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Visual Reorientation Illusions (VRIs)


Hugh

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Hi Hugh. Welcome to UM.

Thanks!

I don't want to give the impression I do not believe that higher dimensionality might not exist, that would be a rash statement to make.

I agree. There are too many other logical theories, such as string theory, that include the existence of higher dimensions. The physics and math of higher dimensionality makes more sense too. There is a great quote by Michio Kaku about this if you'd like to hear it. :)

However I don't see VRI's as being good evidence for that as they are apparently easily explained with other causes. Has there been any experimentation about VRI's where something akin to MRI scanning has been employed to see what areas of the brain are involved? This could be evidence for one or more of the explanations for the phenomenon.

I agree. VRIs may have to do with the firing of "head direction" or "grid cells" in the brain. One might also speculate that these firings are the mechanism by which we switch our 3d viewpoint within existing higher dimensional space.

The heightened sense of spatial awareness experienced could be the result of mapping the perceived visual picture over the expected. 'Seeing' one image superimposed upon the other inside the mind may give rise to this 'extra-dimensionality' experienced.

Well, I only ever see one image at a time myself. I can't superimpose the different images upon each other, but come to think of it, when I think of all the different directions available to see something together, it shows a much larger spatial range of its existence.

Hey Leonardo, VRIs may have absolutely nothing to do with higher dimensions, and if they don't then all this is just meaningless speculation.... but, what if they do?

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Indeed, what if they do.

The brain is not yet fully understood. Does the consciousness reside there (it might seem so) and if so does it have a quantum nature? If so does that mean the mechanisms in the brain would allow us to perceive quantum phenomena?

I should imagine there are quite a few surprises in store as we learn more about the brain and the mind.

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Indeed, what if they do.

The brain is not yet fully understood. Does the consciousness reside there (it might seem so) and if so does it have a quantum nature? If so does that mean the mechanisms in the brain would allow us to perceive quantum phenomena?

I should imagine there are quite a few surprises in store as we learn more about the brain and the mind.

I think we're going to be absolutely floored when we finally comprehend the nature of our existence. :)

I think that there may possibly be higher spatial dimensions of existence. How we would actually experience them is something that I've been interested in. It would seem that "more directions of space" are a clue that we might be looking for, and this is where the VRI may fit in. :)

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I am still really really confused. (Oops xD) Quick off topicness - this is a great forum. I can't talk about this at school, my friends think I'm ridiculous and they don't read books so yeahhh.. go UM!

I'm not sure if it has ever happened... I just - it's so confusing!! :P

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I am still really really confused. (Oops xD) Quick off topicness - this is a great forum. I can't talk about this at school, my friends think I'm ridiculous and they don't read books so yeahhh.. go UM!

I'm not sure if it has ever happened... I just - it's so confusing!! :P

LOL Clarty. :)

Try this... here is a game that you can play with others - family or friends...

Ask everyone in a group to point in the direction of the way that they enter the front door of a building that you are all familiar with. Let's say it's Grandma's house, or a favorite store. Everyone should point at the same time. You'll laugh as you'll see that everyone gets flipped around in their orientational bearings. VRIs are a common occurence.

What is interesting about it though, is that the same building may be seen in four different orientational directions, by the same person, with the VRI.

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Oh actually now that I think of it...

The other day my mum and dad and I were pulling into the carpark at Tescos (lol). I could have SWORN mum pulled the car into the carparking space on the left, so she was facing left, in fact, I'm bloody well certain she did.

When we came out of Tescos, I looked along the aisle of cars but I couldn't see ours. Then my mum went and opened the car, only it was on the right and facing the right, whereas I specifically remembered her pulling the car to the left, and facing left. My dad noticed this aswell, and when I mentioned it, my mum was certain she had parked it the way it was right there, and my dad and I were almost bloody SURE she'd parked it the other way!

Could this be VRI!?

**I'll try that game by the way, it sounds fun. :P

Edited by Clarty
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Oh actually now that I think of it...

The other day my mum and dad and I were pulling into the carpark at Tescos (lol). I could have SWORN mum pulled the car into the carparking space on the left, so she was facing left, in fact, I'm bloody well certain she did.

