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Post by andrew on Aug 7, 2006 7:12:59 GMT 1
It seems to me that the main thing necessary in vision improvement is that we be aware we need to "alter our viewpoints" or "our way of seeing". Or we need to "transform our outer role" or "transform our way of being" or quite simply we need to "transform ourselves" or "transform our personalities".
We can say the same thing many different ways.
Anything other than this seems to me to be wishful thinking.
And so i am wondering why people think it so important that they stop wearing glasses?
It appears that myopes have minus glasses because of their personalities and myopic astigmatics have myopic astigmatic personalities. There seems no evidence that you can become myopic just by wearing glasses but this seems a common view point in the world of NVI.
Personally i believe that the specific glass in our own glasses provides a direct feedback of our way of being. So how does not wearing glasses alter our way of being? It is in fact relatively easy to learn to read a persons way of being via reading their prescription. Just as the chakras privide a road map of our consciousness our glasses provide a valuable roadmap to our current warped seeing.
True if you are a myope you might feel injured by the way you are perceived by the stigmatising effect of these devices and this might make you yet more withdrawn and more inward seeing. Or you might feel more stylish or more intelligent and make that part of your distorted way of seeing
But in the context of so many people having so little complete success in vision improvement it seems to me that very few people really understand that its not a mere tinkering that is required but in the words of Tony Robbins some kind of "massive action plan" for change that is required.
Personally to my mind it seems normal to want to see relatively well and somehow masochistic to not want to see well and normal sight requires a certain kind of "normal thinking"
William Bates was absolutely clear that vision problems were due to an abnormal condition of the mind and he did discourage the use of glasses. But since Bates time it is generally thought outside the pure Bates movement that personality change or lifestyle change was required to get better vision.
Whether it be Lowen or Kelley or Martin Brofman or many others personal transformation seems required.
Glasses come in a zillion different flavours to reflect a zillion different personalities but each personality type creates a specific vision problem. no more. no less.
Why then this emphasis on not wearing glasses?
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Post by Martin Brofman on Aug 7, 2006 8:57:15 GMT 1
It's like asking why there is an emphasis on not using crutches.
Eyeglasses are prosthetic devices. They are not a problem, but the symptom of a problem reflecting tension in the consciousness.
You are free to maintain whatever tension in your consciousness you choose - but if you want to do something different, we provide a possibility for that.
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Post by andrew on Aug 7, 2006 9:46:43 GMT 1
I should add here that i know people who feel profoundly different just by removing their glasses. One lady is a very talented artist modeling in clay. her work is outstanding but she says she is completely unable to do this while wearing glasses.
Personally in my 20's i felt profoundly different wearing contact lenses. I just felt more normal and less crippled. And around this time i found my eyesight getting much better. Then i found problems tolerating the lenses.
And we can agree that vision problems are caused by tension in consciousness
Many people wearing glasses do not find their eyesight worsens. Some find it improves.
I know 3 people who after lifestyle changes and no NVI found their myopia reduced while wearing glasses. My brother remarried. I emigrated. My selfish business minded friend had a sickly child and saw the value of love in his life.
Many find their eyesight does worsen.
The decision to not wear glasses and begin a journey of self discovery is in itself a change in consciousness.
What is necessary to improve vision?
A change in consciousness
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Post by Martin Brofman on Aug 7, 2006 13:37:06 GMT 1
...starting with a desire to change consciousness.
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Post by guest on Aug 7, 2006 20:28:36 GMT 1
Did you, Martin, stop wearing glasses before you vision actually had cleared?
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Post by Martin Brofman on Aug 7, 2006 21:33:41 GMT 1
Yes - although at the time it was just because wearing them was so uncomfortable. I had had an operation on the back of my neck that was supposed to remove the tumor there. The operation didn't work, and I was told I would soon die - and because of the operation, the glasses were just too heavy for me. Because of the prognosis, I decided to not feel bad if my eyesight was not clear - and I focused on just being myself for whatever time I had left, and doing whatever was necessary to be happy, minute by minute. I began to notice that I could see bricks in distant buildings closer and closer, and when I next had my eyes examined, I was told my vision was normal. That's what got me started on this whole trip.
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Post by andrew on Aug 7, 2006 22:56:38 GMT 1
Martin
I think the key for you was that you decided to live your life as you wanted to live your life and you stopped attempting to meet the impossible expectations of others. Instead you gravitated towards people who were more likely to think and feel as you did. You then presumably were able to get your own needs met, release the more "I" orientated thinking of the myope, and be able to give back to others in return. So that giving to others became a big part of your life and indeed is a way of life for you which then rewards you.
