Nightwalking using your peripheral vision.

True.

I found the idea expressed somewhere as "soft eyes" in some meditation book in the late 80s.

It had a fascinating effect, but I couldn't do it in public because everyone I passed on the street seemed to think I was stoned.

I guess it makes your irises enormously dilated.

But I wondered is it had something to do with what Jesus said about your eyes being filled with light.

Interesting thought about the Christ reference.

I haven't tried this method described in the article but as I said, I'm eager to try this.
I do practice Trakata, a yogic Hindu team for staring at an object and not blinking but completely keep focus still on the object. After a weary short while the surroundings of the object look like they are vibrating swirling coloured atoms.

I googled an article on it:

[link to seeinganew.tripod.com]

Good read, thanks!

Quote:"Using soft eyes entails not just adopting an alternative visual mode, but also entering an altered state of being. Once you've mastered the art of soft eyes, this state can be achieved in a split second."

I studied martial arts in the 80s, and most teachers at the time kept urging us to look at our opponent's eyes.

I couldn't do it, because it distracted me too much and it wasn't my style. Before I had studied martial arts, I learned to fight as a child by repeatedly having to fight off attackers that surrounded me. I would almost visually "zone out" in a fight. It wasn't that I didn't use my eyes. It was only that I didn't look at anything in particular. I just noticed everything in the widest possible field of vision, while also relying on my other senses.

I sort of automatically do it when I'm driving, but because of the wild reactions of people, I avoid practicing it in public, and I only briefly think of practicing it from time to time.

However, it really is a pleasant sort of meditation, and I have once in a while thought that I ought to remember to practice it more often.

Your post reminded me of it again, and it is the first I have seen mention of an actual, physical, scientific basis - that it isn't just a different state of mind.

wolf berry

This is standard practice for me daily.

Brilliant, good to hear, seems like a great manner to add a tool to decifer the world around us.

I have found that if you treat your environment
as if it is intelligent .....it will behave with
intelligence. All of it. It takes a little work.
But most have there head in a cell phone
crossing a street .....when nature is communicating
around us.

Glad to hear the article gave you scientific proof of your experiences.

"We found a succession of texts from the Taoists of early China through the books of Carlos Castaneda that spoke of a certain kind of all-seeing gaze. It was often difficult to determine whether the authors were speaking literally or metaphorically, but it was perfectly clear in the case of Miyamoto Muksashi, the legendary swordsman of fifteenth century Japan, who had the clearest and most insightful description of the powers of peripheral vision we found.

In The Book of Five Rings, Musashi refers to the two types of sight which he calls Ken and Kan.

Ken registers the movements of surface phenomena; it's the observation of superficial appearence.

Kan is the profound examination of the essence of things, seeing through or into. For Musashi, Ken is seeing with the eyes, Kan is seeing with the mind.

The difference is akin to that of style versus substance. Musashi gives instructions for developing Kan sight: "It is important to observe both sides without moving the eyes. It is no good trying to learn this kind of thing in great haste. Always be watchful in this manner and under no circumstances alter your point of concentration."

Good point.
Nature is constantly communicating with us, many have lost the ability to hear one read them.

Try having stargardt macular degeneration in the center of your vision...

This is awesome! Thank you OP for sharing this information.

processing the lens

bumping for later study thanks

I use it often to time traffic more accurately. Also when birding it's a way to spot birds in a wide view

Last Edited by R... on 06/19/2018 01:30 AM

this is an exerp from THE UNFETTERED MIND
WRITINGS OF THE ZEN MASTER TO THE SWORD MASTER
one of the finest peices on martial arts ive seen

