Who or what is 'Bates'? Who am I, why do people keep calling me
'Rishi', and why do I come here? What is the cure of imperfect sight?
What is imperfect sight? What are the 'rest methods'? What is 'strain
of the mind'? What exactly do I mean by all these words? These are a
few questions that I am asked very frequently by some of the other
confused posters on this forum. and I will now attempt to answer them,
to the best of my ability. However, there may be flaws in my
explanations. For this reason you must read the original words from
Bates, for the finest explanation of all the matters.

Once upon a time there lived a genius man, who went by the name of
William Horatio Bates. He was an ophthalmologist, but began to devise
his methods through his experiences with patients who were, as it
seemed to him at the time, 'miraculously' cured of supposedly
incurable defects, such as cataract, blindness, and presbyopia. He
soon began to investigate the facts, and found that by various means,
all these defects were treatable and regularly found he was able to
permanently cure his patients by these means. He was the discoverer of
adrenaline. He also designed a theory of accomodation which came as a
result of his various experiments on animals. The 'Bates accomodative
theory' and the 'rest methods' are separate entites. They should not
be confused.

During his life, Bates decided to write various books, articles and
magazines on the subject of the cure of imperfect sight. was the
brilliant pioneer of the rest methods which are used in the cure of
imperfect sight by treatment without glasses. Bates was able to
explain the different issues of confusion much better than I ever can.
My descriptive ability is no where near as close to his own, which is
near-flawless. If you wish to have the best clarity of these matters,
then I advice all of you to read his trilogy of books: The Cure of
Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses (you can buy it from
Amazon.co.uk, or read it online. Just make sure you read the original
version and not the edited version which was called 'Better Eyesight
Without Glasses', edited by Emily and published in 1940. This is the
more crappy version, and cuts many important parts and chapters in the
book.) The Better Eyesight Magazine (you can buy it from Amazon), and
finally Stories from the Clinic (well this was written by his wife,
Emily, but still a very important book and beautiful guidance for
all). You can also buy these books from my friend, Rishi Giovanni
Gatti, on his website: thecentralfixation.com. He will be happy to
sell at low low prices, just for you. However I am not trying to
promote or advertise him, because you can also read all the books
online for completely free, on central-fixation.com. But it really is
quite something to read the books under the great light of the sun,
where the facts can be very happily demonstrated as you read the book.

I am Zetsu, this is an internet name which I use but it is not my real
ife name. I am 15 years old. I am not the other Bates proponent who
was called Rishi Giovanni Gatti. He is a very good friend of me, and
perhaps we sound similar in our style and usage of language. But we
are not the same person. Rishi is a 38 year old man living in Italy.
Check his IP address, and then check my own. You will see that they
differ. Please do not confuse the two of us any longer, it is a
mistake.

The cure of imperfect sight is a means by which a person can, if he
has eyesight which is not perfect, regain the perfect sight and see
normally again, without the aid of glasses, contact lenses or
surgery.

Imperfect sight means when the sight level of the eye is no longer
perfect. Perfect sight is not what we call 'normal sight'. They are
different terms, and should not be confused. Likewise, the term of
normal sight should not be confused with what we call an 'average'.
These three terms are all different in their meaning.

Perfect sight refers to when a person is able to see with an acuity of
20/10, or greater, on the snellen eyechart. Normal sight is the
ability to see 20/20 on the eyechart. Average sight means the average
level of acuity in all the people together. But since many people do
not have normal sight, average and normal are different terms in this
case and should not be confused.

When the vision is imperfect, something, a state of the mind, which we
call 'central fixation', is no longer present, or abnormal and
diffrerent from how it should be. Central fixation is a simple thing
to understand: it just means seeing best at a point, and seeing worse
progressively as the distance from the point is increased, that is to
say the peripheral and outer vision perception. When normal central
fixation is present the eyesight is always perfect, and the mind is at
rest and the body feels in comfort. Central fixation can never coexist
with imperfect sight.

The cure of imperfect sight differs to glasses, contact lenses, or
surgery, in that it does not simply pailliate the symptons which are
an indicator of mind strain, but instead seeks to, at first
temporarily alermiorate and with dilliegent practice, permanently
eliminate, the mind strain itself. By eliminating the mind strain, the
imperfect sight is also eliminated.

The rest methods are a series of techniques which are designed to get
the mind back into its normal state, that is one which is without the
interference of strain, and as logicially follows with the prior
assumption, the state of central fixation. They are, as the name
implies, designed to induce rest. But this is not the physical sort of
'rest', I mean it is not the sort of rest associated with sleeping, or
taking or nap, or that sort of 'rest'. That sort of rest is an
important type of rest, but not the one which will cure a person of
imperfect sight, in the end. The aim of all rest methods is not to
cure the imperfect sight direcly; but rather to quell the mind of its
strain and thereby restore perfect sight.

Strain of the mind is something a little more difficult to explain,
but I will give my best try. I understand what it means, in my head,
but I am not sure how to put it into words, exactly. Basically, strain
is an interference and a disturbance in a person. It is something
which attacks the minds which are weak. It can be induced with an
effort, or an undue attempt to see. The most peculiar form of this
undue effort, is what is known as the 'stare'. The stare is where the
eye looks at an object continually, without allowing the mind its
natural illusion, that is that the object will seem to move, or
pulsate, in various directions. The stare is a cause of imperfect
sight. Perfect sight cannot exist when the eye stares, or makes an
effort in order to see an object. The eyes and the mind are able to
best operate when they are left alone, without the interference of
this internal strain. Strain of the mind is the cause of imperfect
sight.