What do you see when you close your eyes?

Question

I'm unsure of what to believe.

Recently I've been told that people can see images clear as if they were looking at a picture with their eyes open, in their mind. Example: You close your eyes and think of your friend and a perfect image will display basically on the backs of your eye lids of your friend as if you were looking at them with your eyes open.

I cannot do this, instead when I close my eyes I see semi blackness. There is a whitish,yellowish, reddish particle screen over this blackness. If I am about to sleep or if I meditate for a while, I see blue and green patterns blending into each other. They look like an evolving topographical landscape. I can kind of see other colors but it's mainly blue and green.

I have used psychedelics extensively. While on them I get what is called closed eye visuals. Either spectral geometric patterns or I can see full on scenes of life experience. This is only on the psycho active though. The art and images I've seen are amazing though. Also if I look at paper anything I think of will display on the paper and I can simply trace it.

I've been told people can do this all the time, though this is by people who can't draw very well. I figure if people can really see images in perfect detail when they close their eyes these same people should be able to draw in perfection.

So this leads me to think that they are talking about what I can "see". Because I can imagine images and their details, and then translate them to a page but I don't see the image in my sight I "see" it more as a feeling in my brain. Like a hologram of understanding. I can think of images and things and an understanding of what they look like and other details will come forward but it won't be perfect. I can then draw them but I have to layout a foundation then fill it in with the ideas of the details. I usually have to photo reference.

When I day dream the dream will feel like it's consumed my vision but I will still be able to see in a sense. The day dream will be filled with all the other senses in more detail than vision though. I can do the "seeing" feeling without closing my eyes but it's not the same as closed eyes visuals which are in perfect detail.

I needed to specify the difference between the "seeing" feeling in the mind and actually being able to see stuff when you close your eyes; because I feel there is a gray area between the two phenomena that is not defined in other peoples questioning of this phenomena, which leads to very poor answers that cannot be trusted.


So please tell me if can you see perfect images when you close your eyes or if you get the "seeing" feeling. Is it translatable to paper via drawing?

Also if you are an artist does the closed eye visual ability awaken with heightened observation skills?

Answer 1

The back of your eyelids. Seriously, though, if you are in a bright environment then you will get some diffuse transmission of light through the lids. This wold be like one of you other answerers who described "snow". If the light is subdued then you will get little or no actual light stimulation of the retina. In these situations you can actually see odd non visually stimulated phenomena that is basically your brain trying to make sense of no input coming from the eyes.

Answer 2

I am soo glad to hear there are others who don't see anything when they close their eyes! There is only me and one of my friends who I've come across who can't do this. All of my family and friends can and they say they see perfectly clear images. What makes it worse is they all feel sorry for me saying things like how can you enjoy reading a book when you can't see or imagine the characters or how do you remember people/things etc

They can't seem to get their heads around the fact that I think in my head what something should look like and not actually see. But I do feel I'm missing out on something it must be nice to day dream and drift off in your own imaginary world...

Answer 3

I've always been able to see images clear as day with my eyes closed. When i was younger, i used to ask people what they see when they close their eyes because i was always so amazed at what i saw and wanted to know if there were others who saw the same things. No one has ever answered me saying that they see what i see. I've always gotten similar answers, saying they see black or nothing or some colors or fuzz. By the way, i can't draw and this concept of imagining things without seeing them as well is foreign to me.



I'm going to take this a step further, and I'm hoping I'm not alone with this one. When i close my eyes, i don't see colors, geometric shapes, tessellations, fuzz etc... I seem to see actual images of things and people and places. It's as if I'm seeing what seems to be my actual thoughts and/or memories, a combination of things that I've seen before, things that I'm thinking about at the moment, and things that my mind have fabricated using data from my memories. If i think about an elephant, BAM.. there it is, clear as day, AND i can hold the image in my focus and alter it, i.e. change its color, rotate it, shrink/enlarge, whatever i want. I've always been like this.



Here's another kicker... I can see all of this with my eyes open as well... not as clearly in broad daylight, but i still can, especially when its in the dark or outside at night. Plus, i don't have to be focusing on something, it's as if all of these images/thoughts/memories are constantly being played out before me on this movie screen waiting for me to zero in on whatever i want. I've never seen black or nothingness or static.



It scares me that no one has ever described anything similar to this. I can't be the only one. Of course i did most of my asking people about this way before the internet was widely used, so I'm hoping that maybe now this question will reach people from all corners of the globe and i can talk to someone similar.



Btw.. I'm not schizophrenic, i don't hallucinate, I'm not on any meds and i have never done any drugs.

Answer 4

All I see when I close my eyes is visual snow with the occasional afterimage.



I don't think that anyone can actually see images when they close their eyes as on a tv screen because think of all the things people would be able to do if they could. They'd be able to take photographs of this, do sequences in their heads, remember an image perfectly, see a page of a book and remember the exact words on the page with closed eyes, play out scenes from movies etc.



When I "see" things in my mind, it's like I kind of think it, but not in words. But then again, I don't actually see it. It is hard to describe. This can be confusing, especially when told to "visualize" and imagine scenes, and how on tv when we see characters on tv imagining things we see their mental image. I think they only do this because by actually showing the scene it makes it more easy to understand because how else would they portray the scene?



I draw and I paint, but I am not able to actually see images in my mind, as if I were to take a mental photograph. Most of the stuff that I can draw from memory comes from pure repetition and study of the structure. I think it would come in handy to actually see the scenes though. I don't think many people can do this. I've heard of it and I think it is a type of eidetic (photographic) memory that only a few people possess, and even then, it is controversial. The existence and definition of the term eidetic memory itself kind of proves it to be rare and not to common within the general population.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

If U Close Your Eyes

Answer 7

My wife says she can see things clear as day. I can't. I see blackness. actually, I see what looks like a dark version of the 'snow' on old tv's. if I concentrate really really REALLY hard, I can start seeing 'real life', it'll come in like real life, but then I get excited at seeing something, and lose my focus and the image fades out. :(

Answer 8

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Answer 9

i see colored dots after awhile. but if you're deprived of light for long periods of time you'll hallucinate. and yea cid is amazing btw :] you don't have to close your eyes on that you'll see geometric shapes and colors moving anyways.



as far as drawing images.. sober with eyes closed nawww. on acid yes, the color/shapes are super vivid.

Answer 10

It depends on what type of snogging it is. If i'm really into it, then i close my eyes, if its just a little peck then i keep my eyes open, or just partially closed.

Answer 11

after few seconds when u close ur eyes you will see after images i.e images which u where seeing with opened eye will change colors(LIKE NEGATIVES OF PHOTOGRAPHS). AFTER FEW MINUTES UR BARIN WOULD TAKE OVER THE STIMULUS AND U WILL SEE WHAT UR BRAIN WANTS





BUT IT REQUIRES MUCH FOCUS CONCENTRATIONM AND IT IS EASY IF U MEDITATE FIRST

Answer 12

I know a person who sees bright zigzag lines and at other times colors. She suffers from migraine headaches.

Answer 13

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