And yes in this picture too, you also stopped wearing glasses.
But what created the eyesight improvement?
I believe it was the decision to change your consciousness and follow that thru
The reason i began this thread was because i have got quite a bit of expertise in the area of vision improvement but find people quite strongly resist the idea they need to change their consciousness. Instead they seem to believe that walking around without glasses is going to somehow do it for them. Meanwhile the months turn into years and i dont see them progressing. From my point of view nothing has changed in their consciousness so i dont expect any changes but they seem dissapointed.
And what about my vision?
Well one identified aspect of my own vision is lack of committment or lack of follow thru to what i believe. So that i allow others to persuade me to alter my desired action. On the other hand i myself have a tendency to want to persuade others......but then i give up.
For example i go to a vision class and i dont believe that exercises and removal of glasses will achieve much if you resist changing your consciousness. Therefore i am content to wear my reduced glasses and I talk to others about the need primarily to change their consciousness, and I kind of enjoy this and do it with enthusiasm. Also of course i am interested in anything that clarifies the changes i need to make in my own consciousness
But when the vision teacher reaches to my reduced glasses and removes them from my head, against my spoken and explained desire that they do not do this, I then feel assaulted and/or manipulated. However I accept that to some degree i have cooperated in their removal by surrendering my power to them, but what exactly is the best solution here to maintain my integrity? It is my nature to cooperate but i want to do so with integrity.
Regards
Andrew
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Post by Chris James on Aug 8, 2006 0:55:59 GMT 1
Andrew, this is probably not my business, but from reading your posts it seems to me that you are focussing on your vision "problem" to the exclusion of the rest of your Being. It seems you put too m uch emphasis on your myopia. I would even say that your approach to trying to cure your myopic is very myopic. I believe that it's the entire person who needs healing, a different way of being in the world, not merely one part. I would therefore suggest to you that you stop concentrating so hard on your vision and look at yourself as a whole person, and try to see others that way. There's apoint when when one can over-analyze and lose perspective of the larger picture. Please take this the way I am offering it, as a friendly suggestion.
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Post by andrew on Aug 8, 2006 1:14:09 GMT 1
Chris
I agree with you. Indeed when i have not focused on my vision and have gotten on with my life my vision has improved even while wearing glasses.
In fact ever since i got a computer and wanted to share my experiences i have made next to no progress! Well actually that is not entirely true. Until my mum died last year i was again beginning to make progress but it was a bit horrible and it did set me back a bit. Now though i feel i am moving forwards again
Last year i did decide to dramatically alter my life. I sold a very long term investment and decided to focus on living. I have though run into problems......my new and more exciting investments lost me a great deal of money. However you cant lose a great deal if you dont begin with a great deal so although painful i have put it down to being an experience.
One of the other things i had in mind simultaneously was to make my vision teaching into something more than a hobby but instead something that was more about projecting who i was out into the world.
I guess the problem i remain stuck with is that i want others to think and feel like i do. And they dont.
I have thought even today before you wrote that i should put an advert in the paper and project who i am out there into the world and not care at all if other vision teachers or students have different viewpoints. However before i do that i need to get organised to begin accepting clients. Also while i am wearing glasses i feel like a fraud. And removing them would be even more fraudulent. More or less all vision teachers who were myopic remain myopic with maybe only 2 acceptions to my knowledge.
Another thing happening in my life now is my love life. I live in a warm climate and have developed a relationship with someone who now lives 17,000 kms from me and lives in one of the coldest climates on earth. This woman is myopic and strongly so. We are making progress but there are challenges
Committment is an issue for me.
My life at the moment is a work in progress
I appreciate your feedback and welcome more
Thanks
Andrew
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Post by Chris James on Aug 8, 2006 1:23:56 GMT 1
Andrew - This part of your response was the strongest to me - "I guess the problem i remain stuck with is that i want others to think and feel like i do. And they dont."
This is correct, and most people never will. That has to be okay with you, at some point in your life, or you will always be miserable. People aren't here to fit into our perception of who they are, they're far too busy living their own lives, making their own 'story'.
I would say you need to accept others for who they are, but you have to begin by accepting yourself that way first. You can't love anyone else until you love yourself first, as we all know. Try a more open approach to yourself. Feel yourself as being ok, just as you are right now.
