Visions
Every three months or so I have an incident that causes my sight to be affected, I see bright lights, and this has nothing to do with going out and having a good time. I had this for a brief time on Thursday night. When people see bright lights it is often caused by a detached retina, but that is not the situation in my case. Although my sight has been checked and is in fact almost perfect, I find it difficult to focus when I see these bright lights. Some years ago this condition was diagnosed by a neurologist as migrane, but without the headache. Migrane, and my condition, are caused by a spasm of the blood vessels causing a lowering of the blood flow to the brain, but in my case only to the optic nerve, possibly only on one side. I see bright lights on the lower right periphery of my vision that are superimposed upon the actual view.
The reason I mention this condition, that is not dangerous and passes in about 20 mins, is that it has a bearing on the question of visions that people see. Many people historically have had visions, from burning bushes to ghosts in old houses. It is quite likely that in some cases these were due to various effects on their sight. What is important to note is that the lights I see are not actually there, they are a construction of my mind/brain. It is the brain that "sees" rather than the eyes, which serve to conduct the images via the optic nerve to the brain, where they are processed and interpreted. This increase in the brightness of the light when the blood flow is impaired may also explain why people who are dying see bright lights.
My old aunt claimed many years ago that she saw her father sitting in a chair in her living room, years after he was dead, smoking his pipe. But, this is a view she had of him for many years, and it is perfectly likely that her brain conjured up this view from memory and it was superimposed on her normal sight. This cannot be proven but is at least a more reasonable explanation than that a "spirit" or "ghost" appeared. Since the brain can play tricks with vision, seeing is not necessarily believing.
The reason I mention this condition, that is not dangerous and passes in about 20 mins, is that it has a bearing on the question of visions that people see. Many people historically have had visions, from burning bushes to ghosts in old houses. It is quite likely that in some cases these were due to various effects on their sight. What is important to note is that the lights I see are not actually there, they are a construction of my mind/brain. It is the brain that "sees" rather than the eyes, which serve to conduct the images via the optic nerve to the brain, where they are processed and interpreted. This increase in the brightness of the light when the blood flow is impaired may also explain why people who are dying see bright lights.
My old aunt claimed many years ago that she saw her father sitting in a chair in her living room, years after he was dead, smoking his pipe. But, this is a view she had of him for many years, and it is perfectly likely that her brain conjured up this view from memory and it was superimposed on her normal sight. This cannot be proven but is at least a more reasonable explanation than that a "spirit" or "ghost" appeared. Since the brain can play tricks with vision, seeing is not necessarily believing.
posted by Jack Cohen at 2:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home