The movie "The Matrix" not being so wrong after all? Holographic reality?
Or just mere hallucinations with no meaning at all?!

The point of this thread being: Has anyone out there experienced something similar? I have found no reports that talk of this phenomena, the closest that would fit my experience are CEVs (closed eye visualizations), but it doesn't mention the rapid eye movement.
Anything else that can account for this?
As I said, 3 months on a daily basis and then it sadly stopped.

reply to post by Clairaudience


Do you have your eyes closed while you type too? Missed an L in "closed".

reply to post by FalselyFlagged


lol, thanks for mentioning it. Mistake corrected...

Thanks a lot for putting all this information together. I do notice when i am in a high meditative state the light show does come on. Its great, and gives me something to look at while my body is paralyzed. Now if i could just Astral Project with ease!

This has happened to me a few times, while listening to binural music that is supposed to bring your brain into the theta frequency. It was like tripping almost, pretty strange. It only happened when I was on an sleep deprivation cycle due to my insomnia, hadn't slept for a few days.

reply to post by TKDRL


Did you experience the rapid eye movement too? For me this was the main reason why the images became so vivid.

reply to post by Clairaudience


Yeah, my eyes were definately moving around without me consciously telling them to. It is how I imagine my eyes would look if I was REM sleep.

reply to post by TKDRL


Yes exactly, quite the uncomfortable feeling isn't it? Used to have stiff eye muscles
Yet I find it weird that I cannot find enough information on rapid eye movement during the awakened state of being, coupled with resulting hallucinations/visualizations.

I have been delving into meditation recently, and this came with it a few times. Often I get the visualization when I try to see through my eyes but my eyelids are closed. Then the colors start and then the rapid movement. After that, I either lose control because the rapid eye movement is too distracting, or I eventually drift into something that's not sleep, but not here either, though I can't remember most of it when I come out of it. If this leads to something even similar to what you're describing I think I'm going to try to focus a bit more next time. Thanks for putting this up, it's interesting stuff.

reply to post by Clairaudience


it happens on a constant basis really. but i meditate on a constant basis as well. experienced those things and more. the next thing you should do, and it sounds a lot easier than it is, involves taking that closed eye hallucination and transforming it. your mind may take adjusting. like with the hallucinations first time may be a few seconds before it collapses, but you would be surprised what happens when you start "playing" with them. you may get more than you bargained for


as for projecting with ease, your spirit guides know what methid of projection is easiest for you. thing is #1. would they tell you, or make you learn? #2. can you even hear them if they were trying to tell you?
you cant tell someone the easiest way they can project, but if they try hard enough, they might be able to tell you themselves.

personally i used to race bmx, so am extremely familiar with the sensations of very fast movement, and use this to astral project. im so used to it that just imagining some of the races id been in was enough to project. i felt myself hit a ramp, i felt the ascension, the very real feeling of wind on my face, and suddenly its not just a memory, but im actually hovering above one of my favorite tracks.

maybe in reality all astral projection is closed eye hallucination, but in my three years of constant projection, not one second of my entire life on earth could compare to the detail and clarity of said possible "hallucination"
most people call me crazy when i bring up projection, but if they ever experience it, or a near death experience, they change their tune quick. most people just need proof, but dont have the patience to search it out. keep practicing op, ur on the right track

reply to post by Clairaudience


I have experienced this, minus the rapid eye movement. I have seen people, scenes from what I would describe as being from the 1800's, forests, etc. I remember once, for a solid week, when I would lay down and close my eyes, I would see scenes from the civil war. I'm a civil war reenactor though, so I figured this was just from thinking about a reenactment or speaking with my children about something Civil War related (we're all reenactors), but I don't know. I think a lot about UFO's and the like, especially when I'm reading on ATS, but I've never closed my eyes and seen them flying around, so I'm not sure if spending a lot of time thinking about something led me to see it with my eyes closed or not. It was a bit strange.

I've also experienced a strange phenomena that some people call "place memories." I suppose it's possible that this could be what was happening to you, as well. My experience with place memories started when I moved into an old farm house out in Amish country here in Ky. I hadn't been living there very long when I started closing my eyes and seeing an old man with a long white beard. At first it was just a picture, like an old portrait, but soon it was turning into full scenes. Once I saw him in a black hat and long dark, wool coat. Not too long after, I saw what looked like my back yard, but there was a shed there in my "vision" that wasn't there while I lived there. Was it really there once? I have no idea. Anyway, there was also a big barn, and the place was void of other houses and such. During this particular "scene," the old man was the same as usual... long white beard and hat, but he was working under what looked like a canopy of some sort, attached to the shed. He was wearing a very green shirt and a black vest. I thought that was weird, because I'd "seen" the guy many times (always with my eyes closed) but he had never been wearing anything colorful. That green shirt really stood out to me. What really got me to thinking was that one day, just a few days after I'd seen the guy in the green shirt, we were out driving and passed a couple Amish men in their buggy, and the guy closest to me was wearing a green shirt, just like what I'd seen in my vision! I said something to my husband about how odd it was for the Amish to be wearing green, and he told me that the ones around where we lived always wear green shirts like that during the time of year that was. It was really odd. I continued having "visions" of the old man for as long as we lived in that house, but as soon as we moved out, I never saw him again. I never actually saw him like right in front of me or anything... it was always with my eyes closed.

