Visual awareness – Memonthis

Our ability to perceive, interpret, and memorize shapes & colours is our visual awareness, and the quality of it comes from the intelligence of the eye. We can control its movement willingly to choose what we perceive. We can control the back of the eye, the rods and cones, where images form, and visualize imaginatively. We can access memories and emotions that reside in visual form within the eye and connect with the rest of our body.

Knowledge & Insights

The brain, a neural architect, upholds a network linking the eye to the body, yet perception, visualization, and memory unfold within the retina’s cells. It is important to understand that without the eyes, the brain doesn’t have where to create visualization, just like a computer needs a screen to project on. Similarly, the eye needs the brain to create the sense of time from our perceptions, as we can recall them in the form of visual memories.

The best part of this theory is the possibility for the intelligence of visual awareness to increase through practices, just like training the kinesthetic body (muscles, tendons, articulations, bones) to become stronger and flexible, allowing more possibilities, beyond what we initially imagined.

One can train the eye muscles to move more consciously, creating an increased qualitative & quantitative visual perception – there are four muscles that move the eye, and the ciliary muscles, which control the focus of the lens.
We can influence the behaviour or the photoreceptor cells to create more vivid mental imagery – when we imagine something, we lose sight of our perceptions, as well we lose sight of both on visual memory recall.
Furthermore, qualitative improvements of visual memory through meditative practices, which connect our emotions with what we see or have seen; there are countless images from life, visions of the future, or archetypal scenery which help us understand ourselves and our unique role in the universe, if we become aware of them.

Before going through practices that will improve visual awareness, you must forget everything you know or think you understand about visual perception, cognition, and memory, as improving means becoming able to do something that never went through your mind yet.

To elevate visual awareness, set aside preconceptions about perception, cognition, and memory, for growth demands exploring uncharted mental paths. Two forces drive this development: need, a desperate urge to survive challenges (e.g., mastering new skills for exams or adapting to new environments), and desire, an inspired quest for novelty (e.g., creating stories or solving complex problems). Every action blends these motives—need ensures survival, desire fuels thriving. Together, they forge purpose, a relentless force, as if our full potential surges until goals are realized. This purpose, sparked by conscious effort, transforms our ability to see, imagine, and remember, forever reshaping our connection to the world.

Every decision that turns into action involves both a desperation for survival and inspiration for thriving, both a need and desire. It requires a prolonged conscious effort in exchange for the ability to perceive, imagine, and memorize better & forever. As you can figure out, both a need and a desire can have the same goal, and when they go together, motivation peaks, creating an unstoppable force within us, as if we use our capabilities fully until their realization. Need & desire together become purposefulness, giving meaning to our actions, creating a conscious means of actions from our memories and visions.

Building on personal practice, we now explore shared learning, as we train perception, collective insights emerge.

Individual & Collective Learning

Knowing how another person uses their cognitive processes to form mental imagery acts as a pinpoint for our sight development. There are countless ways to use visual mind mechanics to improve visual intelligence, and we can do it alone, but the best way is to learn from how others are doing it.

People with a high visual intelligence use their sight with extraordinary precision, so they can remember most of what they perceive by constantly observing and visualizing, in a continuous process, while relating their present experience with memories. Every human, every being does it, the difference comes from the mindfulness, the conscious awareness we willingly manifest to perform this act of seeing the world, insighting ourselves.

If a full body transformation, from scratch, with guidance, takes about a month to reach full training intensity, three months to adapt, six to integrate the potential, and about a year or two to master it. The same takes for sight and the other parts of the body that help us experience the universe and manifest ourselves, except it only takes a fraction of our time, and since we use those organs all the time, and unlike the muscle work we can practice everywhere, anytime.

When we first want to create a new visual mechanism in our mind, it will feel like sculpting in the dark. We cannot know the results surely, and bringing them into the light will take time and effort. Even when we learn from others, the new way of thinking will have only a few similarities with what we explored from them, as we can only imagine what their mind experience looks like, and in the attempt to replicate, our discoveries can easily differ.

Importance & benefits

Awareness of our sight gives a thriving tool in this world, creating new possibilities for us to experience & manifest.

