News " Holistic Vision" from march 2009 (1/09)

In ophthalmology, “vitreous floaters” or “eye floaters” is a collective term for vitreous opacities which are traced back to different causes. Sometimes floaters are thought to be a result of grave complications in the eye. Mostly, however, they are regarded as a normal opacity of the vitreous due to progressing age. In the followings, we shall consider only those harmless floaters which are perceptible in the field of vision as mobile transparent scattered points and threads visible at daylight. Eye floaters are classified as so-called “entoptic phenomena”, subjective visual appearances not arising from exterior sense stimuli but produced by our own visual system. Other entoptic appearances are afterimages, phosphenes, flying corpuscles (blue field entoptic phenomenon), form constants, and others. In this project, the main focus lies on eye floaters; other entoptic appearances are mentioned occasionally as well.

Some entoptic phenomena: a) flying corpuscles; b) eye floaters; c) form constants; d) afterimage (source).

Medicine endeavors to determine the optic and neurophysiological causes of these entoptic phenomena. This is legitimate, but it must not be forgotten that such explanations represent an elitist viewpoint having arisen in the Western societies within the last centuries. Most of the people living or having lived on this planet do not think in the categories of Western materialistic medicine. That’s why the ideas of these people about entoptic appearances are often in sharp contrast to medical interpretations. “Holistic Vision” is about introducing expressions of different cultures and belief systems which are, or could be, inspired by the perception of entoptic phenomena. We will see that eye floaters & Co. are meaningful to many individuals, inspiring their daily and spiritual life. That way, we will gain an open-mindedness in dealing with entoptic phenomena. And that makes it easier to watch, examine, interpret, and fit them into our lives in a way corresponding to us.

Our own subjective observation in particular plays an important role if we want to understand what eye floaters are. Subjective perceptions of floaters are of little significance in today’s ophthalmology. In practice, the patients’ statements should, in the ideal case, support the doctor’s results. In most cases, however, floaters are not detected – or only in insignificant numbers and strength – by doctors while patients examined speak of clear, impairing appearances, and many surgical operations addressing these floaters are carried out purely at the request of the patient.

However, the eye floaters dealt with here are an exclusively subjective phenomenon. Thus, if we talk about floaters, we exchange perceptions and interpretations, not facts. If we are conscious of this, we experience our own subjective perception of floaters as something unique and special – it’s a phenomenon that stands in direct relationship to us as individuals. At the same time, this opens our minds for the way in which floaters are experienced and interpreted by other individuals and cultures.

Thus, let’s consciously take what we can see as starting point – knowing that our perception is shaped not only by outer sense stimuli but also by our consciousness, dispositions, motivations, as well as our cultural and social environment. As for eye floaters, we should also expect that the way we perceive them is determined at least partly by certain states of our consciousness. For example, it is my experience that eye floaters vary in movement, size, and intensity according to different states of consciousness. The examination of the relation between floaters and individual states of consciousness is, therefore, the central aspect of this project. The question will be whether something can be said about our consciousness or state of consciousness by the observation of floaters: do we find sensible structures here or pure chaos? Can anything be learned about the intensity (expansion/contraction) of consciousness? And if so, what would be the meaning of floaters? Do they indicate “awareness”? Can we even use floaters to develop our consciousness?
Questions like these were answered by my teacher Nestor in my book. To us, however, these answers have but the value of hypotheses which must be proven in our own experience – provided that we want to embark on that path. It is the purpose of this letter and the Holistic Vision Project to provide suggestions to examine floaters and other entoptic phenomena and to even integrate them into our spiritual life.

Reader’s Hints, Experiences, and Pictures

E-mail from Dino

The following picture was made and explained by reader Dino.

My entire vision looks kinda like METALFLAKE, or like its made of tiny little sparkling dots.

My entire vision looks kinda like METALFLAKE, or like its made of tiny little sparkling dots (source).

This is a photoshop picture, presenting what I see... I know those white sparks are prana, I'm sure of that. But what is this dark cloudy thing? Looks like a flame of some sort.. Or a smoke, but more like a burning smoke or something like that. It kinda seems like if I focus enough on it seems to bring out some sort of shapes.
Just recently I also realized that my entire vision looks kinda like METALFLAKE, or like its made of tiny little sparkling dots. Everything is just full of dots. And then, once I decided to focus on a certain dot, VISIONS started to appear! But they are very transparent, like the floaters!

Dear Dino,
The tiny luminous spots are all over your visual field and moving fast in contorted channels, I guess? These are not called “floaters” but “flying corpuscles” or “starlets”. They are medically explained as white blood cells in the capillaries of the eye. For many esotericists and conscousness workers like me, they are visible and resemble pure energy (prana). The Austrian Dr. Wilhelm Reich called them “Orgon”, and his followers recommend focusing on them as a kind of meditation.