When we came out of Tescos, I looked along the aisle of cars but I couldn't see ours. Then my mum went and opened the car, only it was on the right and facing the right, whereas I specifically remembered her pulling the car to the left, and facing left. My dad noticed this aswell, and when I mentioned it, my mum was certain she had parked it the way it was right there, and my dad and I were almost bloody SURE she'd parked it the other way!

Could this be VRI!?

**I'll try that game by the way, it sounds fun. :P

Yup, this sounds like the VRI to me. :)

If you pay attention to how you originally see things, and how they flip around, you might have been aware of a 180 degree flip VRI there!

It's common to get flipped around while going into malls and stuff. Think about it though... you saw your car from 2 different directions even though it didn't move right? Once you learn how to consciously do the VRI, you can stand there and look at it, and flip it (and you and the universe) around 4 different ways at will!

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I tried to flip the other day but it didn't work.

How can I actually.. FLIP my vision? Do you move your eyes or something!?

Hi Clarty, thanks for your continued interest in this. :)

For me, moving my eyes doesn't help. What helps the most is to have a pre-existing mental image of your surroundings in the position you want to go to. Once you have experienced the flip, and seen things in a room from different directions before, it is easier to re-visit that viewpoint.

That's one of the reasons that I think that doing the VRI in a movie theater for the first time is the easiest place to try, because we already have a pre-conceived mental map image of "a theater" in each of the four directions - facing north, south, east and west. Having a big flat screen far away as a common element to focus on helps a lot.

Think of the times in your life when you have seen a movie at the theater, in each of the four different directions, and get an orientational sense of each of the positions. Picture yourself sitting facing north, then south, then east and then west in each of those theaters.

Now visit a movie theater, arriving well before it starts, and think of which direction that you are currently facing. See it in your mind's mental map. Now think of being in the opposite facing theater, for myself, and everyone I've ever talked to about this, the 180 degree flip is the easiest one to achieve. Just let the flip happen. It may take a while. Think about other things, other times you've seen other movies, in other places, which direction that you were facing in those other theaters. If the movie starts and you still haven't experienced the flip, during the movie, every few minutes, just take a second to imagine yourself in one of those other facing theaters, then watch the movie again. The flip should happen at some point if you focus on it enough. You'll think, hey, wasn't I facing the other way when I came in here? The more that you become aware of the VRI, the easier it is to do it. Let me know if you have any success with it if you try it there. :)

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Aaah, see, in Ireland we don't have movie theatres like that. Lol, we just have the seats all facing the same direction, not like a theatre in.. let's say America. So it could be abit difficult. xD I'll give it a go anyway. :P

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Aaah, see, in Ireland we don't have movie theatres like that. Lol, we just have the seats all facing the same direction, not like a theatre in.. let's say America. So it could be abit difficult. xD I'll give it a go anyway. :P

Well, every theater that I've been in has all the seats facing in the same direction too, towards the screen. But there are different theaters that I have been in, and some of them face different directions, relative to each other, in my overall mental map.

For example, I've been in maybe 15 different movie theater complexes during my life, in different cities, seeing movies in maybe 40 different individual theaters. Not all of those theaters face the same direction relative to each other in my mental map. Some of them face north, some south, some west and some east. I can think of an example that I have sat in each of the directions, when I think of all of the movies that I have seen in the course of my life. There is a general orientational sense that I can think of, for each of the four directions. This is what makes the VRI easiest to do in a theater, because the lights are low and one can easily imagine that they are in one of the other theaters that one has been in, facing in one of the other directions. When the VRI flip happens, you actually sense that you are facing in that other direction. It is really cool when you realize that everything has flipped around, yet you are still in the same theater!

I hope this makes more sense Clarty, and I wish you the best as you give the VRI a go the next time you see a movie! :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I drew a picture to help illustrate the VRI. It represents a movie theater complex, with 4 different theaters, all facing different directions. Each screen has a different color.

linked-image

Now, picture yourself sitting in the green theater and get a sense of how that would feel in orientation. Then think of getting up, and taking a seat in the brown theater. This theater is flipped 90 degrees to the right of the green theater. Move to the blue theater, and feel how this is flipped 180 degrees from the green theater. Move to the red theater, and feel how this is flipped 90 degrees to the left of the green theater.

