First of all, Alex, thank you for responding. And secondly, thank you for the patience you're going to need in reading my response.
I've been through all this before . . . numerous times.
The thing with visualisation is you don't see as if you would with your eyes. Do you find your car when you parked it? Do you find your way home at night? You have sound visualisation skills because if you couldn't see in your minds eye what your car or where your home is.
I understand visualization is not seen through the physical eyes. I close my eyes. All I "see" is black. If there's such a thing as a third eye or mind's eye, I haven't found it yet.
I don't see anything in my mind's eye. My memory serves me to find my way home, etc. If you're saying memory is the same thing as visualization, I would have to disagree with you.
The mind may or may not see in pictures, but if it does, it doesn't translate that to my conscious mind. I still see nothing but black when I close my eyes, yet I can still remember how to find my way home—with my physical eyes and memory, not by visualizing in the way, for instance, Shakti Gawain describes in her seminal book, "Creative Visualization."
Can you point to something yellow? If so you can visualise.
Sorry. Memory.
I don't buy that. That's just an easy way out to try and explain to people like me who are not able to "see" with one's mind's eye or third eye or whatever.
What you just said is the same thing as saying that I am visualizing with my physical eyes if I can point to something yellow and see it. And you've already said physical eyes don't visualize, at least the way I'm talking here.
Now with exercises like the Silva Method you get a sense of. Some people are stronger at hearing or smelling when they get a sense of what "visualisation."
I'm not sure what you meant by this last bit, because the sentence structures are all ka-fooey.
The exercises in the Silva method involved casting about your conscious awareness into things like walls, up through the roof, etc., none of which I was able to do. And they all involved visualization. They also involved other internal senses, which I am unable to connect to, not speaking of the physical senses, which I connect to just fine.
I am strong in none of the senses you mentioned, when it comes to internal sensing. To me, visualization is visualization. Smelling is smelling. Feeling is feeling. Feeling or smelling is not visualization. Look at the root word—visual.
One way of developing the visualisation skill is to stand in front of a painting, study it in detail for two or 3 minutes and then close your eyes and talk about the detail, describe as much as you can. Do that for 10 minutes and then give it a break for a day or two. Do it again a few more times if necessary. Though I doubt it is. All that is required is that you notice that the mind does perceive a lot of details and usually too fast to catch.
Anytime I have tried these kinds of exercises, I am relying 100% on the memory of what I saw. And as often as not, I remember very little. And just as often as not, I am wrong in what I am remembering.
When I close my eyes after looking at such items, whatever I look at remains present for about one, maybe two seconds, but it is fading away at a rapid rate at the instant I close my eyes.
Brain damage at two different times in my young life has had a deleterious effect on my memory, and perhaps my ability to "see" with my mind's eye or third eye or whatever.
I must be pretty lazy when it comes to Paraliminals. I just consider the questions in the booklet, Listen to Paul in the beginning and then just let the non-conscious mind handle the details. I learned long ago, trying to visualise and get it right limits the possibilities of greater than my imaginings. So while I do the visualisation exercises with other programs, I never bothered much for Paraliminals. If my conscious mind caught up with any of the visualisations Paul has on the Paraliminals I just did something. No details though.
Alex
The most I can do when listening to paraliminals is try and relax the best I can and try to ignore what is being said, hoping my subconscious picks up on what Paul is saying. I have a hard time relaxing, so I concentrate on that, not always successfully.
The paraliminal that I am working on exclusively is "Dream Play." I would really like to be able to have lucid dreams.
I've written out my three experiences with lucid dreams in my blog, Odds and End Thoughts at
http://oddsandendthoughts.wordpress.com/...acked-up-to-be/ — if you're interested.
Sorry, if I seem thick-headed, but I hear these kinds of explanations every time I talk with someone about my situation.
I'm not ignorant regarding these things, as I'm very widely read on the subject. I know I've got a pituitary gland up there somewhere, which is supposed to be the seat of the third eye, so-called, but I'm just not able to "turn it on." I do all the things the books say, but nothing seems to work.
So, if it seems I'm a little thick-headed, I'm just a little tired of hearing the same-old, same-old mantras for my not being able to visualize, all the while being told I am in fact visualizing.
For me, there are no white screens upon which to "see" stuff or work rooms where I am supposed to "do" stuff, all with my eyes closed.
My former brother-in-law can visualize with his eyes open. In fact, he can look at a wallpaper full of cars and make the cars move around. He can actually undress people with his mind, if he so desired. To me, stuff like this is visualization in its highest form, not that I want to undress people with my mind.
Not pointing at something yellow and seeing it with my eyes and telling myself I'm visualizing. I know what visualizing is and this ain't it.
Silva involved a lot of white screen, mirrors, etc. I'm not able to close my eyes and point to them and say I'm visualizing because they're not there and I don't know how to put them there.
I'm not even able to visualize, say the color red, or a red apple when my eyes are closed. I can think about them and remember that I really do know what they look like, but they make no appearances to my mind's eye, third eye, or whatever.
Sorry if this has taken on the appearance of a rant and it's certainly not meant to be a flame. Just frustration for a life-long problem I have yet been unable to unravel, in spite of all my efforts and money I have spent on "programs" and books and tapes, etc.
They all want you to visualize with or without white screens. With your eyes closed.
So, thank you for your patience. Hopefully, you were able to have some. Else, I'm sure it was a long read.
