Inside Drawn Out

"...the mind normally serves as a reducing valve. Consciously and unconsciously, for efficiency in daily life we regulate our experience. We order it into categories, set the pace of input, and filter out sensory impressions that may distract or threaten. ...undo all that! permit a flood of impressions, over which suggestibility reigns. It's anarchy in there: you're at the mercy of the senses and the unconscious, open to the wildest imaginings-- delightful or terrifying.

Visually, a wide range of phenomena may be experienced, which generally involve a heightened sense of clarity, and of intellectual-emotional response. Color takes on translucent brilliance. The lines and forms of an object suddenly become interesting, often deeply involving. Patterns may be discovered or enhanced, or become a reservoir of other forms, such as faces. Textures reveal greater richness, and there is a sense of looking into, rather than at things.

The mind races with the progression of a thought, flits through random associations, makes great leaps to revelation or to thickets of paradox. Objects appear animated in various degress: surfaces may appear rippling or flowering, the floor or wall undulates, trees and power poles bend as you pass, autos wiggle their rear ends to guide yo into the proper lane.

And, as Alice knows, space is also fickle: the walls and furniture of a room may recede or advance, or the furnishings appear as background to the walls. The kitchen floor may open under you, its geometrical pattern becomes a series of layers set in infinite depth.

What you see with eyes closed--that's hallucination. This is all your own stuff--your virtual reality. Subject to mood or other sensibilities, these interior projections may change to images of any sort. As in dreams, all systems are mutable, all fantasies are go. You could slide into something scary, silly or ecstatic."