So i tried the Ganzfeld Experiment and

[stevemagegod]

That **** was ******* trippy. I was on it for like 2 hours at my buddies house and it completely silenced your inner voice. It was as if you were nothing but instinct as logic ceased to exist. At first i started seeing random numbers 12,3,4,6,6,8 all in a circle like formation then My body was having random muscle spasms out of my control. And i kept hearing people talk that i knew weren't there. At one point i thought i heard someone coming down the stairs when no one did. After a little while longer on it my body started to feel weird sensations of heat on the left side of my body. Before i took it off it felt like the room was spinning on me when i knew it wasn't.It was almost like when i am practicing Astral Projection in my bed concentrating separating.

Before i tried it my buddy went first and i was kinda guiding him through the process. At first he told me heard a waterfall in the background and then saw stick figure like people eating some spaghetti in a house. He wasn't on it as long as me but before he took it off he said he blacked out when he was talking to me and just before he took it i saw his body spaz out for a brief second and he said he didn't feel a thing. The way his body spazzed out was almost like when i get those random shocks before i doze off. I believe most of you would call this the "Vibration Stage of Astral Projection".

It was a interesting experiment to say the least.

[Professor T]

Before anyone else like me wonders what substance was takel, lol..

From Wikipedia.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment

A ganzfeld experiment (from the German for “entire field”) is a technique used in the field of parapsychology to test individuals for extrasensory perception (ESP). It uses homogeneous and unpatterned sensory stimulation to produce the ganzfeld effect, an effect similar to sensory deprivation.^[1] The ganzfeld effect has been utilized in many studies of the neuroscience of perception, not only parapsychology. The deprivation of patterned sensory input is said to be conducive to inwardly generated impressions.^[2] The technique was devised by Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s as part of his investigation into the gestalt theory.^[3]

Ooooooo, tell me more Steve!

Edited July 14, 2013 by Professor T

[stevemagegod]

Before anyone else like me wonders what substance was takel, lol..

From Wikipedia..

Ooooooo, tell me more Steve!

Well i get drug tested at my job so i wasn't on anything. I can't say the same for my two friends though........ I do know for a fact that i saw my buddies body spaz out for a brief second before he took it off. I asked him if he felt any "Electrical type sensations" and he said he didn't as that is what is most reported before one enters the Vibration Stage.

Edited July 14, 2013 by stevemagegod

[Professor T]

That's fascinating..

So what was the device, a headset and Goggles?

You know the brief description you've put forward is really close to what I experience when I manage to hit a really deep level of meditation.. Electric energy zapping on through, weird shifts in gravity, spinning, seeing/perceiving entities Clairvoyance, Clairaudience..

Edited July 14, 2013 by Professor T

[eight bits]

That's interesting. I think Wikiwoo is less reliable here than usual. The original ganzfeld idea, where the apparatus is colored ping-pong ball halves placed one over each eye, is that the initial expected sensation of seeing a uniform colored field is promptly succeeded by the at-first unexpected sensation of a uniformly colorless field. While Metzger was a perceptual psychologist of the Gestalt school, a very cool bunch, this particular phenomenon is presumably physiological and not "psychological."

There's also nothing about the original idea that is "sensory deprivation," although if you continue past the point where you aren't seeing any color, you plainly won't be seeing anything else either, since the translucent hemisphere is featureless. The effect improves upon simply closing your eyes, because there is no pressure on the eyeballs, and they are free to move.

It is also true that if you do prolonged sensory deprivation, not just vision, but all modalities - float in a tank of lukewrm salt water without light or sound, then you are liable to hallucinate. The brand name here is John C. Lilly. The reliability of this effect is a bit shaky, though: Lilly, who was a medical doctor, was happy to help his subjects along with a veterinary tranqulizer. It is relaxing though (people bathe in Epsom salts all the time to rest the weary bod), and could the thing be any more Freudian? An isolation tank is, as much as possible, a womb for grown-ups.

I rise to post this because I happened upon an odd thing just the other day. William Seabrook, a journalist who was a buddy of Aleister Crowley (and who may have popularized the word and idea of zombie in North American culture) proposed a version of sensory deprivation specifically as a boost to clairvoyance and such. Unfortunately for a family friendly forum, his proposal is indistinguishable from spending some quality time doing passive S&M play, something else Bill was interested in. The date is interesting, though: 1942 - so very early.

(The article is not family hostile, exactly, but hell's bells, it is weird, with all due respect to those whose path this may be. Googlebing "Can Science Guide Man's Mind into the Future" if you're inetersted.)

One last name to drop: Daryl Bem. He was an authentivcally scholarly and scientific experimental psychologist, and an elite academic, who turned to investigating ESP when he retired. He likes the ganzfeld approach.

