Don't Be Too Quick ...
About 15 years ago on an online discussion group, one of
the members spoiled a number of conversations when he suggested that some of
the magical phenomena some of the members enthused about had mundane
explanations. The bulk of these mystical sightings were optical: brightly
coloured orbs of light that be seen with eyes open or closed, bright little
lights that squiggle - which I used to call "zingers", and slow-moving
greyish things.
He asked if any of the group were seeing "floaters".
"What's that?" they asked back. And then their conversation dropped from the
mystical to the mundane. What a disappointment.
It wasn't too disappointing for me. I knew that many of
the things I "saw" were ordinary optical things. I knew a floater was a
strand of protein in the eyeball, often caused by getting bumped in the eye.
We can see it the same way as we see all the blood vessels when the
Optometrist shines that light in the back of our eye. So I have kept a bit
of healthy doubt about the other mystical things I have seen. I discovered
that zingers are white blood cells moving in the capillaries in the front of
the retina. It even has a name: "blue field entoptic phenomena" or "blue sky
sprites," called this because it's easy to see against a clear blue sky.
People who work with microscopes are quite accustomed to seeing these sorts
of things and know how to tell the difference between what is inside their
own eyes and what is on the slide.
People have shown me photos over the years where there
are "figures of light" or orbs or other strange and exciting things. Many,
well most actually, can be explained by that stray hair that floated in
front of the flash, or by dust on the lens, or a reflection in the glass. I
had a great photo one day of the place where I often do Aura Cleansing and
Distant Healing. I often see bright blue lights during the sessions, so it
was very exciting to see the bright blue light that glowed at the base of
the tree show up in a photo. It was a bit disappointing to see that I could
duplicate the effect easily by facing my camera a certain direction relative
to the sun and taking another photo.
Okay so now you're all disappointed. Either that or
you've just said "Janet is all WRONG! I KNOW what I saw was real!" Well
don't lose hope yet.
Although many of these phenomena can be easily explained
as everyday occurrences, and science is quickly slotting other phenomena
like seeing geometric patterns in the lawn or like seeing images of animals
or even eyes when we sit in meditation into the category of "brain
activity", it doesn't mean they're not mystical or at the very least,
useful.
If you take a healing course and the teacher tells you
that blue sky sprites are "orgone", the spiritual energy that infuses all
life, it may not be quite accurate, but it is useful. Learning to rest your
mind enough that you can actually see the sprites is a powerful way to
achieve deeper meditative states and begin to see "things" that have not yet
been explained away by science. It's actually opening new neural pathways in
your brain, pathways that could well lead to deep mystical experience. And
many people who have built "orgone generators" have found that they do work
for them. After all, our thoughts create our reality. And who am I to
suggest that these generators aren't actually a way to harness energy? If
they work for a single person, then they work.
If you see little flashes of light whenever you pray or
meditate and have believed for years that these flashes are sacred beings,
discovering that they are optical doesn't have to be a problem. If we see
something as sacred, we'll behave as if it is, and we'll rearrange our lives
and thinking in a way that makes us better people as a result. So what are
you going to say at the Pearly Gates when St. Peter tells you that you got
it all wrong? You'll tell him that these must have been sacred or they
wouldn't have influenced you the way they did.
I don't know if the spiral patterns I sometimes see on
the lawn are just brain hiccups or if they are a sign of greater perception.
I don't know WHAT those glowing lights are that zoom past my friend's house.
I'm not the only one who sees them and so far none of us has managed to come
up with an explanation. One day we may find one. But for now, I'd rather not
be too quick to explain them as a mystical phenomena like, "spirit lights,"
or as a mundane phenomena like, well, "moths reflected in the porchlight."
I find it more comfortable to let them be a mystery.
Stories like these are a regular feature of my free monthly Ezine, Starry Night.
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