"Charles Bonnet Syndrome [Visual Release Hallucinations] and the Faeries" - involuntary darkroom phenomena observed in people losing their sight?

SS:

You talked about your own experiences? Can you give us some examples?

The visual entities I experience with CBS usually (though not exclusively) appear in low light, but never in total darkness, and I am always alone when they eventuate. This has happened several times a week since damaging my visual cortex in 2015. Sometimes the visuals are simple lights or smoke-like wisps, which are usually just glimpsed in my peripheral vision, last only a few seconds, and there is only a limited sense that there is something ‘present’. But often the visuals are more substantial, and will manifest as slightly cartoonish humanoid entities, frequently dressed in either archaic clothing or in garb that seems to emit a dull glow. The most fascinating aspect of these visuals is their apparent concrete reality, and even more compelling is the awareness that something is most definitely present. This always includes a form of telepathic communication, usually in the form of a series of phrases, which I never seem to be able to reply to. I can’t stress how real these communications are – as real as if someone were sitting next to me and talking.

I've wondered a lot about that. If someone is inclined to dreaming, upon vision loss if the dreaming attention would fill in to help. Having had a few experiences 'seeing through my eyelids' I feel like it would definitely happen given the right conditions.

I always wondered if a blind person (not from birth) would have some advantage in doing darkroom, it seems like yes! I guess that happens because it's easier to focus on the second attention while not having a strong first attention in front of it (that's why we do darkroom). It could also be because loosing your sight kind of makes your inner monologue work harder to fill up the missing pieces, almost like the techniques mentioned in the books to saturate your inner monologue, so it stops.