I am unsure that any apparatus contributes much beyond what Professor T says

what I experience when I manage to hit a really deep level of meditation.. Electric energy zapping on through, weird shifts in gravity, spinning, seeing/perceiving entities Clairvoyance, Clairaudience

I am a great fan of defining meditation as "sit down, shut up and stay that way for a while." I am a fan of it, because within those parameters, you pretty much can't go wrong, and if you actually do it, it seems you get there.

My personal theory is that just as "hypnosis" is more "suggestion" than anything else in particular, these kinds of relaxation effects stem from "passivity" more than anything else. You might need to get past "actively forcing yourself to be passive," and maybe apparatus does help with that (by the suggestion that the apparatus is doing something, rather than you yourself just letting go).

Hopefully, somewhere within this rant there is some information somebody can use. Obviously, I don't know that this will make you psychic.

Edited July 14, 2013 by eight bits

[White Crane Feather]

Sensory deprivation can be achieved many ways and does lend itself to altered states of consciousness. I would caution to keep how one achieves an altered state of conciousness seperate from the experiences within them. If the brain is like a radio, then we are simply changing the channels by differnt means.

[stevemagegod]

That's fascinating..

So what was the device, a headset and Goggles?

The device that we used to conduct the experiment was taken right from wikipedia.

1. Two ping-pong ball balls with classic tv white noise tapped around are eyes and ears
   
2. One headset so we can listen to the white noise full effect on are head
   
3. And last but not least the red light.
   
4. We used my buddies Kindle fire to listen to this video from youtube with headphones on:
   

You know the brief description you've put forward is really close to what I experience when I manage to hit a really deep level of meditation.. Electric energy zapping on through, weird shifts in gravity, spinning, seeing/perceiving entities Clairvoyance, Clairaudience..

At point i noticed that i was moving my head in circles to. I don't know why i was doing it as there was no logic behind it. I even heard my buddies in the background say wtf is he doing.... I also thought i heard another person's voice in the room that sounded like my buddy Dans voice and when i asked them if he came over at all when i was on the device they said no. It was just us three the whole time.

Edited July 14, 2013 by stevemagegod

[Professor T]

There's also nothing about the original idea that is "sensory deprivation," although if you continue past the point where you aren't seeing any color, you plainly won't be seeing anything else either, since the translucent hemisphere is featureless. The effect improves upon simply closing your eyes, because there is no pressure on the eyeballs, and they are free to move.

I am a great fan of defining meditation as "sit down, shut up and stay that way for a while." I am a fan of it, because within those parameters, you pretty much can't go wrong, and if you actually do it, it seems you get there.

My personal theory is that just as "hypnosis" is more "suggestion" than anything else in particular, these kinds of relaxation effects stem from "passivity" more than anything else. You might need to get past "actively forcing yourself to be passive," and maybe apparatus does help with that (by the suggestion that the apparatus is doing something, rather than you yourself just letting go).

Hopefully, somewhere within this rant there is some information somebody can use. Obviously, I don't know that this will make you psychic.

*edited for size*

Interesting.. thanks..

I'm also a great fan of the sit down & shuddup style of meditation/quieting the mind.. Though must admit that my successes to achieve deep states are far outweighed by failures caused by ego & sleep.. What is interesting though is that when successful you do enter a state of self induced sensory deprivation, much similar to this Ganzfeld effect, complete with it's own white noise..

I'm definitely willing to give this a go, and think that this "experiment" might help with the usual problems people experience with letting go of ego "attention" & passive "awareness". The fact that Steve mentioned that it "Silenced his inner voice" & became "nothing but instinct" speaks volumes to me about it's ability to perhaps smother ego with static, as opposed to putting it away for the session..

The device that we used to conduct the experiment was taken right from wikipedia.

1. Two ping-pong ball balls with classic tv white noise tapped around are eyes and ears
   
2. One headset so we can listen to the white noise full effect on are head
   
3. And last but not least the red light.
   
4. We used my buddies Kindle fire to listen to this video from youtube with headphones on:
   

At point i noticed that i was moving my head in circles to. I don't know why i was doing it as there was no logic behind it. I even heard my buddies in the background say wtf is he doing.... I also thought i heard another person's voice in the room that sounded like my buddy Dans voice and when i asked them if he came over at all when i was on the device they said no. It was just us three the whole time.

Thanks for posting this Steve.. A red light-bulb and a ping-pong ball has been added to my shopping list this week..

I think number 5 on the list should be "a willingness to let go."

Will post results..

Sensory deprivation can be achieved many ways and does lend itself to altered states of consciousness. I would caution to keep how one achieves an altered state of conciousness seperate from the experiences within them. If the brain is like a radio, then we are simply changing the channels by differnt means.

I definitely agree with method having little to do with the experience. It is all to easy to go into something like this and to praise the experience on the technology or method or ermm... substance.. the reality of the matter is that the experience comes from within..

