Blind People “See” Because They Open The Third Eye

By James Donahue

November 2005

Scientists are trying to find out why blind people develop an uncanny “blindsight” that lets them sense unseen objects in their path.

Anyone who has been around a blind person knows they get around quite well with the help of a cane or trained dog to help lead the way. But scientists have discovered the blind’s ability to “sense” objects goes beyond the intensified development of the other senses.

A few years ago my wife and I enjoyed a series of books by Mary Summer Rain who spent time with a blind Indian woman named No-Eyes, who lived alone in a home in a forest. No-Eyes “saw” her environment so well that she sensed colors, collected wild roots and plants to make her own medicine, and was a prophet who told of future events. Many of the things she predicted are presently coming to pass.

When he lived with us for a while in Arizona, our son Aaron C. Donahue liked to run along a winding footpath that twisted its way through the Ponderosa Pine trees as it circled a small lake near our home.

Aaron preferred taking his run in the night when other people were not using the trail. I accompanied him a few times for a walk, which I took with the help of a flashlight. Except for moonlit nights, that trail was as dark as pitch once the sun set in that mountainous area. Yet Aaron ran hard, without the help of a light, never leaving that winding trail and colliding with those large trees that lined the way.

I was naturally amazed at his ability to do this and asked him about it. I was familiar with “night vision” and tried to use it from time-to-time, yet found myself constantly walking off the path and bumping into things.

Aaron explained that he had his third eye open and could clearly see his way through the forest. What he was saying was that he was utilizing the right side of his brain and had developed skills in extrasensory perception that all humans should be able to have with practice.

Since that time I have been on a new spiritual path with Aaron, I have struggled to turn on the right half of my brain and get it working in synch with the left half. I have succeeded in developing what I describe as rudimentary abilities in the area of psychic functioning. But I still think I need a flashlight to walk around in the dark.

I suppose my problem is that I was turned onto this new path too late in life to fully develop anything like the amazing abilities that we see demonstrated in Aaron. It may also be that I just haven’t been forced to go through life as a blind person, and never found it necessary to open that third eye enough to see in the dark. As long as I have my crutch, the flashlight, I will use it.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team from the University of Houston said they found that people with normal sight but who are temporarily blinded with artificial means are still able to distinguish basic shapes of objects, sense their orientation and direction of motion. They also sense “feelings” that an object is near.

The conclusion is that parts of the brain outside of the primary visual cortex respond to nerve messages from the eyes at an unconscious level.

Indeed, that just about sums it all up.