Observations placeholder
Lilly, John - The isolation tank
Identifier
001285
Type of Spiritual Experience
Inter composer communication
Vision
Hallucination
Background
An unbelievably dangerous state to be in "other people apparently joined me in this dark silent environment. I could actually see them, feel them, and hear them".
A description of the experience
John C Lilly – The Center of the Cyclone
After a few tens of hours [of experience in the tank], I found phenomena that had been previously described in various literatures. I went through dreamlike states, trance-like states, mystical states.
In all these states, I was totally intact, centered and there. At no time did I lose conscious awareness of the facts of the experiment. Some part of me always knew that I was suspended in water in a tank in the dark and in the silence.
I went through experiences in which other people apparently joined me in this dark silent environment. I could actually see them, feel them, and hear them. At other times I went through dreamlike sequences, waking dreams as they are now called, in which I watched what was happening. At other times I apparently tuned in on networks of communication that are normally below our levels of awareness, networks of civilisations way beyond ours.