Now go back to the green theater and take a seat. Imagine that you are in the blue theater with the orientation 180 degrees flipped around from the green one you are in. (The 180 degree flip is the easiest one to do.)

When you feel that you are in the blue theater while looking at the green screen, you know that you have done a 180 degree VRI. Once you get better at it, you can see the green screen from the positions of the brown and red theaters too. Then you can flip through all 4 possible orientations of viewpoint, one at a time. :)

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  • 8 months later...

Hi all. It has been a while since I've posted on the forum but I do come back every once in a while to see if anyone has posted in this VRI topic.

I just thought I'd ask if anyone currently on the forum has experienced a Visual Reorientation Illusion - where one's bearings of North, South, East and West instantly flip around. You might be driving and experience a 180 degree flip where you find yourself instantly heading in the opposite directional bearing from where you were for example. Most people refer to it as "getting turned around". Ever experience that? Thanks. :)

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Reading the the line about what happened to you made me think about what has happened to me and I talked to one other person who has had the same thing happen to them. And I believe it all has to do with the picture enters your brain. But, I don't understand the concept of 'directional bearing.'

When you say 90 or 180 degree flip, that is what happens to everyone who looks at something; anyone. Look into a round globe of clear glass, the top is bottom and the bottom is top. That is the way it enters your brain, your eye is that round globe.

When you bring into your thoughts something about higher beings or space intelligence, that's when people start throwing things. You are the highest intelligence on this planet; though some people are questionable.

If one can see the same surroundings, but from a different direction, could it be that there is another direction of space available to look from?

There is where you need some knowledge of the metallic elements of space. First I will say that there is no other elements besides what is in this universe. Scientist have 'invented' some XYZ elements and put them in a table. I think there is maybe 103 naturally occurring elements on this earth. The same elements are on the moon, on mercury, on pluto, on saturn. You go outside of this solar system, maybe the 'laws' of existence are different, such as, up is sideways, but the same thing is there.

In your mind, picture a vast area of non-metallic elements, such as, hydrogen, helium. oxygen, and whatever other natural non-metallic elements; everything is floating around freely. There is no gathering together of elements; nothing to cause anything. Now, introduce some metallic elements and everything changes. Things start forming because of attraction; mass is formed; planets start forming and in different areas there are different 'laws' of formation according to the mass that has formed.

That's conjecture though. Let's go back to your theatre. No theatre is flat. It is colliseum shaped; you know, the people directly behind you are above you so they can see. It's a dish shaped room, a bowl. In your mind, walk into a theatre and go down to the bottom of the bowl and turn and sit in your seat. Now, turn around and look up to the entrance. That is so neat! You wonder, now, just how do you do that? Is it because there is another space intelligence that has taken over your mind and possessed you? NO!! It is all you! You are that intelligence.

You can be fooled into beleiving that something is closer or farther away by the lighting or the shape of the reflector; you know, 'objects in the mirror are closer than they appear' because of the shape of the mirror.

Now, about the dimensions of space. The dimensions of a cube are stated in terms like length, breadth, height, and depth. What are the dimensions of a globe? Nothing in space, the great dark beyond, is angular; there is no 'Einstein' complications. That is foolish harassment.

It is good to know these things like Superstring theory, electromagnetic force, and stuff like that if you have the control to use it, but Einstein helped invent the atomic bomb and that is not control and it makes the knowledge false!

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I've always been interested in unexplained mysteries.

There is a phenomenon that I have experienced since I was a child, and I'm wondering if anyone else on the forum has experienced it too. It's called a Visual Reorientation Illusion, or VRI.

What happens is you get an instant 90 or 180 degree flip of your directional bearings, and you end up seeing your same surroundings, but from another direction. It may happen when you come up from an underground subway, and see the buildings around you differently than you normally do, then a visual flip happens, and you say, "Okay, now I know where I am!" The buildings, and your orientational sense have switched back to how you normally see them.

One thing I've wondered about though is, could this possibly be evidence of a higher dimension of space? If one can see the same surroundings, but from a different direction, could it be that there is another direction of space available to look from?

What I've found myself, and with other people that I've talked to about this, is that there are four possible ways to do a VRI and flip one's viewpoint around. One can see their surroundings from four different ways.

