Phosphenes are the luminous impression due to excitation of the retina. They are also spontaneous background noise, like TV static. They are the view of inside your eyelids with your eyes closed. Relax your mind. Let go. Lose Control. Soon, vague patterned textures emerge. They morph and evolve.

Julia can remember as a teenager, staring at the oriental rug in the living room. She would let her eyes drop out of focus, drift into an alpha state and watch the patterns go. She could feel herself drifting off -- where? It was a little scary. The patterns had a life of their own. Vague, visual associations -- faces, paisleys, spirals, checkerboards -- would emerge spontaneously and then change.

And this wasn't what you get from pressing on your eyeballs either. It was much more subtle. The entire visual pathway is involved -- all the way from the optic nerves to the visual cortex. It was much deeper and further away...

Copyright 2000 Stewart Dickson and Rebecka Dickson