Thread: Meditating on the symbolic

There could be two different things going on here.

the first is very simply geometric patterns of light/colors caused by pressure on the eyeball. These sensations have a name, phosphenes, and they are an example of a wider class of events known as entopic phenomena (which would include such common experiences as seeing a floater drift past). Phosphenes are caused by pressure stimulating the retina which in turn gets the optic nerve in on the act resulting in the aforementioned brightness, colors, and patterns. While interesting, these patterns are purely physiological as they are based on excitation of the optic nerve which puts the experience into the visual processing section of your brain.

The other thing that could be going on (or it could be a combination of both) is referred to as hypnagogic imagery, and this is the sort of thing that is right up the alley for these forums. Hynagogic imagery does not rely on visual processing, but rather is "all in the mind".

BTW.. I see that your location is the NC Mountains. I'm just on the other side in East TN, and I've got nothing but great experiences stomping about the NC mountains!

Thinking about it a bit more, I'm leaning toward thinking that you're mainly describing phosphenes. Your mention of, "when I close my eyelids tight" and "when I pressed my face into a pillow", describe actions that create pressure on the eyeball, and thus would be likely to produce phosphenes.

Now I'm not knocking the experience, I enjoy it myself from time to time, and it's the curiousity about such things that will lead you to a better understanding of the specific phenominon. If you're curiousity extends to the hypnagogic phenonena, then this is a perfect place to read, post, and learn about these too!

Thanks for the response Dan24678,I found that very interesting,I never knew what
I was doing had a name..This web site is too cool,I hope to learn more,and it's nice
to meet a fellow southerner,my father was born in TN.