Visual snow and spiritual experience

Snow of light (illustration from a webpage of occult-advances.org)

According to a text on the Spiritual Meaning of Snow by Simon Jacobson, published on the website of The Meaningful Life Center, "Mysticism teaches that everything in the physical universe has a spiritual counterpart. Just as a teardrop is a manifestation of human emotion, and anger is an expression of repressed energy, so physical phenomena actually evolve from and are a manifestation of a spiritual reality. Thus snow is a channel of energy, it is a Divine voice speaking to us through visual imagery so that we can experience it with our bodily senses." [more]

Against this background of esoteric teachings linking the imagery of snow and spirituality, it comes as no surprise that some experients of persistent visual snow have interpreted their vision in terms of a religious, mystical or occult experience, including the notions of Kundalini awakening (Krishna, 1997), orgone energy (Reich, 1987), "common light sparks" (Dilas, 2004) and the "shining structure" of consciousness (Tausin, 2004).

KatandKala (enjoying seeing the dots)

"I see dots! They're kind of strange. Whenever i stare at... ANYTHING i can see dots. Some dots are the same color as the object but then theres the black and white dots, which are everywhere, but together they make what ever color the object is. I see them everywhere i look. I can choose to ignore them sometimes, and I'm sort of used to them by now, actually after a few years of dots you learn to enjoy seeing the dots (i always know that the dots are there for me). But for those of you who can't see the dots, think of the computer, it has a different color for each pixel but together they make a full image. Well you might see the full image, i see every single pixel that makes up that image. Thats basically how i see the world. And its not just my imagination, my eyes are almost perfect, i just got my eyes checked recently they we're fine. I wouldn't count this as something wrong with me, its just weird knowing other people can't see these dots! It would be kind of nice if there was an explanation for all this, but as it is i make up my own explanations."

(KatandKala, American Foundation for the Blind - Message Boards - Eye conditions - see dots -Question about floaters, May 20, 2007)

sadlark (VS contributes to one's questioning of reality)

In a response to a post from illuminati primus, sadlark wrote:

"Visual over-stimulation is very useful for inducing hypnosis. Having had the same experience as you since I was a young child (no drug use, though), I understand what you are describing. I would stare at things like pine straw, or the grain patterns on a wooden door, until the pattern began to swirl around me. I would experience a sense of submerging beneath water, but the water would consist of a million tiny electric particles. I would hear a rush of silence, which was then replaced by a hum or whine. My body would tingle, and then lose all feeling. I would become conscious of a great pulsing sensation. At that point, I would either enter a lucid dreaming state or 'come out of it'. I also did this nightly while lying in bed, by focusing on the VS with my eyes closed. I finally stopped as a child after entering into this state and feeling like my body was on fire.

So, I think that you may be using the VS to provide a stream of constant visual stimulus to induce a self-hypnotic trance. Notice that, like pine straw or wood patterns, the randomness and ubiquity of the VS allows you to stare at it, even cross your eyes while attempting to look 'at' it, thus facilitating the necessary conditions for hypnosis.

I have never been able to control my VS, although I remember seeing patterns emerge from it via a Rorschach-type effect while staring out from my bed in the night as a child.

I am intrigued with the relationship between VS and imagination (whether psychological or physiological, either way). Does living your life while being forced to ignore something that so blatantly affects a primary means of perception contribute to one's questioning of reality, or propensity to daydream? Does it often lead to some feeling of isolation from consensual reality?

Oh, Tibetan Buddhism describes the meditative process and its various stages. I believe some texts describe a sound (like tinnitus) that changes in frequency as the individual enters deeper levels of the trance. I assume that they correspond to some type of harmonic progression (Fibonacci?).

Here's a question: Do any of you ever notice VS in your dreams?"

(sadlark, Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion - I have VS and After Images since i'm 5 Year old, January 22, 2006)

"Let's not confuse Kant or Schopenhauer with VS. Prolonged skewed sensual perception can definitely lead to a sense of estrangement from consensual reality, but it may be overreaching to link the Upanishads to a physiological condition.

I strongly suspect that some of you have ideations about reality, or at least the relationship between an individual point of consciousness and perceived reality, that exist outside of your experience with VS."

(sadlark, Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – I had depersonalization a few times, March 23, 2003)

"I have had this condition for as long as I can remember. I have a PhD and am not easily given to fancy, and I think that there is something that needs to be investigated between the mind, the optical experience, and the nature of reality when it comes to VS."

