What a Sensory Isolation Tank Taught Me About My Brain

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: January 2, 2017 at 1:49:42 PM EST
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] What a Sensory Isolation Tank Taught Me About My Brain
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> What a Sensory Isolation Tank Taught Me About My Brain
> By Richard A. Friedman
> Dec 29 2016
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/opinion/sunday/whos-in-charge-the-body-or-the-brain.html>
>
> “Take off your clothes, step into the pod and shut the top. And be really careful not to get any of the salt in your 
> eyes.” Those were the instructions I was given recently just before I entered a sensory isolation tank in Seattle. 
> Finally, I would have my chance to see what it would be like to be a brain in a jar.
>
> Lying in a supersaturated solution of magnesium sulfate — better known as Epsom salts — cranked up to body 
> temperature, I pulled the top down over me and pushed the button to extinguish the violet light illuminating the pod.
>
> Cut off from the world of sensory stimuli, my brain had free rein to invent any experience it had up its sleeve. So I 
> floated in pitch blackness and waited for a profound experience to wash over me. This is what adherents paid $89 a 
> pop to feel. I’d heard it was better than meditation, yoga and drugs — perhaps because it promised nirvana without 
> any effort or side effects.
>
> But I felt nothing. After some time, I became acutely aware that I could not feel my body, which I suppose was the 
> whole point of depriving the brain of any connection to the physical world. I started to slowly move my hands and 
> legs to reassure myself they were still there. Check. I had a vivid image of my phantom body; I knew intellectually 
> that it was present, but couldn’t detect it in the normal sense.
>
> Just then, I made the error of letting my head drop too low in the salt broth and got some into my eyes. The sting 
> was immediate and distinctly unpleasant. The brief period of nothingness had ended, and over the next few minutes, my 
> mental state moved from curiosity to boredom to annoyance. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. My stomach rumbled. My brain 
> was bombarded with all kinds of physical sensations. I was beginning to feel sympathy for pickled fish.
>
> Instead of a transcendent excursion into an altered consciousness, sensory deprivation had hilariously underscored 
> the primacy of my body; it was almost a purely physical experience from start to finish. It was like being at a 
> meditation retreat with a runny nose. My brain was simply incapable of escaping the signals my body was sending it.
>
> When the hour was up, I showered and came down to the receptionist to pay. There were three women there who were 
> first-timers like me, and they all looked blissful. “How was it?” one of them dreamily asked me. Not wanting to be a 
> downer, I replied that it was lovely and interesting. At least it was half true.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>



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