Closed-eye hallucinations and closed-eye visualizations (CEV) are a distinct class of hallucination. These types of hallucinations generally only occur when one's eyes are closed or when one is in a darkened room. They can be a form of phosphene. Some people report closed-eye hallucinations under the influence of psychedelics. These are reportedly of a different nature than the "open-eye" hallucinations of the same compounds. Similar hallucinations that occur due to loss of vision are called visual release hallucinations.
Levels of CEV perception
There are five known levels of CEV perception which can be achieved either through chemical stimuli or through meditative relaxation techniques.
Level 1 and 2 are very common and often happen every day. It is still
normal to experience level 3, and even level 4, but only a small
percentage of the population does this without psychedelic drugs,
meditation or extensive visualization training.
Level 1: Visual noise
CEV noise simulation
The most basic form of CEV perception that can be immediately
experienced in normal waking consciousness involves a seemingly random
noise of pointillistic light/dark regions with no apparent shape or
order.
This can be seen when the eyes are closed and looking at the back
of the eyelids. In a bright room, a dark red can be seen, owing to a
small amount of light penetrating the eyelids and taking on the color of
the blood it has passed through. In a dark room, blackness can be seen
or the object can be more colourful. But in either case it is not a flat
unchanging redness/blackness. Instead, if actively observed for a few
minutes, one becomes aware of an apparent disorganized motion, a random
field of lightness/darkness that overlays the redness/blackness of
closed eyelids.
For a person who tries to actively observe this closed-eye
perception on a regular basis, there comes a point where if they look at
a flat-shaded object with their eyes wide open, and try to actively
look for this visual noise, they will become aware of it and see the
random pointillistic disorganized motion as if it were a translucent
overlay on top of what is actually being seen by their open eyes.
When seen overlaid onto the physical world, this CEV noise does
not obscure physical vision at all, and in fact is hard to notice if the
visual field is highly patterned, complex, or in motion. When active
observation is stopped, it is not obvious or noticeable, and seemingly
disappears from normal physical perception. Individuals suffering from visual snow see similar noise but experience difficulty blocking it from conscious perception.
Level 2: Light/dark flashes
Some
mental control can be exerted over these closed-eye visualizations, but
it usually requires a bit of relaxation and concentration to achieve.
When properly relaxed it is possible to cause regions of intense black,
bright white or even colors such as yellow, green, or pink to appear in
the noise. These regions can span the entire visual field, but seem to
be fleeting in nature.
Level 3: Patterns, motion, and color
This level is relatively easily accessible to people who use psychedelic drugs such as LSD.
However, it is also accessible to people involved in deep concentration
for long periods of time. When lying down at night and closing the
eyes, right before sleep or just before waking up, the complex motion of
these patterns can become directly visible without any great effort
thanks to hypnagogic hallucination.
The patterns themselves might resemble fractals.
Level 4: Objects and things
This
is a fairly deep state. At this level, thoughts visually manifest as
objects or environments. When this level is reached, the CEV noise seems
to calm down and fade away, leaving behind an intense flat ordered
blackness. The visual field becomes a sort of active space. A side
component of this is the ability to feel motion when the eyes are
closed.
Opening the eyes returns one to the normal physical world, but
still with the CEV object field overlaid onto it and present. In this
state it is possible to see things that appear to be physical objects in
the open-eye physical world, but that aren't really there.
| “ | If we remember that the essential difference between what we call the real world and the world of imagination and hallucination, is not the elements of which we build them up but the sequence in which these elements appear... then it follows that the sequences directed from without represent a limitation of the otherwise unlimited combinations of the selective forms released at random from within. | ” |
| — Jurij Moskvitin, Essay on the origin of thought. | ||
Level 5: Overriding physical perception
This level can be entered from complete sensory deprivation, as experienced in an isolation tank, but even there it requires great relaxation.
According to lucid dreaming researcher Stephen LaBerge, perceptions can come from either the senses or imagination. An inhibitory system involving the thalamus, likely involving serotonergic neurons,
inhibits imaginary perceptions from becoming too activated so they turn
into hallucinations. This system is inhibited during REM sleep, and the
imagination can freely run into the perceptual systems. What happens
at level 5 is likely that this system is inhibited, just like in REM
sleep, by different causes like sensory deprivation, psychedelic drugs
or meditative relaxation techniques.
What is not a CEV
Image burn-in (afterimage)
Image
burn-in occurs when very bright objects lie in one's field of vision,
and should not be confused with closed-eye hallucinations. Visual
burn-in from bright lights is visible for a few minutes after closing
the eyes, or by blinking repeatedly, but the burn-in effect slowly fades
away as the retina recovers, whereas the waking-consciousness CEV noise
will not disappear if observed continuously over a period of time.
Corneal liquid
CEV
does not involve the liquid and air bubbles on the surface of the
cornea, which can also be seen by extremely nearsighted people when
looking at bright point-light sources with glasses/contacts removed.
Also called "floaters",
they often appear as cells floating across the eye. Full-closing and
reopening the eyelids creates a very definite wiper-ridge in the corneal
liquid that is readily visible. Fully closing and reopening the eyelids
also stirs up the corneal liquid which settles down after a brief
moment. The motion of waking-consciousness CEV noise is not so directly
and physically controllable and repeatable. This is not necessarily
only associated with extreme nearsightedness.
Blue-sky sprites
CEV does not seem to be related to the "sprites" (blue field entoptic phenomenon)
that can be seen as dots darting around when staring up into a bright
blue sky on a sunny day (not looking at the sun). These dots
superimposed over a flat blue background are white blood cells moving
through the blood vessels of the retina. The motion of
waking-consciousness CEV noise is uniformly random compared to the
waking-consciousness blue-sky sprite motion.
Physical retinal stimulation
CEV
is unrelated to the visual noise seen when the retina is physically
stimulated. The retina can be made to produce light patterns of visual
noise simply by one rubbing their eyes somewhat forcefully in a manner
that increases intraocular pressure. Additionally, retinal noise can be
produced by touching near the rear of the eyeball producing pressure phosphenes
(for example, if one closes one's eyes, looks all the way left, and
lightly touches the rightmost part of the eye socket, this produces
visual noise in the shape of a circle that appears at the left side of
the visual
field – a practice that is neither painful nor dangerous). None of
these are closed-eye hallucinations.