(sadlark, Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – b c c runner, April 21, 2006)

loki-009 (VS experienced as fascinosum)

"I know what you guys are talking about, floaters and such, and I have experienced similar situations with these floaters but have come to be able to ignore them when I want to. But the reason I am posting now is actually because of something I remember that happened to me a while ago, when I was just a young lad. I was getting ready to go to bed when all of a sudden I noticed a swarm of yellow dots coming into my room through my doorway. It was strange, I thought they were bees at first, but when I went under my covers the yellow dots slowly started being seen under my blanket. They seemed to move around like crazy. The next day I noticed dots of different colors moving around, and at that age I was actually kind of fascinated with them. The dots seemed real too, they weren't transparent but were quite bright in color. When I went to the doctors I think they said something about light and… well I don't remember to be exact. But I wondered if any one else has experienced something similar and knows anything about it. I am, as far as I know, the only person among my friends and family who has experienced this."

(loki-009, American Foundation for the Blind – Message Boards – Eye conditions – Seeing dots, October 13, 2006)

joe52985 (VS as a gift of sensing more than others can do)

"Hi All, I'm a 20-yr-old male with slight VS, tinnitus, floaters and generally touchy (although perfect) vision. The VS at night doesn't really bother me at all, but if I'm looking at a white background, or the sky, the floaters and VS really piss me off. I have had the VS and tinnitus, I'd say, since I was about 12-13, although it could have been earlier. I've learned to deal with the tinnitus, and I can only hear it in nearly completely silent conditions or after listening to loud music. Over the past couple of years I've experienced lots of anxiety and have been slightly depressed. A lot of it has to do with these symptoms. As of late though, I have been contemplating all this as not being a 'disorder', or whatever, but more of a gift. I have very lucid dreams and have had several out of body experiences. Maybe everyone has these 'problems' but my/our senses are so in tune that they can pick them up. Which leads me to think, with some more tuning and practise, what more can we see? What more can we sense that others can't. Anyway, thanks for listening, and I hope to hear some comments on a different way of looking at it."

(joe52985, Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – New to the boards, September 20, 2005)

Chris (VS, meditation and vision with one's third eye)

"Hey, I just stumbled on this board...

I have had what you call visual snow for almost 2 years now. I'll just give a brief description...

It looks like static everywhere, and when I focus on the static the room darkens and after a while I see a fluid type of green energy moving around. When I watch the tv and I look somewhere else, I still see the face of the person on the tv...

Okay, I hope that proves it enough...Well, I love to meditate and after I started to see this VS I started to simply focus in on the VS for a mediation... This makes a really powerful meditation, I have actually seen it form into different things and make sense... For instance this one time I saw it turn into a grassy field and while I was there my stomach felt like butterflies. Another time I was looking at it and it turned into a waterfall.

When I look at the visual snow for a while, my eyes well up with tears. Not because it feels bad or anything, but it feels like my head is pulsing. I don't get headaches, and I am pretty healthy.

I think visual snow is good for you. I think when you can see your visual snow you have turned on the vision side of your third eye but it's currently out of focus...You can tune it by focusing in on the VS."

(Chris, Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – I like having visual snow!, January 22, 2006)

patricks (vs as "psychic static??" acting as "static compass")

"I too have tried explaining it to others, and no one seems to see it. So it's pretty cool to stumble across this msg board, explaines somethings, yet I've seen/experienced something really 'Out there', which I can only describe as a 'Static Compass'.

A quick rundown:

I've been seeing static like particles ever since I can remember. Not sure if it's the same as some posts describe, but very very similiar.

Doesn't interfere with my vision at all.

See it all the time, especially in darkened areas, and with closed eyes, or when focusing on empty space, or space surrounding things. Easly ignored. The static looks mostly gray but becomes more denser around objects and shows very slight color around people, trees, plants and animals.

Was recently injured, but I've been seeing this static since my early teens (29 now).

Pre accident: Not on drugs, was perfectly healthy, and perfect eyesight.

Post accident: Very heavy drugs. Pretty f*d up, but hasn't effected the static in any way.

Here's where it has gotten really weird. I was 15 when this happend. My friends and I were in the woods (at night) playing with fire crackers, when we saw flashing blue and red lights, which appeared to be right behind us. We thought it was the cops, so we bolted into the woods. From doing so, my Zippo Lighter (yes I smoked) fell out of my pocket. I didn't even realize I had dropped it. Then I heard one of my friends yell it's all clear. (Turned out to be an ambulance at a near by house.) So after we re-grouped, we just layed there staring at the stars. While I was looking very closely at a single star, I noticed the static start pushing together, into a circle shape. It was as if the static got denser, and formed into a ring. It then seemed to drop from the star into my lap. Keep in mind, I was still focused onto the ring, which was dead center of my field of vision. All I did was move chin down, as if I was looking into my lap, and keep my focus the same. I started moving my head left and right (without changing my focus point) and I noticed a fuzzy spot on the edge of the ring shape. Which moved along the edge of the ring, like a compass needle, always pointing in the same direction. So I started to follow it about 10-15 yards through some trees. Then the fuzzy spot seemed to drop down from the compass and landed smak dab on top of my lighter, which was sitting right there on the ground. The ring shape did disappear when I focused onto the ground. No I wasn't on drugs, nor was I drinking or anything (least not till collage). I've told this countless times, and I'm sure many didn't believe me (like those who read this won't), but thinking about it makes me still wonder.