I apologize for such a long post that may not even be related to what you described, because I don't remember the rapid eye movement. I may have had it, but I don't remember it. The rest of what you described does sound familiar though... the way things start out really vague and then become clear. That's exactly how it happens to me. I rather enjoy it, really. I always try to get it to last as long as possible.

when i close my eyes in the dark I see a haze moving in a circular motion around, like a radar screen... sometimes it changes slightly in how it repeats but it's pretty steady and it's very hard to see. It's something that I can't change or manipulate... any type of motion with the yes just takes focus off of it... it's not easy to focus on in the first place and it has to be pretty dark.

... but that is something I am seeing with my eyes... I see totally different types of things in my head... all sorts of things,

I've had one of these experiences, I recall it very vividly.

I was drifting off staring into the colors, then they kind of refined into geometric shapes and were drifting along my view, bouncing off 'walls' like screen savers.

Then the vision refined again into a full fledged football game. I was absolutely dumbfounded. The colors stayed constant pretty much the whole time. Sadly, I could derive no meaning into it...

Although a few months later, my mom read the exact same thing in a book she just bought. Another guy described basically the exact thing, football game and all.

Odd...

simple- you are seeing FRACTALS. fractals are the building blocks of the universe. Upon going into hyperspace using '___' (your brain also has '___') you will see millions upon millions of the exact shapes and colors of psychodelic kaleidoscopes. Other people will say differently, but they dont know, its '___'.

Originally posted by xynephadyn
simple- you are seeing FRACTALS. fractals are the building blocks of the universe. Upon going into hyperspace using '___' (your brain also has '___') you will see millions upon millions of the exact shapes and colors of psychodelic kaleidoscopes. Other people will say differently, but they dont know, its '___'.

I agree with you concerning the fractal building blocks of the universe, and that '___' is indeed a doorway to open up a whole new plane of existence/being/perception. Yet in my particular case I don't think that '___' played a role, it was rather a physically induced hallucination due to the rapid movement of the eyes than a chemically induced hallucination which would involve far more than just visual perceptions, for instance the complete disconnection of body and soul, audible and palpable phantom sensory input and heightened awareness, which was not the case in my experience.
Good call nevertheless, and I agree with you generally speaking.

reply to post by xynephadyn


Funny you should say that. One of the most vivid experiences I had, kind of hard to explain....

It started with a spinning cube, then it twisted while it was spinning and turned into a more complex shape. It kep getting more and more complex, after about 4 minutes(estimation, didn't look at a clock) I got dizzy from all the spinning and had to open my eyes, but at that point it was turning into a complex scene. Went from simple to complex.

reply to post by Clairaudience


This happens to me as well only when I am standing with my eyes closed I see three arches in red with a black background which gradually turns into three seperate heads.

OMG THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!!!!

I been having this since I was a kid...

To "speed this up" Sit back in a quiet, dark, room and slightly push on your eyes....... you will be in this diamond patterned cavern, going full speed ahead and its.. just... so....

sigh.

I cannot explain it.

It is correct though, if you start to see this "tunnell", you can actually change all those floating objects into whatever you imagine.. they will instantly mold into what you imagine. It's wild.

reply to post by Clairaudience


I used to see very trippy spinning symbols on two main axes when I closed my eyes. Always in a dayglo orangy-red and green. I'm pretty sure it was a residual from the hallucinogens I took in my teen years but maybe environmental toxins exacerbated it.

They persisted into my forties before they started to dissipate. I never really discussed them with anyone because I did not care to disclose my prior drug use. The past couple of years they are totally gone. I was just thinking about them the other day - kind of miss them, lol

I think I could be pulling things into my visual interpretations that aren't quite there but perhaps based on something that is there. Not quite a hallucination... more like a mirage. Like you're looking at something that is actually there but your mind is influencing it's own interpretation but there appears to be no direct deviation in what is actually. seen. I don't think that is a good thing to have happen. I'd much rather hope that I saw what actually thought I saw but the visuals that I had to work with were not exactly straight forward to begin with... a situation open to interpretation- as opposed to something out of the ordinary and being quite certain about what you're looking at.

I hate it when that happens. It makes me do crazy # like walk up and start talking to people I don't even know because my curiosity gets the best of me and I have to figure out a way to sort out my curiosity. Sometimes there is an opportunity to do that and sometimes there isn't. I can't stand being uncertain when something gets my attention. Now I'm going to be thinking all kinds of weird stuff every time I feel like there is something to be seen... what if there really isn't and...ugg, I hate it when that happens. If it's starts making me feel self-conscious that I have noticed something I might have to start ignoring it so I won't look crazy. I don't want to do that though, I'd rather know exactly what I saw.

...but I don't want to go into any details of it.
I'll just have to figure it out later while it drives me crazy.