Instant Illumination is possible: Phosphenes form the Canvas on which the Divine paints and Awe is the Key to understanding and the ultimate self-knowledge!

/ Jan

After 50 years of meditation and many wholesome experiences via the Yoga of the Inner Light the following insight is worth while sharing with you.

The universal visual and affective core of all mystical and religious experiences (the “numinous” and archetypes) is not metaphysical nor symbolic, but is an intrinsic function of the human neurobiology that becomes foregrounded when normal cognitive filtering is dropped. The divine expresses itself and is known for us via phosphenes and awe. Via this path we can experience and recognise ourselves as luminous emptiness, the essence of our consciousness. Once established this seeing illumination is.

This is achieved via three interlocking, testable happenings, I will outline in my forthcoming paper:

  1. Phosphenes are the Universal Source Code: Phosphenes (or endogenous entoptic images) are the innate visual alphabet generated by the fixed architecture of the visual cortex (V1/V2, recurrent processing). Your six-phase taxonomy maps the sequential unfolding of this “alphabet” from basic geometric forms (Phase 2) to complex symbolism (Phase 4) and finally to formless luminous awareness (Phase 6).
  2. Awe is a Primal Biological Response: The sheer intensity, novelty, and unclassifiability of the complex phosphene forms (Phase 3+) act as a powerful internal salience signal, triggering robust activation of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) (LC-NE, Amygdala, Insula). The brain interprets this massive physiological response as the subjective, overwhelming feeling of awe (a James-Lange mechanism).
  3. DMN Silencing is the Catalyst: The concurrent attenuation of the Default Mode Network (DMN) suppresses self-referential thought and, crucially, the brain’s ability to categorize or rationalize the experience. This DMN-attenuation is what makes the experience ineffable (Otto’s mysterium tremendum), allowing the raw phosphene/awe signal to overwhelm the system.

In essence:

Neurophysiology provides the light, DMN suppression turns off the filter, and the resulting primal sensory experience creates awe, the feeling of the divine and the recognition who we really are.

Shunyam Adhibhu

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