A few aspects that every human can learn how to manipulate with their mind are :

Visual mind mapping – creating specific mind maps. This is the best way to contain a large amount of knowledge from various disciplines, each with its particularities. Useful for those who want to learn and understand more about the world.
Conceptual visualization – creating vivid visual representations with a large spectrum of understanding, from simple geometric shapes to complex polyhedral colored forms. Useful for those who want to create, both scientifically & artistically.
Visual insight – reach deeper in our souls for understanding about our nature, which is encoded in our being, both in personal & collective unconsciousness. Useful for those who want to discover and understand more about themselves and the world through intuitive insight.
Word visualization – creating imagery of words is the best training for reading & writing, as this is the conscious way to relate to language (vocalization solely creates an increasing predisposition to misinformation, lies, manipulations, and intimidations, which mostly come through language).
Visual connectivity – increasing the interconnectivity & interdependence between the visual spectrum and other senses, creating synaesthetic possibilities which enhance the experience of life exponentially. Seeing colored sounds, motion pictures, multilayered potentialities, etc.

Sight Improvement

A visual representation, a deliberate act, imprinted as lifelong memory, sometimes echoing beyond. Sight, humanity’s most intricate bodily connection, thrives through training. Active visualization, guiding eye muscles consciously, expands visual input, as we perceive more shapes and colors. Reflective visualization, refining cognitive processes, fosters new mental pathways or synaesthetic connections, enhancing creativity. Contemplative visualization, tying emotions to novel sights, deepens memory quality, enriching our bond with the world. Improving visual intelligence demands intense, precise practice, akin to building muscle through effort. Though uncomfortable, these moments, approached with calm awareness, reveal the boundless potential of sight, a portal to infinite discovery.

Theory & Practice

Increasing the quality of our visual awareness increases the quantity of information we can comprehend in a moment, meaning we can create higher-quality memories.

Understanding sight’s physiological, psychological, and emotional dimensions deepens learning when theory and practice intertwine. Practice hones skills, while theory charts the path to mastery. Visual intelligence—perception, cognition, memory—improves holistically; focusing on one aspect, like perception, naturally engages others. Sight is a gateway where space meets time, memories blend with the present, forming visions. Balance is key to creating a way of experiencing the world and manifesting ourselves through the visual gateway dimensions; no wonder visual representations left by our ancestors are highly regarded today, while some are invaluable.

Most lack this balance. Some excel at memorizing vast data—names, numbers, or sights—yet struggle to create, their minds rigid. Others visualize endlessly but fail to communicate clearly, their visions unshared. Few grasp humanity’s expanding knowledge, as visual development is rarely taught. Great minds, however, blend perception, cognition, and memory, their effort a playful dance of learning—chaotic, emotionally guided exploration—and understanding, a structured, balanced insight. We must wield sight consciously, resisting unconscious influences, to become the learners and explorers we are destined to be, keeping pace with humanity’s discoveries through visual intelligence, a vessel for all human ideas, emotions, and creations.

Perception

Muscles. Visual perception is a direct result of how we control the eyes’ muscles. Knowing the anatomy will help you go through the exercises more aware of the instructions, as knowledge shortens the path towards understanding.

Eyes’ muscle anatomy

The six extraocular muscles coordinate to control precise movements of the eye.

Superior rectus elevates the eye, with secondary actions of intorsion and adduction.
Inferior rectus depresses the eye and also causes extorsion and adduction.
Medial rectus moves the eye inward (adduction)
The lateral rectus moves it outward (abduction).
Superior oblique primarily intorts the eye but also depresses and abducts it when the eye is turned inward.
Inferior oblique primarily extorts the eye and also elevates and abducts it when the eye is adducted.

Together, these muscles allow the eye to move smoothly in all directions and maintain stable, binocular vision.

The ciliary muscle is a smooth muscle that controls lens shape for focusing and regulates intraocular pressure via aqueous humor drainage. Its function is essential for clear, adaptive vision and ocular health.

If the extraocular muscles can be controlled directly, the ciliary muscles can be consciously influenced indirectly when we decide to focus our sight. When we relax the extraocular muscles, the ciliary muscles will also relax, allowing a wide view of the surroundings. When we focus on an object, all muscles coordinate to give the best view.

