Plunge into darkness
When we close our eyes, we usually see black, sometimes mixed with luminous spots. By this picture we mean “see nothing.” But how do those whose eyes are always “closed” see the world? What is darkness for a blind person and how does he see it?
In general, a blind person’s picture of the world largely depends on how old he was when he lost his sight. If this happened already at a conscious age, then the person thinks in the same images as sighted people. He simply receives information about them using other senses. So, hearing the rustling of leaves, he imagines trees, warm sunny weather will be associated with a blue sky, and so on.
If a person lost his sight in childhood, after the age of five, he can remember colors and understand their meaning. In other words, he will know what the standard seven colors of the rainbow look like and their shades. But visual memory will still be poorly developed. For such people, perception is based largely on hearing and touch.
People who have never seen the sun's vision imagine the world completely differently. Being blind from birth or from infancy, they do not know either the images of the world or its colors. For them, vision, like visual perception, means nothing, since the area of the brain responsible for converting visual information into an image simply does not work for them. When asked what they see before their eyes, they will most likely answer that nothing. Or rather, they simply will not understand the question, since they do not have a developed association of the object with the image. They know the names of colors and objects, but they don't know what they should look like. This once again proves the inability of the blind, who managed to regain their sight, to recognize objects familiar to them by touch after seeing them with their own eyes. Therefore, a blind person will never be able to explain what color real darkness is, because he cannot see it.
Tactile dreams
The situation is similar with dreams. People who have lost their sight at a conscious age, according to their own stories, continue to see dreams “with pictures” for some time. But as time passes, they are replaced by sounds, smells, and tactile sensations.
A person who is blind from birth will see absolutely nothing in his dreams. But he will feel it. Suppose we have a dream in which we are on a sandy beach. A sighted person will most likely see the beach itself, the ocean, sand, and an incoming wave. A blind person will hear the sound of a wave, feel the sand pouring through his fingers, and feel a light breeze. Video blogger Tomi Edison, who has been blind since birth, describes his dreams as follows: “I dream the same thing as you. For example, I can be sitting at a football game and a moment later find myself at my seven-year-old birthday party.” Of course, he doesn't see all this. But he hears sounds that evoke corresponding associations in him.
Echolocation
Sighted people receive 90% of information through their eyes. Vision is the main sense organ for humans. For a blind person, this 90% or, according to some versions, 80% comes from hearing. Therefore, most blind people have very sensitive hearing, which a sighted person can only envy - in their midst there are often excellent musicians, for example, jazz performer Charles Ray or virtuoso pianist Art Tatum. Not only can blind people truly hear and closely follow sounds, but in some cases they can also use echolocation. True, for this you need to learn to recognize sound waves reflected by surrounding objects, determine the position, distance and size of objects located nearby.
Modern researchers no longer classify this method as a fantastic ability. The method of using echolocation for the blind was developed by the American Daniel Kish, who was also blind from early childhood. At 13 months, he had both eyes removed. A blind child’s natural desire to understand the world resulted in his using the method of reflecting sound from different surfaces. It is also used by bats that live in complete darkness, and by dolphins that use echolocation to navigate the ocean.
Thanks to his unique way of “seeing,” Daniel managed to live the life of an ordinary child, in no way inferior to his more fortunate peers. The essence of his method is simple: he constantly clicks his tongue, sending a sound in front of him, which is reflected from different surfaces and gives him an idea of the objects around him. In fact, the same thing happens when blind people tap a stick - the sound of the stick on the road, bounces off surrounding surfaces and conveys some information to the person.
However, Daniel's method has not yet become widespread. In particular, in America, where it originated, according to the American National Federation of Blind People, it was considered “too complex.” But today technology has come to the aid of a good idea. Two years ago, Israeli scientists developed a special Sonar Vision system that is capable of converting images into sound signals. It works in the same way as the echolocation system of bats, but instead of chirping, a video camera built into glasses is used. A laptop or smartphone converts the image into sound, which in turn is transmitted to the headset. According to experiments, after special training, blind people using the device were able to identify faces, buildings, the position of objects in space, and even identify individual letters.