Once one practices this, it's easier to do. I find it easiest to flip around the view in a movie theater. Usually, when one enters a theater, it is in one of four possible orientations for our bearing sense. All you have to do, is imagine yourself in one of the other theaters which are oriented in a different 90 or 180 degree direction. It may take a while to flip, but you'll know when it does. It's really neat to see everything flip around! I think it shows that there is a higher dimension of space available in order for us to do this.

I've posted this question on another forum, Alkaline's Tetraspace Forum, and there are currently 4 pages of replies there, so if anyone wants to see more links or questions about this they can check this out: http://tetraspace.alkaline.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=401. I've posted some of the more scientific possible explanations of how it may be related to higher dimensions of space on page 4 of that thread.

Thanks for any thoughts about this. :)

Hugh

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Reading the the line about what happened to you made me think about what has happened to me and I talked to one other person who has had the same thing happen to them. And I believe it all has to do with the picture enters your brain. But, I don't understand the concept of 'directional bearing.'

Hi greggK, thanks for your thoughts. 'Directional bearing' is the sense you have of which way you think that North, South, East and West are. We each have a sense of bearing that includes four different directions, along the ground that we are on.

With the Visual Reorientation Illusion, that bearing gets flipped around in an instant. You mentioned entering into a theater and then turning around to see the entrance, but this isn't what you see with a VRI. When you do a VRI in a theater, or any room, what you see is exactly the same thing, but you end up looking at it from another perpendicular direction, either 90 or 180 degrees flipped around.

You don't move at all, but North becomes South and East becomes West for a 180 degree flip for example.

Edited by Hugh
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Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I've always been interested in unexplained mysteries.

There is a phenomenon that I have experienced since I was a child, and I'm wondering if anyone else on the forum has experienced it too. It's called a Visual Reorientation Illusion, or VRI.

Once one practices this, it's easier to do. I find it easiest to flip around the view in a movie theater. Usually, when one enters a theater, it is in one of four possible orientations for our bearing sense. All you have to do, is imagine yourself in one of the other theaters which are oriented in a different 90 or 180 degree direction. It may take a while to flip, but you'll know when it does. It's really neat to see everything flip around! I think it shows that there is a higher dimension of space available in order for us to do this.

Hugh

Hi Hugh..I'm still not sure whether you're saying - you're physically seeing, feeling, sensing or just imagining that you're flipping directions, after all..You call it an 'illusion'?, and say.. all you have to do is 'imagine'?. To be honest..i find it quite easy to imagine that i'm facing in a different direction(especially here in my flat-with the curtains closed)..and 'Yes'..i can do it to the point of disorientation...but i know that it's just me playing tricks with my thinking processes.... (probably)by deliberately giving my mind contradictory input(easy to do when i can't see outside to reaffirm my bearings) ..but thats just my thoughts on it, and probably has no 'bearing' on the "official" answer whatsoever ;)

It's really neat to see everything flip around! I think it shows that there is a higher dimension of space available in order for us to do this.

Well!..I wouldn't say that was strictly true...it could be neurological(most mental anomolies 'probably' are)

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Hi kraken, thank you for responding.

To clarify, when one experiences a VRI, one physically sees, feels and senses that they, and the whole universe, have turned around together in another direction. I call it an "illusion" because that's what the scientific description of this phenomenon is - a "Visual Reorientation Illusion".

The prevailing scientific belief about VRIs right now is that they are caused when our mental map of our surroundings gets out of sync with our actual surroundings, and when we end up seeing familiar buildings from a different viewpoint than we normally do - for example when we come up from a subway that has turns underground - we "flip" our mental map around in order to regain our directional bearing sense of where we are, so that the buildings and places are all seen in the "normal" directions.

You've said that you've experienced the feeling in your flat of facing different directions - made easier with the curtains closed, but I'm wondering if what you're describing is an actual VRI. With the VRI, the curtains can be fully opened, in fact you can be right outside and see everything flip around in an instant.

A way I can describe the VRI is like this:

Picture yourself sitting in a big plexi-glass box, that you can see out of all around you.

Now, I turn the box one quarter of a turn, 90 degrees clockwise around a vertical axis through the center of your box.

You would sense and feel that you are now turned around 90 degrees clockwise correct?