Two other muscle zones can be influenced indirectly. The sphincter pupillae muscle, which controls focus on objects depending on the light’s brightness. Dilator pupillae muscle, which controls the pupil’s size, influencing the amount of light coming through. Those two work as reflexes of the eye, and we can adapt ourselves when they activate, by being aware when it happens, and act accordingly.

Training of those muscles consists of learning their potential firstly. Knowledge about them only helps to pass an anatomy test, while understanding how they interact comes through experimental exploration, through which we discover their meaning. As eye muscles relax, perception sharpens, enhancing perceptiveness, or tense them mindfully for better visualizations, or more conscious access to memories.

Exercise 1 :

Focus your sight on a static object.
Stay relaxed. Move your awareness to the front of the eyes. Relax the eye muscles until your sight is still – small tensions can arise in those muscles, as they are super small, yet dense in activity.
Disperse awareness through the whole sight without losing focus on the object.
Watch the rhythm of your breath and connect it with the sight. Now your awareness connects the eye with the breathing mechanism – the diaphragm.
Realize that what you see happens on the back of the eye as visual perception. You see the light reflected on shapes as colors.
Whenever you blink, become aware of everything you’ve seen from the last blink. Blink willingly, only when necessary. Be mindful of the blink and the prior perceptions. Rewind the initial intention regarding your sighting.
Continue the practice until you become aware of every part of the process. The order will become less relevant as you understand how it happens, as sighting is an endless cycle, without end or beginning.

Another exercise can be to focus on a moving object, like a pendulum, and a more complex movement, like insects, birds, or people. The rest of the process is similar, with the mention that you can both move the eye along the movement of the object, keep your eyes still, and move the head, or stand still and follow the movements without focusing.

Those exercises are important to increase your awareness regarding the role of the eye and how it creates perceptions from your surroundings. You can experiment with various objects and situations

Exercise 2 :

Focus your sight on a static large object – a tree (then a building, then something more complex).
Stay relaxed while moving awareness to the eye. Relax the eye muscles until your sight is still and you have the whole object in view.
Slowly focus your sight on a branch of the tree (or any object) and observe the details on it, the texture, the light, the shape, form, and color.
Move your focus continuously along the branch and the tree while keeping your eye as relaxed as you can, using the muscles minimally. Connect the breath rhythm with the movement of the eye.
When you reach the end of the branch, zoom out and observe the wholeness of it, then the tree as a whole.
Whenever you blink, become aware of everything you’ve seen from the last blink. Blink willingly only when you need. Be mindful of the blink and the prior perceptions. Rewind the initial intention regarding your sighting.
Make the same observation process in reverse now, until you begin to feel how the continuous movement of the eye connects your perceptions, which are always in motion, always changing.

Another exercise can be to move around the object while repeating those steps to create a better sense of space.

Blinking plays the role of stabilizing awareness and rhythm, just like breathing does for the heartbeat. When we become aware of the blinks, our visual perception becomes more conscious.

Other exercises

Focus your sight on a written word and look at it until you are aware of its shape without thinking of the meaning. Be mindful of how thoughts and emotions influence your sight and distort your perceptions. – This shows you how other senses or capabilities influence your sight.
In a noisy place, or while listening with headphones, focus your sight on an object and spread awareness between the eye and the ear. Be mindful of how sounds and images connect to form more complex perceptions. – This enhances the connections between senses, crucial for synaesthetic experiences.
With eyes closed and covered, watch the darkness with ocular muscles relaxed. Be aware of how the eyes tense in search of something to focus on, while you willingly relax them until all tensions are gone. Notice how awareness slowly goes throughout the rest of the body. – This creates a vacuum in your visual perception, which draws most of our awareness and leaves the rest of the body less connected to ourselves.
Observe an object until you perceive it as a detailed whole. Close your eyes and witness how, for a moment how the image remains as a shape in the eye for a moment. Repeat the process with more objects, either one by one or multiple together. – This will create awareness of how perceptions become mental images, giving you the chance to memorize and further manipulate them with your mind.