Meditation and Light Visions
Written by Philip T. Nicholson, Meditation and LIght Visions is a book that describes his observations of meditation-induced light visions which match descriptions in the ancient Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese texts.
The light visions seen by the author evolved in an elaborate progression that culminated in lightning-like flashes, loud sizzling sounds, paroxysmal sensorimotor symptoms, and an “ecstatic” emotional accompaniment. This progression of light visions is seen only rarely and then only by religious mystics who are more interested in the metaphysical significance of the visions than in the neurological origins. So it is rarer still—and perhaps even unique—for someone with a scientific background and with no sectarian commitments to see these same visions.
Who is this Book for?
Meditation & Light Visions is an indispensable reference for neuroscientific researchers, physicians, psychotherapists, anthropologists, scholars of religion, neurotheologists, and meditators who see visions of light. It provides detailed drawings of the light visions that appear in a predictable mediation-induced sequence and presents a reverse-engineered, neurologically-grounded analysis of causation.
Critical Appreciation
Michael Witzel, Ph.D, the Wales Professor of the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University, writes that this book is “Interesting, plausible, and thus well worth reading despite the difficulty of the original texts which have been given many interpretations over the years."
György Buzsáki, M.D., Ph.D, an internationally renowned researcher at Rutgers’ Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, author of Rhythms of the Brain, writes that “Nicholson’s new book is full of thought-provoking ideas about the link between meditation and its underlying brain mechanisms which warrant further exploration.”
J. Allan Hobson, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, at Harvard Medical School and author of many books on the neuroscience of sleep and dreaming, writes that Meditation & Light visions are “Thoughtful and well written. You may be on to something,” adding that “What you need to give this serious theory weight is a good, systematic empirical study… I know there are some papers out there, but, frankly, they are all quick hits, biased, and unimpressive; what is needed here is just the opposite: a skeptical, thorough, and critical approach… Why can’t a quantitative EEG study be done? Test the paroxysmal discharge idea using adept subjects? That would make history.”