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An eye on th earts–the arts on the eye
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Journal of AAPOS Volume 7 Number 4 August 2003
Beauchamp et al
angle horizontal strabismus on ability to obtain employment. Ophthalmology 2000;107:402-5. 15. American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Adult strabismus. Available from: URL: http://www.adultstrabismus. org. 16. Black BC, Felius J, Beauchamp GR. AAPOS Outcomes and Policy
Committee. Intensity/Complexity index of disease for strabismus surgery. J AAPOS 2003;7:60-5. 17. Kushner BJ. Recently acquired diplopia in adults with long-standing strabismus. Arch Ophthalmol 2001;119:1795-1801. 18. Baker JD. The value of adult strabismus correction to the patient. J AAPOS 2002;6:136-40.
An Eye on the Arts – The Arts on the Eye
Extraordinary acuity and judgment. A New York attorney wrote to tell me that while standing on the tee of a 400-yard hole, he saw a ball marker the size of a dime on the distant green. That the marker was there, he claimed, was subsequently confirmed by his playing partners. Was his acuity produced by a magnification of his ordinary vision, some sort of clairvoyance, or both? Several golfers have made this distinction for me, citing moments when their judgment of distance and playing conditions seemed to defy ordinary explanations. Perceptions of extraordinary beauty and presence. A college student told me that as he finished a round of golf after playing with exceptional concentration, the “world caught fire,” causing him to “see everything with new eyes.” His report reminded me of a friend’s experience at her club one summer afternoon during which, as she put it, “the light of the setting sun was replaced by another light.” For a few moments, she said, “the entire world was radiantly transparent.” Fleeting perceptions of phantom figures. We can account for these in part by supposing that high concentration in golf sometimes produces a degree of sensory deprivation—not unlike the kind caused by seclusion in dark rooms or flotation tanks—that allows the subconscious mind to dramatize psychological problems. Some people, for example, think they see snakes in the rough when none are present, and others glimpse odd or threatening shapes as they are about to putt. I describe such experiences in this book, particularly in the subsection titled “The Value of Negative Thoughts.” But such perceptions can be beneficent as well as threatening. A few people have told me that they felt an uncanny closeness with someone they loved, though they weren’t physically present, during a round of golf. Invisible presences or phantom figures have often been reported by religious ascetics, pilots, sailors, mountain climbers, and explorers—among them Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail alone around the world, and Charles Lindbergh during his famous flight across the Atlantic. Contemplative practice, sport, and physical adventure alike often require a vigilance that alters the perceptual field. We can speculate that intense concentration, especially when held for hours on end, opens our perception to things beyond the range of our ordinary senses. —Michael Murphy (from Golf in the Kingdom)
Journal of AAPOS Volume 7 Number 4 August 2003
Beauchamp et al
angle horizontal strabismus on ability to obtain employment. Ophthalmology 2000;107:402-5. 15. American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Adult strabismus. Available from: URL: http://www.adultstrabismus. org. 16. Black BC, Felius J, Beauchamp GR. AAPOS Outcomes and Policy
Committee. Intensity/Complexity index of disease for strabismus surgery. J AAPOS 2003;7:60-5. 17. Kushner BJ. Recently acquired diplopia in adults with long-standing strabismus. Arch Ophthalmol 2001;119:1795-1801. 18. Baker JD. The value of adult strabismus correction to the patient. J AAPOS 2002;6:136-40.
An Eye on the Arts – The Arts on the Eye
Extraordinary acuity and judgment. A New York attorney wrote to tell me that while standing on the tee of a 400-yard hole, he saw a ball marker the size of a dime on the distant green. That the marker was there, he claimed, was subsequently confirmed by his playing partners. Was his acuity produced by a magnification of his ordinary vision, some sort of clairvoyance, or both? Several golfers have made this distinction for me, citing moments when their judgment of distance and playing conditions seemed to defy ordinary explanations. Perceptions of extraordinary beauty and presence. A college student told me that as he finished a round of golf after playing with exceptional concentration, the “world caught fire,” causing him to “see everything with new eyes.” His report reminded me of a friend’s experience at her club one summer afternoon during which, as she put it, “the light of the setting sun was replaced by another light.” For a few moments, she said, “the entire world was radiantly transparent.” Fleeting perceptions of phantom figures. We can account for these in part by supposing that high concentration in golf sometimes produces a degree of sensory deprivation—not unlike the kind caused by seclusion in dark rooms or flotation tanks—that allows the subconscious mind to dramatize psychological problems. Some people, for example, think they see snakes in the rough when none are present, and others glimpse odd or threatening shapes as they are about to putt. I describe such experiences in this book, particularly in the subsection titled “The Value of Negative Thoughts.” But such perceptions can be beneficent as well as threatening. A few people have told me that they felt an uncanny closeness with someone they loved, though they weren’t physically present, during a round of golf. Invisible presences or phantom figures have often been reported by religious ascetics, pilots, sailors, mountain climbers, and explorers—among them Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail alone around the world, and Charles Lindbergh during his famous flight across the Atlantic. Contemplative practice, sport, and physical adventure alike often require a vigilance that alters the perceptual field. We can speculate that intense concentration, especially when held for hours on end, opens our perception to things beyond the range of our ordinary senses. —Michael Murphy (from Golf in the Kingdom)