Hi folks,

Not really a question, just an observation: I was practicing with the candle flame last night when something clicked for me: There's a moment in concentration practice for me which is really close to the feeling of 'getting' a stereoscopic picture, or Magic Eye picture. It's as though the three dimensionality of the scene sucks you in, almost against your will. With concentration, it feels for me as though 'inner space' becomes concrete and real in an analogous way. On this occasion, the 3D thing was more intense than ever and lasted for hours after the session, and was accompanied by a bunch of really intense stuff!. Anybody else familiar with this Magic Eye business and know what it is?

Best wishes

Paul

By Magic Eye, I think you mean the thing where you cross your eyes and look at the thing and a 3D image appears out of the poster or whatever.

Yes I know that one. I have debated exactly where it shows up.

I have seen a sheet of green 3D skulls when I was in Fear, and seen images like them being on the inside of a sphere in 3rd Jhana, but most really 3D things appear most strongly and clearly and really 3D in 4th jhana, so it seems to me.

However, depending on how 3D you are meaning, or how little, even the 1st jhana with the dot can appear to be in one's inner space, and by 2nd jhana this is more clear and the inner space is more pronounced. However, if you are seeing 3D images in that space themselves clearly and with full, detailed 3D-ality, that is very likely 4th.

One way or the other, good stuff.

D

Cool. was it the surrounding physical space or a 3d visualization in your mind?

I get the surrounding physical space becoming 3d in 4th jhana.
I get the 3d visualization thing more by chance, however i did remember having one or more when i was a teenager lying in bed.

It would be cool to watch I-max 3D movies in the 4th jhana.. When I watched Avatar, I thought that this would be a real cool way to explain to people what you experienced in meditation

It was the interior mental space that became unusually and spaciously three dimensional. This included the figure/ground arrangement of the candle afterimage/nimitta, plus the surrounding mental space, which became more like a realistically rendered landscape with vivid sense of depth, etc. Not sure about the observer function - it was fairly brief. Yes, I guess it was a bit like Avatar! Except with a better plot...

Thanks for feedback all. Paul