Interview with Don Moore
When we heard that Willfield Open Learner, ex-army man, musician, and opthalmic guru, Don Moore was celebrating his twenty-ninth birthday (again!), we just had to mark it in some way. So here is the article/interview about him, which I first wrote for 'The Willfield Reader's Digest' magazine, issue 2, March 1991 (which I also edited, designed, and typeset, and have given myself permission to reprint this article from!)....
Q. Past writers on how to improve your eyesight without wearing glasses themselves had eye problems since childhood, does the same apply to you?
Don: I had good sight in both eyes until an incident on military service left me suffering from an extremely bad case of astigmatism in the right eye. As you probably know, the brain only accepts pictures or images from the better eye. As I still had good vision in the left one, I was able to manage very well until a few years ago. At that time I was working at Newcastle-under-lyme, and whilst driving along the A34, just past Trentham Gardens, I cam to the turning on the left for Longton. I happened to glance at the signpost, which specified the mileage to Uttoxeter and Longton, and to my horror I found they were both blurred and indecipherable. From this I decided I would have to see an optician to obtain glasses, because along with millions of others, I had been indoctrinated from an early age to expect to suffer from an eye defect sooner or later, and expected it to be untreatable other than by spectacles or contact lenses, and have to join the long queue of people with slowly deteriorating eyes, and needing forever stronger glasses for the rest of my life.
Q. What changed your mind?
Don: Luckily for me, whilst browsing in Newcastle Library, during my lunch break, I came across a book written by a Dr W.H. Bates, entitled "Perfect Sight Without Wearing Glasses". I realised that here could be an answer to my problems, but after reading further, and practising his theories, I found that whilst my sight didn't get any worse, it didn't get any better either.
Q. What lead to you forming your own theories on the subject?
Don: After studying and practising his theories for some time, I decided that two of his main views must be wrong, and after a lot of thought and experimentation, I came across a method which I am convinced proves that there is such a thing as Alternative Opthlmology.
Q. And how does your theory differ from those of past writers on 'how to achieve perfect eyesight without wearing glasses'?
Don: Other writers, such as Dr Bates, Harry Benjamin, and Aldous Huxley, are to my mind working from the wrong premise, which was devised originally by Dr Bates. They believed that the accommodative powers of the eyes were not caused by the crystalline lens deflecting the light beams and images directly onto the retina, and so causing perfect eyesight, but by the six external muscles surrounding each eye, changing the shape of the eyeball, i.e. elongating and shortening, and so overcoming defective vision by literally moving the retina backwards and forwards, so that the images were always deflected onto it. Where my theory differs from their's is that they state that the muscles become tense and contracted, and so hold the eyeball rigidly in the form of an eggshape, when the individual was suffering from long-sightedness, or spherical or ball-shaped when the individual was suffering from short-sightedness. Their cure is to relax the muscles by means of various exercises and procedures. These I believe must be wrong. Basically because Dr Bates practiced just after the turn of this century, at that time neither he or anyone else had thought of pphysiotherapy, or the modern practice of vigorours phsyical exercise for any musculature problems: recovery from a broken limb, a stroke, childbirth, an operation, or even lying in bed after a serious illness (which leads to weakening of the muscles through lack of use), and indeed though such exercise harmful to a cure.
Q. You, I believe, quote Darwin's theories in support of your ideas about the eye?
Don: Yes, in the book I'm writing I make mention of the fact that his theory of natural selection stated that man has evolved through the ages. His brain power has increased dramtically, his body is more upright, he has lost most of his body hair, his features and teeth have become more refined, he has come to run faster, and, in general, improved in every respect. All this is true except for his eyes. They are the only part of the body that has deteriorated in effectiveness.
Apparently, there is no record of any truly primitive man's eyes being less than perfect. But, you may say, there aren't many turly primitive people today, that is, those who hunt and are hunted, and who are not part of civilisation as we know it.
However, I honestly believe this point goes a long way to providing an answer to the problem. If you use your eyes continuously from birth (and I mean using them: looking all around, long distances, short distances, sidewards, up and down, and diagonally) it must provide the eye muscle with all the movement they need to keep them active, supple, and also have the ability to retain their power and stop them deteriorating with fat -- which I believe is the main contributor to the problem of defective eyesight.
Q. Your method involves then, going back to the primitive's 'habit' of constantly moving the eyes, in order to strengthen the muscles, and to remove the excess fat that you believe contributes to defective vision -- by reducing the viewer's peripheral field -- and so regain the balance between the six muscles of the eye, and with it, Perfect Eyesight?
Don: Yes.
Q. And, I belive, your book is undergoing a final edit now -- and will be in the bookshops????
Don: The editing? Any three weeks now.
Editor's Note: Those wanting to read Don's book will, I'm afraid, still have to wait. I would guess that the completed manuscript will be off to the publisher's by Christmas. However, I'm not willing to guess which year. JS -- Summer 1992.
Copyright The Bentilean 1999
I haven't seen Don for a long time now so I don't know if he ever finished the book.Back to: The Contents Page | The Archive | The Bentilean Main Page