Now, it’s now that this starts again.
‘Mindfulness is very much like what you see with your peripheral vision as opposed to the hard focus of normal or central vision. Yet this moment of soft, unfocused awareness contains a very deep sort of knowing that is lost as soon as you focus your mind and objectify the object into a thing’ Bhante Gunaratana
My response that I had too much to say not good enough. So the dismantling of thoughts into words and things to share begins, and always with me there too. No objectifying the experience for then the deep knowing is lost. I would use peripheral occlusion as another definition of myopia which is epidemic in our world just now. If you put glasses on chickens they grow exactly the visual anomaly that the glasses are designed to fix. If you put minus lenses on them they become short-sighted. But also if you block their peripheral vision they become equally short-sighted. ( I have references, I’m not putting them here).
Again and again in my own personal experience and with people I work with who are short sighted, block central vision and spend some time with peropheral vision only there is a very quick improvement in clarity (more letters on an eye chart can be read). So for me the central normal vision should not be hard and dull, although it so often is for so many and that is considered normal. It is a struggling system. Optimum is a strong stable peripheral field (context) from which we can gently and clearly deal with the central vision (details). There is a dance between this relationship of peripheray and detail. Each needs the other.
But any online communication is by definition involving a lot of central time. Lit screen in a dark room, no peripheray. IT possible to hold it while screen working but it is also very common to sink into the screen in an addictive state and get futher and further in losing more and more periphery. There is something about regaining it that involves delving into pockets of fear. (Although for some it is a haven.) But more common in my experience is that it takes people a little bit of time to adjust and not “look at” anything but be aware of space around.
Movement is a crucual here. Our peripheray is where we observe movement from. Once long ago I was on a train and I took off my strong contact lenses and woosh! Suddenly I was on a speeding bullet with the world rushing by and I was terrified and stimulated and excited and moving so fast! The change was immense.
2realeyes 