The world is touchable
Unfortunately, all of the above methods of perceiving the world around us are not suitable for all blind people. Some are deprived from birth not only of eyes, but also of ears, or rather hearing. The world of the deaf-blind is limited to memory, if they have lost sight and hearing not since birth, and touch. In other words, for them there is only that which they can touch. Touch and smell are the only threads that connect them with the world around them.
But even for them there is hope for a fulfilling life. You can talk to them using so-called dactylology, when each letter corresponds to a specific sign reproduced with the fingers. A huge contribution to the lives of such people was made by the Braille code - a relief-dot tactile way of writing. Today, raised letters, incomprehensible to a sighted person, are ubiquitous. There are even special computer displays that can convert electronic text into raised text. However, this method is applicable only to those who have lost their sight and hearing after they have learned the language. Those who are blind and deaf from birth have to rely only on touch or vibration
Reading vibrations
Completely unique in history is the case of American Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing as a result of a fever in infancy. It would seem that she is destined for the life of a closed person who, due to her disability, simply will not be able to learn the language, and therefore will not be able to communicate with people. But her desire to explore the world on an equal basis with the sighted and hearing people was rewarded. When Helen grew up, she was assigned to the Perkins School, which specialized in teaching blind people. There she was assigned a teacher, Anne Sullivan, who was able to find the right approach to Helen. She taught the language to a girl who had never heard human speech and did not even know the approximate sound of letters and the meaning of words. They resorted to the Tadoma method: by touching the lips of the speaking person, Helen felt their vibration, while Sullivan marked the letters on her palm.
After mastering the language, Helen had the opportunity to use the Braille code. With his help, she achieved such success that an ordinary person would envy. By the end of her studies, she had fully mastered English, German, Greek and Latin. At the age of 24, she graduated with honors from the prestigious Radcliffe Institute, becoming the first deaf-blind person to receive a higher education. Subsequently, she devoted her life to politics and protecting the rights of people with disabilities, and also wrote 12 books about her life and the world through the eyes of the blind.
People have already been divided into types of perception of the world around them.
We are talking about kinesthetic, auditory and visual learners. This is, of course, a conditional division and each of us uses several ways to study the world around us. But some type still prevails.
The idea behind the topic is:
To develop abilities, you need to develop first of all those that are closer to your type of perception. In other words, if you are a kinesthetic person, you should not waste time developing clairvoyance, it is better to work with energy. Clairvoyance will come in a slightly different form and a little later.
Briefly about personality types and how you can use them.
Kinesthetic, a person who experiences the world through touch. Hands and fingers are his main instrument of cognition. Often seeing an object and knowing what it is, he will still touch and feel it. The perceived space of a kinesthetic learner is the distance of an outstretched arm. In conversation, the words feel and other words associated with body sensations are often used.
Auadials are such listeners, they will not let a single sound pass them by. They love music and other sounds. They make virtuoso musicians. Hearing is trusted more than other senses. They may remember what they were told many years ago without remembering what the person looked like. They themselves talk a lot, their ears are hurt by incorrect speech or a false melody.
Visual learners perceive the world through pictures and images. They can clearly remember a fragment from a movie they saw many years ago. They can easily imagine and operate with images. They can create a complete world in their imagination. Most visuals are women. Clairvoyance is a natural phenomenon when discovering your abilities.
I would like to offer you a small test to clarify your type.
Close your eyes and try to imagine, for example, a five-ruble coin. See one side, then the other. Read the inscription and look at it as if you were looking with your eyes.
With your eyes closed, try to feel the coin. Feel the coldness of the metal, the convexity of the surface, determine where heads and tails are.
Try mentally throwing a coin on the table, or hitting it with your fingernail. Hear the sound.
Some people can easily do all these steps. But one action will be easy and clear, while others not so much. Decide on your perception of the world. All further development will be in the work and strengthening of this original quality.
