Arachnid said:
Also know as Sensory Deprivation tanks. Who's tried it?
Hi Arachnid,
While it's been quite a stretch now, 30+ years... I once had a very profound experience in a floatation tank, back in 1979. It was while I was living in Boulder, Colorado, at a place called The Ocean Within. It was mostly a hot tub facility with steam rooms, cold plunges and saunas. Most folks who frequented it enjoyed the liberal sensualism/eroticism of the post-psychedelic age 1970s mindset (orgies, coke and what not). Not my cup of tea but I never judge another's karmic needs. "To each their own", just as long as nobody is hurt in the process or taken advantage of. Right? :twisted:
Anyway, they had a small room in the back for the isolation tank. I had been gifted some "Liberty Caps" psilocybe semilanceata from Oregon and I ingested about a 1.75 grams of fresh blue mushies for the occasion. This was supposed to be a relatively mild trip, since I had to navigate myself to the place and all. Typically, I ingest around 2.5-3.5 grams. Epic doses go 5-7 grams. A couple times, years later, I have eaten 1/4 ounces in a single session but it's never an easy trip, with that much shroomies in the belly (but that's another story)!!! :shock:
So, I figured it would be a mellow journey, right? Boy, was I wrong about that! BTW, this was just my second mushroom voyage and about a year before the motion picture, Altered States was released in theatres. Now, I had read quite a bit of John C. Lilly's writing on this specific subject, so I was totally psyched for a go with it! BTW, the movie portrayed such utter nonsense, in regards to what one goes through on Sacred Medicine journeys, that I could never stand to see it again. I believe the term is,
"Hollyweird"?
I had timed it so that I was just getting
ZINGY and it was about an hour prior to peaking, as I entered the isolation tank (trying not to be too fixated with expectations). I can tell you this, even on what I considered a fairly mild does of shroomies... I had quite an intense trip!!! As I lay floating, motionless in the salty water, I became aware of instinctual/primeval memories of being a simple life-form, swimming and floating in the vast expanse of the ocean. I knew I was not alone and could feel many, many, many other life-forms, sharing the water with me. I could hear whirring noises from the water. Splashing and gurgling sounds. Also, from within myself and outside of my self-conscious awareness, came an ethereal ringing, which got ever stronger as the moment unfolded.
The Carrier Wave? Now, the highest tones of this frequency pulled on my very center. An all-pervasive, motor-like droning drowned out any other external sounds. I thought to myself, "Hey, where are those motorized engine sounds coming from?" Obviously, there couldn't be dozens of guys with chain saws on the loose in the streets of Boulder. The vibration got louder and louder until it was deafening! This continued, as I was simultaneously experiencing undulating tentacles, wiggling fishes and writhing species of sea life, swimming all around me. Me? I felt almost lke a dolphin or porpoise, free in the open expanse of the natural oceanic realms. Am I a dolphins? No... Who am I? Where am I? What am I? What is existence and who is witnessing it? :?:
I believed that I was caught in between two contradictory forces or energy. One trying to keep me aware of my physical form and even scare me into fearing for my life. The other, calling me further within and beyond the boundaries on my material body. The paradox of every psychonaut, eh? As I faced my fears and confusion, I relaxed into a sensation of great trust and a feeling of unity with the ocean. The sea was my source and my essence. The universe was the vast sea. I was the sea. I was drawn deeper and deeper into this revelation until I began to sense that I was starting to turn in a spiralling circle. Almost like I was in a whirlpool. Yes, it was a cosmic whirlpool, pulling me into the center of an immense vacuum! As the force of this swirling became more and more intense, I was absorbed into the raw power of the spiralling. It felt as if my body was spinning faster and faster into the vacuum of the whirlpool (like I was the tiny metal ball on a roulette wheel). I had the emotional sensation of pure love and complete trust, for the gravity of this spiralling vortex. Almost as if it were my true mother. "Mother Ocean" I remember thinking. She was drawing me back into her womb (I, her infant child). Kind of like being born, only in reverse? This Cosmic womb was secure and extremely loving! I never wanted to leave it, again. Never, never, never... Hell, who would be crazy enough to do that? I am home and will stay here forever, or so I vowed to myself, in the timelessness of that brief pause in the flow of passing moments.
I could see a blur of rainbow colors and fractal patterns everywhere! I witnessed a super-bright, clear light in the very epicenter of the whirlpool. Ahhh... the Light!!! It was the Light of lights and it was the "Father Spirit", who was forever shining brilliantly (at the center of all that exists and all that is).