All our lives are works in progress; once we stop progressing, we either regress or stagnate. Be a work in progress with a sense of humor about yourself, though, and others will feel that. The shift in your energy from doing that alone will make a huge difference, I believe, in how you see yourself and the rest of your world.
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Post by Chris James on Aug 8, 2006 1:49:10 GMT 1
I would also suggest you ask yourself why it's important for people to think and feel the way you do. Is it that without their agreement, your thoughts and feelings aren't valid, or is it a way of trying to control people, or a way to keep people from getting close to you? (you can always tell yourself "they're not like me" etc.) Or a way to keep yourself separate from others so you wont get hurt? I would say this is worth analyzing, so you can hopefully understand your motives better. You could monitor your behavior with others as well; when you feel that urge coming up to reject someone because he or she doesn't think or feel like you do about something, search that feeling and try to get to the root of it.
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Post by andrew on Aug 8, 2006 1:54:35 GMT 1
Chris
Thanks for the reply but i think you are making some assumptions here. I dont really take myself so seriously. Maybe I should? Maybe by taking myself more seriously i would then find it easier to stand firm and not be required to alter my way for another persons way?
However by and large i am reasonably happy with myself. And i reckon i have a good sense of humour.
What is though interesting about what you are saying is the almost impossible position wanting to be a "vision teacher" where i am directing my efforts to allowing another person to change their consciousness versus as you say "I would say you need to accept others for who they are"
So a person goes into therapy and you just accept who they are?.......and dont try to change them?........ Does that work? Seems to me that the healer or the therapist does have an idea of what needs to change and is then directing that change.
The interesting thing about "accepting myself as who i am now" is that i then become more determined and more resourceful maybe in pursuing my agenda with committment.
And Chris i cant help noticing that you are wanting here to change me! When i say "wow you are right!!" then i will have changed....and you will feel as if you have helped me.
So.........its a complicated area!
:-)
Andrew
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Post by Chris James on Aug 8, 2006 2:03:45 GMT 1
I'm just trying to help by making a few suggestions. I am not trying to change you, Andrew. I'm saying that by accepting yourself as you are right now, you would be in a more open state of mind, which would allow you to possibly accept others the way they are and not be threatened by someone who has a different opinion or set of feelings about a particular subject.
RE: sense of humor, I wasn't assuming you have no sense of humor or that you take yourself too serioiusly. I was mentioning that from your posts, it seems you are narrowly focussed on this one subject - your eyesight. Just step back some, is all I am suggesting.
I see tremendous resistance in this last post, which I expected, which is why I have been trying to approach you as gently as possible. I just hope you take in consideration what I have contributed on your behalf; I won't be pursuing this any further. I wish you all the best.
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Post by andrew on Aug 8, 2006 2:16:44 GMT 1
I would also suggest you ask yourself why it's important for people to think and feel the way you do. Is it that without their agreement, your thoughts and feelings aren't valid, I like where you are going with this. I suppose i am thinking at first that "what i said earlier that i want people to think and feel like i do was more related to the vision hobby interest i have". On the other hand it is more than that. I guess i feel lonely by having a strong interest in a hobby that is regarded as being quite weird by many. And in fact i dont know anybody who has the same philosophy as me. Loneliness has been an issue in my life. Even within a relationship i have felt lonely because i have just been too different to the other person. Partly its because my family background did not allow me to easily fit into available "energy bubbles". Therefore my uniqueness is an issue here. However another big part of it is fear of being hurt. On the one hand by compromising myself i can "fit in" to a group but only by declaring what i believe can i really feel i am being true to myself. Perhaps by being in Martins group i automatically become persona none grata and can only be sucessful in my own group? Problem though is that nobody wants to join my group and talk to me! Therefore to share the interest it seems i have to join other groups and attempt to fit in. But that does not seem to be working for me.
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Post by andrew on Aug 8, 2006 2:25:32 GMT 1
I'm just trying to help by making a few suggestions. I am not trying to change you, Andrew. I see tremendous resistance in this last post, which I expected, which is why I have been trying to approach you as gently as possible. I just hope you take in consideration what I have contributed on your behalf; I won't be pursuing this any further. I wish you all the best. Chris it seems to me that since i did not respond as you expected me to that now you have decided you dont want to offer your assistance any more. From my point of view that is a shame as already it was an interesting interaction. I also think you are being a bit unclear. You say i am showing "tremendous resistance" dispite you approaching me "as gently as possible". Resistance implies i remained the same. I did not change. I think i could continue learning from you if you were open to that. Why stop now?? Regards Andrew
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