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DMT and Blindness

Migrated topic.
I suspect that they would. It depends on what all is damaged, though. If its just an eye problem, then I think they would experience it as we do. But if the actual parts of the brain that present 'visual data' to the conscious mind are damaged, I suspect they would not.

Very interesting question!
 
Surely though, even if we can say that DMT acts on the visual cortex and thus not as a result of any influence of the photoreceptors, there has to be some "reference" information in order for them to experience what normally sighted people do? Otherwise do we not have to look towards the more esoteric explanations as to how and why DMT does what it does? I pondered whether blind people could hallucinate years ago, I recall reading somewhere that whilst they do hallucinate, it is not in a visual sense ( which begs the question how is one able to tell the difference, but I guess you'd have to be blind to understand and comprehend that), although whether this is the same on DMT, who knows? And assuming that they had been blind from birth, how could we know for sure we are interpreting what they describe as being the same sort of experience that normally sighted indivudals undergo, hell, I have enough trouble putting what I experience into words being normally sighted and explaining to normally sighted people and don't even come close to the true experience, so I imagine a blind person would find it even harder....

Methtical
 
Perhaps ask a blind person if they see images when they dream. If they do then i think they would see images on DMT. This could be a very interesting experiment to test whether the images seen on DMT come from experiences of the outside world or from something else. Although description could be difficult for them, because they don't have the external reference points we have, like they couldn't say they saw a person, because they don't know what people look like. Without those usual learned reference points to guide their internal imagination, we could be dealing with a person who experiences a very different internal reality to what people with vision experience, which would be awesome to learn about.

As an interesting side note, i had a friend who was disabled and couldn't walk, she said in her dreams she was always walking and it felt completely natural to her. So in her imagination she could experience sensations she had never felt in real life.
 
A brief extract from Michael Harner's Way of the Shaman that some may find interesting;

"I was now eager to solicit a professional opinion from the most supernaturally knowledgeable of the Indians, a blind shaman who had made many excursions into the spirit world with the aid of the ayahuasca drink. lt seemed only proper that a blind man might be able to be my guide to the world of darkness. I went to his hut, taking my notebook with me, and described my visions to him segment by segment. At first I told him only the highlights; thus, when I came to the dragon-like creatures, I skipped their arrival from space and only said, "There were these giant black animals, something like great bats, longer than the length of this house, who said that they were the true masters of the world." There is no word for dragon in Conibo, so "giant bat" was the closest I could come to describe what I had seen.

He stared up toward me with his sightless eyes, and said with a grin, "Oh, they're always saying that. But they are only the Masters of Outer Darkness."

He waved his hand casually toward the sky. I felt a chill along the lower part of my spine, for I had not yet told him that I had seen them, in my trance, coming from outer space. I was stunned. What I had experienced was already familiar to this barefoot, blind shaman. Known to him from his own explorations of the same hidden world into which I had ventured. From that moment on I decided to learn everything I could about shamanism.

And there was something more that encouraged me in my new quest. After I recounted my entire experience, he told me that he did not know of anyone who had encountered and learned so much on his first ayahuasca journey."
 
Bancopuma said:
A brief extract from Michael Harner's Way of the Shaman that some may find interesting;

"I was now eager to solicit a professional opinion from the most supernaturally knowledgeable of the Indians, a blind shaman who had made many excursions into the spirit world with the aid of the ayahuasca drink. lt seemed only proper that a blind man might be able to be my guide to the world of darkness. I went to his hut, taking my notebook with me, and described my visions to him segment by segment. At first I told him only the highlights; thus, when I came to the dragon-like creatures, I skipped their arrival from space and only said, "There were these giant black animals, something like great bats, longer than the length of this house, who said that they were the true masters of the world." There is no word for dragon in Conibo, so "giant bat" was the closest I could come to describe what I had seen.

He stared up toward me with his sightless eyes, and said with a grin, "Oh, they're always saying that. But they are only the Masters of Outer Darkness."

He waved his hand casually toward the sky. I felt a chill along the lower part of my spine, for I had not yet told him that I had seen them, in my trance, coming from outer space. I was stunned. What I had experienced was already familiar to this barefoot, blind shaman. Known to him from his own explorations of the same hidden world into which I had ventured. From that moment on I decided to learn everything I could about shamanism.

And there was something more that encouraged me in my new quest. After I recounted my entire experience, he told me that he did not know of anyone who had encountered and learned so much on his first ayahuasca journey."
Click to expand...

Ahh yeah I have that book and had fogotten about that bit, but then again it's not known if the shaman was blind from birth, so his visions might be precipitated from previous visual memories.

Methtical
 
If a dmt experience exposes one to other dimensions, and in the alternate dimensions our presence is alternative as well, wouldn't one conclude that it's entirely possible that the blind person could physically see in the other dimension?

Those who say the effect of dmt is simply hallucinations produced from content stored in our brains -- I take it you don't believe that dmt exposes you to perception/dimensions not perceived in your normal state?
 
I think I have posted this TED talk before but it seems fitting

"Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks brings our attention to Charles Bonnett syndrome -- when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in heartwarming detail and walks us through the biology of this under-reported phenomenon."

 
imPsimon said:
I think I have posted this TED talk before but it seems fitting

"Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks brings our attention to Charles Bonnett syndrome -- when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in heartwarming detail and walks us through the biology of this under-reported phenomenon."