As I approached the peak in this trip, I had the sensation of being in the womb, again. I was warm and secure feeling and I somehow KNEW that I must be born and enter the world. The ocean was my true mother and while I loved her beyond the limited scope of human emotion, I had the conviction that I was created for a definite purpose. That I had been chosen by the Oceanic Mother Goddess to return to the world of humankind with my fresh insights. As the spinning feeling lessened, I had the sensation of being in a fetal position and experienced the pain and agony of separation, that being born brings about. Yeah, I was being re-born! Rebirth appealed to me but I wanted to cling to the security of my Mama.
I knew instinctively that I was being sent back into the world of duality (peopled by my brothers and sisters). I would remember the union and keep it in my heart. I felt enthusiastic about a chance to walk the earth, with the awakened knowledge of God's presence and the Mother Ocean's connection to each of us. As had happened on hundreds of journeys with LSD, my self was dissolved into nothingness and the Self of infinite consciousness was realized within the illusory speck of my finite awareness. This was followed by an emptiness, which transcended duality and personal perspective. Subjectivity was no more, yet the awareness of oneness was all pervasive. The Light was so blinding that is seemed to wash away any fixed point of reference or solidity of ego. And then... absolute stillness and eternal silence.
As is
ALWAYS THE CASE, no memory was retrievable from the Void, as self and Self were both, shattered into an infinity of substance-less particles. The mirage of separateness was lifted and from this side of the Looking Glass, nothing can be translated. I guess this is where the idea of Zen koans originated? You know, just to confound the mind and intellect? How can the finite mind describe the infinite reality? If one become consciously awakened to this living presence, it will draw you/I /we into itself and therefore, shatter the illusion of individuated self. From this point of consciousness, everything is one, so there is no witness to itself. All is stillness, emptiness and silence. No cognition is possible form a total state of unity, thus no knowledge can be separated form the union. As the illuminated Chinese sage, Lao Tzu, has been quoted to say (and I paraphrase here), "The Tao that can be spoken of with words, is not the eternal Tao." I felt like an timeless infinity in this level of awareness. I may have been thousands and thousands of years or a handful of seconds. The clock on the wall recorded just an hour, however, as I had paid for just so much time. Although in essence, time had stopped ticking or rather, the mirage of it's perceived reality had been dispelled.
I heard a knocking sound coming from outside of the floatation tank. "Hey, are you alright in there? It's been over and hour and you should come out now" Who was this voice? Oh yes, the attendant who brought me to the small room I was in. So, I got out of the tank, stepped into the shower and began to clean myself off. It felt wonderful to wash the salty coating off from my skin. the shower felt cleansing and invigorating. yes, i was reborn and would carry my revelation with me always and forevermore. I recall looking at my hands, yet i could see right through them, as the were translucent! in fact, I could see the small tiles on the floor of the shower, right through my feet. Was I trapped in a non-physical plane or something? What was happening to me? Did I die and lose my physical body or am I reborn with some kind of X-ray vision?
Seconds later, I heard the same knocking sound. what? I was back in the floatation tank and the voice was saying the exact same words, again!!! Tis time, he lifted the top of the chamber open and I was suddenly thrust into the world of fluorescent lights and time & space. The gentleman helped me out of the tank and stated that he was getting worried about me, since it had been almost an hour and a half (although it felt more like 10-15 minutes to me). "Don't worry, I won't charge you extra for the half hour overtime. I could sense that you were going through something deep and didn't want to rush you. What did you experience, man?" i tried to speak but all i could mumble was, "God." He smiled and nodded affirmatively. "That's the idea, You're lucky to have had such a vision on your first float." Once again, I got into the shower and washed-off the salty residue. this time I could not see through my hands and feet. I dried off and got dressed.
When I hit the streets, it was snowing lightly. I watched large, fluffy snowflakes falling down onto my face and smiled deeply. Life is good and Mother Ocean is always within us, flowing through our blood stream. I focused on individual flakes and could make out their flawless geometry. They were the most amazing mandalas I had ever seen! I let them hit my eyeballs as the plummeted to the ground. It's a strange, yet invigorating sensation. I then remembered having the same sensation as a small child. Of course, I was a child again, after all. Everything seemed to be inter-linked to the Great Cosmic Ocean, always a part of the Infinite Sea of God-consciousness.
This was the first and only time I did a float. It was quite profound and I have never, ever forgotten the profundity of this voyage within myself. I recommend this to anyone who seeks the ultimate truth about the universe and oneself. Of course, the mushrooms were a
very, very big help in the equation. :d
Peace, love and Light