Giving Psychedelics To The Blind

[squanky]

Here is something I have been wondering since the first time I ever tripped. When blind people take psychedelics, do they see visuals? Like closed-eye visuals, or something?

I have looked into this briefly but have found nothing. If anyone knows, I would really be interested.

[Thom]

Do you mean people born blind? With no apparent experience of the external world as it appears to sighted people. The results would be interesting for sure.

[michaelf]

This is a very interesting question, one which I have often pondered myself. The blind have a visual cortex like everyone else, which should be excited by the introduction of visionary chemicals. Mind you, in sighted people, the visual cortex gets "excercised", or used, whilst with blind people, if it is utilised at all, it is not for binocular vision. Another thing I have wondered is how do blind people experience their "blindness"? Specifically, do they just have a black "screen" in front of them, or are there occasional patterns, like closed eye visuals, or is it absolute nothing (in the context of vision), including the absence of a dark or black "screen"? Anyhoo, hope you get more replies than just mine squanky!
Cheers!

[postmodernennui]

Also, this link may be useful. They discuss many of the questions from the original post.

http://forums.lycaeum.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000652

[michaelf]

Oh, you did!

[MidnightDreary]

I wonder how much the pineal gland comes into play. I believe it's involved in closed-eye visuals, and don't know how closely it's tied to the ability to see. Also, aren't there blind people who can detect light, while others only darkness? I wonder how much this would play a factor. This is a fascinating question; I wonder if anyone on these boards knows a blind person who's tripped? Certainly many have.

[squanky]

Hey, here are three replies from the forum that postmodern linked, thank you, if anyone is interested.

"According to Stanislav Grof in his book Realms of the Human Unconsciousness - Observations from LSD Research,
'Olfactory and gustatory changes are rather common in normal subjects and psychiatric patients; they can dominate the sessions of people with congenital blindness, who usually do not experience optical phenomena after the administration of LSD.'

So, in people who are blind from birth, the perceptual changes will most affect the senses other than sight - smell, taste, touch and hearing in terms of both decreased and increased sensitivity during a trip."

Another helpful post
"Back in my ummm "buddy"'s dealing days, my ummm "buddy" had another friend who was blind. My buddy sold him mushrooms often and the blind kid said he'd just have really crazy thought patterns, but he'd have lots of auditory hallucinations, and he'd sort of trip out on "presences". Like he'd feel like something was there that wasn't. "

Another post
"I've heard that those who are born blind never have dreams with sight in them - that they are almost exclusively auditory.
I would guess it would be the same thing with any chemical which produces visual distortion."

So it seems we have our answer, that blind people do not see visuals on psychedelics.

Although I am still very skeptical, it seems to me that if perhaps they had the ability to see in a past life, or because the "collective unconsiouss" has sight in it, given the right drug that would tap them into that should make them see something. Right?

I just don't know, maybe not. A healer could heal someone from blindness, though, i believe. I remember reading that Jesus did it a few times in the Bible.

michaelf: "Specifically, do they just have a black "screen" in front of them, or are there occasional patterns, like closed eye visuals, or is it absolute nothing (in the context of vision), including the absence of a dark or black "screen"? "

This is something that i doubt anyone could answer. Maybe they are always seeing patterns but are so used to it that they don't really notice it anymore. Kind of like the energy that surrounds all of us "the white light of the first bardo - the life flow" as leary called it in his manual. That light, many people believe, we have seen since birth but we have become so conditioned to it that we forget that we see it. I learned to see it in the book "The Celestine Prophecy" like two years back. Learning to see that energy around all of us, as well as lucid dreaming, and mushrooms, is what brought me here.

Anyway, back to the subject, whether it is blackness or light or patterns that blind people see, they are probably so used to it that they see it as nothing. But, alas, i am not blind, and do not know at all.

[eaglesyes]

well i donno from experience if the blind can have visual trips but think about it we dream with our eyes closed usually just before dawn in our rem of sleep which in usually in the dark sometimes when we trip we can close our eyes and see or still be trippin' i reckon from our 'third eye' so i would think a blind person would 'see' something on visuals well guess i wait and see to find out :eek: :cool:

[willoweyes]

Squanky, you might be interested in some of the new research concerning the plasticity of the visual cortex (type in plasticity of visual cortex on Google).

[Van Gogh]

I think what they feel is about what they see.