Question about "seeing" with my mind

[ianj]

I am quite familiar with, and really interested in the teachings of Haanel (The Master Key System), and more recently, Wattles' (The Secret of Getting

Rich). I have been practicing WITH MY EYES SHUT, the L of A on and off for several years, but only during the last 12 months or so with any real commitment.

Physical relaxation is really easy for me, but because I have a hyper-active mind, I've found it very difficult to relax my mind - to clear it of all

thought (Haanel's The Master Key, lesson 2). I'm not bad at it now - although I'm still working on consistency - sometimes I have to mentally bring myself

back from "daydream" mode, and carry on. I've learbned not to get angry with myself when this happens! I practice for 20 - 30 mins a day, MOST days.

Having read Wallace Wattles' book about one's approach to imagery with one's mind, something occurred to me...

When one is instructed to visualise an image of that which one wishes to possess, I kind of assumed this image to be "seen" by my eyes (behind closed

eyelids). In other words, when my eyes are closed I - and everyone else, I cautiously assume - will just see a "speckled" darkness. Now, with adequate

practice, one should be able to see (or rather "create") a perfect image in this "view", "space", call it what you will.

However, that is my question.

Since we are taught to "see" with our MINDS, not our eyes, am I supposed to see the aforementioned imagery with my MIND, not my eyes? i.e. the eyes of my

mind are "THOUGHT", so rather than EYESIGHT per se, maybe I need to THINK this image?

With respect to this, I'm also trying to understand the relationship between my seeing with my eyes and my mind.

I hope I'm making myself understood properly :/ and would welcome any advice and/or questions - in case I've not outlined my considerations well enough.

Thanks

[schenderson22]

I am the first to admit, I don't take time to meditate or visualize.  I do a lot of gratification work and that seems to do well for me.  Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[Jerome Faraday]

Hello and Blessings,

I know what you're experiencing. When we close our eyes, we literally see darkness. However, if you've ever been in a deep day dream, you know that while you may have had your eyes open or shut, you were seeing what you were thinking, not what your eyes were focused on. You only saw with your eyes when you 'awoke' (or a teacher woke you up!).

Part of visualization success is getting into this daydream/dream state (our dreams are all 'seeing' with the mind since our eyes are closed). One useful technique for me has been self-hypnosis. It's helped me filter out a lot of the noise. You can find info about that on the internet. Also, according to brain researchers the brain's alpha waves are most active during visualization, but these (like other waves) can be crowded out by beta waves (essentially the clutter of our heads). I think the key to better visualization is to let go of your worries, concerns, etc. and get into a deep meditation/trance. This should help you in and of itself.

A good book for taming and utilizing the brainwaves is Anna Wise's "The High Performance Mind: Mastering Brainwaves for Insight, Healing, and Creativity." I can't recommend it enough.

Hope this is helpful,
JF