The blind can see!

[Jacqui D]

The blind man who can 'see' - and how he shows that humans really DO have a sixth sense
By MICHAEL HANLON
Last updated at 10:55 PM on 23rd December 2008
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For blind people to regain the power of sight usually requires a miracle - either of the old-fashioned, Biblical variety or of the modern, medical sort.
Yet an extraordinary case reported this week shows us that there may be another form of miracle that can help the blind to 'see' - and it's one that may force us to rethink our whole understanding of the way in which the human senses operate.
In the journal Current Biology it is reported that a man left totally blind by brain damage has astounded scientists by flawlessly navigating an obstacle course without any help or practice whatsoever.
Blindsight: A new experiment suggests we may have a 'sixth sense' that allows some blind people to 'see' (file picture)

This is perhaps the most persuasive example to date of what is termed 'blindsight' - the extraordinary ability of some who have lost their vision to be able to 'see' without, apparently, any ability actually to receive images in the eye and brain at all.



Because blindsight is a nebulous concept, often linked to paranormal manifestations, it has often been dismissed by researchers as myth. Yet here was a case that defied any straightforward explanation.
Scientists at the University of Tilburg in The Netherlands found that the unnamed man, known only as 'TN', was able to negotiate his way past a series of boxes and chairs, despite the fact that a series of strokes had damaged the visual cortex of his brain to such an extent that tests have shown he is completely blind.
So how on earth does he do it? What does it tell us about the way we 'see' the world?

And is it conclusive proof, as many have claimed, that humans have a hidden 'sixth sense' that can detect aspects of the world around us in a way that defies any logical explanation?
The first thing to realise is that science loves to categorise things.

We have 'five senses' in part because 'five-and-a-bit senses' is messy and ' unscientific'.
And yet it may be a far more accurate description of what is going on in the complex interface between the outside world and our brains.
It seems that in the case of TN, for example, although he has no conscious awareness of the visual world, his brain is, somehow, keeping tabs on his surroundings, by processing the electrical messages that are travelling through his eyes and optic nerves (which remain undamaged by his stroke) even though the normal 'visual' part of his brain is damaged beyond repair.
To use a scientific term, his mind is not creating any visual 'qualia' - the name given to conscious experience of sensations, such as sight or sound.
Despite being blind, Mike Newman drove a car at 165.94mph

Although he is not actually aware of the cause, scans have even revealed that certain parts of his brain, not normally associated with sight, 'light up' when he is shown pictures of other people pulling a variety of different facial expressions - such as fear, anger or joy.
This weirdness should perhaps not surprise us. Our senses form part of the most mysterious system in the known universe - the human brain.

Indeed, compared to the kilogram of grey jelly in your skull, even the mightiest stars and galaxies hold few mysteries.
Anyone who claims they know how the brain works, or exactly what is going on when our eyes view a splash of red, or our noses scent a whiff of coffee, or our tastebuds pick up on a tang of brine, is simply deluded or lying.

Despite centuries of probing, such mysteries remain totally unsolved.
We do know, however, that there are a number of peculiar anomalies.
For example, we know that humans, compared to other animals, have extremely good vision - on a par with the birds and far better than most mammals. Sight is our primary sense.
Yet, rather mysteriously, it is another sense - smell - which in many of us has the ability to evoke the strongest emotional responses.
Shown a photograph of our old primary school, say, most of us will respond with a vague sense of recognition.

Mind's eye: The eye collects information, but the brain is the real organ of vision
In contrast, even the merest hint of the smell of the school's polished parquet floors, or of the heady tang of boiled cabbage from the school dinner kitchens, will be enough to bring all the childhood memories flooding back.
Equally mysteriously, our senses seem to operate on several levels. If you are sitting down when you read this article, think for a moment of the sensation coming from your bottom and lower back.
The moment you do, you will become suddenly aware of the pressure of the seat cushion below you, the contours of its shape and how comfortable (or uncomfortable) it is.
In psychological terms, you are now 'attending' to these sensory inputs.
Yet before you chose to swivel your 'mind's eye' to the chair, you were probably completely unconscious of all these sensations, even though the relevant one of the your five senses - touch - was working all the while.
Then there is a well-known psychological phenomenon called the 'cocktail party effect'.
This is the ability of the human brain to detect, immediately, pertinent and important information from an otherwise meaningless sensory melange.
If you are at a busy party, for instance, you will probably be aware only of the random babble and hum of voices. Yet should someone mention your name, even quietly and from across the room, the chances are that you will immediately pick up on it.
It is as though you have an unconscious monitor sitting inside your head - a 'little man', if you will - checking what is coming in from your eyes and ears and so forth, before deciding which is important-and letting your conscious mind know.
Of course, the idea of a little man inside your head is an absurd (but remarkably persistent) analogy - but it does serve to illustrate the fact that our brains operate on all sorts of levels of conscious awareness, and not always in ways that we recognise.
Think of the last time you drove to work, for instance, or did the school run. How conscious were you, actually, of the journey? How many of the twists and turns can you remember?
The chances are that the answer is 'none at all'; you probably were able to operate, quite safely, a complex piece of machinery (a car) almost like you were an unthinking robot while you were thinking about something more interesting. Extraordinary.
The interaction between the 'mind' and the senses really is one of the most amazing aspects of the natural world.

