Extraocular vision is a human ability that allows us to perceive shapes, colors and distance without the intervention of the eyes. As I think it is easier to see it than to describe it, here is a video of people practicing this ability. They do everything from seeing colors, dodging obstacles, replicating drawings and even reading books.
A very interesting case about one of the scholars of this subject is Dr. Jacobo Grinberg. There is a documentary-film about the mysteries surrounding his life and work, you can see it here (spanish): https://superocho.org/watch/axmcowkQk6pooW5?lang=spanish
A very well written text, written by Dr. Grinberg himself, explains how they taught extraocular vision to different groups of children. You can download the PDF in Spanish for 30 days at this link: https://easyupload.io/1a0n32
A very special case is that of Ben Underwood. This boy was born with a very aggressive cancer that left him without eyes. This boy developed the ability to see without eyes, allowing him to find his way around, play basketball, ride a bike and even play with his nintendo DS. Sadly he died from the same cancer that took his eyes at a very young age (in case anyone thinks he is a fraud or something). You can see a very summarized documental of his ability here:
In Indonesia, there is a special forces squadron that develops and practices this skill. From time to time they do demonstrations shooting with live ammunition while blindfolded. You have an example here:
This youtuber is considering learning it to see if it is true, and goes to one of the many schools that teach this skill. Inside the video you can see that he achieves an acceptable level recognizing some words, shapes and colors:
There are numerous unrelated schools and teachers, from different countries and in different languages, that offer programs to develop this skill. Some examples of these schools and teachers: https://infovisionacademy.com/adult/ http://veomas.com.mx/page-5.html https://vibravision.com/ https://www.midbrain-activation.com/SEEING-WITHOUT-EYES.html https://seeingwithouteyes.com.au/seeing-without-eyes/ https://www.talensinstitute.com/metodo-v-e-o https://centroluzinterior.es/vision-extraocular/
Some personal level teachers who teach this, if you want to google them:
Rob Freeman Nikolay Denisov & Marina - Russia Mihaela Istrati InfoVision - Romania Mark Komisarov InfoVision Karen Osborne ICU - Canada Evelyn Ohly -Germany Caroline Cory Nemanja Rilak Merputi Putih - Mas Monchu Nemanja Rilak - Serbia Innervision Marina Kana (Nikolay Denisov)
There are even some companies in Spain (my country) that are dedicated to teach this skill, especially to children, as the bibliography indicates that it is much easier. They also have several video examples of what children are able to see: https://es.veovisionextraocular.com/?noredirect=es_ES
The ability to see without using the eyes, also known as paroptic vision, dermo-optical perception (DOP), hyperesthesia, synesthesia, cutaneous vision (skin vision), extraretinal vision, and biointroscopy. The term eyeless sight was first popularized through the English translation of a book by the famous French author Jules Romains (Louis Farigoule) titled Vision Extra-Rétinienne (1920), which detailed Romains's research in developing the extraordinary and little-known faculty of seeing without the use of the eyes. The book was not well received, however, and was ridiculed by his colleagues. Refused access to subjects for further experiments, Romains abandoned his scientific research, turned his attention to the literary arts, and went on to become a world-famous poet, dramatist, and novel-ist.
Prior to Romains's book there had been scattered references to eyeless sight from the seventeenth century on. British scientist Robert Boyle referred to a doctor's report about a blind man who could distinguish colors by touch. In the eighteenth century, Jonathan Swift included a strange reference in Gulliver's Travels (1726) to a blind man who could distinguish paint colors by feeling and smelling. Throughout the nineteenth century there were occasional medical accounts of transposition of sight to different areas of the body.
Ten years after publication of Romains's book, Manuel Shaves of São Paulo, Brazil, tested four hundred blind patients and reported that about a dozen of them seemed to have the faculty of "skin vision," some being able to distinguish colors.
During the 1930s a Kashmiri fire-walking performer named Kuda Bux demonstrated what was claimed to be eyeless sight before a distinguished medical panel. Although heavily blindfolded, with lumps of dough over his eyes, and with metal foil, woollen bandages, and layers of gauze, Bux had no difficulty reading from books. He gave a similar demonstration in Montreal, Canada, in 1938, and in 1945 during a U.S. tour he rode a bicycle through Times Square, New York, while heavily blindfolded. However, much doubt has arisen concerning Kuda Bux's performances owing to claims such as those of stage magician Milbourne Christopher, who suggested there were defects in the blindfolding.
In 1963 Russian scientist I. M. Gol'dberg reported his experiments with Rosa Kuleshova in an article in Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry. During the previous September, Gol'dberg had demonstrated Kuleshova's ability to read ordinary printed text with the fingers of her right hand when normal vision was completely excluded. Rosa could also determine color tones on paper and objects. The term dermo-optical perception became established.
After publication of the experiments with Kuleshova, Richard P. Youtz, a psychologist at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, experimented with a Mrs. P. Stanley, a 42-year-old housewife. Youtz concluded that color sensing through the fingertips was a real phenomenon and believed that some 10 percent of a female college population tested by him had the ability in rudimentary form.
Even before the reports on Kuleshova, an April 1965 story from the Associated Press reported that Vichit Sukhakarn of Bangkok was teaching blind people to see by hypnosis. Sukhakarn claimed that if volunteers concentrated deeply on the thought of "seeing through the cheeks," the nerve endings of the skin became so sensitive that impulses were transmitted to the brain and converted into visual images. Some of his blind subjects were reported able to "read" a newspaper or "watch" a movie with their cheeks. He opened an institution for blind children in Thailand and found 8-to 14-year-old subjects very susceptible to training. His findings were in line with Romains's experiments suggesting that some light hypnotic or suggestible factor assisted the development of eyeless sight.
In 1966 Yvonne Duplessis at the Centre D'Eclairagisme began reviving French research into eyeless sight with the aid of a grant from the Parapsychology Foundation. Duplessis trained blind volunteers to "see" objects both at a distance (paroptic perception) and by touch (dermo-optical perception). Volunteers also developed the faculty to distinguish colors by eyeless sight, which some investigators believe is capable of development mainly through use of the fingers, cheeks, or epigastric region, all sensitive skin areas. The faculty seems facilitated by light hypnotic suggestion.
The research of Duplessis was presented in a paper at the First International Conference on Psychotronics, held at Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1974. At the conference, a small re-search group from Poland, headed by Lech Stefanski (founder of the International Section on Parapsychology), reported similar experiments. Although there have been counterreports suggesting that such results were obtained because of imperfect control or cheating, the significant number of positive results has encouraged some parapsychological researchers.
(See also Stomach, Seeing with the )
Sources:
Duplessis, Yvonne. "Dermo-optical Sensitivity and Perception." International Journal of Biosocial Research 7, no. 2 (1985).
Goldberg, I. M. "On Whether Tactile Sensitivity Can be Improved by Exercise." Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry 2, no. 1 (1963).
Romains, Jules [Louis Farigoule]. Vision Extra-Rétinienne. 1920. Translated by C. K. Ogden as Eyeless Sight: A Study of Extra-Retinal Vision and the Paroptic Sense.New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1924. Reprint, New York: Citadel Press, 1978.
-- Edited by Hipnos on Saturday 17th of July 2021 08:43:20 PM
If you're interested in training this skill; there is a couple on YouTube that teaches for free, & hosts Facebook practice groups if you need training partners:)
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"Worry about self delusion, after you have succeeded." -Owltwelve
I tried to put everything that I know of this ability here. Maybe someone finds it inspiring. I've not been able to develop this ability, but my patience is very limited so idk.