Where One Puts The Mind
We say that:
If one puts his mind in the action of his opponent's body, his mind will be taken by the
action of his opponent's body. 6
If he puts his mind in his opponent's sword, his mind will be taken by that sword.
If he puts his mind in thoughts of his opponent's intention to strike him, his mind will be
taken by thoughts of his opponent's intention to strike him.
If he puts his mind in his own sword, his mind will be taken by his own sword.
If he puts his mind in his own intention of not being struck, his mind will be taken by his
intention of not being struck.
6
It should now be clear that concentrate on might be used in the text as an alternative to put the
mind. Concentrate, however, narrows the sense of the author’s phrase in the original. Both ideas
should be kept in mind.
10The Unfettered Mind – Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master
If he puts his mind in the other man's stance, his mind will be taken by the other man's
stance.
What this means is that there is no place to put the mind.
A certain person once said, "No matter where I put my mind, my intentions are held in
check in the place where my mind goes, and I lose to my opponent. Because of that, I
7
place my mind just below my navel and do not let it wander. Then am I able to change
according to the actions of my opponent."
This is reasonable. But viewed from the highest standpoint of Buddhism, putting the
mind just below the navel and not allowing it to wander is a low level of understanding,
not a high one. It is at the level of discipline and training. It is at the level of seriousness.
Or of Mencius' saying, "Seek after the lost mind." 8 This is not the highest level either. It
has the sense of seriousness. As for the "lost mind," I have written about this elsewhere,
and you can take a look at it there.
If you consider putting your mind below your navel and not letting it wander, your mind
will be taken by the mind that thinks of this plan. You will have no ability to move ahead
and will be exceptionally unfree.
This leads to the next question, "If putting my mind below my navel leaves me unable to
function and without freedom, it is of no use. In what part of my body, then, should I put
my mind?"
I answered, "If you put it in your right hand, it will be taken by the right hand and your
body will lack its functioning. If you put your mind in the eye, it will be taken by the eye,
and your body will lack its functioning. If you put your mind in your right foot, your
mind will be taken by the right foot and your body will lack its functioning.
"No matter where you put it, if you put the mind in on place, the rest of your body will
lack its functioning."
"Well, then, where does one put his mind."
I answered, "If you don't put it anywhere, it will go to all parts of your body and extend
throughout its entirety. In this way, when it enters your hand, it will realize the hand's
function. When it enters your foot, it will realize the foot's function. When it enters your
eye, it will realize the eye's function.
7
The tanden, a point three finger widths below the navel, is considered by some Taoists to be the
proper residing place of the mind. It is very nearly the body’s center of gravity and is referred to
often in martial arts’ literature.
8
Seriousness, also translated as reverence, for the Neo-Confucianists meant an internal attitude of
attentiveness and composure applied to efforts in handling affairs. As a desired state of mind, it
contains a certain sense of meditation as well.
The quotation is from Mencius (Bk 6, pt.1, chapter 11): “Mencius said, ‘Human-heartedness is a
man’s mind. Righteousness is man’s path. How sad that he abandons that path and does not rely
on it. When a man has lost a cock or a dog, he knows to seek it, but having lost his [proper] mind,
he does not know to seek it. The Way of Learning is nothing other than seeking the lost mind.’”
11The Unfettered Mind – Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master
"If you should decide on one place and put the mind there, it will be taken by that place
and lose its function. If one thinks, he will be taken by his thoughts.
"Because this is so, leave aside thoughts and discrimination, throw the mind away from
the entire body, do not stop it here and there, and when it does visit these various places,
it will realize function and act without error."
Putting the mind in one place is called falling into onesidedness. One-sidedness is said to be
bias in one place. Correctness is in moving about anywhere. The Correct Mind shows
itself by extending the mind throughout the body. It not biased in any one place.
When the mind is biased in one place and lacking in another, it is called a one-sided mind.
One-sidedness is despicable. To be arrested by anything, no matter what, is falling into
one-sidedness and is despised by those travelling the Way.
When a person does not think, "Where shall I put it7" the mind will extend throughout the
entire body and move about to any place at all.
Not putting the mind anywhere, can't one use the mind, having it go from place to place,
responding to the opponent's movements?
If the mind moves about the entire body, when the hand is called into action, one should
use the mind that is in the hand. When the foot is called for, one should use the mind that
is in the foot. But if you determine one place in which to put it, when you try to draw it
out of that place, there it will stay. It will be without function.
Keeping the mind like a tied-up cat and not allowing it to wander, when you keep it in
check within yourself, within yourself will it be detained. Forsaking it within your body,
it will go nowhere.
The effort not to stop the mind in just one place-this is discipline. Not stopping the mind
is object and essence. Put nowhere, it will be everywhere. Even in moving the mind
outside the body, if it is sent in one direction, it will be lacking in nine others. If the mind
is not restricted to just one direction, it will be in all ten.

Stargazers known about this for some time. When you try to focus directly on a faint star it disappears. Then try looking slightly to the side of it and the star's light is picked up by the periphery and is visible again.

Everybody here in Brazil use peripheral vision.

I generally have very good peripheral vision, I am aware of it when driving. I do remeber as a child when first going out into the dark from school adventure camps etc and feeling that enveloping darkness all around, taking the time to just stop and allow my eyes to becom accustomed to the dark. I genuinnly used to find my way around using peripheral vision.. ok it wasnt as clear and day and i did not see any bunny rabitts hopping about but im pretty sure i had a greater awareness peripherely than with direct focus.

Wow, this is breaking news LMAO... The military has been training their personnel for years on this technique...

old news to me

25 years as a line operator has taught me this

broad vision is a necessary skill when you have to monitor dozens of machines with hundreds of moving parts.

you not only learn to see a wider field but your hearing becomes so acute that you can monitor stuff behind you and even in other rooms simply by the sound profile of the machine. I can not only tell that something is wrong but what is wrong and which part.

we all do this instinctively. to what degree depends on our daily life activities.

Even the one with glasses?

The military taught this same thing over 30 years ago and I naturally did it as a kid out playing in the dark.

I can see in the dark fine. This includes in Mammoth Caves when they turn the lights out. Why can't you?

Commonly used in astronomy to see dimmer stars and finer detail that you might otherwise not see.
I also think this might only be new to city folk who live in perpetual light.

Same, same.


The real key is to NOT focus on what you want to spot...rather looking off 10 to 15 degrees left or right and that technique, once practiced and properly executed will improve your night vision.

It all has to do with the rods and cones that make up the eye but that's another story.

I learned this back in the 90s while experementing with ideas I read about in Carlos Castenada (60's 70's new age/shamanistic type author). They call the visual excercises "not doing". "Not doings" were important in the shamanistic world because in that world, perception uses energy, and they orient their behavior to save the energy necessary for alternate perceptions.

I realized that "seeing things" in a different way did have an affect on my later on, when I got into those 3d posters. I would stare into them for hours at a time because in the moment there was a "eureka!" type rush....but what I also realized was that the quality of my dreaming increased greatly...the 3d posters somehow strengthened my visual cortex, like excercising a brain muscle I never knew I had and it somehow made the other "brain muscles" a little stronger too.

The big problem with going down this "rabbithole" is that it is a whole "path"...and it gets very narrow, and does not leave much room for the things that make a normal, happy life.

Carlos existed to make a big joke out of shamans, right?