And since we cannot be sure how it works, it does seem foolish to dismiss, out of hand, 'sixth sense' phenomena such as blindsight.
It is probably even the case that we should not rush to dismiss, completely out of hand, even stranger 'paranormal' mental powers, such as telepathy, even though hard scientific evidence is lacking for such things.
The only certainty is that the more we learn about the workings of the mind, the more fantastical its abilities are proving to be.

Jacqui D - I thought this was super interesting. I cut the similar article out of our national newspaper the day you posted! A coolio moment, so I'm saying so - also gets it back up the hiearchy of today's posts.

[Dantheman62]

cool article!!

[asteram]

Back in the late 1980s I read a book called Mindsight. It was a program for training people to see wiithout using their eyes. A lady I knew was working with the author who, though elderly, was still doing some training. He taught blindfolded people to read newspapers, and as I recall he taught at least one blind person to drive a car perfectly. There are all sorts of information coming in to our unconscious mind that we don't pay attention to. For one thing, we don't really need it because we have sight.

I never got very good at it, probably because I wasn't that interested. One friend of mine though became very good through practice. Late one night we were working on a large house far out in the woods that had a generator for lights and power. The generator ran out of gas and the lights died. It was overcast and totally dark. While I fumbled and tried to find where I had put the flashlight, Tony walked through the whole house, out the door, down the hill to the shed where the generator was, filled it with gas, and restarted it. I still hadn't found the flashlight when the lights came back on. He thought it was no big deal. I've seen some other amazing demonstrations of it.

Anyway, I looked online and think the book was this one:

Training Manual for Sight Without Eyes - Through Mind Sight and Perception - Lloyd Hopkins

"Before there was any public disclosure of the U.S. Government's Remote Viewing Research, Lloyd F. Hopkins developed one of the most successful training programs ever for expanding Human Awareness beyond the five senses. His motivation was the exploration of expanded human consciousness, and his desire to help blind people see without eyes. This is the only book that Mr. Hopkins published on his work."

Here's the link where I found it: http://www.clspress.com/mindsight.html

[asteram]

Back in the late 1980s I read a book called Mindsight. It was a program for training people to see wiithout using their eyes. A lady I knew was working with the author who, though elderly, was still doing some training. He taught blindfolded people to read newspapers, and as I recall he taught at least one blind person to drive a car perfectly. There are all sorts of information coming in to our unconscious mind that we don't pay attention to. For one thing, we don't really need it because we have sight.

I never got very good at it, probably because I wasn't that interested. One friend of mine though became very good through practice. Late one night we were working on a large house far out in the woods that had a generator for lights and power. The generator ran out of gas and the lights died. It was overcast and totally dark. While I fumbled and tried to find where I had put the flashlight, Tony walked through the whole house, out the door, down the hill to the shed where the generator was, filled it with gas, and restarted it. I still hadn't found the flashlight when the lights came back on. He thought it was no big deal. I've seen some other amazing demonstrations of it.

Anyway, I looked online and think the book was this one:

Training Manual for Sight Without Eyes - Through Mind Sight and Perception - Lloyd Hopkins

"Before there was any public disclosure of the U.S. Government's Remote Viewing Research, Lloyd F. Hopkins developed one of the most successful training programs ever for expanding Human Awareness beyond the five senses. His motivation was the exploration of expanded human consciousness, and his desire to help blind people see without eyes. This is the only book that Mr. Hopkins published on his work."

Here's the link where I found it: http://www.clspress.com/mindsight.html

[Carmen]

I have that book also asteram. Its really good, although like you I didnt follow it through. Obviously your friend did with much success

[recallone]

Very cool, indeed. Thanks for sharing that.
I used to know someone who fell into that same category - legally blind - but he was somehow able to translate the energies around him into what would otherwise be considered a visual rendering in his own conscious mind.

I fully recognize this (and many other abilities!) as yet another glimpse into what is going to be par for the course in our not-too-distant future. The more we allow our minds to operate beyond the confines of what we've been taught to believe, the more we confirm that the sky truly is the limit. I think that so much of our higher path has to do with completely disregarding programmed ways of thinking.
So many of our beliefs are based upon scientific laws, conclusions made by other humans, the basis of which being built upon what is now considered a flawed foundation. So, what if the only hindrance to unlocking those abilities is simply to do away with the belief that you can't or that it's impossible?

I say 'simply', but its more than just adopting the mantra of the choo-choo train who could, but a matter of truly expecting an ability to do certain things, all things!completely bereft of the notion that you cannot.
Anybody watch the show Heros? Have you seen the movies that are coming out right now? Whether you consider them disinformation or a collective this is where we're going kind of thing, like HPH - the implications are great either way.

There's certainly something magnificent and awesome upon the horizon. I can't possibly imagine cramming the entirety of it all within this limited frequency that we're currently operating in. It's bigger.
Much bigger.
I can't wait.

[asteram]

It was funny Carmen. When I said wow, how'd you do that, Tony just looked and me and said "What?" He honestly didn't think it was anything.

And Recallone, I'm with you on something awesome opening up for humanity. The internet has a lot to do with it. All able to connect, communicate, share, create, the whole of human knowledge available to us for the first time ever.

These very moments we are also seeing the actions of the worst of humanity, the demented emotionally disturbed two year olds who want to beat each other with sticks and steal everyone's toys and give them orders. These are who claim to be our leaders and rulers. They are pathetic, and they are showing everyone, on the permanent record, in print and videotape, just what sad things they are. Meantime, there a lot of us watching and saying uh-uh, we have better games to play. Time for some grownups in the room.