Fwd: Eidetic and Entoptic

[Peter Marvit <marvit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Auditory folks.

I saw an intriguing query on another list.  I subsequently corresponded
with the author and offered to forward his comments to this list. I
thought readers would find his question thought-provoking. If anyone can
offer advice, be sure to cc AUDITORY or me.  I'll be happy to forward
back to Don any responses made to the whole list. In any case *I'm*
interested, too.

        -Peter

: Peter Marvit <marvit@psych.upenn.edu>,   Psychology Dept,  Univ. of Penn :
: 3815 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104  w:215/898-6274 fax:215/898-7301 :

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Date:    Wed, 05 Jan 94 13:38:13 -0800
From:    donhill@wimsey.com (Don Hill)
To:      marvit@cattell.psych.upenn.edu
Subject: Eidetic and Entoptic

Peter,

Thanks for your e-mail of 27 December.

Yes, of course, please do forward my request.

Meantime: I've narrowed my search to "eidetic" memory and "entoptic"
images.  Could you attach the following as a replacement to the Cogneuro
query:

I'm an independent writer/producer working with public broadcasting in
Canada.

My production focus is on music and art: an example is a recent
award-winning television special "Music, Mountains, Magic: The Banff
International String Quartet Competition."   Science, in particular,
physics is a major interest.

On national radio, I've written and presented documentaries on the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation's venerable series "Ideas."  And I'm a familiar
voice on public radio in western Canada.

I have a request.

Briefly: an episode of a World Music series (in development) explores the
relationship between frequency response (harmonics) and geometric visions
often captured in Aboriginal, African, and North American art and
artifacts; I believe this is known as "eidetic" or "entoptic
(intraocular) images" - not to be confused as synaesthesia (another area
of interest).

The great cathedrals of Europe (Amiens, Chartres et al) seem as if they
were designed to compliment and enhance over-and-under-tones: outcomes of
choral singing.  A Latin inscription, "Octavus sanctos omnes docet esse
beatos," graces a column in the abbey church of Cluney in France.  It
translates: The Octave teaches all Saints to be Blessed.

Gregorian chanting illustrates the capacity and wonder of a cathedral's
unique harmonic properties.

I want to explore connections (if any) between harmonics and
hallucination: synaesthestic response to sacred music (for example, is
there Renaissance and Medieval European art that connects to the striking
geometry of the Aborigines?); landscapes (North American Indians left
behind curious geometric inscriptions and artifacts at Vision Quest
sites); architecture (this is a stretch: Was the Parthenon, for example,
an outcome of a geometric hallucination induced by "eidetic" or "entoptic
image" experience - before Pythagoras?); science (Chinese celestial
harmonies; Pythagoras to Kepler's "harmony of the spheres").

And, of course, there's Buddhist Yantra designs - a visual form of sound
mantra where each geometric level (of the yantra) corresponds to a note of
a musical scale.

Where can I learn more about this?  Who can I talk to?  Research?

Thanks for the bandwidth.

Regards for the New Year,

Don Hill
donhill@wimsey.com


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