I am a congenitally blind person who has sporadic visual experiences while under the influence of marijuana. When I use my eyes, I feel like they are floating away from my face and landing on different objects, but they remain tethered to my face. I also sometimes liken the sensation of diverging and converging my gaze to bending or straightening a limb. Since the mirror neuron system has been implicated in both supernumerary limbs and out-of-body experiences, I would be curious if it was indeed plausible that the haptic/kinesthetic aspects of my visual perception could be explained by hyperactivity in the mirror neuron system. My tendency to mirror gestures that I see, and to project images I see onto parts of my own body, also cause me to hypothesize that the mirror neuron system is hyperactive.
Dear Tasha,
This paper may interest you:
Cogn Neurosci. 2015 May 13:1-16.
Explaining mirror-touch synesthesia.
Ward J, Banissy MJ.
Dear Tasha,
I suggest to read this book:
Hickok, G. (2014). The myth of mirror neurons: the real neuroscience of communication and cognition. WW Norton & Company.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Myth-Mirror-Neurons-Communication/dp/0393089614/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&pc_redir=1413484013&robot_redir=1
Dear Tasha:
I don't know much about Mirror Neurons and hyperactivity. But I would like you to consider another possibility. Apart from two physical eyes, every person has a spiritual eye. This subtle spiritual eye becomes functional in spiritually evolved person. With the help of this spiritual eye the person can see divine light, or vision of a deity or have clairvoyance. In case of spiritually evolved person, this eye opens up due to a long process of spiritual practices but there is also an illegal way of stimulating this spiritual eye through the use of drugs etc. which is harmful. In your case, use of marijuana could be inducing some of the experiences that you have described. I can suggest following books that describes spiritual visions of spiritually evolved persons.
"Sri Ramakrisha The Great Master" by Swami Saradananda, (tr.) Swami Jagadananda.
Available across the world at Vedanta Society bookstores. http://www.vedanta.org/wiv/links/centers.html
"Play of Consciousness" by Swami Muktananda
http://www.amazon.com/Play-Consciousness-A-Spiritual-Autobiography/dp/0911307818
That's interesting you should give that answer. I am curious about the role of the pineal gland/third eye. Since the pineal gland contains some structures that are similar to a retina, I do wonder whether I a am recruiting that hardware to help me process visual stimulation. WHen I'm seeing, I always feel a pressure on my forehead, right where the "third eye" is supposed to be. it is also possible that I could be relying on melanopsin-sensitive ganglion cells to see, and that would explain the sensation in my forehead, since sighted people experience tactile stimulation when exposed to a melanopsin light. I will hopefully be able to test this soon.
Dear Tasha:
Your thinking seems to be in right direction. With your knowledge of physiology and medical terms, you are in a position to bridge a gap between medical science and the spiritual science. And if you acquire any new knowledge in this area, you can imagine, how interesting that would be to other blind people around the world.
Annie Besant and Leadbeater were clairvoyants. Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and Saint Teresa of Avila could be of interest.
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