One day in 1988, a woman named Diane Fletcher was taking a shower when she passed out and fell to the floor.
The water heater in her bathroom wasn’t properly ventilated. It was leaking carbon monoxide. That’s why Diane passed out.
She survived – her husband found her some 20 minutes later — but there were consequences.
For one thing, Diane was completely blind the first few days. Then gradually, the crude basics of her vision returned — some color and texture. But she never regained the ability to distinguish or recognize objects.
Put two wooden blocks in front of Diane, and ask her which is bigger. She would just shrug — she didn’t see either one.
But then, ask Diane to pick up one of the blocks. Her hand would shoot right towards it. Along the way, her thumb and fingers would adapt so she could grab the block perfectly.
And it wasn’t a one-time thing, either.
Put a box with a slit in it in front of Diane, and ask her which way the slit is facing, horizontally or vertically. Again, Diane couldn’t say.
But put a letter in Diane’s hand and ask her to put that letter in the slot. She did this perfectly each time — regardless of how the box was turned, even though she couldn’t “see” the slit.
It turned out Diane had “blindsight.” That’s the clever name some scientist gave to the condition.
From what I understand:
The neural pathway that goes from your eyes to the rest of your brain splits in two along the way.
One fork of this pathway goes up. It leads to the regions of your brain that interpret what you are looking at. This part of your brain also seems to cause the conscious sensation of seeing.
But another half of the pathway goes down. That part of your brain actually moves you around in space, based on visual input.
In some cases of blindsight, the consequences can be even more total and extreme than for Diane.
Some people with blindsight can be completely blind. They can’t consciously see anything. No color, no texture, nothing.
And yet, they can still see fine when it comes to movement. Another part of their brain, in charge of another part of vision, outside of conscious experience, is still working perfectly.
I don’t know about you, but I thought this blindsight stuff was absolutely incredible. It made me wonder how much people like Diane can get done on faith alone.
Yes, she had the absolute personal experience of not being able to see. But could she walk down an unfamiliar staircase without tumbling to the bottom… even though she couldn’t “see” the stairs?
Could she go outside and walk around a park? Could she avoid tripping over roots and never slam face-first into a tree… just by putting one foot in front of the other, over and over?
I don’t know. And I don’t want to get all Robert Collier-y, “Secret of the Ages” on you, and claim you can manifest anything you can imagine.
Bit I will tell you I’ve been to both extremes in my life.
I’ve spent many years sulking in the corner, arms crossed tightly, frown on my face, lower lip pouting out… because I knew for a fact, based on hard personal experience and intuition as well… that I didn’t have the biological talent needed to achieve the things I wanted.
But then I’ve also had moments in my life, which sometimes stretched out into months and years. During these moments, I tapped into magical new ways of being. I suddenly found myself with innate skills and abilities I never dreamed I could have.
Maybe that sounds a little abstract. Maybe you want some specific examples of these transformations I experienced.
Fine. But let’s keep that for another time. Right now, I just want to leave you with the following possibility:
You might have your own blindsight. Or maybe many of them. Not through brain damage. But just by virtue of being human.
The fact is, the unconscious part of our existence is a deep and mysterious thing.
There might be quiet little zombies inside you, working away right now… solving complex problems and providing you with unique and powerful talents and skills… completely outside of your consciousness or awareness.
And yet they are there, working on your behalf, or ready to do so.
All you have to do is to put yourself in a situation where those zombies have a chance to apply their diligent work. Well, that… plus you gotta have some faith.
Ok, that’s all the inspiration I can give you for today.
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