"Peter F." <effectivespamblock at ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:6sqYb.512$L43.9194 at nnrp1.ozemail.com.au...
>> Having been rather observant of and able to remember and later make sense
of
> key/important states or events in my own mind I can confirm and safely
> extrapolate the finding reported in New Scientist recently (if I rembember
> right) that was titled "Mindsight could exlain sixth sense".
>http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994638
Interesting article, particularly for me. As a result of botched surgery at
a young age I was left with severely limited vision in my right eye, hence
my current whingeing about my eyesight because it seems my left eye is
suffering under the load of reading and as you have probably noticed a
lifetime of considerable reading. I have approached 4 specialists about the
problem but none have been able to provide any solutions if only because my
condition is so unique. ie. optic and ocular nerve damage, orbital
dismorphology, nerve damage to eyelid of left eye (though left eye has
20/20+ vision - my saving grace until now), and the distinct possibility of
right orbitofrontal damage. My guess is a bleed after surgery but all the
medical records are lost.
Anyway, I still have good peripheral vision in my right eye. While rarely
conscious of what I am seeing out of my right eye on occasion it sends my
consciousness a "flash" because of something perceived in the right visual
field. And it is like a flash, a sudden shifting of one's attention even
though I am not entirely conscious of what it is I am shifting my attention
towards until my left eye gets the picture.
PS: I should qualify my whingeing. I have been through these visual problems
before and usually these resolve of their own accord. Just this time it has
lasted for months and is driving me crazy(short journey). The first time it
happened, in my early 20's, I naively resorted to the Bates Method but it
worked miracles, hence the doctors who had prescribed me glasses for
distance vision were very surprised when the vision in my left eye exceeded
that found in 90% of the popn and I no longer needed the glasses. Right now
my vision is fine but tomorrow??? A recent exam found nothing wrong. Ah
well, back to palming and sunning and shifting ... .
Regards,
John.
> That is to say, in my mid twenties, I ended up with a vague and
frustrating
> feeling that I somehow knew, but could not even begin to describe, how
> things were; Eventually I set out to try to fill this feeling with
> brain-factual meaning partly because I suddenly got promted by discovering
> to my self-embarrassment that I knew nothing about how my own brain
worked.
>> > I dislike religions except for those
> > that engage in self mockery. Eg. Zen, but that most who get into Zen get
> so
> > bloody serious ... . "Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the
> > seriousness of a child at play." (Heraclitus).
> >
> > "Before you study Zen, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers;
> while
> > you are studying Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are
no
> > longer rivers; but once you have had enlightenment, mountains are once
> again
> > mountains and rivers again rivers."
> >
> > Same crazy dude.
> >
> >
> > "... the religious impulse rests on an instinctive basis and is
therefore
> a
> > specifically human function. You can take away a man's gods, but only to
> > give him others in return.
>> "The sum of one's vices is constant" (so one must think carefully before
one
> stops smoking) - saying learnt via from my grandmother.
>> <snip>
> >
> > If there is anything Zen strongly emphasizes it is the attainment of
> > freedom; that is, freedom from all unnatural encumbrances. Meditation is
> > something artificially put on; it does not belong to the natural
activity
> of
> > the mind.
> >
> > Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, page 41
> >
> > Zen wants to have one's mind free and unobstructed; even the idea of
> oneness
> > or allness is a stumbling-block and a strangling snare which threatens
the
> > original freedom of the spirit.
>> That is an insight of mine too! - You just made me feel I even less unique
> than I already have discovered I am. ;-<
>> >
> > We're so lucky to live in this country!
>> You are not wrong!
>> My best wishes,
>> P
>>