Aphantasia, hallucinogens and meditation
1 min readByFraser k
As an aphant, on a day to day basis my imagination and recall is devoid of senses which could be said to relate to the phenomena of the eyes or ears.
However, in my experience, hallucinogens such as psilocybin or LSD do activate this ability. Deep meditation also activates the ability to see with the minds eye - although I must note that this has only happened a handful of times after periods of long meditation (1 hour, twice per day).
Does anyone have any information on this?
N.B. As an aphant it is naturally very difficult to imagine 'the minds eye', and upon the realisation of aphantasia within us there is a period which we all go through where we feel a sense of loss, grief almost for that which we cannot experience - almost as if this is a disability. It's cool to experience the minds eye and settle in the knowing that it is only a visual or audio extension of what we already operate with. Definitely nothing to grieve over. Aint that good news!