what do you see when you close your eyes?

[steveno1570]

I'm curious as to what you folks see when you close your eyes.

When investigating visualization (ad hoc and anecdotal) I ask a person to close their eyes and to imagine a dim theatre, with a white screen, with a rose shown on it, the red of the petals the green of the stem the brown of the thorns. Some people say their visualization is 'blurry' or 'out of focus', while others say they can see the above image clearly as if they were looking at the image with eyes open.

When I close my eyes all I see is the light filtered through my eyelids. If it's dark then I don't see anything. I found out recently that I can briefly see my contacts if the room is dark enough. I found that at physical therapy while getting a massage. Ok, and at massage during this last year or so, I have also 'seen' dots as if placed on a grid, and at a different visit geometrical shapes. Neither of these images were permanent and I would have to 'refocus' to get another glimpses.

It has only worked on two occasions otherwise nada.

So I'm curious, what do you see?

[plank80]

When I close my eyes its blackness with white dots flashing on and off like a lightning storm interspersed with flashing images and random shapes, colours.

I cant do visualization I cant keep a picture in my head for more than a millisecond for some reason.

[mrzyphl]

When I close my eyes I only see the inside of my eyelids. I don't need to close my eyes to visualize something. When I pictured the rose I found the white screen a bit boring so I put it between a pair of a womans breasts. Now that's a nice picture!

Our brains are a massive storage bank of images that can be recalled and assembled in a flash. If you're thinking of visualization in relation to meditation exercises that's a different story. One has to be in a very relaxed state to focus on an image for an extended period of time.

[Fuzzy12]

blackness with some gray lines or shapes where the light falls on my eyelids i guess. Sometimes dots. When i was younger i could see colours or clearer shapes like spirals. I used to see scary faces, zombies, eyes glaring at me or children's faces. Didn't really help me sleep but thankfully that's become better. If i try to visualise a specific image like a rose i can though i can't actually see it. Just blackness. and i have to keep redrawing the rose to keep the image.

[DvlsAdv0c8]

Mostly ghost images of the things that were in my line of vision when I closed my eyes. Then sometimes pulsating abstract shapes and patterns. Kinda like one of those funky screensavers. Sometimes there is faint color.

Can't seem to conjure up a clear image, though.

[Conman]

some combination of blackness and light, it's not grey but you know what im talking about. it's almost both with the red underneath my eyelids. when there's light right in my face and my eyes are shut it's a combo of the eyelid red and the white light

[rockydaydreamer]

I'm a visual thinker, I didn't need to close my eyes to see anything... although I find it hard to focus on the screen and the dim lit theater at the same time.

[Flory]

**moderator addition: video contains images some members may find disturbing.**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppz5uWtEwvY

not entirely dissimilar from this

[Geno]

I have HPPD and when I close my eyes and I'm not visualizing any picture, I see dark purple version of TV static. Same with when my eyes are open in a pitch dark room. Before I had that I just saw blackness.

[Plognark]

The inside of my eyes looks like a perpetual acid trip. The center of the image is crisp and clear, but it warps and shifts and mutates into other things if I don't concentrate very hard on it. Outside is a sea of dark, blurry, chaotic images. Random flotsam my brain keeps swirling around.

Well, I've never done acid, but it's pretty close to how people describe it.

I'm an artist though, so maybe I'm not a good reference...

[Assumption]

I get mostly black but with very dark grey/purple patterns swirling about. The brighter it is outside, the better you can see it. Also, when I press my eyes it goes into overdrive.

I thought I was highly visual. But I tried to keep the image of a rose in my head and it took a LOT of effort. I had to keep re-drawing it. It wasn't blurry, per se. I didn't really get much of an image. I'm pretty sure that I'm good at visualizing things that are more stimulating though.

[rockydaydreamer]

I don't understand what we're going at over here. Are we talking about what we can see with our eyes closed or what we can IMAGINE with our eyes closed? because they're two different things.

If find it hard to imagine things with my eyes closed too. I find it easier to imagine seeing the real world through my eye lids.

[Jynical]

When I close my eyes... I see the red of my eye lids with light shining at them.
That's what I literally see.

If we're talking more about our mind's eye... it varies. My eyes aren't usually shut that long.

[keliza]

When I shut my eyes it looks kind of like a lava lamp. I see purple, green, and blue shapes morph in front of my eyes in the blackness, expanding and contracting, disappearing and allowing the next one to take over. It's always been that way, I thought that was normal. Maybe not!

[Assumption]

Originally Posted by keliza

When I shut my eyes it looks kind of like a lava lamp. I see purple, green, and blue shapes morph in front of my eyes in the blackness, expanding and contracting, disappearing and allowing the next one to take over. It's always been that way, I thought that was normal. Maybe not!

That's a good description of what I often see. I think it depends somewhat on the ambient light for me, though. Also, when I press on my closed eyes, the effect is stronger. Like when you press on an LCD screen!