[Professor T]

So I tried it as well..

x1 red light light..

x2 ping pong balls cut in half over each eye.

x1 stereo out of tune & headphones for white noise..

Results...

Meh.. didn't really achieve much..

Visually : After about 20 minutes I only saw one very fast moving millipede crossing my path of vision.. & that was it..

Auditory : I didn't hear any messages, but I did hear what sounded like doors opening and closing, and someone moving throughout the house (Which was empty at the time)

A more real magic started when I gave up, switched off the headphones & turned off the light to go to sleep.. As soon as I closed my eyes I saw hundreds of blue balls of energy swirling around me.. They faded after a while..

all in all it was an interesting thing to try. I might have another go in the future..

[stevemagegod]

So I tried it as well..

x1 red light light..

x2 ping pong balls cut in half over each eye.

x1 stereo out of tune & headphones for white noise..

Results...

Meh.. didn't really achieve much..

Visually : After about 20 minutes I only saw one very fast moving millipede crossing my path of vision.. & that was it..

Auditory : I didn't hear any messages, but I did hear what sounded like doors opening and closing, and someone moving throughout the house (Which was empty at the time)

A more real magic started when I gave up, switched off the headphones & turned off the light to go to sleep.. As soon as I closed my eyes I saw hundreds of blue balls of energy swirling around me.. They faded after a while..

all in all it was an interesting thing to try. I might have another go in the future..

How long were you on it before you took it off? I was on it for around 2 hours or so before i took it off.

Edited July 22, 2013 by stevemagegod

[shrooma]

So I tried it as well..

x1 red light light..

x2 ping pong balls cut in half over each eye.

x1 stereo out of tune & headphones for white noise..

Results...

Meh.. didn't really achieve much.

.

perhaps you should've added Ketamine to your shopping list Professor......?

:-)

.

(also, wouldn't one ping-pong ball cut in half have been sufficient?!)

[Professor T]

How long were you on it before you took it off? I was on it for around 2 hours or so before i took it off.

I don't know to be honest. I'd unplugged the alarm clock to plug in the stereo, but I'm guessing 30-40 minutes..

I'm going to give it a few more tries, before I decide if it's worth it or not, but to be honest the visual effects seemed more psychological like Pareidolia than the result of an altered meditative state. I wasn't meditating, I was pushing my awareness out into the void..

The sounds were interesting though.. I'm definitely going to give it another go, but i did feel sort of constrained by it.

[Professor T]

.

perhaps you should've added Ketamine to your shopping list Professor......?

:-)

.

(also, wouldn't one ping-pong ball cut in half have been sufficient?!)

Panadol is about as heavy a drug as I go.

I used 2 ping-pong balls to avoid the advertising print ruining the visual depth field.

[shrooma]

Panadol is about as heavy a drug as I go.

.

in your quote from wikipedia you mentioned a Dr who sometimes "assisted" the effect with a vetinary tranquilizer, and the effect DOES sound remarkably like a Ketamine high, or a hypnogogic trance.....

.

I used 2 ping-pong balls to avoid the advertising print ruining the visual depth field.

.

good point!

i just thought you could've halved your ping-pong ball expendature!

;-)

[Professor T]

.

good point!

i just thought you could've halved your ping-pong ball expendature!

;-)

Funnily enough I already had the ping pong balls.. This only cost me $3.50 for the light buld.

So all in all it was good cheap (but bland) Psychedelic experience minus all the nasty hang ups you get from other substances..

[shrooma]

Funnily enough I already had the ping pong balls..

.

strangely enough, i have one in a vase in the kitchen, although i haven't played table tennis for over 30yrs, and have no idea where it came from!

.

This only cost me $3.50 for the light bulb.

.

all old-style bulbs are banned in the UK now, just those squiggly, energy-saving things, and i don't think they do those in purty colours!

[eight bits]

Prof T

all in all it was an interesting thing to try. I might have another go in the future..

Well, here are a few of thoughts.

[1] In the old days, we painted the ping pong balls to achieve the uniform color (nail polish? spray paint?). I realize you personally already have the bulb, but maybe this will help those who cannot get incandescent bulbs (they don't sell colored LEDs either? I'm not going to their house for Christimas.) However...

[2] If you do it right, then you won't perceive the color anyway after a few minutes, before any "relaxation effect" fully sets in, most likely. That was the original point of the ganzfeld thing, that color vision saturates out. So, I'd cut to the chase and just use the translucent ping pong ball halves (I know, this is more for other people, you already have the bulb).

[3] When Bem does it, you don't just sit there, you have a task to perform. The idea is that the relaxation lets you approach the task while dulling the edge of any feeling that you need to "perform." You're not supposed to be hallucinating, you're supposed to be getting the right answer to some actual question - without being all wound up about getting the right answer.

Best wishes for round two, if you decide to have a go at it.