Meditation Sans Visualization / Aphantasia

BrooksC

BrooksC

New Member
Is there anyone around that has any experience in meditation and connection with your spirituality with the absence of a "minds eye" ?
For those unfamiliar, I have whats called Aphantasia, i have a complete inability to create a mental image in my mind, eyes closed or not. I do still dream. Not sure of the cause or if It can be changed but I'm having trouble working around it.

But on my spiritual journey, I keep running into road blocks like "imagine this or that" or "picture a ball of light" or something that ties the next stage of progress to some sort of visualization. How am I to receive and interpret messages with no link ?
 
This was first brought to the public's attention in recent history in 1880.

There is also some thought around if a person with Aphantasia can dream, its seems they can so i suppose those with this problem would be asking why cant i visualise.

There hasnt been too many studies to address the issue.


"In the experiment, the researchers used one image of a green circle with vertical lines and another image of a red circle with horizontal lines. The researchers included 15 self-described aphantasiacs, ages 21 to 68.

During the experiment, the participants were shown one of the images, and then instructed to hold the image they were shown in their minds for 6 seconds as the headset went dark. Then, both of the images were shown to them in the display, each to a different eye. The participants were then asked to indicate which image they saw the most. The task was repeated 100 times.



The researchers found that unlike in the general population, there no correlation between the imagined image and what the participants actually saw in the display afterward. (The "general population" was represented by a group of more than 200 individuals without aphantasia who had participated in the research group's previous experiments.)"

Hard to Imagine: What Is Aphantasia?


I would start with holding a crystal in ones hand with a complete stare for a few times a day, for about a week, then try with your eyes closed.
 

It is pretty confusing that I can dream, I remember them on and off and usually only glimpses of scenes. I've been close to lucid a couple times but I'm not sure if I can given my condition?

That's an interested experiment, thanks for sharing. Even after staring at something for awhile I find it hard to hold the image in my head longer than a few seconds.

Thank you for the suggestion :)
 


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