Tommy M:
If I'm understanding the term correctly, then saccades could be considered (dharma-wise) as being the habitual patterns/mechanisms unique to image-forming visual systems. They can be thought of as being evolutionary functions, rooted in threat-detection etc.
You can experience them with open-eyed concentration practices, such as fire kasinas or anything that involves continually 'sticking' attention to the object of focus for extended periods.
Once some stability of attention has been achieved, the practice moves to letting go of the habit of "looking for" something and simply leaving the eyes to do what the eyes were meant to do. As we progress, more and more orders of clinging are released and non-dual awareness arises where there are no distinctions between the sense doors any more. In practice, this doesn't mean that we stop seeing/sensing but the identification of a seer/one-who-senses dissolves, leaving, in the words of the Buddha, "in the seeing, only the seen; in the hearing, only what is heard.." and so forth.
For an example of this in action, look at images of Tibetan yogis sitting with open eyes while abiding in the natural state.
As you practice in this way and maintain fixed attention on the object of focus, awareness is freed from the senses and they simply continue to do what the naturally do, i.e. the eyes continue to see, the ears continue to hear, etc etc in the absence of one-who-sees/hears/etc.
It gets a little hard to describe beyond this due to moving into non-conceptuality, but as awareness is gradually freed from the body and its sense doors, the visual field blurs somewhat and very small movements of the focusing/image-forming functions can be observed. Sometimes, depending on how strong our control-of-attention is, attention can pull back to and re-engage with the visual field when these distortions occur. The trick is to learn to continually release them into deep awareness and basically leave the bodymind (which is not "I") to do what it does naturally.
What you can notice are these very subtle fluctuations in focus, almost like expansions and contractions of something in the visual field itself. In actuality, these are the habitual patterns executing automatically, but we're not normally consciously aware of them. It's possible to become aware of them if we engage in mindfulness and start to watch how attention moves around, sticks to things and then focuses itself either more narrowly or more widely.
I'm not remotely qualified or knowledgable enough to talk about it on a scientific level, but from a yogic perspective it's a very interesting and worthwhile practice if you feel drawn to it.
Thanks for this great post! This clarifies some of what has been bugging me lately, as to what happens to sensory experience when flipping over to non-dual awareness. I'm curious about what this freeing of awareness from the senses really is, but regardless, I have tasted how it feels. So I guess what I need to do is learn to release... them... What "them" are we talking about? The sense consciousnesses? I notice them sneaking out from my body and sense organs, but somehow they seem attached with a string that pulls them back. How do I do to let the awareness leave the mindbody? Are you saying that letting go of the impulses to check in with the senses is the way to go? If so, I'm doing the right kind of practice right now, and now I know exactly what to...
not... look for. It's really very simple - which is not the same as easy. But it's possible! I do notice these things. It's those little things that are keeping awareness hostage? Wow. Of course!
This thread was exactly what I needed right now. Thankyou thankyou thankyou!
Normally wired people are weird... no offense. Weird is a compliment. 