From time to time I get flickering/pulsing while in EQ. I've read some accounts of those who got stream that this is a sign of being near. The flickering/pulsing occurs whether the eyes are gently/half shut, as well as tighly shut. The flickering/pulsing seems to occur in small clusters of maybe ten each. Sometimes I get them in a lower part of my field of vision, and at other times in the entire field. Sometimes I get a a single cluster of flickering/pulsations not immediately followed by other clusters, and sometimes I get cluster after cluster, one after the other. They appear to be separate and apart from the undulating/fluxing horizon, and they appear as a blackness, like a strobe. I'm wondering if this is my awareness aligning to the gap in sensations. How should I relate to these flickerings? Are they nothing or indeed a sign of being near? If I encounter them, should I gently explore them or ignore them? 

What do those flickering/pulsing/dropping in & out of perceptions indicate about the continuity of an individual self?
What's perceiving this absence? Where is that which perceives located?

I know you're working hard to get Path, but be careful of subtly continuing to look for specific experiences.

Observe what's going on and investigate it with a balance of vigour and gentleness.

Good stuff Alan. In a few words: become intimate with the flickerings. At one point my teacher at the time said, "stick your face into it".

Hope this helps.