As an example, the development of the ajna chakra (the area located at the level of the center of the forehead between the eyebrows).
Energy color: blue (the chakra itself is pure white)
The sound of the octave A.
Sensations of vibration, pressure, pulsation.
We select practices for ourselves and work with them based on our perception of the world. And knowledge will come to you that was not previously taught. Get answers to questions and ask new ones you don't know about yet.
Vision is a complex, dynamic thing, influenced by various factors. Be it diseases of the organs of vision, exposure to various illicit substances, or a congenital abnormality that develops over time. It is difficult for an ordinary person to imagine, visualize - to show with simple examples how it all looks and works.
Normal vision
The way a healthy adult with a clear mind sees the world around him.
Myopia
There are objects in the distance, but there is no sense - a person sees only silhouettes
Farsightedness
The opposite phenomenon - objects close up are very difficult to see
Partial blindness
In normal lighting, a person still sees colors, but not details of objects
Common blindness
That defect that develops over time, throughout life. A person still reacts to light and darkness, can notice movement, but nothing more.
Complete blindness
In fact, we do not know whether such a person sees anything black, because for him the concept of “seeing” is absent a priori. And he does not live in darkness, as it may seem, because he does not know the difference between darkness and light.
Colorblindness
In this example, the colors red and green are specifically chosen to show how they blend together in the vision of people with this condition. There are several degrees - from simply faded shades to cases where both red and green look like gray spots.
Newborn vision
In the first hours of life, the child sees practically nothing; his vision function does not yet work. Only dark and light spots.
Baby's vision 4 weeks after birth
The baby is still dependent on his mother and is inactive, so he does not really see anything further than 20 cm from himself. Only the outlines of individual large objects.
Child's vision at 6 months of life
After three months, children are already good at recognizing the details of close objects, for example, the faces of their parents. After another three, they discover that the world is actually colored.
Attention! The following images relate to the topic of mind-altering substance abuse! Provided for informational purposes only!
Vision of a very drunk man
Everything is visible, both details and colors, but there is no way to focus your gaze on something specific
Vision after marijuana use
Not as blurry as after drinking, but it will be difficult to play darts
Vision under the influence of LSD
The effects vary, but very often there is “scaling” - when the gaze highlights, makes larger and brighter one object of interest. Sometimes it may not be a visual object, for example, LSB makes a person “see music.”
Vision after cocaine use
The perception of the world changes to a brighter one, all colors become contrasting, details become super clear, but the brain does not always have time to process this information and paradoxes may be observed.
Vision under the influence of heroin
Simply put, a person sees almost nothing, as his consciousness is absorbed by the euphoric effect of using the drug and visual effects become secondary.
The actual manifested world itself is the same, regardless of how different life forms perceive it. But all types of creatures and even individual individuals, except for the basis of this world, which is the same for all forms of life, perceive predominantly those of its facets that correspond to their aspirations and needs. If we are talking about a person, then we must take into account his worldview, which largely determines not only the range of preferential perception of some facets of the reality of the world, but also his attitude towards these facets. At the same time, a person is confident that his perception of the world and attitude towards this world are adequate to the circumstances. And even if you try to explain to him that he perceives reality distortedly, then, most likely, nothing will come of it - he will not accept the explanation, because it does not fit into his ideological logic. Thus, the main reason lies in his worldview, which each person has his own map for assessing the significance of the world. The fact is that each significance, for the person who perceives it, has its own individual sound, hence the worldview, which includes the reflected significances of this world, can be compared to an orchestra, which for each person is not only different in the instruments included in it, but also in its individual works that he prefers to perform. And, besides, the same significance for different people does not have the same value, which is in many ways also connected with worldview. From this we can conclude: the same manifested world, which has certain significance, is perceived and assessed differently by different people. And depending on the goals to which they devote their lives, the same objects or the relationships between them will be perceived and evaluated differently by people. And, in addition, the worldview can be compared to puzzles that contain elements that have certain colors and shapes, then each person’s worldview is their own individual puzzle, which is put together into its own individual picture.
