Thanks to the eyes and brains people have, many have some type of vision. However, some people also have visions!!! There are many ways for people to have visions: drugs, religious experiences, physiological ailments such as migraines, psychological disturbances, and even LIGHT!
Artist, Brion Gysin, along with Ian Sommerville came up with a device called the Dreammachine which induces visions (also known as hallucinations), after learning about the hallucinatory effects of stroboscopic light. (Dreammachine Wikipedia page)
Not only was this invention fascinating to those old Beats, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who enjoyed a variety of hallucinatory and mind-altering entertainment, but it brings up the peculiar issues about the seemingly universal geometric imagery of human hallucination. Chevrons, checkerboards, scanning bars, points of light, concentric circles and swirls....where do these things come from? Why is it that someone on mescaline will see the same imagery as a person experiencing a migraine or a person who is exposed to flickering light or a person who is having a "holy" vision? Do we all have a basic visual language programmed in our people brains that is innate to our species? If so, why? What purpose does it serve us? W
hy do people experience hallucinations at all? If you want to read more about these people puzzles, I recommend a few books...
Migraine by Oliver Sacks
Chapel of Extreme Experience by John Geiger
and if you live in or visit New York City, you can test out the Dreammachine yourself in the Brion Gysin exhibit at the New Museum in July 2010!
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