A difference between seeing and hearing.

[lmfao]

When it comes to hearing sounds, it is possible for there to be silence. This silence is the absence of sound and so when there is silence you'd be at "zero" on a some imaginary map which models sound.

Seeing on the other hand seems different. Whenever we are conscious (and are not dead or in deep asleep) there is never a "zero" experience of seeing. With scientific terms you can say "black is the absence of colour", however that statement is true because the terms in that sentence have not been defined in a way which addresses how vision is in our first person experience (the statement in quotation marks is based upon considering how visible light is absorbed by objects). My point is, black is not a "zero" experience. Black is a distinct colour which you can see, whilst silence on the other hand is like a zero. 

I was thinking about this the other day after meditating. All of our senses are so different from each other in essence and the essence of everything in our present moment experience is irreducible. I was wondering what having a new, 6th sense would be like (the same way hearing, smelling and seeing are different senses). A blind person from birth is literally seeing black but is unaware of it because he has never been exposed to more than one expression of his sight. A deaf person from birth on the other hand is literally at a zero point for hearing. And so supposing that there do exist possible extra senses which we do not recognise/have, I wonder whether it is that we are experiencing zero (like a deaf person) or whether it is that we are constantly experiencing just one expression of this sense and are hence unable to recognize this sense (like a blind person). 

Edited October 13, 2018 by lmfao

[Telepresent]

3 hours ago, lmfao said:

A blind person from birth is literally seeing black but is unaware of it because he has never been exposed to more than one expression of his sight

Do you know that? Or might it be closer to deep sleep: do you experience black in deep sleep, or not see at all? 

Sharks can detect electromagnetic disturbances. Perhaps, like us with sight, sharks don't ever have a 'silence' for this, but the absence of a disturbance is a distinct sensation we will call 'garp'. 

You have been blind to these electromagnetic disturbances since birth, as you lack the capacity to experience them. Are you currently sensing 'garp'?

[Joseph Maynor]

Keep in mind that the 5 senses is just a model.  Experience is prior to designation into this or that cubbyhole of sense.  

Edited October 13, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[who chit]

You are never not experiencing yourself. What that is,is that which can't be described.
You never experience anything called "other".

[lmfao]

On 13/10/2018 at 8:46 AM, Telepresent said:

Do you know that? Or might it be closer to deep sleep: do you experience black in deep sleep, or not see at all? 

I feel this is a game if semantics to discuss whether blind people are seeing anything. If my online research is correct, there is black but they do not recognise it. If you want a scientific explanation, we see black when rods and cones in the back of our eyes are not stimulated. Blindness as far as I know is 99.99% of the time a disorder of the eye and optic nerve rather than a disorder of the brain, and so having our rods and cones completely unstimulated gives our brain the same data as the data a completely blind person receives in their brain. 

[Leo Gura]

@lmfao The zero point of all sensations, and all of reality, is Nothingness -- or pure empty consciousness.

Zero sound is pure empty consciousness.

Zero sight is pure empty consciousness.

Zero feel is pure empty consciousness.

To become aware of this Groundless Ground is enlightenment. It's remarkable when you realize that ALL sensation have always occurred within the Groundless Ground. It will be so obvious that you won't understand why you never "saw" this Nothingness before. It was there the whole time! It is you! It is God!

Look closely at your actual hand. That is Nothingness!

Nothingness is NOT an idea. Nothingness is actuality itself.

[lmfao]

@Telepresent

On 13/10/2018 at 8:46 AM, Telepresent said:

Sharks can detect electromagnetic disturbances. Perhaps, like us with sight, sharks don't ever have a 'silence' for this, but the absence of a disturbance is a distinct sensation we will call 'garp'. 

You have been blind to these electromagnetic disturbances since birth, as you lack the capacity to experience them. Are you currently sensing 'garp'?

The thing is I do not know the cause for there to a lack of a zero position for vision, or any other conceivable sense in animals,  when we are conscious. It seems complicated scientifically to answer hence even if sharks are constantly experiencing something non-zero in regards to electromagnetic senses I cannot then conclude that we experience something non-zero and are unable to recognise it. A shark canexperience garp but idk if we are experiencing garp. And supposing we are experiencing garp, I'd say that garp is just something we cannot recognise even though it is there. It would be like a constant of our experience. 

@Leo Gura good reminder. 

[Forestluv]

11 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@lmfao The zero point of all sensations, and all of reality, is Nothingness -- or pure empty consciousness.

Zero sound is pure empty consciousness.

Zero sight is pure empty consciousness.

Zero feel is pure empty consciousness.

To become aware of this Groundless Ground is enlightenment. It's remarkable when you realize that ALL sensation have always occurred within the Groundless Ground. It will be so obvious that you won't understand why you never "saw" this Nothingness before. It was there the whole time! It is you! It is God!

Look closely at your actual hand. That is Nothingness!

Nothingness is NOT an idea. Nothingness is actuality itself.

Mu!