I have tried staring at the static many times since, and off hand, don't recall anything weird like that happening again. I don't know why I see the 'static particles', and others don't? But I decided to post this here because, its a likely way to find out if others see what I've tried to explain. And maybe someone else has seen the static do something out of the norm. Anyone else?"

(patricks, Ezboard forum Visual snow or static - Discussion - Psycic Static??, May 26, 2007)

jabrams8 (a sceptic's polemic against esoteric views on VS)

"The most problematic part of your argument is the implication of a sort of California-LSD-Buddhist-philosophical (no disrespect to cali, LSD, or Buddha) aspect to the phenomenon... you seem to think that VS, as the tip of an iceberg, has something to teach us and that we can unlock the secrets of the metaphysical plane by 'accepting and experiencing' the snow. You see the snow because you were endowed with greater sensory perception than most, and you have conquered the stress of VS because you were endowed with greater 'psychic strength' than the rest of us. I do happen to think that meditation (including prayer if that's your deal) has a great deal to teach us. But there is a difference between focusing on an internal environment that fosters exploration and peace and staring at fuzzy white dots moving across your vision. There is a fourteen year old girl [subject #43] on this forum whose Mom is deeply concerned. I don't think it's a good idea to tell her to look for Self or God or whatever else in the visual fuzz she experiences 24/7."

(jabrams8, Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Archive - visual static – snow, May 28, 2005; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

silverwolf0 [subject #111], Still from the Visual Snow anime video clip illustrating his experience of visual snow, 2006. Click here to see the full video. [more]

Silverwolf0 and IanKC (spirituality as delusion or as mode of coping with VS)

"I see VS 24/7. When I close my eyes, VS is there. I start laxing off, VS is still there. I fall asleep and dream of running on the Gulf and being able to jump 50 feet into the air, my VS is still there. My scotomas are also still in my dreams and my body never physically changes, nor does my visual perception. All my other senses become dull though, differentiating me from reality and the dream state."

(silverwolf0 [subject #111], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – vs during a dream, August 20, 2006) [more]

"No, there is nothing positive about VS. You are only deluding yourself and trying to escape from reality.

Catharsis doesn't require one to suffer indefinitely and without reason. I can reach catharsis by watching a documentary on starving, malnourished, quadriplegic, AIDS-ridden children from Africa on the National Geographic channel."

(silverwolf0 [subject #111], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Beauty of vs, August 14, 2006) [more]

"I do recall a few people thinking it was a blessing. One woman even commented on how she thought it might have improved some form of ESP in her. Perhaps she was just crazy - but not everyone sees things the same way you do, silver [subject #111]. What you think of as escaping from reality may just be their way of coping with it. Who are you, or I, to tell someone that their way of coping is any more or less legitimate than therapy, or, say, being a guinea pig for medication after medication?"

(IanKC [subject #92], Ezboard forum Visual snow or static – Discussion – Beauty of vs, August 14, 2006; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

nathan267 (visual snow as spiritual encounter)

"Okay can some one explain if I need to be concerned? In the past year I have developed blue field entoptic phenomenon along with seeing visual snow 24/7. I also see big darkly shaded blobs of energy all the time. These balls are human size and go straight through the walls at times. And at other times just stay in one spot. I have noticed when I have lucid nighmares I wake up to find these dark shaded blobs on top of me & I get covered in goose bumps because of how cold these things are. At this point I here a high frequency in both ears. Can anyone explain if this is a spiritual encounter or do I need some medication to dope me out."

(Nathan267, abovetopsecret.com - Paranormal studies - Seeing visual snow, February 25, 2008)

References

Dilas J. Telepathie, Hellhören und Channeling: Verstehen, Erlernen, Anwenden. Bohmeier, Lübeck 2004 (see here)
Krishna G. Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man. Shambhala, 1997.
Reich W. Die Entdeckung des Orgons I. Die Funktion des Orgasmus. Sexualökonomische Grundprobleme der biologischen Energie. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1987.
Tausin F. Mouches Volantes. Die Leuchtstruktur des Bewusstseins. Leuchtstruktur Verlag, Bern 2004

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