Have you ever closed your eyes and been able to see things?

[Crucible]

I mean have things look as though they are real. Like you can't tell your eyes are closed. Earlier today after I woke up I closed my eyes for a while. I tried seeing things. For short moments I actually saw stuff. It was not just closing my eyes and seeing black or just imagining something. I mean I can still imagine what different food tastes like or what something looks like. But I actually saw something. I guess people who meditate for years are able to do this, but do it as much as they want. They can actually have lucid day dreams so to speak.

[Crucible]

Hehe, had to reread through this. I was drunk when I posted it. Probably should move this to senseless banter. :)

[Serinanth]

nah its fine here =) Sometimes I can see things too, it starts out fuzzy and in black and white, usualy high contrast, and then it starts to resolve into a color more detailed image. If I realx but keep my wits and watch I can usualy WILD.

[Pegasis]

Thst is the inward eye, I do that aswell.

[The Cusp]

Sometime as I'm lying in bed, trying to go to sleep, I realize I can see through my closed eyelids. It's kind of like seeing with night vision goggles.

[blade5x]

Plenty of times. It usually happens when I take a nap. It's extremely easy for me to do... all I have to do is think about it while drifting off and soon I'll start seeing where my head is turned. But it's never exact. It's usually blurry, somewhat dark, and somehow offset (either closer, further, or just off angle).

It's cool though. My mind feels in a complete state of relaxation and silence when it happens.

[DarkComrade]

When i was like 5 years old or so and i woud close my eyes i woud see alot of colors and things flying around passing my view like tables, chairs, dogs, cars, clothes, people, doors, bad tubs, deers, pictures, bedsheets, weapons, scenes of things that i have done in my live, black holes, planets, stairs, etc etc etc... i woud see everything even horrifying things, somtimes even hear voices faintly saying things

[The Cusp]

It's usually blurry, somewhat dark, and somehow offset (either closer, further, or just off angle).

Yeah, sometimes the angle is off with me as well. The first few times it happened, I opened my eyes to check what I was seeing against what was really there. Everything in the room was the same, but the blankets on my bed didn't match what I was seeing.

After experiencing this a few times, I realized the reason the blankets looked different is because I wasn't seeing them from where my eyes were, but from a point right against the mattress.

[gaia]

the brain circuits used by imagination and sensory data are the same - your brain does not know the difference...

[juroara]

I guess something like this happens to me when I am close to WILDing. I will have the sensation of my eyes being closed, but I can see my body, my position and my room. The same is true of paralysis.

[malac]

Yea, its called hypnogogia---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia

Everyone experiences it before and after dreaming (during REM; Rapid Eye Movement)

[LucidFlanders]

http://www.dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=61350

[taltho]

Ive done this for years, I always see things while I daydream/meditate I think its sorta like wilding. I tried to figure this out here once last year but didn't get very far. it is pretty cool to be able to do though.

[The Cusp]

Yea, its called hypnogogia---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia

Everyone experiences it before and after dreaming (during REM; Rapid Eye Movement)

Sorry, we're not talking about the same thing. Hynogogic/Hypnopompic imagery is something else completely.

Hpnogogic imagery is random stuff, the things we're seeing are consistently our actual surrounding.

[ray]

yeah its fun to freak people out by doing things with your eyes closed.:D i do it in school sometimes i'm just like, what? i can see perfectly :Pit helps alot in the dark too.i always win at hide and seek lol.technically its not cheating with a flashlight....:roll:

[malac]

Sorry, we're not talking about the same thing. Hynogogic/Hypnopompic imagery is something else completely.

Hpnogogic imagery is random stuff, the things we're seeing are consistently our actual surrounding.

Cusp. No. I'm actually correct and you're talking about something else. Seeing through your eyelids? Are you and like one other person the only ones describing such a phenomenon, whilst everyone else is perfectly relating to hypnogogia. Remember, REM is still active for long periods of time, thus its only natural to have vivid like imagery. Everyone experiences it. If you truly are talking about something else, my apologies, as I probably should've remembered that this IS the "Beyond dreaming" section......

[Pegasis]

yeah its fun to freak people out by doing things with your eyes closed.:D i do it in school sometimes i'm just like, what? i can see perfectly :Pit helps alot in the dark too.i always win at hide and seek lol.technically its not cheating with a flashlight....:roll:

Well there is something new to me.

