NightWalking
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Fear of the dark is so deeply rooted in humans,
so primal, that it is discovered within us almost
from our earliest awareness. Most campers huddle
around fires steeling themselves against the
strange noises of the night. But there is a whole
world of wonder that wakes up after the sun goes
down. NightWalking makes you a part of it.
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But humans can’t see in the dark like
animals, right? In actual fact, we humans do have
some of that night vision that lets bobcat and
bear roam between dusk and dawn. Mammal eyes have
basically two types of light-sensitive nerve
cells: rods and cones. Rods are extremely
sensitive to light and are used for night vision.
Cones are the color-detecting cells that also
allow us to focus sharply.
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Most mammals are creatures of the night, their
eyes filled solely with rods. This provides
excellent low-light vision, but they are color
blind and don’t have the 20/20 sharp focus
that we do. Daytime-dwelling humans have cones
filling our optic center providing sharp, focused
vision. The light-sensitive rods are found on the
surrounding periphery. It’s believed that
this is an evolutionary remnant, like our little
toes that don’t get used much, becoming
smaller and smaller over the millennia. Can we
use the remains of that night vision? According
to Nelson Zink and psychotherapist Stephen Parks
of Taos, New Mexico, the ability to see at night
has always been with us for as long as man has
walked the earth. It’s part of our
evolutionary roots. They have invented a
NightWalker device--a small glowing dot at the
end of a footlong metal stick which clips onto
your baseball cap. Staring at that dot
“turns off” the central vision and
wakes up the low-light peripheral vision. The
rods in your eye need about thirty minutes of
dark to become fully activated, after which they
can perceive even a single photon of
light--equivalent to detecting a candle flame
from a distance of ten miles. With just a few
hours practice you can see well even on moonless
nights--eventually being able to accomplish what
they call the “Gaze.” According to
Zink, this peripheral state is described as a
widened field of view that has accompanying
neurophysio and psychological benefits. People
find they release anxiety, have a calm
peacefulness, and a lose their fear of the dark
since they can see perfectly well. You become
part of the night, not an alien. It’s a
completely different state of perception. Regular
vision is seeing with the eyes. The Gaze is
seeing with the mind.
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Want more information or to give it a try? Night
vision clip-on rods ($10) and an 80-page manual
($20) are available by contacting Steve Park at
(505) 751-0343. NightWalking is like seeing the
dark in a whole new light.
Publish
date: October 1, 2000
©
2000 Robert L. Goodman
U.S.A. All rights reserved.
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