Indra’s Net Visualizer

Overview

Indra’s Net is an interactive digital platform that brings the Buddhist allegory of Indra’s Net to life. By representing your “inner light” (prana) as beams, reflections, and vessels, it makes psychological states—such as openness, arousal, repression, and creativity—visible and manipulable. This intuitive visual language helps users explore their past, present, and possible future selves.

The Problem

• Intangibility of mental states. Emotions and thought processes are inherently abstract, making self-reflection and emotional regulation challenging.
• Lack of intuitive tools. Existing well-being apps rely on text or static diagrams, losing the richness of metaphorical insight.
• Barrier to self-understanding. Without a tangible frame of reference, people struggle to grasp how different aspects of their psyche interact.

Our Solution

Indra’s Net Visualizer leverages the optics of light to depict cognitive and emotional processes:

1. Inner Light (IL). Represents your core vitality; intensity and color convey energy and mood.
2. Concentric Shells. Symbolize layers of the self; reflections inside a shell model focused thought.
3. Arousal Sparks. Flickering particles show varying levels of arousal or calm.
4. Dynamic Metaphors. Repression, rumination, creativity, openness, and deception each have unique light-based animations you can adjust in real time.

Objectives

• Platform Development. Build a 2D web prototype for initial testing, with plans for a 3D mobile/desktop version.
• Effectiveness Testing. Run pilot studies to measure impact on self-awareness and emotional well-being.
• Data-Driven Insight. Use interaction data to deepen our understanding of mental health factors and refine visual metaphors.

Key Features

• Real-Time Interaction: Drag, click, and animate vessels to see how changing one element (e.g., opacity for openness) affects the whole system.
• Metaphor Library: Access presets for common states—centered vs uncentered, repression vs release, creative reflection.
• Story Mode: Guided flow that teaches you the light metaphors through narrated examples.
• Export & Share: Capture snapshots or short videos of your visual “inner state” to reflect on progress or discuss with a therapist.

Tech Stack

• UI: Unreal Engine 5 & Blender.
• Future Integrations: Biosensor feeds (heart-rate, GSR) and LLM-based text analysis to drive real-time visualization.
• Design: Inspired by optics principles like reflection, refraction, diffraction mapped to psychological constructs.

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