Now, (bear with me) I turn the entire universe one quarter of a turn, 90 degrees clockwise around a vertical axis through the center of your box, around your box, with your box staying where it was and not turning along with it.

Now, picture both the rotation of your box and the universe as one turn together, and sense how you would feel, knowing that you just got turned around, but because the whole universe got turned around at the same time with you, you are still facing the same thing within the universe itself, but relative to your initial position, it is at a 90 degree different direction.

Do you see how if you and the box and the universe all turned together, that you would be still looking at exactly the same thing, but that it would be from a different direction?

Picture me turning your box and the universe around four different perpendicular ways, and you end up understanding the four different possible viewpoints of your surroundings here on Earth.

The thing about the VRI is that one ends up being able to see four different, distinct viewpoints of one's surroundings, but only one at a time. The VRI always occurs at a perpendicular angle, so it's either 90 degrees to the right or left, or 180 degrees all the way around.

I've experienced VRIs since I was a child, and have talked to others who have experienced them too. Someone might say "Hey, everything just flipped around on me!" and I understand exactly what they mean.

The whole idea I'm investigating though, is that is it possible that it is related to higher dimensions of ourselves and the universe? If our bodies and the universe had higher spatial dimensions, what would our experience of them be?

I'm thinking that it would be linked to the experience of being able to see from those higher available directional dimensions themselves.

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Hi Hugh

To clarify, when one experiences a VRI, one physically sees, feels and senses that they, and the whole universe, have turned around together in another direction. I call it an "illusion" because that's what the scientific description of this phenomenon is - a "Visual Reorientation Illusion".

^This is where it gets confusing, because if both 'You' and 'The Universe' have 'Turned around together' then how would it be possible for you to know that you have turned around at all?

The prevailing scientific belief about VRIs right now is that they are caused when our mental map of our surroundings gets out of sync with our actual surroundings, and when we end up seeing familiar buildings from a different viewpoint than we normally do - for example when we come up from a subway that has turns underground - we "flip" our mental map around in order to regain our directional bearing sense of where we are, so that the buildings and places are all seen in the "normal" directions.

^Mmm..Well...i'll have to take your word about the "prevailing scientific belief" and it's explanation(s) , because i'm not familiar with this type of experience :hmm:

You've said that you've experienced the feeling in your flat of facing different directions - made easier with the curtains closed, but I'm wondering if what you're describing is an actual VRI. With the VRI, the curtains can be fully opened, in fact you can be right outside and see everything flip around in an instant.

^yes..but..As far as i'm aware when i do it.....it is just my imagination....I've never got the impression that i was experiencing something other-worldly or from a 'Higher' vantage point.(Not that i don't believe in other-worldly or higher(vibrational) things)

A way I can describe the VRI is like this:

Picture yourself sitting in a big plexi-glass box, that you can see out of all around you.

Now, I turn the box one quarter of a turn, 90 degrees clockwise around a vertical axis through the center of your box.

You would sense and feel that you are now turned around 90 degrees clockwise correct?

Now, (bear with me) I turn the entire universe one quarter of a turn, 90 degrees clockwise around a vertical axis through the center of your box, around your box, with your box staying where it was and not turning along with it.

Now, picture both the rotation of your box and the universe as one turn together, and sense how you would feel, knowing that you just got turned around, but because the whole universe got turned around at the same time with you, you are still facing the same thing within the universe itself, but relative to your initial position, it is at a 90 degree different direction.

Do you see how if you and the box and the universe all turned together, that you would be still looking at exactly the same thing, but that it would be from a different direction?

^I understand what your saying..but..that is not "physically" seeing it?, because you wouldn't know the universe had moved..if you automatically moved with it?, which to me would indicate that it is more likely an 'inner' thing....e.g....'Of the mind'

The thing about the VRI is that one ends up being able to see four different, distinct viewpoints of one's surroundings, but only one at a time.

^But how can you see the other directions, if the universe is moving with you as well.. and at the same time?.

ps..What would happen to a compass that you were looking at, while you were experiencing "VRI"? .... Also .... is it possible for you to direct me to some other source material...as it sounds like a peculiar phenomenon ^_^

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^This is where it gets confusing, because if both 'You' and 'The Universe' have 'Turned around together' then how would it be possible for you to know that you have turned around at all?