Click to expand...

It is well known that those lacking a major sense, like sight, make up for the loss by using their other senses to a greater extent. Blind peoples' senses of hearing, smell, taste, and intuition are far more sensitive than those who can see. Perhaps blind people's "hallucinations" are simply an enhanced ability to see other dimensions without the use of dmt or other mind expanding substances.
 
skwrlgurl said:
It is well known that those lacking a major sense, like sight, make up for the loss by using their other senses to a greater extent. Blind peoples' senses of hearing, smell, taste, and intuition are far more sensitive than those who can see.
Click to expand...

I believe that's generally a myth, and it's more the fact that because they have no sight then they are more efficient at using all other senses to get by since that is all they have, so I wouldn't say that their senses are "far more sensitive" compared to a normally sighted person who merely doesn't make as much use of them.

Methtical
 
Methtical said:
skwrlgurl said:
It is well known that those lacking a major sense, like sight, make up for the loss by using their other senses to a greater extent. Blind peoples' senses of hearing, smell, taste, and intuition are far more sensitive than those who can see.
Click to expand...

I believe that's generally a myth, and it's more the fact that because they have no sight then they are more efficient at using all other senses to get by since that is all they have, so I wouldn't say that their senses are "far more sensitive" compared to a normally sighted person who merely doesn't make as much use of them.

Methtical
Click to expand...

My point was that they use their senses more efficiently. That in and of itself is not a myth. Since they are more efficient in using their remaining faculties, why would that not include a more efficient sense of dimensional perception?
 
skwrlgurl said:
If a dmt experience exposes one to other dimensions, and in the alternate dimensions our presence is alternative as well, wouldn't one conclude that it's entirely possible that the blind person could physically see in the other dimension?
Click to expand...

Hmmm...could the blind person physically see in the other dimension...I think we have to clarify the word "see" here. Like we see objects.

The reason I mention that, is because I do believe I have seen other dimensions, parallel to mine even. Even one where I was wearing the same clothes, sitting in the same apartment, on the same day, but my past was completely different (in that it didn't weigh me down as it does in this dimension).

But, what I saw were familiar objects. Saw a mestizo woman once, in the desert, carrying something, and looking at me. This was in my apartment of course.

Things weren't morphing into these things, but I saw them with eyes open, so I don't know where that information was coming from. But, I can describe her down to the detail.

That being said: If I saw it once, then I should be able to see it at any time. I proved to myself that it is within my bodies chemistry to project those visions into my mind.

So, perhaps there is some sense, a seventh sense, that lets us see the parallel worlds around us. And maybe our sense of vision is tuned in to the variables of this world, that it filters out variables from parallel worlds, where real people exist, where sometimes they can see and we can see them.

But then we get back to "seeing". If a blind person is more in tune with this seventh sense, then what is that they experience.

Hmm...I'm beginning to wonder if me "seeing" other worlds, is not actually using this sense of dimension that we're discussing now.
 
Interesting question. I would think that it depends on the type of blindness, and that would certainly tell us something about how DMT acts. I hope someone has some stories.
 
A person blind from birth due to damage in the visual cortex will not experience visuals while under the influence of DMT or other psychedelics. Likewise, a deaf person will not hear. If the damage was with the sensory organs, then it’s not so simple. They might see or hear, but not know what seeing or hearing is.

The brain acts as a receiver of signals. If the “hardware” to process those signals is damaged or missing, the signals will not be processed, regardless of their source.

An analogy is an old black-and-white TV. Even if it is being sent color TV signals, it is limited to displaying images in black-and-white. The images it displays reflect the physical constraints of the TV’s hardware/electronics.

Even our everyday perception of the world around us is constrained by our sensory organs and our brain “circuitry”. Similarly, our perceptions of alternate realities while under the influence of DMT are constrained by our “hardware”. This says nothing about the “reality” of the experience.
 
gibran2 said:
A person blind from birth due to damage in the visual cortex will not experience visuals while under the influence of DMT or other psychedelics. Likewise, a deaf person will not hear. If the damage was with the sensory organs, then it’s not so simple. They might see or hear, but not know what seeing or hearing is.

The brain acts as a receiver of signals. If the “hardware” to process those signals is damaged or missing, the signals will not be processed, regardless of their source.

An analogy is an old black-and-white TV. Even if it is being sent color TV signals, it is limited to displaying images in black-and-white. The images it displays reflect the physical constraints of the TV’s hardware/electronics.

Even our everyday perception of the world around us is constrained by our sensory organs and our brain “circuitry”. Similarly, our perceptions of alternate realities while under the influence of DMT are constrained by our “hardware”. This says nothing about the “reality” of the experience.
Click to expand...

I believe this is also why we have optical illusions. Our eyes and our brain do not have the right "hardware" to preceive these illusions normally.
 
Similar to the way that we perceive things growing/shrinking, the blind testify to hearing things moving closer and growing farther away on psychedelics. I may not be blind, but I'm pretty sure I've witnessed a very similar phenomenon on acid.
 
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