My suggestion is to focus on so-called “eye floaters”, for this phenomenon is much easier to focus on. I think the cloudy thing in your picture is a floater structure. Is it moving alongside your view? It's blurred because it's too near, but if you focus on it, the image should become sharper.

In my opinion, your floaters are a representation of your consciousness. If you improve your awareness by leading a corresponding life, your floaters will become more focused and luminous. You can use your floaters as exercise for meditation with open eyes. Just look and see - whatever you see is real.

Floco

Thank You, Dino, for your report!

Dear readers, do you have personal experiences with eye floaters or other entoptic phenomena? Or any suggestions what they could be? Send your hints, experiences and/or pictures to me, I am very interested.

Email: floco.tausin@eye-floaters.info

Quarterly Picture

Hildegard of Bingen

The category “Quarterly Picture” introduces realistic, artistic, and/or spiritual/religious representations from different cultures and times which could show entoptic phenomena, or be inspired by it. In this issue: Art with spiritual/religious entoptic phenomena by Hildegard of Bingen.

Hildegard of Bingen: The true trinity in the true unity (around 1165, parchment, Codex Scivias) (source).

It is significant that visionary religious art frequently shows abstract forms. Some archaeologists and anthropologists hold that these forms represent entoptic phenomena which increasingly and distinctly appear in altered states of consciousness. In the case of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), the German Benedictine mystic, it is frequently held that the abstract forms of her visions have been caused by migraine.
And while we already speak of speculations: the pictorial representations of Hildegard's visions suggest that, in her ecstatic states, she has seen the phenomenon of eye floaters clearly, and in part she superimposed it with visions of Christ. This could be an explanation for this double membrane circular figure which was, of course, complemented and interpreted in the sense of Christian belief, namely as a triadic unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is the second vision in the second book of the Codex Scivias. The triune nature of the divinity appeared to Hildegard as a “glaring bright light, and within it a saphire blue human shape burning all through in the gentle red of sparkling flames”.

You will find this and other pictures in the gallery. Do you have drawings of eye floaters or other entoptic phenomena (flying corpuscles, afterimages etc.)? Do you know of realistic, artistic, and religious representations of such appearances? Then send me the picture or give me the tip; I would like to publish it in the newsletter and/or in the gallery.

Mouches Volantes - Eye Floaters as Shining Structure of Consciousness

Holistic Vision’s Projects

- About the author

- English translation of „Mouches Volantes“ published!

Bookcover:
Mouches Volantes - Eye Floaters as Shining Structure of Consciousness (source).

About the author

The author's eye.

Floco, meditating ... (source).

My name is Floco Tausin. I’m an author and a graduate of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Bern, Switzerland. For many years, I have devoted myself to the exploration of consciousness and exceptional states of consciousness through thinking, feeling, and my own experiencing. The acquaintance with Nestor, a seer living in the Emmental region in Switzerland, led me to a holistic study of so-called eye floaters or mouches volantes. Ever since, I’m engaged, in theory and practice, in the research of visual phenomena in connection with altered states of consciousness and the development of consciousness. My experiences and time of learning with the seer Nestor are subject of the spiritual novel “Mouches Volantes – Eye Floaters as Shining Structure of Consciousness” which was published recently.

English translation of “Mouches Volantes” published!

There we go: The English translation of the German spiritual novel “Mouches Volantes” (2004) was published as “Mouches Volantes. Eye Floaters as Shining Structure of Consciousness” by Leuchtstruktur Verlag in February of this year. Production and worldwide sales are carried out by Lightning Source. The title is already listed and available at several resellers and online booksellers (see Lightning Source Distribution Partners. However, you can order the book also from Leuchtstruktur Verlag.
With the English translation we respond to inquiries for information about the topic of eye floaters/entoptic phenomena in relation to spirituality. We hope that “Mouches Volantes – Eye Floaters” does justice to the demands and expectations of our interested American, European, and Asian readers, and we look forward to receiving feedback and engaging in exciting discussions!

Last but not Least

Reader’s comments on the Holistic Vision Project

Bubble Floaters

Bubble Floaters (source).

Thank you so much for your thoughts and your work in this area. I am so appreciative of your willingness to share your gifts with all of us.

– Angelina

Imprint of the Mouches Volantes News

Floco Tausin

www.eye-floaters.info

I would like to remove the quarterly appearing newsletter “Holistic Vision”

Further Holistic Vision News: Archive