White light during Meditation

[Tim R]

A few minutes into my meditation practice, I see a white light which seems to fill my entire skull. It becomes brighter and brighter, but as soon as my mind shines attention on this phenomenon, it starts to dim again. It only occurs at a certain "meditative depth"; it won't come on right at the beginning. The faster and deeper I can get into the meditative state, the faster and brighter this light will appear. 

Does anybody know what this is?

[Ry4n]

Sounds like an ego death is on the horizon my friend 

[Demeter]

@Tim R , white light is experienced by many. It indicates a deepening of concentration or opening of the 3rd eye. It's a good thing and the beginning of other visuals that will come your way. Don't be too taken by it though - observe and question.

[Yog]

4 hours ago, Tim R said:

A few minutes into my meditation practice, I see a white light which seems to fill my entire skull. It becomes brighter and brighter, but as soon as my mind shines attention on this phenomenon, it starts to dim again. It only occurs at a certain "meditative depth"; it won't come on right at the beginning. The faster and deeper I can get into the meditative state, the faster and brighter this light will appear. 

Does anybody know what this is?

Terms like:

-Hypnagogic imagery.
-Hypnagogic stage.
-Hypnagogic hallucinations.
-Astral noise.
-Fleeting astral imagery.
-Moving astral scenery.
-Vibrational stage.
-Focus 21

These terms might lead you to a clue, there are probably more, cant think of more atm.

I've noticed that if you want to get deeper with it and not just pop back, the way is to lightly observe the visuals and focus away gently, lets say into the void of the center of your head, your mid-forehead, or the top of your head. Maybe scan the inner surface of the skull, see if you find some cool spot.

If you get the feeling of wooow, this is amazing, wtf is this that I am seeing...., get the trigger to acknowledge it and gently move your focus.

In my personal estimation, looking at it for 5-15 seconds seems to engage the eyes and break the state. You have to get used to observe things while forgetting you have a body, or eyes. Activation of the eyes seems to pull you back.

[Naturalist]

6 hours ago, Tim R said:

A few minutes into my meditation practice, I see a white light which seems to fill my entire skull. It becomes brighter and brighter, but as soon as my mind shines attention on this phenomenon, it starts to dim again. It only occurs at a certain "meditative depth"; it won't come on right at the beginning. The faster and deeper I can get into the meditative state, the faster and brighter this light will appear. 

Does anybody know what this is?

The pure nature of the mind is luminous.  One of the objectives of meditation is to attain pure awareness via mindfulness.  And mindfulness is all about sustaining the mind in an equanimous state of affairs i.e. a circumstance of not too tight, not too loose.  In a deep meditative state, the prevailing mind consciousness would liberate temporarily from the subtle mind consciousness.  As a result, it enters a state of pure observation without identification on the flow of thoughts (the subtle mind consciousness) until pure awareness is attained. 

[Tim R]

4 hours ago, Yog said:

In my personal estimation, looking at it for 5-15 seconds seems to engage the eyes and break the state. You have to get used to observe things while forgetting you have a body, or eyes. Activation of the eyes seems to pull you back.

@Yog Yes, I have noticed the same. Actively using your eyes naturally breaks the all-inclusive, non-specific awareness (which we're trying to cultivate/recognize). 

People tend to locate their Ego behind the eyes, and I think eye movement is therefore what creates the sense of a limited awareness, bound to (the space behind) the eyes. 

[Tim R]

2 hours ago, Naturalist said:

The pure nature of the mind is luminous.

@Naturalist Really?? How could it be luminous if it has to be the "Nothing" which can be aware of light? Or how did you mean this?

 

[Naturalist]

@Tim R Your mind consciousness is observing it...I don't get what you mean by "nothing" can be aware of light, ultimately, yes.