Conclusions

Throughout history, entoptic phenomena have been important to many societies. They have been continually observed, recorded, and interpreted by spiritually minded women and men. In this way, entoptics have entered individual cultures as a source of inspiration for artists, philosophers, religious thinkers, and the faithful. However, there have always been societies for which entoptic phenomena had no broader cultural significance than they do in industrialized Western societies. Due to the contemporary triumph of Western materialism, the physical world is the exclusive object of daily perception and focus. Anything that transcends it, such as dreams, hallucinations, visions, and entoptic phenomena, provides no benefit to society or the economy. Therefore, the common perception considers such perceptions a "disorder" or something worse, to be treated medically or psychologically. I think this is problematic in an era where the negative effects of a one-sided focus on materialistic ideals are evident. Modern society has created global, social, and individual problems, but it cannot solve them with technology and rationalism—not as long as the same ideals govern people's minds. Many people have recognized this problem and have oriented themselves toward new spiritual and intellectual values. The visual path, pioneered by consciousness researchers of past and present societies, offers a possible approach to literally focusing on the "spiritual" rather than the "material." Moving dots and streaks called "eye floaters" offer a particularly useful object for meditation. Unlike other entoptic phenomena, eye floaters are visible in our everyday state of consciousness, and we can move them across our field of vision continuously, focus on them, and attempt to hold them in place.