An eidetic is a high fidelity image, which may start off as vague, and is a vision apart from molded or searching awareness having the original life containing all possibilities and solutions as well as ordinary reality. Placing oneself at the eidetic point of activated consciousness, the eye-center, one travels the route of spiraling pictures, feelings, ideas, concepts, and memories while a new mental structuring takes place in which the past and the present meet and unite the experiencer and the doer. The solution of the issues emphasizes examination through eidetic “seeing” as opposed to thinking.
When an individual eidetically sees a situation in his mind, he does not commit errors of thought, memory, or guessing; he lets the high fidelity images formulate thought. The function of eidetic sight is such that it does not allow the erroneous part of the thinking mind to take over and completely corrupt the rest of the mind. Since this high fidelity “sight” guarantees separation of what is being seen from what the individual “wants” to assume, around this can be built a life of proper thought, memory, and conclusion.
Eidetic analysis is a novel experience of the mental states in the most complex areas of the mind. You can examine the most minute and intimate details of mental life and discover connections between behavior, thought, and action. You will be introduced to the liveliness of your mind and to its capacity as a clear-sighted and calm projection screen of life. As an involved participant, you will find that you cannot guide the course of an eidetic nor its internal activity, since it has its own course and its own story to tell, according to your innermost fears, desires, and needs.
A detail which you thought was insignificant may prove the turning point of progression; an attitude which you believed in for so long may be reversed by the eidetic experience. The orderliness and system in the unfolded material will define clear steps in consciousness like signposts on a fogbound road.
Mental analysis through eidetics is a process of self-evolvement and self-examination through which the individual hopes to learn who he is and why he behaves in a certain way. The images break through his usual mode of perception to help him achieve a self-analytic experience and gain insight into the intimate mechanisms of his personality.
The solution of the issues emphasizes examination through eidetic “seeing” as opposed to thinking. When an individual eidetically sees a situation in his mind, he does not commit errors of thought, memory, or guessing; he lets the high fidelity images formulate the thought. The function of the eidetic sight is such that it does not allow the erroneous part of the thinking mind to take over and completely corrupt the rest of the mind. Since this high fidelity “sight” guarantees separation of what is being seen from what the individual “wants” to assume, around this can be built a life of proper thought, memory, and conclusion.
How to See An Eidetic Image?
Psychologists David Marks and Peter McKellar in their 1982 article, “The Nature and Function of Eidetic Imagery,” explain that an Eidetic Image may be evoked in numerous ways:
“EI can be induced by a number of different methods: 1) by the presentation of an external stimulus (e.g., a picture or a tune); 2) by a thought, suggestion, idea or internal image; or 3) by some combination of 1 and 2.” See, “The Nature and Function of Eidetic Imagery,” Journal of Mental Imagery, 1982, 6, 1, p. 4.
However, in a therapeutic setting, the individual is read an image and instructed to allow the image to form on the screen of the mind’s eye.
After the image is formed, the client is asked to experience the image fully in the present moment. The practitioner asks the client to see the image without imposing anything on it; repeat the image until there is a feeling of permanence, stability and power in consciousness; interact with the image with a feeling of play for self-discovery and illumination; and experience mental rest with the image for healthy functioning and growth.
Positive mentation begins spontaneously when the client concentrates on the image. The practitioner allows time for the image to unfold at its own pace. Through this, the client becomes fully present to the experience and the story it has to tell so that there is a rich unfolding of emotional meaning.
The person doing an eidetic image is reminded to do the following:
- Be accurate, clear, and faithful in seeing and reporting the image.
- Be certain about what you see and feel, and do not allow such phrases as “I think,” “maybe,” “I guess,” or “but” to enter the description.
- Be patient, and sort out an image difficulty through repetition of the picture.
- Be willing to relate with feeling to whatever is revealed.
- Be vigilant on your concentration on the eidetic and do not allow distractions to carry you off mark.
- Be open and let the meaning filter in and pose questions to the mind that contradict or expand the current beliefs and life concepts you hold.
It is recommended that the person practice the eidetic image about 10 to 20 times each day. Each projection of the image may be brief (10-20 seconds), medium (20 seconds to a minute), or longer (a few minutes) but should always be slow paced and steady.
(Eidetic images can be seen with eyes open or closed according to a person’s style or preference in seeing an image.)
Keeping the above in mind, relax and see the following image:
VACATION IMAGE
- Remember one of the most enjoyable vacations you ever had when you were little.
- Go over all the images which come into your mind when you remember this vacation.
- Concentrate on the most pleasant image.
- Enjoy that vacation by repeating the most pleasurable image of it in your mind.
- See those images clearly in your mind as if you are actually there.
- Expand those images in various directions, doing various things with them.
- Repeat the most pleasurable images over and over again in your mind.
Vacation Image © Akhter Ahsen, Ph.D.