[The Cusp]

Cusp. No. I'm actually correct and you're talking about something else. Seeing through your eyelids? Are you and like one other person the only ones describing such a phenomenon, whilst everyone else is perfectly relating to hypnogogia. Remember, REM is still active for long periods of time, thus its only natural to have vivid like imagery. Everyone experiences it. If you truly are talking about something else, my apologies, as I probably should've remembered that this IS the "Beyond dreaming" section......

Somebody's sure of themselves. I have 17 years of dreaming experience, and believe me, I know the difference between hypnogogic/hypnopompic states and reality. Unlike most people on this site, I don't consider lucidity to be the "be all, end all" of dreaming, and I've spend a ridiculous amount of time researching these matters.

I'm not making these posts because I want to be "special", but because I'm trying to describe something very real I've experienced. Nor am I the only one to have experienced this, as I've come across dozens of people here and on other sites who've experienced the same thing.

Besides, try seeing how long your HI lasts after you get up and start walking around. It doesn't work that way. What we're trying to isolate here is something completely different.

[Miketheman55]

sometimes, when i close my eyes, i see weird shapes, almost as a foreign alphabet.

[ray]

interesting... like words or symbols?

[Tricky]

Its called hypnagogic imagery. It happens kinda on the border of awake/asleep. It happens to me all the time. I think it usually happens to people that mess with different states of conciousness, like us LDers. I also meditate and other stuff, so even more for me. I'll be laying there and whatever I think I'm looking at, I'll start to see it. I'll be seeing my floor, and I'll be like "Wait. But my eyes are closed" :P

[The Cusp]

Now why would Hypnagogic imagery be an accurate representation of your surroundings? HI consists of random stuff like evil clowns or hearing voices, pretty much the same symptoms as schizophrenia. Have you ever had any other HI that were identical, where you saw the same thing? I've certainly never heard of such a thing happening.

I like to get HI, so I know what it's like, and I tell you that is not what this is.

[Schmaven]

Last night I tried to sleep for 6 hours, and 4 hours into this failed attempt, while trying really hard to fall asleep, I saw a brief flash of a man with a mustache and glasses staring into my eyes from inches away from my face. It was so unexpected, it scared me. That was the first thing I've ever seen that looked real with my eyes closed but still awake. In case you were wondering, he had an evil mustache.

[Tricky]

Now why would Hypnagogic imagery be an accurate representation of your surroundings? HI consists of random stuff like evil clowns or hearing voices, pretty much the same symptoms as schizophrenia. Have you ever had any other HI that were identical, where you saw the same thing? I've certainly never heard of such a thing happening.

I like to get HI, so I know what it's like, and I tell you that is not what this is.

Yes, I do see lots of random stuff too. Like crumpling pieces of paper, random old ladies laughing, etc. But a lot of the time I see where I think I am, just because thats what I'm focused on seeing, even that my eyes are closed. What I get here is HI. You just interpreted it wrong. I dont get the same thing every time. I can even get into this state on command. It just takes me a few minutes.

[The Cusp]

In my experience I can't maintain HI if I start moving around. When I see with my eyes closed, I can get up and break dance if I want to, yet still be able to see that like I have night vision goggles. I see it the exact same way every time.

There is nothing about HI that would explain seeing things accurately, and no peculiarity of memory that would account for me remembering and recreating every little detail of the dynamic mess I call my room.

[Pegasis]

In my experience I can't maintain HI if I start moving around. When I see with my eyes closed, I can get up and break dance if I want to, yet still be able to see that like I have night vision goggles. I see it the exact same way every time.

There is nothing about HI that would explain seeing things accurately, and no peculiarity of memory that would account for me remembering and recreating every little detail of the dynamic mess I call my room.

A Good inward Eye, Thanks for the inspiration.

[Schmaven]

Good inward eye, or really thin eye-lids?

[Exhalent]

This happens to almost every day. I think I am awake then about 10 seconds later I open my eyes and realize that my eyes were closed. When I open my eyes, the scene only changes slightly.

[allensig3654]

Before my first OBE I could see thing's with my eyes closed. It was seriously the coolest thing :P

[Tricky]

I dont really focus on OBE's but when I first had one I had it before, and after. I dont think thier related.

[The Cusp]

This happens to almost every day. I think I am awake then about 10 seconds later I open my eyes and realize that my eyes were closed. When I open my eyes, the scene only changes slightly.

Next time that happens, try pay attention to what is different in how you see it. In my experience, that slight change is because I didn't seem to be seeing from where my physical eyes were located, but from a point closer to the mattress. It would be great if someone else could verify that, since this doesn't happen to me all that often.

[GothgirlMichelle]

I get that, but I don't see like SUPER clearly.... I think it depends on how long my eyes have been closed because I wear contacts....