Each significance of a worldview sounds at its own frequency and a person, depending on this, strives mainly for what is consonant with him. He will perceive the reality of the world from the side that is consonant with his worldview, and will act in the external world as his inner sound allows him. Therefore, every person has his own truth, even a criminal. And not all criminals will agree that their truth is wrong and that they are criminals. In order for them to see that their truth is defective, there must be a part of their worldview that is free or independent of their truth. And only from the position of this free part can they realize that they are wrong. But this small part can be so insignificant that a person, even knowing that he is doing something destructive, will not be able to resist his individual destructive truth. But more often it happens that a person realizes the destructiveness of his truth from the position of a mind that knows generally accepted assessments of the significance of the world and can even talk convincingly about their values for listeners, but when the time comes to act, the person finds himself at the mercy of his worldview. Thus, a worldview is not the sum of information perceived by the mind as a result of training, or notations, or soul-saving conversations held with a person, because a worldview has roots in the subconscious. Then how is a worldview formed? First, a worldview must have a genetic basis, and when this is not enough, the idea of exclusivity can be taken as a basis. Every person, if not explicitly, openly, then on a deeper level, considers himself or wants to be exceptional, even if not in everything, then at least in something. Well, then a myth unfolds that confirms his exclusivity, which asserts either the exclusivity of the idea that a person follows, or the exclusivity of the goal to which a person devotes his entire life, or the exclusivity of the person himself, for example, in connection with his social status.
When we talk about the genetic basis of a worldview, then in this case we are talking about a person’s hereditary predispositions, on the basis of which ideas that bear the meaning of his life can subsequently be formed. A person’s worldview always has its own history and its own heroes, who, when forming a worldview, are an example of both relationships with external reality and attitude towards oneself. This story usually consists of two parts - his personal and the history of his people. And its truthfulness or bias is not at all important; what is important is that it instills in a person a certain significance, which represents him as a non-trivial personality.
The history of any nation, and each person’s own personal history, is multifaceted. But very often, when describing their history, historians take its best facet and even exaggerate it, and present the still life they received as real history. And if it lacks the necessary greatness and heroism, then myths, for example, the biblical Old Testament, come to the rescue. At the same time, when describing the stories of other peoples, they consider them based on all sorts of negative examples, and also exaggerate them, and an example of this can be the times of the reign of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great, and many other examples.
A formed worldview is not only the glasses through which a person looks at the reality of the world and his place in it, but it also determines the configuration of a person’s personality, his creative capabilities and the possibilities of his spiritual growth.
Let's discuss it together. Why does the poet connect the words “I live” with human senses?
Answer. Human life is an interaction with the environment, a constant exchange of substances with it. To live, a person needs to navigate the environment. And he does this with the help of his senses - vision, smell, hearing, touch, taste and others. Therefore, the poet described his feelings this way.
Vision
Question. Let's look at various items. What visual impressions did we get of them? What signs of objects did we see? Do we agree with the conclusion “The eyes are our “windows” to the world?”
Answer. I agree with this expression. We receive most of the information from the outside world through the organs of vision. We can determine the color of an object, its size, distance to it, and give a description. With the help of our visual organs, we recognize objects, distinguish people, and perceive written speech.
Hearing
Let's play. Let's close our eyes and try to determine from which side (left, right, back, front, etc.) the sound is coming. Do we agree with the conclusion: “Hearing helps us navigate the world around us?”
Answer. I agree with this statement. Thanks to sounds, we navigate the environment, we can communicate with each other, we hear the sounds of nature, music, and we avoid danger.
Question. Explain why these rules need to be followed.
1. Try not to shout, go away from places where there is a lot of noise and sharp sounds.
2. Do not turn on the tape recorder, radio, or TV at high volume.
3. Do not put objects into your ear.
4. Use a cotton swab to clean your ears.
Answer. These are all rules of hearing hygiene. Loud speech and music cause damage to the eardrum and auditory ossicles. At the same time, the nerve endings become tired, which leads to a decrease in the hearing threshold. If you insert various objects into your ear, you can damage the inner ear; the eardrum must be cleaned of earwax, but this must be done with soft objects.
