Floaters and the I Ching
abracad, · Categories: entoptic phenomena, externally authoredBy Floco Tausin
In China, the Book of Changes (I Ching) is one of the most important books used for divination and self-realization. Its principle may have been developed from the perception of eye floaters during altered states of consciousness.
“Eye floaters†(mouches volantes or muscae volitantes in French and German ophthalmology) is a collective term used in ophthalmology for all possible opacities in the vitreous. Many of them can be traced to physiological disorders like retinal detachment or diabetic vitreoretinopathy. The floaters at issue, though – which are also the most experienced floater type – are considered as ‘idiopathic’, i.e. without pathological cause. I call them “shining structure floaters†(Tausin 2012a). They are seen as mobile and scattered semi-transparent dots and strands in the visual field, best perceived in bright light conditions (fig 1). These dots and strands float according to the eye movements which makes them hard to focus on. (more…)