"I See," said the Blind Man

I am impaired. Seriously, I don't know if it is safe for me to drive. I am slap happy both mentally and giddily (def giddily: adv., performing any function under the influence of the state of giddiness, spiritedly). This thought process was probably a result of being overly tired and getting mentally slap-happy. Mental slap-happiness is a little different than the "over all" slap-happiness that we enjoy. Where as the usual bout of slap-happiness makes us giddy and causes us to giggle over the most inane things, mental slap-happiness turns on our Aristotilian nature in looking at things. I think pot does both of these. You see the people who indulge in MJ laugh about anything, but also the thoughtful, philosophical side in some folks come out. I think about the scene in "Animal House" where the fellas were sitting in the dark, sharing weed with their professor. The discussion was about the Universe and whether it is large or whether a whole Universe sits on one of our finger nails. But I digress . . .


My mental slap-happiness was not pot induced but fatigue induced lest someone's clean cut image of me should burst. When I get this way, I think of things that normally I am too uptight to think about. This is no exception. One thing I have been thinking about in this impaired state is what it would be like to be blind.

Do blind people see anything? It sounds like a stupid question, but one has to look at the question a bit deeper. I always hear about someone who is blind living in darkness. Darkness is a sight, though, isn't it? You see darkness. Darkness IS something.

Sometimes when my eyes are closed I can see dim colors - even in a dark room. It seems that are brains are wired to observe SOMETHING. Darkness, dim colors, something is fed to the brain like in a dream. One really doesn't "see" his/her dreams, but they experience them in some way. The brain replicates "sight" for the dreams; the eyes do not obtain ANY of the dream's images.

What are blind people's dreams like? Do they 'see'? I bet it makes a difference if one becomes blind after a period of sight or if they are blind from birth. Does the blind manufacture the "touch" since in the dreams of the blind in lieu of sight? I would guess the recently blind "see" while the blind-from-birth people "hear" or "feel" their dreams.

I have no answers here, just conjecture. I can probably ask someone who has been blinded for some information, if I knew someone, but I will never know about the experiences of people blind from birth. There are no common references in which to communicate.

Thank God for sight!



14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, I never thought about what a blind person dreams... What a great question. ...no visual references... Man, that's a good one.

Brian said...

And you brought the whole universe thing into play here too. That's a lot to handle in one post.

The Real Mother Hen said...

Thank God for the sight and other 4 senses.

Stepping Over the Junk said...

I think it depends on if the blind person HAS seen before or not. My being hard of hearing and using hearing aids, when I dont have them in, I hear things and not able to decipher them. Same with when I have them in, I hear things differently and have no idea what I am hearing. (like the tones are different, so they are the same thing but I cant tell)

Jodi said...

You are too funny! I love the way your mind works. What great thoughts!!!

And don't worry, I don't think you're clean-cut. I know you're a bum!!! (wink)

J.

Knock knock - it's cancer! said...

Here's a weird piece of trivia...

We have a local Toronto Dominion Drive Thru Bank here in town, and oddly enough it has brail on the ATM buttons.

Does that strike you as odd too?

M.

Jeff said...

Steph: There are a lot of weird things to think about in the right state of mind (or the wrong one).

Brian: I am nothing if not efficient.

Mother Hen: Yes, and for spidey sense for those of us that have it.

Jeff said...

Stepping Over: That is what I think, too.

Hoosiergirl: Pardon me, but can you help out a fellow American that's down on his luck?

OneFullHouse: That's nice. I bet the signage and rails in that drive through have been through hell.

Tai said...

I really like those questions, they are inspired queries.
And of course I have no answers, but I'm eager to find out if you get any.

Jodi said...

I would be happy to help you, if you will coach me in football knowledge.

Wanna take a walk?

J.

Michelle said...

Ditto on the tired-to-brainless thing. Same here! The last few weeks I have had no time to rest or relax and my brain is turning into old glue. :-P

I had a disabled friend (paralysed) who used to dream he could walk, but what do blind people dream?? I suppose it might depend on if they had ever seen before they went blind?

Fascinating thought.

Profound, dude! :-D

Nikki said...

I once heard a blind person say that they "see" neither light nor darkness. They simply "see" nothing.

Maybe for sighted to think of the non-sighted as living in darkness...that is the closest that we can relate to their experience.

Charles said...

I once smoked pot because my friend convinced me under pressure. When I got high, and the munchies we decided to go to a restaurant. It was in the wee hours of the morning and I don't even remember what restaurant it was. But I do remember eating veal Parmesean. I remember it made my friend mad because of the way the cows are raised. Anyways I said something about taking a knife and cutting the cows throat or something (I don't remember).

My friends later told me they were scared of me because of what I said, and that they would never let me smoke pot again.

That is a good question now i'm curious. I know when I am awake and I close my eyes to imagine stuff, what I see isn't as defined as what I see with my eyes. However when I am sleeping my dreams seem as real as what I see with my eyes.

Now I wonder. I don't know anyone blind so I can't ask, but that is a good question. I'm SO curious now.

Anonymous said...

You pretty much lost me with that first paragraph, but yeah - interesting thoughts.

I think technically darkness is not seeing. Essentially seeing is the reception of reflected light onto the rods and cones in the retina. So darkness, being the absence of light would be not seeing anything... of course our eyelids are not impenetrable and there's usually at least a little light from somewhere.