Smell
Question. What is the sense of smell? What rules must be followed to preserve your sense of smell?
Answer. The sense of smell is the ability to perceive odors. There are a lot of smells. They can be recognized by special cells located in the nasal mucosa. We distinguish up to four thousand odors, but a dog is several times more. From sensory cells, information enters the brain, where it is analyzed.
Exercise. Let's smell various substances: perfume, garlic, horseradish, flower. Let's divide odors into two groups - pleasant and unpleasant.
Answer. Pleasant smells - perfume, flowers; unpleasant odors – garlic, horseradish.
Let's discuss it together. Let's smell something pleasant, like tasty food. To do this, take a deep breath through your nose. Now let’s hold our nose and take a deep breath through our mouth. In what case will we smell? Which sense organs “tell” us that the food we eat is not spoiled? Let's explain our answers.
Answer. We smell when we breathe through our nose. It is the olfactory organs that first of all tell us that food is not spoiled. Secondly, these will be the taste organs.
Question. Prepare for the conversation. Think about how to answer the questions: “Why do we almost stop smelling when we have a runny nose? Why does a person never confuse the smell of fish and the smell of flowers?”
If you have a cat or dog at home, observe how they react to smells. Talk about it in class.
Answer. During a runny nose, the nerve endings in the nasal mucosa become clogged. When a cat and a dog sniff something, their nostrils widen, they inhale deeply, their breathing quickens.
Taste
Exercise. Place a piece of sugar on your tongue. Let's wait until it melts. Wipe your tongue with a clean napkin and quickly run another piece of sugar over it. In what case did we feel the taste? Let’s analyze whether we can draw the following conclusion: “Saliva helps to distinguish taste. A dry tongue cannot sense taste.”
Answer. Yes, we can draw such a conclusion. The sensitive endings on the tongue are irritated only when the food is wet. And saliva wets food.
Question. Look at the drawing. Read the signatures. Using the words “left”, “right”, “front”, “back”, explain how different parts of the tongue (taste zones) distinguish between sour, sweet, salty, and bitter tastes.
Explain how you understand the word “taster”. What sense organs do you think are especially developed in people of this profession?
Answer. The back of the tongue detects bitter taste. The left and right sides of the tongue distinguish between sour tastes. The left and right parts closer to the tip of the tongue distinguish between the salty taste. The tip "in front" of the tongue detects sweet taste. A taster is a person who is better able than others to identify different tastes and smells. These people have better developed senses of smell and taste than others.
Touch
1. Take a piece of ice in your hands, touch a glass of hot water, and stroke the fur with your palm. What do we feel (touch)? Let’s draw a conclusion by answering the question: “Does the sense of touch help us perceive the world?
2. Place your hand in warm water. What we feel. Will the feeling change after a few minutes? Let’s analyze whether we can draw the following conclusion: “The hand got used to the temperature and stopped feeling the heat.”
3. Let’s conduct a game-exercise “identify the object by touch.” The student puts his hand into the bag, selects an object without looking and determines by touch what it is and what it is made of.
Let's compare our conclusions with the text.
Answer. 1. With the help of the organs of touch, we perceive the world around us - heat, cold, the surface of objects - soft, hard, smooth, rough. From tactile cells, signals go to the brain and a person, even with his eyes closed, is able to distinguish the size and shape of an object, react to changes in temperature, and withdraw his hand from a hot object or a piercing object.
2. First we feel warmth, and then the brain stops responding to incoming signals. This is a protective reaction of the brain. This is how he protects himself from fatigue. But in everyday life they say that the hand has gotten used to it.
3. A person identifies objects by touch. The experience of a previous life helps with this. But if an unfamiliar object comes across, the person will find it difficult to name what it is.
