From: Ron.Denis@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Ron Denis)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Blinks And Psychedelics
Date: 13 Oct 92 18:17:42 GMT
Reply-To: Ron.Denis@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA
X-Fidonet: Blink Talk Conference
Originator: wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com

Index Number: 24901

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 BK> Interestingly enough, I'm also interested in blindness and
 BK> hypnosis. It seems that I've heard some stories that blind folks
 BK> have been hypnotized and have been regressed and suddenly were
 BK> able to see.  Do you think that either of these have any
 BK> connection with the other?

     Hi Bill,

I think that they are related although I haven't taken time to
think it through.  To begin with, there is some evidence that blind
people use the visual-association areas of cortex although not
necessarily for visual association.  (There seems to be some
evidence that persons who have seen well in the past use these
areas to retain visual associations.  What often happens is the
difference between visual memory and what I call visualized
memory.  The latter is constructed "as if" one had seen although
real vision is not involved nor is an actual congruence achieved
between visual and visualized material.

(I should point out here that I haven't read up on this stuff for a
long time and should go back to the book shelf before shooting off
my mouth like this, but what the hell.

As for hypnosis, the suggestability of an hypnotized person is
often very subtle and more pervasive than is realized.  The
recollected experiences, assuming the hypnotized person has never
seen, is probably analogous to an hallucination and is fabricated
from a fusion of associations gathered over time.

Try this experiment if interest:  sit in an area you know
relatively well.

Take a couple of deep breaths and relax as much as possible.  When
very comfortable, imagine a point in the middle of your
forehead--the area some state once formed a "rudimentary third
eye."  Now imagine a line out from that point across the room and
try to "experience" what you know is directly ahead of you.

Frequently on can experience sensing the area--one may even feel
sensation at the spot on one's forehead.  The experience is
constructed but has a feeling of being a real experience.  By the
way, don't worry if this doesn't work.  It is a rather
unpredictable kind of thing.

In demonstrating hypnosis in the past I once had someone vividly
describe an ornate clock that wasn't in the room.  She described a
clock she had never seen (to her knowledge.)  She also was induced
to be unable to recall the name of one of her class mates sitting a
couple of seats away, and was induced to do so while not
remembering I had suggested she forget the name.  The point here is
that subjects in hypnosis are extremely malleable and much of what
they can report or see of do is in accord with what they are led to
believe, say or do.  One will not act in ways contrary to his/her
wishes, but one of the strongest wishes in many persons is to
comply with the hypnotist's wishes.  For a blind person, imagining
seeing is not only a strong request, but generally is not contrary
to one's basic wishes and is something one may have often thought
about in the past.

This is getting a bit long and to those sucked into reading this
and now bored to tears, my apologies.  All for now.

     Ron

... ... Imagination is the eye of the soul.

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