I found this article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526221.300-mind-tricks-six-ways-to-explore-your-brain.html
I have had similar thoughts before and this article wrote it much better than I did. If you read this in light of the Bates method, you will notice that every element of normal eyesight that Dr. Bates discovered is there:
The eye makes up its picture by a series of movements where details are noticed by central fixation. The imagination fills in the gaps between these movements in our mind to make a continuous picture. This can be done easily by employing the memory of what we are seeing, or the memory of similar objects. We can only make up a continuous picture of the world around us by allowing the eyes to move to different points of fixation.
When I was first trying to connect the ideas of central fixation, movement, memory, and imagination I came up with something similar as a result of reading Dr. Bates’s writing. I find it really interesting now to read this article about it! I also thought of a reason that staring lowers the vision. When the eyes are forced to look at only one point without shifting to another object, the point of fixation isn’t changing. This means that in order to keep a picture in our mind, it must be entirely constructed from memory all at once (since none of the picture is updated by new points of central fixation). What a strain! Further, any optometrist will be able to tell you that the brain filters out static images from what we see, because otherwise we would see the blood vessels at the back of our eye. The last time I went and she was peering at my eye with the bright light, I noticed all of the complex blood vessels and commented. She got excited and explained that they are always there to see, we just don’t notice because they don’t move relative to everything else that we see outside of our body (since they are attached to the eye, they move with the eye, whereas when the eye moves, the world around us appears to move). When she said that I, in turn, was excited because it explains why the brain would filter out incoming light that doesn’t change when we stare.
I hope that makes sense. I think it’s really neat that modern brain science explains how the Bates method works, although modern doctors do not recognize the worth of the method.
Seeing Beauty 
Sorrisi,
Thanks for this link. I particularly liked the descriptions of the brain filling in visual or auditory gaps (imagination!), “change blindness” (the workmen with the door), & “inattention blindness” (daydreaming!). I guess we need to stay present & aware, but also realize we could still be missing something, so keep our sense of humor. Thanks.
Nancy
Hi Nancy! Your comment reminded me of something I meant to write. This article helps to explain more clearly why David’s siight ‘imagination blindness’ makes sense 🙂 because if the imagination can’t fill in the gaps in our mind, we don’t have a chance of seeing!
Cheers,
Sorrisi
This is very interesting!
Under 4 – Probe your subconscious – I believe this is very much what underlies the phenomenon of Muscle Testing in Applied Kinesiology, if you know about that. It’s a quite fascinating area!
Sorrisi,
Thanks for posting this link; fascinating article. The concept of the eyes using memory unless there’s something new has me thinking about what shifting really does. Is it possible that one aspect of shifting is the constant movement and changing of what comes into the visual field, and it results in stimulating the visual process? I certainly agree with you that it only reinforces Bates writings.
Ron
Hi Ron – Yes, I think that is precicely right! Without anything changing, I don’t think the brain would be interested in keeping up a static image.
Hi Sorrisi.i am a recent follower of bates method.in the last decade scientists have found that the eye makes fixational eye movements during periods of steady fixation called tremors drifts and microsaccades. Without these movements all stationary objects will fade away due to neural adaptation.this further validates bates method principles
Hi Sorrisi.i am a recent follower of bates method.in the last decade scientists have found that the eye makes fixational eye movements during periods of steady fixation called tremors drifts and microsaccades. Without these movements all stationary objects will fade away due to neural adaptation.this further validates bates method principles