You sense that you have turned in a new direction, relative to your original one.

If I were to turn you 90 degrees clockwise, you would sense and know that you are now looking in a direction that is 90 degrees to the right of where you were looking before, correct? It's the same with the VRI, except that the universe turns with you. So you know that you are looking in a new direction relative to your original one, and are seeing exactly the same things relative to yourself, but everything has now flipped around relative to where they were originally before the flip.

It's like seeing a whole new perspective of your surroundings, even though everything looks exactly the same, you're seeing it from another angle, a new direction.

Have you ever seen the Necker cube flip? It's an example of a 2d drawing that does an instant flip with our perception, because we are easily aware of 3 dimensions.

http://www.healthyeyes.org.uk/index.php?id=145

See how the cube flips around when you see the red dot as being inside or outside?

The same instant flip happens with the VRI, except you're in the cube and everything including you and the universe gets flipped around in an instant, either 90 or 180 degrees.

I think that the 2d drawing can flip around because we are aware of at least 3 dimensions. I think that our 3d perspective of our universe can flip around because we are actually in at least 4 dimensions.

Here's a page that talks about 3 dimensional things experiencing 4 dimensions and a quote from the article says "Travelling in 4D may have a milder effect on a 3D body than turning it inside out. It may only change its orientation."

http://www.maa.org/editorial/knot/tesseract.html

That's what the VRI does, it changes the orientation of our 3D perspective.

^As far as i'm aware when i do it.....it is just my imagination....I've never got the impression that i was experiencing something other-worldly or from a 'Higher' vantage point.(Not that i don't believe in other-worldly or higher(vibrational) things)

I'm glad that you're open to different possibilities, so am I. :)

For me the VRI isn't imagination, it is a real experience. There are four different ways that I can flip things around, and each is as real as the other, yet only one of them is how I "normally" view it. I don't see any of the views as being from a 'higher' vantage point, only a different one. My point is though, if the same thing can be seen from different directions, couldn't this be an indication that those other directions actually exist?

If we and the universe actually do have higher dimensions, then those other directions (other than the 3 axes that we think only exist) would exist too. What we would see of those higher dimensions is only a "3D slice" at any one time.

Think of what a theoretical 2D being would see in the 2nd Dimension. It would be totally "flat". Not only that, it would only be able to look "along the 2D plane" of its 2D existence. Some people think that a 2D being sees circles and squares but think about it. If it only looks along the edge of an infinitely thin plane, it can't see circles or squares at all. Can it see a line? I don't think it can even see a line because in order to see the line, the line would have to have a thickness to it, a thickness "up" and away from the plane in a 3rd dimension, which wouldn't exist at all in the 2nd Dimension.

So a 2D being in 2D would see absolutely nothing.

Isn't it something how we think we are 3D, one step up from a 2D being, yet see a 3D world around us? I think that there are higher dimensions to ourselves and the universe, and that we only see a "3D slice" of ourselves, and the universe.

ps..What would happen to a compass that you were looking at, while you were experiencing "VRI"? .... Also .... is it possible for you to direct me to some other source material...as it sounds like a peculiar phenomenon ^_^

When you experience a VRI, the compass stays exactly the same because, relative to you, North, South, East and West stay the same, but, relative to your initial starting position, North becomes South and East becomes West for a 180 degree VRI. For a 90 degree clockwise VRI, North becomes East, East becomes South, South becomes West, and West becomes North.

If you want to read more about the VRI, NASA has some info about them. VRIs are experienced by astronauts quite frequently, with not only the walls changing bearings but the floor becoming the ceiling and vice versa. In a weightless state, all the 3 axes become available for VRIs to occur along.

Here's a quote from one of the documents "Actually, it is possible to have a VRI right here on Earth, as when you leave an underground subway station labyrinth, and upon seeing a familiar visual landmark, realize that e.g. you are facing east, not west. On Earth, gravity constrains our body orientation, and provides an omnipresent "down" cue, so we normally only experience VRIs about a vertical axis."

Here is the document that quote is from http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Aeronautic...orientation.pdf.

Check out page 3 and 4 for their descriptions of the VRI.

