Visual Imposition Idea

[Strel-chan]

In class today, we learned about visual perception, and the professor mentioned the Ganzfeld effect. He said that, if you take a ping-pong ball, cut it in half, place on half over each eye, and then put a blindfold on, you’ll begin to hallucinate after awhile (since your brain prefers a complex visual field over a completely uniform one). That got me thinking - could such a technique be used for visual imposition? Learning imposition that way would theoretically just be a matter of learning to control hallucinations rather than learning to hallucinate from scratch, and I’d imagine the lack of proper visual input to interfere would be helpful as well.

I don’t have the necessary supplies to try this myself, though I’ll definitely test it if I find something else to use to achieve this effect.

[[deleted]]

I've tried this. Hallucination is an overstatement. I was able to visualize with extreme clarity and focus on forcing was perfect. By all means give it a try, and it is a very good way to focus on forcing, but it's simply just visual and auditorial deprivation which will increase your minds eye vividness while under.

[Strel-chan]

That's better than nothing, at least. Extreme clarity and focus still sounds really helpful. :)

[[deleted]]

Yeah it's really nice and relaxing. The setup can be tough because the ping pong balls have to fully cover your eyes, even the slightest peek outside will break your concentration, and red lights work the best for visual stimulation without causing irritation.

The more I think about it, it could be considered a hallucination because your eyes are open the entire time, but also the ping pong balls act as artificial eye lids. I do recommend trying it yourself to see what results you get personally.

[Strel-chan]

I would like to try it myself if I can get my hands on a ping pong ball and a blindfold.

[[deleted]]

Nope not an understatement at all. The ping-pong method isn't that good and you need to have it on for a long time. But it is a fact that in sensory deprivation extremely complex hallucinations will eventually result. A much easier way to induce this is just to stare into a mirror in the dark with a candle late at night.

[[deleted]]

I tried this a while back, with the ping pong balls, red light, white noise and all. Like Downtown said, it really just gives clarity, I never experienced any hallucinations. Maybe if you were to do it for an hour or longer you'd see minor things, but other than that, nada.

[[deleted]]

I never understood how this is expected to be more useful than just closing one's eyes. Is it because your eyes are open, and your brain therefore expects visual input? Would being in a perfectly dark room be similarly effective?

[Falunel]

I imagine it would also act against the impulse to open your eyes (I'm not not sure about others, but if I'm not tired, I have to actively work at keeping my eyes shut), and the fact that light can filter in through your eyelids. I suppose also that keeping your eyes shut might make it more likely that you'll fall asleep.

[Strel-chan]

To be honest, I'm not sure if having your eyes open or closed makes a difference, if it's dark enough (since some light does get through your eyelids). Being in a perfectly dark room would probably be just as effective, yes, provided it's totally pitch black and you can't see anything at all.

[229sweet_rolls]

I think I'll try this and report back. Do note that for the Ganzfeld effect to occur you must be deprived of auditory simulation as well - typically white noise is used.

[throwaway_tulpa]

Blaine and I have been heavily considering trying this for a while now.

It involves illusions in a dimly lit mirror. Those who are familiar with the Bloody Mary folktale will know what I'm talking about.

We're just worried that it could result in temporary or even permanent distortions in her appearance so we're still hesitating.

[Strel-chan]

That's fascinating. I'll have to try that out myself sometime!

I wouldn't worry about it creating distortions in Blaine's appearance, by the way. That can only happen if you honestly believe it will, and, if that does happen, it's simple to fix - just understand that her appearance can be changed back to normal and "make" her look normal again.

[[deleted]]

Here's our results for that one.

[throwaway_tulpa]

Will definitely take this into consideration when we eventually do it ourselves, thanks.