There is a link that used to work to NASA's Neurolab Mission Home Page that talked about Experiment 136: Role of Visual Cues in Spatial Orientation, but the link doesn't work anymore.

Here is a quote from that document (I put in bold the part about VRIs being able to be cognitively manipulated). "We called these illusions Visual Reorientation Illusions - "VRIs" - to distinguish them from far less common but more persistent "Inversion Illusions" first described in the earliest days of human space flight by Cosmonaut Titov. When you have an Inversion Illusion, you feel continuously upside down, regardless of body orientation, and even with your eyes closed. We think Inversion Illusions happen because 0-G fluid shift and unloading of the body's gravireceptors produce sensory cues similar to hanging upside down in 1-G. Fortunately, it seems relatively few people experience Inversion Illusions in weightlessness with their eyes open. In contrast, almost everyone experiences VRIs occasionally. They are quite labile, and can be cognitively manipulated. You can decide to "make a ceiling into a floor", and suddenly see it that way. In this respect, VRIs are rather analogous to figure reversal illusions, such as the Necker Cube. The way you see the orientation of the Necker cube depends on which vertex you decide is closer. Similarly, in a VRI, which way you perceive your own orientation is depends on whether you expect the floor or the ceiling to be beneath your feet."

Now that's in space, but here on Earth the flipping of the cardinal directions along with the universe is what happens down here, with the presence of gravity, it's difficult to flip the floor and ceiling directions easily.

Here is an article from Ann Druffel. She has experienced VRIs since childhood too. Her description of the 90 and 180 degree flip is similar to my own, but she has a different explanation than mine of why they may occur. I personally don't believe they are related to ley lines, because I can experience the flip wherever I am, and others I have talked to have had a similar experience too. I believe it's related to higher dimensions myself, but it's interesting to read her explanations of them:

http://www.anndruffel.com/articles/earthmy...orthissouth.htm

Here are the links to some other forums that I have put up threads about the VRI. There are other interesting links that I have put in those threads:

http://tetraspace.alkaline.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=401

http://www.mkaku.org/forums/showthread.php?t=446

Thanks for taking the time to read about these ideas kraken. :)

Edited by Hugh
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I know what you are talking about here, having experienced it many times my self. The feeling is almost like a mild form of vertigo

Perhaps when you trigger it conchesly you triggering the same part of the brain where vertigo takes place

I have had the feeling of vertigo as a child and the feeling is similar just more intense

Vertigo definition

Vertigo, or dizziness, refers to the sensation of spinning (subjective vertigo) or the perception that surrounding objects are moving or spinning (objective vertigo). Some patients describe a feeling of being pulled toward the floor or toward one side of the room. Moving the head, changing position, and turning while lying down often worsen vertigo.

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I know what you are talking about here, having experienced it many times my self. The feeling is almost like a mild form of vertigo

Perhaps when you trigger it conchesly you triggering the same part of the brain where vertigo takes place

I have had the feeling of vertigo as a child and the feeling is similar just more intense

Vertigo definition

Vertigo, or dizziness, refers to the sensation of spinning (subjective vertigo) or the perception that surrounding objects are moving or spinning (objective vertigo). Some patients describe a feeling of being pulled toward the floor or toward one side of the room. Moving the head, changing position, and turning while lying down often worsen vertigo.

The VRI is similar to vertigo in that there is a perceived movement of one's self and surroundings, but it is not vertigo.

VRIs happen in an instant, there is no spinning, dizziness or feeling of movement. One doesn't feel being pulled to the floor or a side of the room.

The only time I think I experience vertigo is when I spin myself around in circles quickly many times and then stop. There is a perceived movement, even when stopped but this isn't how a VRI feels.

A VRI is experienced with an instant 90 or 180 degree flip, akin to seeing the Necker cube flip, and you end up facing an entirely new direction, at once.

Also, one can calmly decide to initiate a VRI, several times, back and forth and fully experience it, whereas vertigo seems like it is something that involves a "loss of control".

Edited by Hugh
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Hi greggK, thanks for your thoughts. 'Directional bearing' is the sense you have of which way you think that North, South, East and West are. We each have a sense of bearing that includes four different directions, along the ground that we are on.

With the Visual Reorientation Illusion, that bearing gets flipped around in an instant. You mentioned entering into a theater and then turning around to see the entrance, but this isn't what you see with a VRI. When you do a VRI in a theater, or any room, what you see is exactly the same thing, but you end up looking at it from another perpendicular direction, either 90 or 180 degrees flipped around.

You don't move at all, but North becomes South and East becomes West for a 180 degree flip for example.

According to the degrees of a circle, you have 360 different directions that you can go. Your visual field is less than 180 degrees; probably closer to 90, so you can move in 90 different directions. Turn you head and add that many directions.

You have to take into account any line is not straight; it is a segment of a curve.

Our bodies standing in one place are travelling in one direction moving through 360 degrees in 24 hours. That's 15 degrees per minute. It gets even more complicated when you think that the earth is in another system that moves in possibly the oppopsite direction. The light that enters your eye is not the same light at any one time during a 24 hour period. The VRI is possibly the memory in your brain of the last moment of the contents of your visual field.

I was seated at a table and I had a split second vision of the room and the room was dark and all around me was 'pixels' of light. I was at the other end of the room looking at myself. I sit at that table perhaps three of four times a day and at night. When I was talking about being in a theatre and turning around to look, it is the exact same thing that is your memory; you had to pass through what you are looking at to get to where you are.

To further explain that, you may walk the same path every day up and back. Into your visual field is the contents of every direction. In a VRI, your brain will go into its memory and pick out a direction that is there and it may be an orientation of 15 degrees or 25 or 90 and replay it. That's what I think.

Edited by greggK
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The VRI is possibly the memory in your brain of the last moment of the contents of your visual field.... In a VRI, your brain will go into its memory and pick out a direction that is there and it may be an orientation of 15 degrees or 25 or 90 and replay it. That's what I think.

Thank you for your response greggK.

The VRI always happens at a 90 or 180 degree angle. I understand what you are saying about seeing from a previous direction, and then seeing it that way again. That's partially how I do the VRI in a movie theater. I think of being in a theater that I have previously been in, that faces another perpendicular direction, and then I can consciously do a VRI so that the theater I'm in now faces exactly like the one in my memory.

Doing this, I can flip around to four different theater viewpoints, each at right (90 degree) angles to one another. Remember though that I haven't left the one I was first in, it's still the same theater and universe, just flipped around. :)

This is what is so amazing about the VRI, is that one can see four different, distinct, directional views of one's surroundings. It's like being in a whole new space each time you do it, and it's a lot of fun.

I have more of an explanation of how to do the VRI in a movie theater in previous posts in this thread. It's the easiest place for me to do the VRI in.

I encourage anyone reading this thread to attempt the VRI next time they're in a theater and report back if the attempt is successful. :)

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  • 2 years later...

hi Hugh,

i've been searching for an explanation to this phenomenon for a long, long time. The problem was i didn't even know what to search for on google since i didn't know what to search for. I got to know it's called a VRI, just yesterday. I just want you to know I understand *exactly* what you mean regarding VRIs. I have been 'having' them since childhood (used to think of it as some kind of superpower!!). It's more or less under my 'control' now, so I'm mostly in my home 'dimension' until i choose to consciously change it. Looking forward to your further inputs over the next few days.

Again, thanks for your efforts to explain it to others.

Edited by rm76
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hi Hugh,

i've been searching for an explanation to this phenomenon for a long, long time. The problem was i didn't even know what to search for on google since i didn't know what to search for. I got to know it's called a VRI, just yesterday. I just want you to know I understand *exactly* what you mean regarding VRIs. I have been 'having' them since childhood (used to think of it as some kind of superpower!!). It's more or less under my 'control' now, so I'm mostly in my home 'dimension' until i choose to consciously change it. Looking forward to your further inputs over the next few days.

Again, thanks for your efforts to explain it to others.

Hi rm76. Wow, great to hear your similar experience with VRIs!

Thanks for sharing. Yes, I understand about the home 'dimension'... I call it the 'normal' viewpoint as it's the default way of seeing everything.

So, how long have you been able to control the flip and how did it come about? Isn't it fun? Isn't it great to see the four different views?

Ever get them in the movie theatre? Ever do a four viewpoint flip within a short time by conscious control?

Wow... this is great... :)

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